Re: [PATCH 2/3] drm/gem: Fix a race between drm_gem_lru_scan() and drm_gem_object_release()

[Boris Brezillon]

On Wed, 06 May 2026 14:16:27 +0200
Boris Brezillon <boris.brezillon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The following race can currently happen:
> 
> | Thread 0 in `drm_gem_lru_scan`               | Thread 1 in `drm_gem_object_release` |
> | -                                            | -                                    |
> | move obj1 with refcount==0 to `still_in_lru` |                                      |
> | move obj2 with refcount!=0 to `still_in_lru` |                                      |
> | mutex_unlock                                 |                                      |
> | shrink obj2                                  |                                      |
> |                                              | lru = obj1->lru; // `still_in_lru`   |
> | mutex_lock                                   |                                      |
> | move obj1 back to the original lru           |                                      |
> | mutex_unlock                                 |                                      |
> | return                                       |                                      |
> |                                              | dereference `still_in_lru`           |
> 
> Move the drm_gem_lru_move_tail_locked() after the
> kref_get_unless_zero() check so that we don't end up with a
> vanishing LRU when we hit drm_gem_object_release(). We also need to
> remove the skipped object from its LRU, otherwise we'll keep hitting
> it on subsequent loop iterations until it's actually removed from the
> list in the drm_gem_release().
> 
> Fixes: e7c2af13f811 ("drm/gem: Add LRU/shrinker helper")
> Reported-by: Chia-I Wu <olvaffe@xxxxxxxxx>
> Closes: https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/panfrost/linux/-/work_items/86
> Signed-off-by: Boris Brezillon <boris.brezillon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Chia-I Wu <olvaffe@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem.c | 14 +++++++++-----
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem.c b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem.c
> index fca42949eb2b..97cf63de0112 100644
> --- a/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem.c
> +++ b/drivers/gpu/drm/drm_gem.c
> @@ -1660,15 +1660,19 @@ drm_gem_lru_scan(struct drm_gem_lru *lru,
>  		if (!obj)
>  			break;
>  
> -		drm_gem_lru_move_tail_locked(&still_in_lru, obj);
> -
>  		/*
>  		 * If it's in the process of being freed, gem_object->free()
> -		 * may be blocked on lock waiting to remove it.  So just
> -		 * skip it.
> +		 * may be blocked on lock waiting to remove it.  So just remove
> +		 * it from its current LRU and skip it.
>  		 */
> -		if (!kref_get_unless_zero(&obj->refcount))
> +		if (!kref_get_unless_zero(&obj->refcount)) {
> +			if (obj->lru)
> +				drm_gem_lru_remove_locked(obj);
> +

Actually, this thing is still racy, because obj->lru is dereferenced
without the lru->lock held in drm_gem_object_release(). At this point
I'm wondering if we should expose a drm_gem_lru_remove() taking the LRU
lock as an argument as suggested by Steve, and delegate the
responsibility to call drm_gem_lru_remove() to the driver. Either that,
or we make it so the LRU lock is attached to the drm_device instead of
the GEM (both MSM and panthor assume a device-wide lock for LRU
manipulation).

Rob, what's your take on this matter?