[PATCH] selftests/mm: Fix incorrect mmap() error handling with NULL instead of MAP_FAILED

From: Hongfu Li

Date: Tue May 12 2026 - 22:52:13 EST


mmap() returns MAP_FAILED, which is defined as (void *)-1, on error,
not NULL. Several selftests incorrectly check the return value of
mmap() using !ptr or ptr == NULL, which would erroneously treat
MAP_FAILED as a valid pointer since MAP_FAILED is non-zero and
non-NULL. This can lead to segfaults when mmap() actually fails
under memory pressure.

Signed-off-by: Hongfu Li <lihongfu@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c | 2 +-
tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c | 2 +-
tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c | 4 ++--
tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c | 2 +-
4 files changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
index a0b48b839d54..ed481f817282 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/ksm_tests.c
@@ -174,7 +174,7 @@ static void *allocate_memory(void *ptr, int prot, int mapping, char data, size_
{
void *map_ptr = mmap(ptr, map_size, PROT_WRITE, mapping, -1, 0);

- if (!map_ptr) {
+ if (map_ptr == MAP_FAILED) {
perror("mmap");
return NULL;
}
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
index 88050e0f829a..7fce5d0b622b 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/madv_populate.c
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ static void sense_support(void)

addr = mmap(0, pagesize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_PRIVATE, 0, 0);
- if (!addr)
+ if (addr == MAP_FAILED)
ksft_exit_fail_msg("mmap failed\n");

ret = madvise(addr, pagesize, MADV_POPULATE_READ);
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
index bcfcac99b436..67c26c265880 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/soft-dirty.c
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ static void test_mprotect(int pagemap_fd, int pagesize, bool anon)
if (anon) {
map = mmap(NULL, pagesize, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_ANONYMOUS|MAP_PRIVATE, -1, 0);
- if (!map)
+ if (map == MAP_FAILED)
ksft_exit_fail_msg("anon mmap failed\n");
} else {
test_fd = open(fname, O_RDWR | O_CREAT, 0664);
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ static void test_mprotect(int pagemap_fd, int pagesize, bool anon)
ftruncate(test_fd, pagesize);
map = mmap(NULL, pagesize, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE,
MAP_SHARED, test_fd, 0);
- if (!map)
+ if (map == MAP_FAILED)
ksft_exit_fail_msg("file mmap failed\n");
}

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
index db94564f4431..63aaa2d9ec0b 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/mm/vm_util.c
@@ -463,7 +463,7 @@ bool softdirty_supported(void)
/* New mappings are expected to be marked with VM_SOFTDIRTY (sd). */
addr = mmap(0, pagesize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_PRIVATE, 0, 0);
- if (!addr)
+ if (addr == MAP_FAILED)
ksft_exit_fail_msg("mmap failed\n");

supported = check_vmflag(addr, "sd");
--
2.25.1