[PATCH v4] f2fs: protect published gc_thread during teardown
From: Zhang Cen
Date: Sat May 30 2026 - 10:33:19 EST
f2fs_stop_gc_thread() stops the background GC task, wakes foreground
GC_MERGE waiters, frees sbi->gc_thread, and then clears the published
pointer. A foreground f2fs_balance_fs() caller can already have copied
that pointer and queued itself on gc_th->fggc_wq, so freeing gc_th at
stop time can leave finish_wait() operating on a freed waitqueue.
Keep the allocated GC-thread state until the superblock is destroyed and
use gc_th->f2fs_gc_task as the running-state marker. The stop path now
withdraws the task pointer with xchg(), stops the task, and wakes any
foreground waiters, but leaves the waitqueue storage valid. The start
path reuses a stopped gc_thread object instead of reinitializing its
waitqueues, and remount restart decisions check the task pointer rather
than only the object pointer.
f2fs_balance_fs() also snapshots sbi->gc_thread once and rechecks
f2fs_gc_task after prepare_to_wait(). If teardown wins the race after
the first check, the foreground caller removes its wait entry without
sleeping on a worker that has already been withdrawn.
Validation reproduced this kernel report:
BUG: KASAN: slab-use-after-free in finish_wait+0x276/0x290
Write of size 8 at addr ffff8881150819b8 by task dd/802
The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888115081900 which
belongs to the cache kmalloc-256 of size 256
The buggy address is located 184 bytes inside of freed 256-byte region
Call trace:
finish_wait()
f2fs_balance_fs()
f2fs_write_single_data_page()
f2fs_write_cache_pages()
__f2fs_write_data_pages()
do_writepages()
filemap_fdatawrite_wbc()
__filemap_fdatawrite_range()
file_write_and_wait_range()
f2fs_do_sync_file()
f2fs_sync_file()
do_fsync()
Freed by task stack:
kfree()
f2fs_stop_gc_thread()
f2fs_do_shutdown()
f2fs_shutdown()
fs_bdev_mark_dead()
Fixes: 5911d2d1d1a3 ("f2fs: introduce gc_merge mount option")
Signed-off-by: Zhang Cen <rollkingzzc@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v4:
- Replace the v3 SRCU/refcounted lifetime model with a smaller fix that
keeps the existing heap-allocated gc_thread object alive until
superblock teardown.
- Use f2fs_gc_task as the running-state marker and withdraw it with
xchg() before waking GC_MERGE waiters.
- Reuse a stopped gc_thread object across remount restarts so the
waitqueues are not reinitialized while old waiters can still finish.
- Recheck f2fs_gc_task after prepare_to_wait() so a waiter that races
with teardown does not sleep after the worker has been withdrawn.
v3:
- Add the Fixes tag for the GC_MERGE foreground wait path.
- Fix checkpatch style issues in the broader lifetime variant.
v2:
- Sashiko.dev pointed out that GC_MERGE foreground waiters and
GC-thread users needed lifetime-safe access after teardown.
fs/f2fs/gc.c | 48 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------
fs/f2fs/segment.c | 19 ++++++++++++-------
fs/f2fs/super.c | 7 +++++--
3 files changed, 47 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/f2fs/gc.c b/fs/f2fs/gc.c
index ba93010924c06..20f8394482a09 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/gc.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/gc.c
@@ -193,12 +193,23 @@ static int gc_thread_func(void *data)
int f2fs_start_gc_thread(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi)
{
- struct f2fs_gc_kthread *gc_th;
+ struct f2fs_gc_kthread *gc_th = sbi->gc_thread;
+ struct task_struct *task;
+ bool allocated = false;
dev_t dev = sbi->sb->s_bdev->bd_dev;
- gc_th = f2fs_kmalloc(sbi, sizeof(struct f2fs_gc_kthread), GFP_KERNEL);
- if (!gc_th)
- return -ENOMEM;
+ if (gc_th && READ_ONCE(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task))
+ return 0;
+
+ if (!gc_th) {
+ gc_th = f2fs_kmalloc(sbi, sizeof(*gc_th), GFP_KERNEL);
+ if (!gc_th)
+ return -ENOMEM;
+ init_waitqueue_head(&gc_th->gc_wait_queue_head);
+ init_waitqueue_head(&gc_th->fggc_wq);
+ sbi->gc_thread = gc_th;
+ allocated = true;
+ }
gc_th->urgent_sleep_time = DEF_GC_THREAD_URGENT_SLEEP_TIME;
gc_th->valid_thresh_ratio = DEF_GC_THREAD_VALID_THRESH_RATIO;
@@ -221,34 +232,35 @@ int f2fs_start_gc_thread(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi)
gc_th->gc_wake = false;
- sbi->gc_thread = gc_th;
- init_waitqueue_head(&sbi->gc_thread->gc_wait_queue_head);
- init_waitqueue_head(&sbi->gc_thread->fggc_wq);
- sbi->gc_thread->f2fs_gc_task = kthread_run(gc_thread_func, sbi,
- "f2fs_gc-%u:%u", MAJOR(dev), MINOR(dev));
- if (IS_ERR(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task)) {
- int err = PTR_ERR(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task);
+ task = kthread_run(gc_thread_func, sbi, "f2fs_gc-%u:%u",
+ MAJOR(dev), MINOR(dev));
+ if (IS_ERR(task)) {
+ int err = PTR_ERR(task);
- kfree(gc_th);
- sbi->gc_thread = NULL;
+ if (allocated) {
+ kfree(gc_th);
+ sbi->gc_thread = NULL;
+ }
return err;
}
- set_user_nice(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task,
- PRIO_TO_NICE(sbi->critical_task_priority));
+ WRITE_ONCE(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task, task);
+ set_user_nice(task, PRIO_TO_NICE(sbi->critical_task_priority));
return 0;
}
void f2fs_stop_gc_thread(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi)
{
struct f2fs_gc_kthread *gc_th = sbi->gc_thread;
+ struct task_struct *task;
if (!gc_th)
return;
- kthread_stop(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task);
+ task = xchg(&gc_th->f2fs_gc_task, NULL);
+ if (!task)
+ return;
+ kthread_stop(task);
wake_up_all(&gc_th->fggc_wq);
- kfree(gc_th);
- sbi->gc_thread = NULL;
}
static int select_gc_type(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, int gc_type)
diff --git a/fs/f2fs/segment.c b/fs/f2fs/segment.c
index 788f8b0502492..84307525edd27 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/segment.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/segment.c
@@ -424,6 +424,8 @@ int f2fs_commit_atomic_write(struct inode *inode)
*/
void f2fs_balance_fs(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, bool need)
{
+ struct f2fs_gc_kthread *gc_th;
+
if (f2fs_cp_error(sbi))
return;
@@ -444,15 +446,18 @@ void f2fs_balance_fs(struct f2fs_sb_info *sbi, bool need)
if (has_enough_free_secs(sbi, 0, 0))
return;
- if (test_opt(sbi, GC_MERGE) && sbi->gc_thread &&
- sbi->gc_thread->f2fs_gc_task) {
+ gc_th = sbi->gc_thread;
+ if (test_opt(sbi, GC_MERGE) && gc_th &&
+ READ_ONCE(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task)) {
DEFINE_WAIT(wait);
- prepare_to_wait(&sbi->gc_thread->fggc_wq, &wait,
- TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
- wake_up(&sbi->gc_thread->gc_wait_queue_head);
- io_schedule();
- finish_wait(&sbi->gc_thread->fggc_wq, &wait);
+ prepare_to_wait(&gc_th->fggc_wq, &wait,
+ TASK_UNINTERRUPTIBLE);
+ if (READ_ONCE(gc_th->f2fs_gc_task)) {
+ wake_up(&gc_th->gc_wait_queue_head);
+ io_schedule();
+ }
+ finish_wait(&gc_th->fggc_wq, &wait);
} else {
struct f2fs_gc_control gc_control = {
.victim_segno = NULL_SEGNO,
diff --git a/fs/f2fs/super.c b/fs/f2fs/super.c
index ccf806b676f53..d6863da05a7c2 100644
--- a/fs/f2fs/super.c
+++ b/fs/f2fs/super.c
@@ -2925,11 +2925,12 @@ static int __f2fs_remount(struct fs_context *fc, struct super_block *sb)
if ((flags & SB_RDONLY) ||
(F2FS_OPTION(sbi).bggc_mode == BGGC_MODE_OFF &&
!test_opt(sbi, GC_MERGE))) {
- if (sbi->gc_thread) {
+ if (sbi->gc_thread && READ_ONCE(sbi->gc_thread->f2fs_gc_task)) {
f2fs_stop_gc_thread(sbi);
need_restart_gc = true;
}
- } else if (!sbi->gc_thread) {
+ } else if (!sbi->gc_thread ||
+ !READ_ONCE(sbi->gc_thread->f2fs_gc_task)) {
err = f2fs_start_gc_thread(sbi);
if (err)
goto restore_opts;
@@ -5451,6 +5452,7 @@ static int f2fs_fill_super(struct super_block *sb, struct fs_context *fc)
free_sb_buf:
kfree(raw_super);
free_sbi:
+ kfree(sbi->gc_thread);
#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC
lockdep_unregister_key(&sbi->cp_global_sem_key);
#endif
@@ -5535,6 +5537,7 @@ static void kill_f2fs_super(struct super_block *sb)
/* Release block devices last, after fscrypt_destroy_keyring(). */
if (sbi) {
destroy_device_list(sbi);
+ kfree(sbi->gc_thread);
#ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_LOCK_ALLOC
lockdep_unregister_key(&sbi->cp_global_sem_key);
#endif
--
2.43.0