[RFC PATCH v1 2/2] arm64/mm: use VMA lock for kernel faults on user addresses

From: Barry Song (Xiaomi)

Date: Sun Aug 02 2026 - 03:42:21 EST


Use the VMA lock for kernel faults on user addresses. This also
makes the existing code below meaningful:

/* Quick path to respond to signals */
if (fault_signal_pending(fault, regs)) {
if (!user_mode(regs))
goto no_context;
return 0;
}

Right now, the code above is dead because !user_mode always
takes the mmap_lock path.

Co-developed-by: Bo Zhang <zhangbo56@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Bo Zhang <zhangbo56@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Barry Song (Xiaomi) <baohua@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/arm64/mm/fault.c | 4 +++-
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
index 85e23388f9bb..241f1ab07ab3 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/fault.c
@@ -607,6 +607,7 @@ static int __kprobes do_page_fault(unsigned long far, unsigned long esr,
unsigned int mm_flags = FAULT_FLAG_DEFAULT;
unsigned long addr = untagged_addr(far);
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
+ bool uaccess = false;
int si_code;
int pkey = -1;

@@ -663,6 +664,7 @@ static int __kprobes do_page_fault(unsigned long far, unsigned long esr,
if (!insn_may_access_user(regs->pc, esr))
die_kernel_fault("access to user memory outside uaccess routines",
addr, esr, regs);
+ uaccess = true;
}

if (is_pkvm_stage2_abort(esr)) {
@@ -674,7 +676,7 @@ static int __kprobes do_page_fault(unsigned long far, unsigned long esr,

perf_sw_event(PERF_COUNT_SW_PAGE_FAULTS, 1, regs, addr);

- if (!(mm_flags & FAULT_FLAG_USER))
+ if (!(mm_flags & FAULT_FLAG_USER) && !uaccess)
goto lock_mmap;

vma = lock_vma_under_rcu(mm, addr);
--
2.39.3 (Apple Git-146)