[PATCH bpf-next v2 2/4] bpf: arena: allocate the fault-in page outside the lock

From: Jiayuan Chen

Date: Wed Aug 05 2026 - 05:20:58 EST


arena_vm_fault() allocated the page while holding arena->spinlock, so it
could only use the non-blocking allocator. Once the memcg is at
memory.max that allocation just fails, the fault turns into
VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV, and the process gets a SIGSEGV on a perfectly valid
arena address. Hitting memory.max is routine (e.g. page cache from
reading a big file), so this kills innocent processes.

Rework the fault handler:

- Preallocate the page before taking the lock, like do_anonymous_page()
does, so it can sleep, reclaim and go through the OOM path, and return
VM_FAULT_OOM on failure so the memcg OOM handler runs instead of a fake
segfault.

- A lockless probe skips that preallocation when a page is already mapped
(e.g. allocated by the bpf program), so the common case wastes no
allocation. The rare race where such a page is freed before we take the
lock falls back to the non-blocking allocator under the lock.

- Return VM_FAULT_SIGBUS for the non-recoverable errors (lock failure,
range-tree and page-table failures) instead of VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV; only
BPF_F_SEGV_ON_FAULT, and a scratch-page hole under that flag, is a real
user addressing error and keeps VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV.

- Tidy up the error labels.

Signed-off-by: Jiayuan Chen <jiayuan.chen@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/bpf/arena.c | 92 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 71 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/bpf/arena.c b/kernel/bpf/arena.c
index 555ee2531ef9..09a718ca4c8b 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/arena.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/arena.c
@@ -481,7 +481,8 @@ static vm_fault_t arena_vm_fault(struct vm_fault *vmf)
struct bpf_map *map = vmf->vma->vm_file->private_data;
struct bpf_arena *arena = container_of(map, struct bpf_arena, map);
struct mem_cgroup *new_memcg, *old_memcg;
- struct page *page;
+ struct page *page, *new_page = NULL;
+ vm_fault_t fault_ret;
long kbase, kaddr;
unsigned long flags;
int ret;
@@ -489,59 +490,108 @@ static vm_fault_t arena_vm_fault(struct vm_fault *vmf)
kbase = bpf_arena_get_kern_vm_start(arena);
kaddr = kbase + (u32)(vmf->address);

- if (raw_res_spin_lock_irqsave(&arena->spinlock, flags))
+ page = vmalloc_to_page((void *)kaddr);
+ if (!page && !(arena->map.map_flags & BPF_F_SEGV_ON_FAULT)) {
+ /*
+ * We run in process context here, so preallocate the page
+ * outside the lock with an explicitly sleepable allocator. It
+ * can then go through reclaim (both memcg and global) and the
+ * OOM path, the way do_anonymous_page() does; under
+ * arena->spinlock only the non-blocking allocator is available,
+ * which never reclaims. That also decides the return value:
+ * VM_FAULT_OOM below is only meaningful if the OOM machinery was
+ * actually engaged, which the non-blocking allocator never does.
+ */
+ bpf_map_memcg_enter(&arena->map, &old_memcg, &new_memcg);
+ new_page = bpf_map_alloc_page_sleepable(map);
+ bpf_map_memcg_exit(old_memcg, new_memcg);
+ if (!new_page)
+ return VM_FAULT_OOM;
+ }
+
+ if (raw_res_spin_lock_irqsave(&arena->spinlock, flags)) {
/*
* A failed lock means a possible deadlock was detected. Don't
* return VM_FAULT_RETRY: this handler never took mmap_lock, but
* the fault path would re-take it on retry and deadlock. Fail.
*/
+ if (new_page)
+ free_pages_nolock(new_page, 0);
return VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;
+ }

page = vmalloc_to_page((void *)kaddr);
if (page) {
- if (page == arena->scratch_page)
- /* BPF triggered scratch here; don't lazy-alloc over it */
- goto out_sigsegv;
+ if (page == arena->scratch_page) {
+ /*
+ * A scratch page marks a hole. Segfault only if the user
+ * asked for it; otherwise we could lazy-allocate but
+ * choose not to over a hole, so report a bus error.
+ */
+ fault_ret = (arena->map.map_flags & BPF_F_SEGV_ON_FAULT) ?
+ VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV : VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;
+ goto out_err_locked;
+ }
/* already have a page vmap-ed */
goto out;
}

+ if (arena->map.map_flags & BPF_F_SEGV_ON_FAULT) {
+ /* User space requested to segfault when page is not allocated by bpf prog */
+ fault_ret = VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV;
+ goto out_err_locked;
+ }
+
bpf_map_memcg_enter(&arena->map, &old_memcg, &new_memcg);

- if (arena->map.map_flags & BPF_F_SEGV_ON_FAULT)
- /* User space requested to segfault when page is not allocated by bpf prog */
- goto out_sigsegv_memcg;
+ if (!new_page) {
+ /*
+ * Very rare race: the bpf program had allocated a page here, so
+ * the lockless probe saw it and we skipped preallocation, but it
+ * freed the page before we took the lock. Now we do need one;
+ * sleeping is not allowed here, so fall back to the non-blocking
+ * allocator and give up if it fails.
+ */
+ ret = bpf_map_alloc_pages(map, map->numa_node, 1, &new_page);
+ if (ret) {
+ fault_ret = VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;
+ goto out_err_locked_memcg;
+ }
+ }

ret = range_tree_clear(&arena->rt, vmf->pgoff, 1);
- if (ret)
- goto out_sigsegv_memcg;
-
- struct apply_range_data data = { .arena = arena, .pages = &page, .i = 0 };
- /* Account into memcg of the process that created bpf_arena */
- ret = bpf_map_alloc_pages(map, NUMA_NO_NODE, 1, &page);
if (ret) {
- range_tree_set(&arena->rt, vmf->pgoff, 1);
- goto out_sigsegv_memcg;
+ fault_ret = VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;
+ goto out_err_locked_memcg;
}
+ struct apply_range_data data = { .arena = arena, .pages = &new_page, .i = 0 };

ret = apply_to_page_range(&init_mm, kaddr, PAGE_SIZE, apply_range_set_cb, &data);
if (ret) {
range_tree_set(&arena->rt, vmf->pgoff, 1);
- free_pages_nolock(page, 0);
- goto out_sigsegv_memcg;
+ fault_ret = VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;
+ goto out_err_locked_memcg;
}
flush_vmap_cache(kaddr, PAGE_SIZE);
bpf_map_memcg_exit(old_memcg, new_memcg);
+ /* new_page was consumed */
+ page = new_page;
+ new_page = NULL;
out:
page_ref_add(page, 1);
raw_res_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&arena->spinlock, flags);
+ if (new_page)
+ free_pages_nolock(new_page, 0);
vmf->page = page;
return 0;
-out_sigsegv_memcg:
+
+out_err_locked_memcg:
bpf_map_memcg_exit(old_memcg, new_memcg);
-out_sigsegv:
+out_err_locked:
raw_res_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&arena->spinlock, flags);
- return VM_FAULT_SIGSEGV;
+ if (new_page)
+ free_pages_nolock(new_page, 0);
+ return fault_ret;
}

static const struct vm_operations_struct arena_vm_ops = {
--
2.43.0