[PATCH] kasan: unpoison task stack below watermark only in generic mode

From: Andrey Ryabinin

Date: Wed Sep 16 2026 - 14:19:41 EST


CPU resume and BPF exception handling can discard stack frames without
running their compiler-generated epilogues. Generic KASAN needs
kasan_unpoison_task_stack_below() to clear the redzones left behind by
those frames before the stack is reused.

CONFIG_KASAN_STACK also enables this helper for SW_TAGS. The helper
derives the stack base from an untagged stack pointer, so
kasan_unpoison() writes KASAN_TAG_KERNEL (0xff) into the shadow for
[base, watermark). For a vmapped task stack, vm_area->addr still
carries the original random allocation tag. This creates a tag mismatch
at the stack base even if that memory has never held an instrumented
stack object.

When the task exits and its stack is not cached, thread_stack_free_rcu()
passes vm_area->addr to vfree(). In RCU callback context this reaches
vfree_atomic(), whose llist_add() writes to the allocation base through
the tagged pointer and triggers a false KASAN invalid-access report:

BUG: KASAN: invalid-access in vfree_atomic+0x90/0x150
Write of size 8 at addr c2ffffc0a8f70000 by task rcuop/7/75
Pointer tag: [c2], memory tag: [ff]
Call trace:
__hwasan_store8_noabort+0xe8/0xf8
vfree_atomic+0x90/0x150
vfree+0x220/0x298
thread_stack_free_rcu+0x3c/0x4c
rcu_do_batch+0x308/0xaf0
rcu_nocb_cb_kthread+0x33c/0x708

The deferred-free path started using the tagged vm_area->addr in
commit 449e0b4ed5a1 ("fork: clean-up naming of vm_stack/vm_struct
variables in vmap stacks code"). Previously it freed the untagged
pointer derived from tsk->stack, so the write was never tag-checked.

SW_TAGS does not need the blanket shadow reset to make subsequent stack
accesses valid: untagged kernel pointers have the match-all 0xff tag,
and the compiler initializes the shadow tags of instrumented stack
objects before use.

Return early unless CONFIG_KASAN_GENERIC is enabled. Keep the mode check
in the common helper so it covers both resume and bpf_throw().

Fixes: 449e0b4ed5a1 ("fork: clean-up naming of vm_stack/vm_struct variables in vmap stacks code")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Reported-by: Shaobo Huang <huangshaobo3@xxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260806123020.90869-1-huangshaobo3@xxxxxxxxxx/
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Andrey Ryabinin <ryabinin.a.a@xxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/kasan/common.c | 13 ++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mm/kasan/common.c b/mm/kasan/common.c
index b7d05c2a6d93..7d21c4db68d2 100644
--- a/mm/kasan/common.c
+++ b/mm/kasan/common.c
@@ -114,12 +114,23 @@ void kasan_unpoison_task_stack(struct task_struct *task)
/* Unpoison the stack for the current task beyond a watermark sp value. */
asmlinkage void kasan_unpoison_task_stack_below(const void *watermark)
{
+ void *base;
+
+ /*
+ * Only the generic mode needs this. In the tag-based mode the
+ * compiler fully initializes the shadow of stack variables on
+ * function entry, so stale tags left below the watermark are
+ * harmless.
+ */
+ if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_KASAN_GENERIC))
+ return;
+
/*
* Calculate the task stack base address. Avoid using 'current'
* because this function is called by early resume code which hasn't
* yet set up the percpu register (%gs).
*/
- void *base = (void *)((unsigned long)watermark & ~(THREAD_SIZE - 1));
+ base = (void *)((unsigned long)watermark & ~(THREAD_SIZE - 1));

kasan_unpoison(base, watermark - base, false);
}
--
2.55.0