Re: [PATCH] fs/proc/task_mmu: pin mm_users in do_pagemap_scan()

[Andrew Morton]

On Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:55:40 +0700 Ngoc Quy <ngocquy0700@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> The PAGEMAP_SCAN ioctl takes mmap_read_lock() on an mm obtained from
> /proc/<pid>/pagemap without holding a reference to mm_users.
> 
> proc_mem_open() deliberately grabs only mm_count, so a consumer that
> touches the address space has to call mmget_not_zero() first. Every
> other consumer in this file does -- m_start(), do_procmap_query(),
> show_smaps_rollup() and pagemap_read() -- but do_pagemap_scan() does
> not.
> 
> Without that reference the target can reach exit_mmap() concurrently,
> and exit_mmap() calls unmap_vmas() while holding mmap_lock only for
> reading, which does not exclude the scanner. For ordinary VMAs this is
> harmless, as free_pgtables() and remove_vma() run afterwards under
> mmap_write_lock. A shared hugetlb VMA is different: __hugetlb_zap_end()
> frees the VMA's hugetlb_vma_lock inside the read-locked phase.
> 
> walk_hugetlb_range() can therefore load vma->vm_private_data, have the
> lock freed underneath it, and then down_read() a freed rw_semaphore.
> The load happens before the freeing side clears the pointer, so this is
> a use-after-free and not a NULL dereference. Any unprivileged user can
> reach it with no huge pages configured, as hugetlb_reserve_pages()
> allocates the lock before the VM_NORESERVE early return.
> 
> Pin mm_users across the scan, the way the other consumers do. mmput()
> from the exiting task can then no longer reach exit_mmap() while a walk
> is in progress.

All looks good and checks out for me, thanks.

Except...

> --- a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> +++ b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> @@ -3231,15 +3231,18 @@ static long do_pagemap_scan(struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long uarg)
>  	size_t n_ranges_out = 0;
>  	int ret;
>  
> +	if (!mm || !mmget_not_zero(mm))
> +		return -ESRCH;

Why the new test for !mm?  The current call chain guarantees this is a
cant-happen and the current do_pagemap_scan will cheerfully oops if
mm==NULL.

If we start getting mm==NULL passed into the function then we want to
know why, and an oops is a good way of bringing attention, Quietly
accepting it reduces our ability to find stuff we did wrong,