[PATCH 39/46] mm/ksm: fix use of a freed anon_vma at swap-in
From: David Hildenbrand (Arm)
Date: Mon Oct 26 2026 - 19:35:49 EST
A folio read from a swap slot previously shared by KSM can remain in the
swap cache after the process that first mapped it exits. Its anon_vma
can then be freed, so ksm_might_need_to_copy() must not dereference it
to compare roots.
Doing so can result in some false-positives, resulting in the reverse
mapping missing the new folio mapping, preventing migration and reclaim.
SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU allows individual anon_vma objects to be reused
immediately after freeing. A stale pointer can then refer to another
anon_vma whose root matches, even though the target VMA is not linked
to that anon_vma.
Move the anonymous rmap compatibility checks into
folio_anon_rmap_compatible(). Keep the page-index check and compare the
folio's anon_vma pointer against the VMA's own anon_vma and root first.
If neither matches, bite the bullet and walk the VMA's anon_vma_chain.
The VMA keeps these anon_vmas alive, and finding a match guarantees that
reverse mapping can find the new mapping.
Lorenzo Stoakes says in a private discussion:
"This isn't quite equivalent to the existing check.
Every anon_vma in an anon_vma_chain shares the same root, but if you
split a VMA then fork both of them like this:
VMA A
/ \ <split>
VMA B VMA C
\ /
root <- anon_vma 1
----^ ^---- <fork>
/ parent \
anon_vma 2 anon_vma 3
| |
VMA D VMA E
VMA's D and E both get their own new
anon_vma's such that:
VMA D: anon_vma 2 -> anon_vma 1 -> root
VMA E: anon_vma 3 -> anon_vma 1 -> root
And if you found a folio referencing anon_vma 2, the existing check:
anon_vma->root == vma->anon-vma->root
Would be true for VMA's B, C, D & E.
However after your change it'd be true for VMA D only, as it's the only
one with anon_vma 2 in its anon_vma_chain.
Whether or not that could actually happen in practice... 🙂 I don't
know.
[...] after your change it'd be true for VMA D only, as it's the only
one with anon_vma 2 in its anon_vma_chain. [...] I would [...] say that
you are making the test stricter but more correct.
"
If this affects performance when KSM was never even involved, we could
just track whether KSM ever merged anything and just skip these checks.
There isn't really a lot we can do otherwise: for mapped folios we might
be able to use folio_get_anon_vma(), but for unmapped folios there really
is no easy way to see if the anon_vma is still valid.
Document the (confusing) lifetime requirements of folio_anon_vma().
Fixes: ba6f0ff3981e ("ksm: fix ksm swapin time optimization")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Reported-by: Chris Mason <mason@xxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/ksm.c | 36 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----
mm/util.c | 13 +++++++++++++
2 files changed, 44 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/mm/ksm.c b/mm/ksm.c
index 9c51925825cbf..e050b1bdf810d 100644
--- a/mm/ksm.c
+++ b/mm/ksm.c
@@ -3137,11 +3137,40 @@ void __ksm_exit(struct mm_struct *mm)
trace_ksm_exit(mm);
}
+static bool folio_anon_rmap_compatible(const struct folio *folio,
+ struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long addr)
+{
+ const struct anon_vma *anon_vma = folio_anon_vma(folio);
+ struct anon_vma_chain *avc;
+
+ VM_WARN_ON_ONCE_FOLIO(!folio_test_locked(folio), folio);
+ VM_WARN_ON_ONCE_FOLIO(folio_test_large(folio), folio);
+ VM_WARN_ON_ONCE_FOLIO(folio_test_ksm(folio), folio);
+ vma_assert_stabilised(vma);
+
+ if (!anon_vma)
+ return true;
+ if (folio->index != linear_anon_page_index(vma, addr))
+ return false;
+
+ /*
+ * Careful: anon_vma might have been freed, so we cannot safely
+ * dereference it. Add a fast path before we walk the anon_vma chain.
+ */
+ if (anon_vma == vma->anon_vma || anon_vma == vma->anon_vma->root)
+ return true;
+
+ list_for_each_entry(avc, &vma->anon_vma_chain, same_vma) {
+ if (avc->anon_vma == anon_vma)
+ return true;
+ }
+ return false;
+}
+
struct folio *ksm_might_need_to_copy(struct folio *folio,
struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long addr)
{
struct page *page = folio_page(folio, 0);
- struct anon_vma *anon_vma = folio_anon_vma(folio);
struct folio *new_folio;
if (folio_test_large(folio))
@@ -3151,10 +3180,7 @@ struct folio *ksm_might_need_to_copy(struct folio *folio,
if (folio_stable_node(folio) &&
!(ksm_run & KSM_RUN_UNMERGE))
return folio; /* no need to copy it */
- } else if (!anon_vma) {
- return folio; /* no need to copy it */
- } else if (folio->index == linear_anon_page_index(vma, addr) &&
- anon_vma->root == vma->anon_vma->root) {
+ } else if (folio_anon_rmap_compatible(folio, vma, addr)) {
return folio; /* still no need to copy it */
}
if (PageHWPoison(page))
diff --git a/mm/util.c b/mm/util.c
index 7f374bb8bf363..67f8fca3b2056 100644
--- a/mm/util.c
+++ b/mm/util.c
@@ -697,6 +697,19 @@ void *vcalloc_noprof(size_t n, size_t size)
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL(vcalloc_noprof);
+/**
+ * folio_anon_vma - Get a folio's raw anon_vma pointer.
+ * @folio: The folio.
+ *
+ * The returned pointer may be stale for an unmapped folio. The caller
+ * must ensure the anon_vma stays alive before dereferencing it. A folio
+ * reference or lock alone is insufficient; use folio_get_anon_vma() when
+ * the anon_vma's lifetime is not otherwise protected. Note that
+ * folio_get_anon_vma() is only useful for folios that are still mapped.
+ *
+ * Return: The raw anon_vma pointer for an anonymous, non-KSM folio, or
+ * %NULL otherwise.
+ */
struct anon_vma *folio_anon_vma(const struct folio *folio)
{
unsigned long mapping = (unsigned long)folio->mapping;
--
2.43.0