Re: [PATCH net v4 1/2] tcp: clamp return value of tcp_wmem_schedule() to non-negative
From: Kuniyuki Iwashima
Date: Mon Oct 26 2026 - 22:29:05 EST
On Mon, 26 Oct 2026 13:06:56 +0100, Eric Dumazet wrote:
> Le lun. 26 oct. 2026 à 04:22, Octavian Purdila <tavip@xxxxxxxxxx> a écrit :
> >
> > When sk_wmem_schedule(sk, copy) fails under TCP memory pressure and
> > sk->sk_wmem_queued already reaches or exceeds sysctl_tcp_wmem[0],
> > tcp_wmem_schedule() returns min(copy, sk->sk_forward_alloc).
> >
> > However, sk->sk_forward_alloc is a signed int that can transiently
> > become negative when tcp_collapse() re-packs partially read or high
> > payload-to-truesize SKBs in the receive queue and charges newly
> > allocated SKBs via sk_mem_charge() before freeing the original SKB.
> >
> > If tcp_wmem_schedule() returns a negative value, tcp_sendmsg_locked()
> > passes that negative copy length to skb_copy_to_page_nocache() ->
> > copy_from_iter_full() -> check_copy_size(), where it is converted to an
> > unsigned size_t > INT_MAX, triggering a WARN_ON_ONCE(bytes > INT_MAX)
> > in production and returning -EFAULT instead of waiting for memory or
> > returning -EAGAIN:
> >
> > WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 939331 at include/linux/thread_info.h:249 tcp_sendmsg+0x10c1/0x1530
> > Call Trace:
> > <TASK>
> > __sys_sendmsg+0x292/0x490
> > do_syscall_64+0x88/0x340
> > entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
> >
> > Clamp the return value of tcp_wmem_schedule() to [0, copy] so callers
> > treat negative sk_forward_alloc as 0 available bytes.
> >
> > Fixes: 849b425cd091 ("tcp: fix possible freeze in tx path under memory pressure")
> > Assisted-by: LLM
> > Reviewed-by: Kuniyuki Iwashima <kuniyu@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > Reviewed-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > Signed-off-by: Octavian Purdila <tavip@xxxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > net/ipv4/tcp.c | 2 +-
> > 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
> > index 87ef6d5cbfeba..0e062fcd94a6c 100644
> > --- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
> > +++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
> > @@ -1037,7 +1037,7 @@ int tcp_wmem_schedule(struct sock *sk, int copy)
> > left = READ_ONCE(sock_net(sk)->ipv4.sysctl_tcp_wmem[0]) - sk->sk_wmem_queued;
> > if (left > 0)
> > sk_forced_mem_schedule(sk, min(left, copy));
> > - return min(copy, sk->sk_forward_alloc);
> > + return clamp(sk->sk_forward_alloc, 0, copy);
> > }
> >
> > void tcp_free_fastopen_req(struct tcp_sock *tp)
>
> I do wonder if the following fix could be better (no change in the fast path)
Exactly, this looks better too, we can avoid negative
sk_forward_alloc and clamp().
The packetdrill will need to be adjusted as it triggers cgroup
OOM with this approach, or we could defer the test to net-next too.
>
> Before a complete fix in tcp_collapse() (in net-next)
>
> tcp: do not let tcp_collapse() drive sk_forward_alloc negative
>
> tcp_collapse() charges each newly allocated skb with skb_set_owner_r()
> before the skbs it replaces are freed, without scheduling memory first.
>
> Since sk_mem_uncharge() reclaims eagerly, sk->sk_forward_alloc has no
> cushion and can become negative. This can be durable when the collapsed
> skbs had a high payload/truesize ratio or were partially read, because
> the new skbs can have a bigger total truesize than the old ones.
>
> A negative sk_forward_alloc then confuses tcp_wmem_schedule(), which
> can return a negative length to tcp_sendmsg_locked(), triggering
> a WARN_ON_ONCE(bytes > INT_MAX) in check_copy_size().
>
> Call sk_forced_mem_schedule() before charging nskb.
>
> Fixes: 4890b686f408 ("net: keep sk->sk_forward_alloc as small as possible")
>
> diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c b/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
> index 1ddce9c4b7e8cf91bfd4f5361abec3925fe25046..e879bdfddf1abe2ced80b12ea8a40c1f7c958708
> 100644
> --- a/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
> +++ b/net/ipv4/tcp_input.c
> @@ -5847,6 +5847,10 @@ tcp_collapse(struct sock *sk, struct
> sk_buff_head *list, struct rb_root *root,
> __skb_queue_before(list, skb, nskb);
> else
> __skb_queue_tail(&tmp, nskb); /* defer rbtree
> insertion */
> + /* nskb is charged before the skbs it replaces are freed.
> + * Make sure sk->sk_forward_alloc can not become negative.
> + */
> + sk_forced_mem_schedule(sk, nskb->truesize);
> skb_set_owner_r(nskb, sk);
> mptcp_skb_ext_move(nskb, skb);