Re: [PATCH v1 01/25] net: core: device_rename: Use rwsem instead of a seqcount

[Eric Dumazet]

On 5/19/20 2:45 PM, Ahmed S. Darwish wrote:
> Sequence counters write paths are critical sections that must never be
> preempted, and blocking, even for CONFIG_PREEMPTION=n, is not allowed.
> 
> Commit 5dbe7c178d3f ("net: fix kernel deadlock with interface rename and
> netdev name retrieval.") handled a deadlock, observed with
> CONFIG_PREEMPTION=n, where the devnet_rename seqcount read side was
> infinitely spinning: it got scheduled after the seqcount write side
> blocked inside its own critical section.
> 
> To fix that deadlock, among other issues, the commit added a
> cond_resched() inside the read side section. While this will get the
> non-preemptible kernel eventually unstuck, the seqcount reader is fully
> exhausting its slice just spinning -- until TIF_NEED_RESCHED is set.
> 
> The fix is also still broken: if the seqcount reader belongs to a
> real-time scheduling policy, it can spin forever and the kernel will
> livelock.
> 
> Disabling preemption over the seqcount write side critical section will
> not work: inside it are a number of GFP_KERNEL allocations and mutex
> locking through the drivers/base/ :: device_rename() call chain.
> 
> From all the above, replace the seqcount with a rwsem.
> 
> Fixes: 5dbe7c178d3f (net: fix kernel deadlock with interface rename and netdev name retrieval.)
> Fixes: 30e6c9fa93cf (net: devnet_rename_seq should be a seqcount)
> Fixes: c91f6df2db49 (sockopt: Change getsockopt() of SO_BINDTODEVICE to return an interface name)
> Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Ahmed S. Darwish <a.darwish@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  net/core/dev.c | 30 ++++++++++++------------------
>  1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 18 deletions(-)
>

Seems fine to me, assuming rwsem prevent starvation of the writer.

(Presumably this could be a per ndevice rwsem, or per netns, to provide some isolation)

Alternative would be to convert ndev->name from char array to a pointer (rcu protected),
but this looks quite invasive change, certainly not for stable branches.

Reviewed-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>