Re: [PATCH -V2] mm, swap: Remove unnecessary smp_rmb() in swap_type_to_swap_info()

From: Will Deacon
Date: Wed Jun 02 2021 - 12:04:01 EST


On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 03:33:01PM +0800, Huang Ying wrote:
> Before commit c10d38cc8d3e ("mm, swap: bounds check swap_info array
> accesses to avoid NULL derefs"), the typical code to reference the
> swap_info[] is as follows,
>
> type = swp_type(swp_entry);
> if (type >= nr_swapfiles)
> /* handle invalid swp_entry */;
> p = swap_info[type];
> /* access fields of *p. OOPS! p may be NULL! */
>
> Because the ordering isn't guaranteed, it's possible that
> swap_info[type] is read before "nr_swapfiles". And that may result
> in NULL pointer dereference.
>
> So after commit c10d38cc8d3e, the code becomes,
>
> struct swap_info_struct *swap_type_to_swap_info(int type)
> {
> if (type >= READ_ONCE(nr_swapfiles))
> return NULL;
> smp_rmb();
> return READ_ONCE(swap_info[type]);
> }
>
> /* users */
> type = swp_type(swp_entry);
> p = swap_type_to_swap_info(type);
> if (!p)
> /* handle invalid swp_entry */;
> /* dereference p */
>
> Where the value of swap_info[type] (that is, "p") is checked to be
> non-zero before being dereferenced. So, the NULL deferencing
> becomes impossible even if "nr_swapfiles" is read after
> swap_info[type]. Therefore, the "smp_rmb()" becomes unnecessary.
>
> And, we don't even need to read "nr_swapfiles" here. Because the
> non-zero checking for "p" is sufficient. We just need to make sure we
> will not access out of the boundary of the array. With the change,
> nr_swapfiles will only be accessed with swap_lock held, except in
> swapcache_free_entries(). Where the absolute correctness of the value
> isn't needed, as described in the comments.
>
> We still need to guarantee swap_info[type] is read before being
> dereferenced. That can be satisfied via the data dependency ordering
> enforced by READ_ONCE(swap_info[type]). This needs to be paired with
> proper write barriers. So smp_store_release() is used in
> alloc_swap_info() to guarantee the fields of *swap_info[type] is
> initialized before swap_info[type] itself being written. Note that
> the fields of *swap_info[type] is initialized to be 0 via kvzalloc()
> firstly. The assignment and deferencing of swap_info[type] is like
> rcu_assign_pointer() and rcu_dereference().
>
> Signed-off-by: "Huang, Ying" <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Daniel Jordan <daniel.m.jordan@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Andrea Parri <andrea.parri@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Andi Kleen <ak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Omar Sandoval <osandov@xxxxxx>
> Cc: Paul McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Tejun Heo <tj@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: Will Deacon <will.deacon@xxxxxxx>
> Cc: Miaohe Lin <linmiaohe@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> v2:
>
> - Revise the patch description and comments per Peter's comments.
>
> ---
> mm/swapfile.c | 15 ++++++---------
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/mm/swapfile.c b/mm/swapfile.c
> index 2aad85751991..65dd979a0f94 100644
> --- a/mm/swapfile.c
> +++ b/mm/swapfile.c
> @@ -100,11 +100,10 @@ atomic_t nr_rotate_swap = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
>
> static struct swap_info_struct *swap_type_to_swap_info(int type)
> {
> - if (type >= READ_ONCE(nr_swapfiles))
> + if (type >= MAX_SWAPFILES)
> return NULL;
>
> - smp_rmb(); /* Pairs with smp_wmb in alloc_swap_info. */
> - return READ_ONCE(swap_info[type]);
> + return READ_ONCE(swap_info[type]); /* rcu_dereference() */
> }
>
> static inline unsigned char swap_count(unsigned char ent)
> @@ -2884,14 +2883,12 @@ static struct swap_info_struct *alloc_swap_info(void)
> }
> if (type >= nr_swapfiles) {
> p->type = type;
> - WRITE_ONCE(swap_info[type], p);
> /*
> - * Write swap_info[type] before nr_swapfiles, in case a
> - * racing procfs swap_start() or swap_next() is reading them.
> - * (We never shrink nr_swapfiles, we never free this entry.)
> + * Publish the swap_info_struct after initializing it.
> + * Note that kvzalloc() above zeroes all its fields.
> */
> - smp_wmb();
> - WRITE_ONCE(nr_swapfiles, nr_swapfiles + 1);
> + smp_store_release(&swap_info[type], p); /* rcu_assign_pointer() */
> + nr_swapfiles++;

Although I like this change, I comment you are removing refers to some
dodgy-looking code. For example, swap_start() has this loop:

for (type = 0; (si = swap_type_to_swap_info(type)); type++) {
if (!(si->flags & SWP_USED) || !si->swap_map)
continue;

so won't this just end up dereferencing NULL if nr_swapfiles < MAX_SWAPFILES?

I think you need to check all callers of swap_type_to_swap_info() are
either validating the 'type' they pass in or check the returned pointer.

Will