Re: [PATCH net 2/2] auth_gss: Fix deadlock that blocks rpcsec_gss_exit_net when use-gss-proxy==1

[Trond Myklebust]

On Tue, 2021-09-28 at 10:17 -0400, bfields@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 28, 2021 at 02:04:49PM +0000, Trond Myklebust wrote:
> > On Tue, 2021-09-28 at 09:49 -0400, bfields@xxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > On Tue, Sep 28, 2021 at 01:30:17PM +0000, Trond Myklebust wrote:
> > > > On Tue, 2021-09-28 at 11:14 +0800, Wang Hai wrote:
> > > > > When use-gss-proxy is set to 1, write_gssp() creates a rpc
> > > > > client
> > > > > in
> > > > > gssp_rpc_create(), this increases the netns refcount by 2,
> > > > > these
> > > > > refcounts are supposed to be released in
> > > > > rpcsec_gss_exit_net(),
> > > > > but
> > > > > it
> > > > > will never happen because rpcsec_gss_exit_net() is triggered
> > > > > only
> > > > > when
> > > > > the netns refcount gets to 0, specifically:
> > > > >     refcount=0 -> cleanup_net() -> ops_exit_list ->
> > > > > rpcsec_gss_exit_net
> > > > > It is a deadlock situation here, refcount will never get to 0
> > > > > unless
> > > > > rpcsec_gss_exit_net() is called. So, in this case, the netns
> > > > > refcount
> > > > > should not be increased.
> > > > > 
> > > > > In this case, xprt will take a netns refcount which is not
> > > > > supposed
> > > > > to be taken. Add a new flag to rpc_create_args called
> > > > > RPC_CLNT_CREATE_NO_NET_REF for not increasing the netns
> > > > > refcount.
> > > > > 
> > > > > It is safe not to hold the netns refcount, because when
> > > > > cleanup_net(), it
> > > > > will hold the gssp_lock and then shut down the rpc client
> > > > > synchronously.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > I don't like this solution at all. Adding this kind of flag is
> > > > going to
> > > > lead to problems down the road.
> > > > 
> > > > Is there any reason whatsoever why we need this RPC client to
> > > > exist
> > > > when there is no active knfsd server? IOW: Is there any reason
> > > > why
> > > > we
> > > > shouldn't defer creating this RPC client for when knfsd starts
> > > > up
> > > > in
> > > > this net namespace, and why we can't shut it down when knfsd
> > > > shuts
> > > > down?
> > > 
> > > The rpc create is done in the context of the process that writes
> > > to
> > > /proc/net/rpc/use-gss-proxy to get the right namespaces.  I don't
> > > know
> > > how hard it would be capture that information for a later create.
> > > 
> > 
> > svcauth_gss_proxy_init() uses the net namespace SVC_NET(rqstp)
> > (i.e.
> > the knfsd namespace) in the call to
> > gssp_accept_sec_context_upcall().
> > 
> > IOW: the net namespace used in the call to find the RPC client is
> > the
> > one set up by knfsd, and so if use-gss-proxy was set in a different
> > namespace than the one used by knfsd, then it won't be found.
> 
> Right.  If you've got multiple containers, you don't want to find a
> gss-proxy from a different container.
> 

Exactly. So there is no namespace context to capture in the RPC client
other than what's already in knfsd.
The RPC client doesn't capture any other process context. It can cache
a user cred in order to capture the user namespace, but that
information appears to be unused by this gssd RPC client.

So I'll repeat my question: Why can't we set this gssd RPC client up at
knfsd startup time, and tear it down when knfsd is shut down?

-- 
Trond Myklebust
Linux NFS client maintainer, Hammerspace
trond.myklebust@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx