Re: [v2 PATCH] mm: vma: skip anonymous vma when inserting vma to file rmap tree

From: Yang Shi
Date: Wed Mar 12 2025 - 23:04:40 EST




On 3/12/25 4:55 PM, Vasily Gorbik wrote:
On Wed, Mar 12, 2025 at 03:15:21PM -0700, Yang Shi wrote:
LKP reported 800% performance improvement for small-allocs benchmark
from vm-scalability [1] with patch ("/dev/zero: make private mapping
full anonymous mapping") [2], but the patch was nack'ed since it changes
the output of smaps somewhat.
...
---
v2:
* Added the comments in code suggested by Lorenzo
* Collected R-b from Lorenze

mm/vma.c | 18 ++++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
Hi Yang,

Replying to v2, as the code is the same as v1 in linux-next:

The LTP test "mmap10" consistently triggers a kernel NULL pointer
dereference with this change, at least on x86 and s390. Reverting just
this single patch from linux-next fixes the issue.

Hi Vasily,

Thanks for the report. It is because dup_mmap() inserts the VMA into file rmap by checking whether vma->vm_file is NULL or not. This splat can be killed by skipping anonymous vma, but this actually will expose a more severe problem. The struct file refcount may be imbalance. The refcount is inc'ed in mmap, then inc'ed again by fork(), it is dec'ed when unmap or process exit. If we skip refcount inc in fork, we need skip refcount dec in unmap too, but there is still one refcount from mmap.

Can we dec refcount in mmap if we see it is anonymous vma finally? Unfortunately, no. If the refcount reaches 0, the struct file will be freed. We will run into UAF when looking up smaps IIUC. It may point to anything.

Lorenzo,

This problem seems more complicated than what I thought in the first place. Making it is a real anonymous vma (vm_file is NULL) may be still the best option. But we need figure out how we can keep compatible smaps.

Andrew,

Can you please drop this patch from your tree?

Thanks,
Yang


LTP: starting mmap10
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 800000010d22a067 P4D 800000010d22a067 PUD 11ff09067 PMD 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP PTI
CPU: 5 UID: 0 PID: 1719 Comm: mmap10 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc6-next-20250312 #3
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX, 1996), BIOS 1.16.3-3.fc41 04/01/2014
RIP: 0010:__rb_insert_augmented+0x2b/0x1d0
Code: 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 8b 3f 48 85 ff 0f 84 a4 01 00 00 41 55 49 89 f5 41 54 49 89 d4 55 53 48 8b 1f f6 c3 01 0f 85 e1 00 00 00 <48> 8b 53 08 48 39 fa 74 67 48 85 d2 74 09 f6 02 01 0f 84 a0 00 00
RSP: 0018:ffffc90002b47cc8 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: ffff8881143ab788 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00000000000009ff
RDX: ffffffff814ad5d0 RSI: ffff888100bb5060 RDI: ffff8881143ab088
RBP: ffff8881053af8c0 R08: ffff8881143ab700 R09: 00007ff6433f2000
R10: 00007ff6433f2000 R11: ffff8881143ab000 R12: ffffffff814ad5d0
R13: ffff888100bb5060 R14: ffff8881143ab700 R15: ffff8881143ab000
FS: 00007ff643df1740(0000) GS:ffff8882b45bf000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 000000011b042000 CR4: 00000000000006f0
Call Trace:
<TASK>
? __die_body.cold+0x19/0x2b
? page_fault_oops+0xc4/0x1f0
? search_extable+0x26/0x30
? search_module_extables+0x3f/0x60
? exc_page_fault+0x6b/0x150
? asm_exc_page_fault+0x26/0x30
? __pfx_vma_interval_tree_augment_rotate+0x10/0x10
? __pfx_vma_interval_tree_augment_rotate+0x10/0x10
? __rb_insert_augmented+0x2b/0x1d0
copy_mm+0x48a/0x8c0
copy_process+0xf98/0x1930
kernel_clone+0xb7/0x3b0
__do_sys_clone+0x65/0x90
do_syscall_64+0x9e/0x1a0
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
RIP: 0033:0x7ff643eb2b00
Code: 31 c0 31 d2 31 f6 bf 11 00 20 01 48 89 e5 53 48 83 ec 08 64 48 8b 04 25 10 00 00 00 4c 8d 90 d0 02 00 00 b8 38 00 00 00 0f 05 <48> 3d 00 f0 ff ff 77 48 89 c3 85 c0 75 31 64 48 8b 04 25 10 00 00
RSP: 002b:00007ffdac219010 EFLAGS: 00000202 ORIG_RAX: 0000000000000038
RAX: ffffffffffffffda RBX: 0000000000000001 RCX: 00007ff643eb2b00
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: 0000000001200011
RBP: 00007ffdac219020 R08: 0000000000000000 R09: 0000000000000000
R10: 00007ff643df1a10 R11: 0000000000000202 R12: 0000000000000001
R13: 0000000000000000 R14: 00007ff644036000 R15: 0000000000000000
</TASK>
Modules linked in:
CR2: 0000000000000008
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
RIP: 0010:__rb_insert_augmented+0x2b/0x1d0
Code: 0f 1e fa 48 89 f8 48 8b 3f 48 85 ff 0f 84 a4 01 00 00 41 55 49 89 f5 41 54 49 89 d4 55 53 48 8b 1f f6 c3 01 0f 85 e1 00 00 00 <48> 8b 53 08 48 39 fa 74 67 48 85 d2 74 09 f6 02 01 0f 84 a0 00 00
RSP: 0018:ffffc90002b47cc8 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: ffff8881143ab788 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 00000000000009ff
RDX: ffffffff814ad5d0 RSI: ffff888100bb5060 RDI: ffff8881143ab088
RBP: ffff8881053af8c0 R08: ffff8881143ab700 R09: 00007ff6433f2000
R10: 00007ff6433f2000 R11: ffff8881143ab000 R12: ffffffff814ad5d0
R13: ffff888100bb5060 R14: ffff8881143ab700 R15: ffff8881143ab000
FS: 00007ff643df1740(0000) GS:ffff8882b45bf000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: 0000000000000008 CR3: 000000011b042000 CR4: 00000000000006f0



LTP: starting mmap10
Unable to handle kernel pointer dereference in virtual kernel address space
Failing address: 0000000000000000 TEID: 0000000000000483
Fault in home space mode while using kernel ASCE.
AS:000000000247c007 R3:00000001ffffc007 S:00000001ffffb801 P:000000000000013d
Oops: 0004 ilc:3 [#1] SMP
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 665 Comm: mmap10 Not tainted 6.14.0-rc6-next-20250312 #16
Hardware name: IBM 3931 A01 704 (KVM/Linux)
Krnl PSW : 0704c00180000000 000003ffe0ee0440 (__rb_insert_augmented+0x60/0x210)
R:0 T:1 IO:1 EX:1 Key:0 M:1 W:0 P:0 AS:3 CC:0 PM:0 RI:0 EA:3
Krnl GPRS: 00000000009ff000 0000000000000000 000000008e5f7508 0000000084a7ed08
00000000000009fe 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000037fe06c7b68
00000000801d0e90 000003ffe04158d0 0000000084a7ed08 0000000000000000
000003ffbb700000 00000000801d0e48 000003ffe0ee057c 0000037fe06c7a40
Krnl Code: 000003ffe0ee0430: e31030080004 lg %r1,8(%r3)
000003ffe0ee0436: ec1200888064 cgrj %r1,%r2,8,000003ffe0ee0546
#000003ffe0ee043c: b90400a3 lgr %r10,%r3
>000003ffe0ee0440: e310b0100024 stg %r1,16(%r11)
000003ffe0ee0446: e3b030080024 stg %r11,8(%r3)
000003ffe0ee044c: ec180009007c cgij %r1,0,8,000003ffe0ee045e
000003ffe0ee0452: ec2b000100d9 aghik %r2,%r11,1
000003ffe0ee0458: e32010000024 stg %r2,0(%r1)
Call Trace:
[<000003ffe0ee0440>] __rb_insert_augmented+0x60/0x210
[<000003ffe016d6c4>] dup_mmap+0x424/0x8c0
[<000003ffe016dc62>] copy_mm+0x102/0x1c0
[<000003ffe016e8ae>] copy_process+0x7ce/0x12b0
[<000003ffe016f458>] kernel_clone+0x68/0x380
[<000003ffe016f84a>] __do_sys_clone+0x5a/0x70
[<000003ffe016faa0>] __s390x_sys_clone+0x40/0x50
[<000003ffe011c9b6>] do_syscall.constprop.0+0x116/0x140
[<000003ffe0ef1d64>] __do_syscall+0xd4/0x1c0
[<000003ffe0efd044>] system_call+0x74/0x98
Last Breaking-Event-Address:
[<000003ffe0ee058a>] __rb_insert_augmented+0x1aa/0x210
Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception: panic_on_oops