[PATCH] mm: do not install PMD mappings when handling a COW fault

From: Zhang Yi

Date: Thu Oct 23 2025 - 21:56:53 EST


From: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@xxxxxxxxxx>

During the ping of user pages in FOLL_LONGTERM on a COW VMA and a
PMD-aligned (2MB on x86) large folio, follow_page_mask() failed to
obtain a valid anonymous page, resulting in an infinite loop issue.
The specific triggering process is as follows:

1. User call mmap with a 2MB size in MAP_PRIVATE mode for a file that
has a 2MB large folio installed in the page cache.

addr = mmap(NULL, 2*1024*1024, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, file_fd, 0);

2. The kernel driver pass this mapped address to pin_user_pages_fast()
in FOLL_LONGTERM mode.

pin_user_pages_fast(addr, 512, FOLL_LONGTERM, pages);

-> pin_user_pages_fast()
| gup_fast_fallback()
| __gup_longterm_locked()
| __get_user_pages_locked()
| __get_user_pages()
| follow_page_mask()
| follow_p4d_mask()
| follow_pud_mask()
| follow_pmd_mask() //pmd_leaf(pmdval) is true because the
| //huge PMD is installed. This is normal
| //in the first round, but it shouldn't
| //happen in the second round.
| follow_huge_pmd() //require an anonymous page
| return -EMLINK;
| faultin_page()
| handle_mm_fault()
| wp_huge_pmd() //remove PMD and fall back to PTE
| handle_pte_fault()
| do_pte_missing()
| do_fault()
| do_read_fault() //FAULT_FLAG_WRITE is not set
| finish_fault()
| do_set_pmd() //install a huge PMD again, this is wrong!!!
| do_wp_page() //create private anonymous pages
<- goto retry;

Due to an incorrectly large PMD set in do_read_fault(),
follow_pmd_mask() always returns -EMLINK, causing an infinite loop.

David pointed out that we can preallocate a page table and remap the PMD
to be mapped by a PTE table in wp_huge_pmd() in the future. But now we
can avoid this issue by not installing PMD mappings when handling a COW
and unshare fault in do_set_pmd().

Fixes: a7f226604170 ("mm/gup: trigger FAULT_FLAG_UNSHARE when R/O-pinning a possibly shared anonymous page")
Reported-by: Karol Wachowski <karol.wachowski@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-ext4/844e5cd4-462e-4b88-b3b5-816465a3b7e3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/memory.c | 5 +++++
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
index 0ba4f6b71847..0748a31367df 100644
--- a/mm/memory.c
+++ b/mm/memory.c
@@ -5212,6 +5212,11 @@ vm_fault_t do_set_pmd(struct vm_fault *vmf, struct folio *folio, struct page *pa
if (!thp_vma_suitable_order(vma, haddr, PMD_ORDER))
return ret;

+ /* We're about to trigger CoW, so never map it through a PMD. */
+ if (is_cow_mapping(vma->vm_flags) &&
+ (vmf->flags & (FAULT_FLAG_WRITE|FAULT_FLAG_UNSHARE)))
+ return ret;
+
if (folio_order(folio) != HPAGE_PMD_ORDER)
return ret;
page = &folio->page;
--
2.46.1