[PATCH v2] mm: khugepaged: fix memory leak in collapse_file xas retry loop

From: Shardul Bankar
Date: Mon Nov 24 2025 - 11:12:32 EST


collapse_file() uses xas_create_range() in a retry loop that calls
xas_nomem() on -ENOMEM and then retries. xas_nomem() may allocate a
spare xa_node and store it in xas->xa_alloc.

If the lock is dropped after xas_nomem(), another thread can expand
the xarray tree in the meantime. On the next retry, xas_create_range()
can then succeed trivially without consuming the node stored in
xas->xa_alloc. If we then either succeed or give up and go to the
rollback path without calling xas_destroy(), that spare node leaks.

Fix this by calling xas_destroy(&xas) in both the success case
(!xas_error(&xas)) and the failure case where xas_nomem() returns
false and we abort. xas_destroy() will free any unused spare node in
xas->xa_alloc and is a no-op if there is nothing left to free.

Link: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?id=a274d65fc733448ed518ad15481ed575669dd98c
Fixes: cae106dd67b9 ("mm/khugepaged: refactor collapse_file control flow")
Signed-off-by: Shardul Bankar <shardul.b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
- Call xas_destroy() on both success and failure
- Explained retry semantics and xa_alloc / concurrency risk
- Dropped cleanup_empty_nodes from previous proposal

mm/khugepaged.c | 5 ++++-
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mm/khugepaged.c b/mm/khugepaged.c
index abe54f0043c7..0794a99c807f 100644
--- a/mm/khugepaged.c
+++ b/mm/khugepaged.c
@@ -1872,11 +1872,14 @@ static int collapse_file(struct mm_struct *mm, unsigned long addr,
do {
xas_lock_irq(&xas);
xas_create_range(&xas);
- if (!xas_error(&xas))
+ if (!xas_error(&xas)) {
+ xas_destroy(&xas);
break;
+ }
xas_unlock_irq(&xas);
if (!xas_nomem(&xas, GFP_KERNEL)) {
result = SCAN_FAIL;
+ xas_destroy(&xas);
goto rollback;
}
} while (1);
--
2.34.1