[PATCH 2/3] cgroup: add lockless fast-path checks to cgroup_file_notify()
From: Shakeel Butt
Date: Sat Feb 28 2026 - 09:21:59 EST
Add two lockless checks before acquiring the lock:
1. READ_ONCE(cfile->kn) NULL check to skip torn-down files.
2. READ_ONCE(cfile->notified_at) check to skip when within the
rate-limit window (~10ms).
Both checks have safe error directions -- a stale read can only cause
unnecessary lock acquisition, never a missed notification. Annotate
all write sites with WRITE_ONCE() to pair with the lockless readers.
The trade-off is that trailing timer_reduce() calls during bursts are
skipped, so the deferred notification that delivers the final state
may be lost. This is acceptable for the primary callers like
__memcg_memory_event() where events keep arriving.
Signed-off-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>
Reported-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c | 21 ++++++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 14 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
index 33282c7d71e4..5473ebd0f6c1 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
@@ -1749,7 +1749,7 @@ static void cgroup_rm_file(struct cgroup *cgrp, const struct cftype *cft)
struct cgroup_file *cfile = (void *)css + cft->file_offset;
spin_lock_irq(&cgroup_file_kn_lock);
- cfile->kn = NULL;
+ WRITE_ONCE(cfile->kn, NULL);
spin_unlock_irq(&cgroup_file_kn_lock);
timer_delete_sync(&cfile->notify_timer);
@@ -4430,7 +4430,7 @@ static int cgroup_add_file(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css, struct cgroup *cgrp,
timer_setup(&cfile->notify_timer, cgroup_file_notify_timer, 0);
spin_lock_irq(&cgroup_file_kn_lock);
- cfile->kn = kn;
+ WRITE_ONCE(cfile->kn, kn);
spin_unlock_irq(&cgroup_file_kn_lock);
}
@@ -4686,20 +4686,27 @@ int cgroup_add_legacy_cftypes(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cftype *cfts)
*/
void cgroup_file_notify(struct cgroup_file *cfile)
{
- unsigned long flags;
+ unsigned long flags, last, next;
struct kernfs_node *kn = NULL;
+ if (!READ_ONCE(cfile->kn))
+ return;
+
+ last = READ_ONCE(cfile->notified_at);
+ if (time_before_eq(jiffies, last + CGROUP_FILE_NOTIFY_MIN_INTV))
+ return;
+
spin_lock_irqsave(&cgroup_file_kn_lock, flags);
if (cfile->kn) {
- unsigned long last = cfile->notified_at;
- unsigned long next = last + CGROUP_FILE_NOTIFY_MIN_INTV;
+ last = cfile->notified_at;
+ next = last + CGROUP_FILE_NOTIFY_MIN_INTV;
- if (time_in_range(jiffies, last, next)) {
+ if (time_before_eq(jiffies, next)) {
timer_reduce(&cfile->notify_timer, next);
} else {
kn = cfile->kn;
kernfs_get(kn);
- cfile->notified_at = jiffies;
+ WRITE_ONCE(cfile->notified_at, jiffies);
}
}
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cgroup_file_kn_lock, flags);
--
2.47.3