[PATCH v2 1/3] cgroup: reduce cgroup_file_kn_lock hold time in cgroup_file_notify()
From: Shakeel Butt
Date: Tue Mar 10 2026 - 21:01:27 EST
cgroup_file_notify() calls kernfs_notify() while holding the global
cgroup_file_kn_lock. kernfs_notify() does non-trivial work including
wake_up_interruptible() and acquisition of a second global spinlock
(kernfs_notify_lock), inflating the hold time.
Take a kernfs_get() reference under the lock and call kernfs_notify()
after dropping it, following the pattern from cgroup_file_show().
Reported-by: Jakub Kicinski <kuba@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes since v1:
- N/A
kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c | 9 ++++++++-
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
index 7e99258e9090..b3fbeadb2b5a 100644
--- a/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
+++ b/kernel/cgroup/cgroup.c
@@ -4686,6 +4686,7 @@ int cgroup_add_legacy_cftypes(struct cgroup_subsys *ss, struct cftype *cfts)
void cgroup_file_notify(struct cgroup_file *cfile)
{
unsigned long flags;
+ struct kernfs_node *kn = NULL;
spin_lock_irqsave(&cgroup_file_kn_lock, flags);
if (cfile->kn) {
@@ -4695,11 +4696,17 @@ void cgroup_file_notify(struct cgroup_file *cfile)
if (time_in_range(jiffies, last, next)) {
timer_reduce(&cfile->notify_timer, next);
} else {
- kernfs_notify(cfile->kn);
+ kn = cfile->kn;
+ kernfs_get(kn);
cfile->notified_at = jiffies;
}
}
spin_unlock_irqrestore(&cgroup_file_kn_lock, flags);
+
+ if (kn) {
+ kernfs_notify(kn);
+ kernfs_put(kn);
+ }
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(cgroup_file_notify);
--
2.52.0