Re: [PATCH v3] mm: mglru: fix stale batch updates after memcg reparenting

From: Qi Zheng

Date: Fri Jun 26 2026 - 00:49:29 EST




On 6/26/26 12:43 PM, Harry Yoo wrote:


On 6/26/26 11:27 AM, Qi Zheng wrote:
Hi Johannes,

On 6/26/26 2:41 AM, Johannes Weiner wrote:
On Thu, Jun 25, 2026 at 11:15:54PM +0800, Qi Zheng wrote:
From: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

The mglru page table walker batches per-generation size deltas in
walk->nr_pages while walking page tables without holding the lruvec
lock.
The reset_batch_size() later folds those deltas into walk->lruvec under
the lruvec lock.

The page table walker can run concurrently with the memcg reparenting
path
as follows:

CPU0                           CPU1
====                           ====

walk_mm
--> walk_page_range
     --> update_batch_size
         --> walk->nr_pages += delta

                               mem_cgroup_css_offline
                               --> memcg_reparent_objcgs
                                   --> lock lruvec
                                       lru_gen_reparent_memcg
                                       --> reparent child folios to
parent
                                       unlock lruvec

     lock lruvec
     reset_batch_size
     --> child lrugen->nr_pages += delta

This will trigger the following warning in lru_gen_exit_memcg():

    VM_WARN_ON_ONCE(memchr_inv(lruvec->lrugen.nr_pages, 0,
                   sizeof(lruvec->lrugen.nr_pages)));

And the user-visible impact of underestimated nr_pages in MGLRU was
premature OOMs because MGLRU does not try to reclaim memory when
nr_pages
reaches zero, but there are still more pages.

To fix it, make reset_batch_size() check CSS_DYING under RCU before
flushing the pending batch. A non-dying memcg keeps the original lruvec
stable against RCU-delayed offlining; a dying memcg redirects the deltas
to the first non-dying ancestor.

Reported-by: Peiyang He <peiyang_he@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/5A9E929D82717101+12fcf643-
efb8-4b9a-a53a-1e28cc894f0b@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fixes: f304652609ea ("mm: vmscan: prepare for reparenting MGLRU folios")
Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes in v3:
  - re-implement lock_batch_lruvec() by checking CSS_DYING under the
RCU lock
    (suggested by Harry)
  - update the commit message (suggested by Harry)
  - temporarily drop the previous Reviewed-by tags
    (since the sync method has changed)
  - rebase onto the next-20260624

Changes in v2:
  - update the commit message (pointed by Barry)
  - collect Reviewed-by

  mm/vmscan.c | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
  1 file changed, 38 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/vmscan.c b/mm/vmscan.c
index 35c3bb15ae96..1ec8c23c72b9 100644
--- a/mm/vmscan.c
+++ b/mm/vmscan.c
@@ -3262,10 +3262,44 @@ static void update_batch_size(struct
lru_gen_mm_walk *walk, struct folio *folio,
      walk->nr_pages[new_gen][type][zone] += delta;
  }
  +#ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG
+static struct lruvec *lock_batch_lruvec(struct lruvec *lruvec)
+{
+    struct pglist_data *pgdat = lruvec_pgdat(lruvec);
+    struct mem_cgroup *memcg = lruvec_memcg(lruvec);
+
+    rcu_read_lock();

Where is this unlocked?

The lruvec_unlock_irq() in reset_batch_size() will handle the unlocking.


+    /*
+     * The memcg can be NULL when the memory controller is disabled.
+     * Otherwise, the caller keeps the memcg owning @lruvec alive.
+     */
+    if (!memcg || !css_is_dying(&memcg->css))
+        goto lock;
+
+    do {
+        memcg = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg);
+    } while (memcg && css_is_dying(&memcg->css));
+    lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, pgdat);

    while (unlikely(memcg && css_is_dying(&memcg->css))) {
        memcg = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg);
        lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, pgdat);

There is no need to acquire the lruvec before finding the first
non-dying memcg.

struct pglist_data *pgdat = lruvec_pgdat(lruvec);
struct mem_cgroup *memcg = lruvec_memcg(lruvec);

rcu_read_lock()

while (unlikely(memcg_is_dying(memcg)))
memcg = parent_mem_cgroup(memcg);

lruvec = mem_cgroup_lruvec(memcg, pgdat);

If the first memcg is already non-dying, there's no need to re-acquire
the lruvec. ;)

Thanks,
Qi

spin_lock_irq(&lruvec->lru_lock);

return lruvec;

should work?

if the memory controller is disabled, it's equivalent to:

rcu_read_lock();
spin_lock_irq(&lruvec->lru_lock);
return lruvec;