Re: [Patch mm-hotfixes v4] mm/page_vma_mapped: fix device-private PMD handling

From: Wei Yang

Date: Fri Jun 26 2026 - 20:04:31 EST


On Fri, Jun 26, 2026 at 12:07:56PM +0200, David Hildenbrand (Arm) wrote:
>On 6/24/26 08:53, Wei Yang wrote:
>> Commit 65edfda6f3f2 ("mm/rmap: extend rmap and migration support
>> device-private entries") introduced the concept of device-private
>> PMD entries, but did not correctly update the rmap walk code to
>> account for them.
>>
>> As a result, when page_vma_mapped_walk() encounters device-private
>> PMD entries, it takes no action other than to acquire the PMD lock
>> and exit.
>>
>> However this is highly problematic for two reasons - firstly,
>> device private entries possess a PFN so check_pmd() needs to be
>> called to ensure an overlapping PFN range.
>>
>> Secondly, and more importantly, if PVMW_MIGRATION is set the
>> caller assumes the returned entry is a migration entry, resulting
>> in memory corruption when the caller tries to interpret the device
>> private entry as such.
>>
>> In addition, commit 146287290023 ("mm/huge_memory: implement
>> device-private THP splitting") allowed device private PMDs to be
>> split like THP mappings, but again did not update this code path.
>>
>> As a result, we might race a PMD split prior to acquiring the PMD
>> lock.
>>
>> This patch addresses all of these issues by invoking check_pmd(),
>> ensuring PMVW_MIGRATION is not set and checks whether a split raced
>> us we do for PMD THP and migration entries.
>>
>> Fixes: 65edfda6f3f2 ("mm/rmap: extend rmap and migration support device-private entries")
>> Cc: <stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Signed-off-by: Wei Yang <richard.weiyang@xxxxxxxxx>
>> Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Balbir Singh <balbirs@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: SeongJae Park <sj@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Lorenzo Stoakes <ljs@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Cc: Lance Yang <lance.yang@xxxxxxxxx>
>>
>> ---
>> v4:
>> * refine subject and commit log based on Lorenzo's suggestion
>> * put pmd device-private entry handling in its own if branch,
>> suggested by Lorenzo
>>
>> v3:
>> * remove cleanup part, only fix the issue for device-private entry
>> * refine user effect description based on Lorenzo's suggestion
>>
>> v2: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260616063436.20455-1-richard.weiyang@xxxxxxxxx/T/#u
>> * specify the possible error case of current code and user visible effect
>> * besides fix, cleanup the pmd entry handling based on David's suggestion
>>
>> v1: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260508013728.21285-1-richard.weiyang@xxxxxxxxx/
>> ---
>> mm/page_vma_mapped.c | 20 +++++++++++++++-----
>> 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/mm/page_vma_mapped.c b/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>> index 2ccbabfb2cc1..17dff8aab9f9 100644
>> --- a/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>> +++ b/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>> @@ -269,14 +269,24 @@ bool page_vma_mapped_walk(struct page_vma_mapped_walk *pvmw)
>> /* THP pmd was split under us: handle on pte level */
>> spin_unlock(pvmw->ptl);
>> pvmw->ptl = NULL;
>> - } else if (!pmd_present(pmde)) {
>> - const softleaf_t entry = softleaf_from_pmd(pmde);
>> + } else if (pmd_is_device_private_entry(pmde)) {
>> + softleaf_t entry;
>> +
>> + pvmw->ptl = pmd_lock(mm, pvmw->pmd);
>> + pmde = *pvmw->pmd;
>> + entry = softleaf_from_pmd(pmde);
>>
>> - if (softleaf_is_device_private(entry)) {
>> - pvmw->ptl = pmd_lock(mm, pvmw->pmd);
>> + if (likely(softleaf_is_device_private(entry))) {
>> + if (pvmw->flags & PVMW_MIGRATION)
>> + return not_found(pvmw);
>> + if (!check_pmd(softleaf_to_pfn(entry), pvmw))
>> + return not_found(pvmw);
>> return true;
>> }
>> -
>> + /* device-private pmd was split under us: handle on pte level */
>> + spin_unlock(pvmw->ptl);
>> + pvmw->ptl = NULL;
>> + } else if (!pmd_present(pmde)) {
>> if ((pvmw->flags & PVMW_SYNC) &&
>> thp_vma_suitable_order(vma, pvmw->address,
>> PMD_ORDER) &&
>
>This is extremely hard to review given the existing crap handling here. I'm
>really sorry, but it makes my head hurt (I'm not kidding :) ).
>
>It's completely unclear why we only have to check for a subset of the cases
>after taking the lock.
>
>Could we simply extend the existing migration pmd handling and leave the
>!pmd_present() case for pmd_none()?
>
>That leaves no question to "which transitions are actually allowed", including
>"could we accidentally assume something is a page table when really it isn't".
>

Consolidate all the cases in one place looks reasonable.

And make the logic clearer.

>
>So what about something like the following?
>
>The "thp_migration_supported()" is not required when checking for
>pmd_is_migration_entry(), as that defaults to "false" when not compiled in.
>
>Untested:
>
>
>>From 048ecd33673ec649e168fbbb97749a7c0e344fcd Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
>From: "David Hildenbrand (Arm)" <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
>Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2026 12:03:40 +0200
>Subject: [PATCH] tmp
>
>Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
>---
> mm/page_vma_mapped.c | 29 +++++++++++++++++------------
> 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
>
>diff --git a/mm/page_vma_mapped.c b/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>index 2ccbabfb2cc17..ed2a23a90e8dd 100644
>--- a/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>+++ b/mm/page_vma_mapped.c
>@@ -243,21 +243,31 @@ bool page_vma_mapped_walk(struct page_vma_mapped_walk *pvmw)
> */
> pmde = pmdp_get_lockless(pvmw->pmd);
>
>- if (pmd_trans_huge(pmde) || pmd_is_migration_entry(pmde)) {
>+ if (pmd_trans_huge(pmde) || pmd_is_migration_entry(pmde) ||
>+ pmd_is_device_private_entry(pmde)) {
> pvmw->ptl = pmd_lock(mm, pvmw->pmd);
> pmde = *pvmw->pmd;
>- if (!pmd_present(pmde)) {
>+ if (pmd_is_migration_entry(pmde)) {
> softleaf_t entry;
>
>- if (!thp_migration_supported() ||
>- !(pvmw->flags & PVMW_MIGRATION))
>+ if (!(pvmw->flags & PVMW_MIGRATION))
> return not_found(pvmw);
> entry = softleaf_from_pmd(pmde);
>+ if (!check_pmd(softleaf_to_pfn(entry), pvmw))
>+ return not_found(pvmw);
>+ return true;
>+ } else if (pmd_is_device_private_entry(pmde)) {
>+ softleaf_t entry;
>
>- if (!softleaf_is_migration(entry) ||
>- !check_pmd(softleaf_to_pfn(entry), pvmw))
>+ if (pvmw->flags & PVMW_MIGRATION)
>+ return not_found(pvmw);
>+ entry = softleaf_from_pmd(pmde);
>+ if (!check_pmd(softleaf_to_pfn(entry), pvmw))
> return not_found(pvmw);
> return true;
>+ } else if (!pmd_present(pmde) ){
>+ return not_found(pvmw);
> }
> if (likely(pmd_trans_huge(pmde))) {
> if (pvmw->flags & PVMW_MIGRATION)
>@@ -270,12 +280,7 @@ bool page_vma_mapped_walk(struct page_vma_mapped_walk *pvmw)
> spin_unlock(pvmw->ptl);
> pvmw->ptl = NULL;
> } else if (!pmd_present(pmde)) {
>- const softleaf_t entry = softleaf_from_pmd(pmde);
>-
>- if (softleaf_is_device_private(entry)) {
>- pvmw->ptl = pmd_lock(mm, pvmw->pmd);
>- return true;
>- }
>
> if ((pvmw->flags & PVMW_SYNC) &&
> thp_vma_suitable_order(vma, pvmw->address,
>--
>2.43.0
>

Will prepare v5 based one this.

Thanks.

>
>--
>Cheers,
>
>David

--
Wei Yang
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