Re: [PATCH] mm/hugetlb: Fix null pointer dereference of nodemask in hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio

From: Muchun Song

Date: Sat Jul 04 2026 - 00:07:18 EST




> On Jul 4, 2026, at 11:53, Sourav Panda <souravpanda@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Jul 3, 2026 at 8:05 PM Muchun Song <muchun.song@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jul 4, 2026, at 04:04, Sourav Panda <souravpanda@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jul 2, 2026 at 4:24 PM Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, 2 Jul 2026 21:57:13 +0000 Sourav Panda <souravpanda@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> alloc_buddy_hugetlb_folio_with_mpol() can pass a NULL nodemask to
>>>>> hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() as a fallback to allocate from all
>>>>> nodes. In this case, hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio() blindly
>>>>> dereferences it in for_each_node_mask(), leading to a null pointer
>>>>> dereference.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> oh.
>>>>
>>>>> Fix this by checking if nodemask is NULL and defaulting to
>>>>> node_states[N_MEMORY] if it is.
>>>>>
>>>>> --- a/mm/hugetlb_cma.c
>>>>> +++ b/mm/hugetlb_cma.c
>>>>> @@ -34,6 +34,9 @@ struct folio *hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio(int order, gfp_t gfp_mask,
>>>>> if (!hugetlb_cma_size)
>>>>> return NULL;
>>>>>
>>>>> + if (!nodemask)
>>>>> + nodemask = &node_states[N_MEMORY];
>>>>> +
>>>>> if (hugetlb_cma[nid])
>>>>> page = cma_alloc_frozen_compound(hugetlb_cma[nid], order);
>>>>
>>>> It is possible to hit this with any known testcase?
>>>>
>>>> If not, why not. I smell the smell of dead code somewhere?
>>>>
>>>
>>> Currently, there are no selftests in the tree that trigger this
>>> specific MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY fallback path, which is why it has gone
>>> unnoticed.
>>>
>>> The bug only triggers under a specific topology: Multiple NUMA nodes
>>> where gigantic hugepages are backed by CMA, but only on a subset of
>>> the nodes.
>>>
>>> 1. The Reproducer:
>>> #include <stdio.h>
>>> #include <stdlib.h>
>>> #include <numaif.h>
>>> #include <numa.h>
>>> #include <sys/mman.h>
>>> #include <unistd.h>
>>> #include <string.h>
>>>
>>> #define GIGANTIC_PAGE_SIZE (1UL << 30) // 1GB
>>>
>>> int main(void) {
>>> void *ptr;
>>> unsigned long nodemask = 1; // Preferred Node 0
>>> int ret;
>>>
>>> /* Allocate 1GB gigantic hugepage area without reserving */
>>> ptr = mmap(NULL, GIGANTIC_PAGE_SIZE, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
>>> MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_HUGETLB |
>>> MAP_HUGE_1GB | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0);
>>>
>>> if (ptr == MAP_FAILED) {
>>> perror("mmap failed");
>>> return 1;
>>> }
>>>
>>> /* Set MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY policy (mode 5) restricted to node 0 */
>>> ret = mbind(ptr, GIGANTIC_PAGE_SIZE, 5 /* MPOL_PREFERRED_MANY */,
>>> &nodemask, sizeof(nodemask) * 8, 0);
>>>
>>> if (ret < 0) {
>>> perror("mbind");
>>> return 1;
>>> }
>>>
>>> /* Trigger page fault */
>>> memset(ptr, 0, GIGANTIC_PAGE_SIZE);
>>>
>>> printf("PASS\n");
>>> return 0;
>>> }
>>>
>>> 2. Triggering the panic in QEMU:
>>> CONFIG_CMA=y
>>> CONFIG_HUGETLB_CMA=y
>>>
>>> Then, boot a VM with two NUMA nodes, restricting CMA to Node 1, and
>>> run the reproducer (+pdpe1gb is required).
>>>
>>> vng -v \
>>> --cpus 2 \
>>> --memory 8G \
>>> --user=root \
>>> --qemu-opts=" \
>>> -cpu max,+pdpe1gb \
>>> -object memory-backend-ram,id=mem0,size=4G \
>>> -numa node,nodeid=0,memdev=mem0 \
>>> -object memory-backend-ram,id=mem1,size=4G \
>>> -numa node,nodeid=1,memdev=mem1" \
>>> --append "hugetlb_cma=1:1G hugetlb_cma_only=1
>>> default_hugepagesz=1G hugepagesz=1G hugepages=0"
>>>
>>> Inside the VM:
>>> gcc reproducer.c -lnuma -o reproducer
>>> echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/nr_overcommit_hugepages
>>> ./reproducer
>>>
>>> 3. Outcome:
>>>
>>> [ 33.586151] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address:
>>> 0000000000000000
>>> [ 33.586512] #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
>>> [ 33.586680] #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
>>> [ 33.586879] PGD 1023c7067 P4D 0
>>> [ 33.587668] Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI
>>> [ 33.588265] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 336 Comm: reproducer Not tainted
>>> 7.1.0-virtme #5 PREEMPT(lazy)
>>> ...
>>> [ 33.588960] RIP: 0010:hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio+0x75/0x120
>>> ...
>>> [ 33.592469] Call Trace:
>>> [ 33.592672] <TASK>
>>> [ 33.592853] only_alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio.isra.0+0x2c/0x160
>>> [ 33.593127] alloc_surplus_hugetlb_folio+0x6d/0x100
>>> [ 33.593284] alloc_hugetlb_folio+0x3c5/0x660
>>> [ 33.593430] hugetlb_no_page+0x3d9/0x650
>>> ...
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Sashiko said things:
>>>> https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260702215713.627941-1-souravpanda@xxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>
>>> Sashiko is right to highlight the following: By defaulting to
>>> node_states[N_MEMORY] instead of
>>> cpuset_current_mems_allowed, it appears the allocation loop could search
>>> all system nodes, breaking NUMA isolation for containers.
>>>
>>> I will apply &cpuset_current_mems_allowed instead of
>>> &node_states[N_MEMORY] in v2.
>>
>> Hi Sourav,
>>
>> Thanks for your report. However, I suggest fixing it in alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio(),
>> because we also need a right node_mask for alloc_contig_frozen_pages() case.
>>
>> Muchun,
>> Thanks.
>
> Hi Muchun,

Hi,

>
> Thanks for the review. I completely agree with you :)
>
> Here is the planned diff for v2:
>
> diff --git a/mm/hugetlb.c b/mm/hugetlb.c
> index 571212b80835..ab5deba4f7a1 100644
> --- a/mm/hugetlb.c
> +++ b/mm/hugetlb.c
> @@ -1865,6 +1865,9 @@ static struct folio
> *alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio(struct hstate *h,
> {
> struct folio *folio;
>
> + if (!nmask)
> + nmask = &cpuset_current_mems_allowed;
> +
> folio = only_alloc_fresh_hugetlb_folio(h, gfp_mask, nid, nmask, NULL);
> if (folio)
> hugetlb_vmemmap_optimize_folio(h, folio);
> diff --git a/mm/hugetlb_cma.c b/mm/hugetlb_cma.c
> index 39344d6c78d8..79dbd0baafa3 100644
> --- a/mm/hugetlb_cma.c
> +++ b/mm/hugetlb_cma.c
> @@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ struct folio *hugetlb_cma_alloc_frozen_folio(int
> order, gfp_t gfp_mask,
> if (!hugetlb_cma_size)
> return NULL;
>
> - if (hugetlb_cma[nid])
> + if (hugetlb_cma[nid] && node_isset(nid, *nodemask))
> page = cma_alloc_frozen_compound(hugetlb_cma[nid], order);

LGTM.

Please send a v2 version.

Thanks for your work.

>
>>
>>>
>>> The other issue Sashiko highlighted is also valid (but unrelated to
>>> this patch) and I can bundle a fix for it in v2.
>>>
>>> Essentially the preferred nid needs to be extended with a
>>> node_isset(nid, *nodemask) check.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Ackerly's "mm: hugetlb: move mpol interpretation out of
>>>> alloc_buddy_hugetlb_folio_with_mpol()" made big changes to
>>>> alloc_buddy_hugetlb_folio_with_mpol():
>>>> https://lore.kernel.org/20260702-hugetlb-open-up-v4-2-d53cefcccf34@xxxxxxxxxx.
>>>>
>>>> If this bug is real then it would be better to stage your fix ahead of
>>>> Ackerly's series. Possibly with a cc:stable. Then I can redo
>>>> Ackerly's patch on top and we'll need to check that this bug isn't
>>>> reintroduced.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Makes sense! Thanks for connecting the dots :)
>>
>>