[PATCH 3/3] perf/x86/intel/pt: Fix stop/start with no update
From: Adrian Hunter
Date: Tue Jul 21 2026 - 03:11:28 EST
If pt_event_stop() is called without PERF_EF_UPDATE flag, then
perf_aux_output_end() is not called. A subsequent call to pt_event_start()
will call perf_aux_output_begin() again which violates the rule against
nesting and triggers a WARNING in perf_aux_output_begin().
Originally, pt_event_stop() was never called without PERF_EF_UPDATE,
because the only code paths to do so are from event overflow, and Intel PT
does not do that.
However the introduction of group throttling by commit 9734e25fbf5ae
("perf: Fix the throttle logic for a group") meant that an Intel PT event
could be throttled if it was part of a group. Throttling calls PMU
->stop() / ->start() callbacks without flags.
An example is when AUX area sampling is used. The following commands
hit the issue:
echo 10000 > /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_max_sample_rate
perf record -F32000 --aux-sample -e '{intel_pt//u,cycles:u}' \
-- bash -c 'for i in `seq 1 100000` ; do true ; done'
Use PERF_HES_UPTODATE to track whether perf_aux_output_begin() and
perf_aux_output_end() are balanced. A cleared PERF_HES_UPTODATE bit
indicates that an AUX output context is still open.
Amend pt_event_start() / pt_event_stop() accordingly so that begin/end
stay balanced:
- In non-snapshot mode, stop() always closes the buffer (the buffer may
have run out of space, and that accounting is done by the update), so
a following start() opens a fresh one as before.
- In snapshot/overwrite mode, stop() without PERF_EF_UPDATE leaves the
buffer open so that pt_event_snapshot_aux() can still copy from it,
and start() then only re-enables tracing instead of calling
perf_aux_output_begin() again.
Note that pt_event_del() calls pt_event_stop() with PERF_EF_UPDATE flag set
(as is required by the documentation), so a final call to
perf_aux_output_end() is assured.
Fixes: 52ca9ced3f707 ("perf/x86/intel/pt: Add Intel PT PMU driver")
Signed-off-by: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@xxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
index 2163e5ccdc04..5754cd405562 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/pt.c
@@ -1540,6 +1540,8 @@ void intel_pt_interrupt(void)
perf_aux_output_end(&pt->handle, local_xchg(&buf->data_size, 0));
+ event->hw.state |= PERF_HES_UPTODATE;
+
if (!(event->hw.state & PERF_HES_STOPPED)) {
int ret;
@@ -1561,6 +1563,8 @@ void intel_pt_interrupt(void)
pt_config_buffer(buf);
pt_config_start(event);
+
+ event->hw.state &= ~PERF_HES_UPTODATE;
}
}
@@ -1629,6 +1633,18 @@ static void pt_event_start(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
return;
}
+ /*
+ * Re-start subsequent to a call to pt_event_stop() without the
+ * PERF_EF_UPDATE flag. Absence of PERF_HES_UPTODATE indicates that
+ * perf_aux_output_begin() has already been called. This path can
+ * come about only in snapshot/overwrite mode - see pt_event_stop().
+ */
+ if (!(hwc->state & PERF_HES_UPTODATE)) {
+ hwc->state &= ~PERF_HES_STOPPED;
+ pt_config_enable(event);
+ return;
+ }
+
buf = perf_aux_output_begin(&pt->handle, event);
if (!buf)
goto fail_stop;
@@ -1639,7 +1655,7 @@ static void pt_event_start(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
goto fail_end_stop;
}
- hwc->state &= ~PERF_HES_STOPPED;
+ hwc->state &= ~(PERF_HES_STOPPED | PERF_HES_UPTODATE);
pt_config_buffer(buf);
pt_config(event);
@@ -1649,12 +1665,13 @@ static void pt_event_start(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
fail_end_stop:
perf_aux_output_end(&pt->handle, 0);
fail_stop:
- hwc->state |= PERF_HES_STOPPED;
+ hwc->state |= PERF_HES_STOPPED | PERF_HES_UPTODATE;
}
static void pt_event_stop(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
{
struct pt *pt = this_cpu_ptr(&pt_ctx);
+ struct pt_buffer *buf;
if (mode & PERF_EF_PAUSE) {
if (READ_ONCE(pt->pause_allowed))
@@ -1680,17 +1697,24 @@ static void pt_event_stop(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
pt_config_stop(event);
- if (event->hw.state & PERF_HES_STOPPED)
- return;
-
event->hw.state |= PERF_HES_STOPPED;
- if (mode & PERF_EF_UPDATE) {
- struct pt_buffer *buf = perf_get_aux(&pt->handle);
+ if (event->hw.state & PERF_HES_UPTODATE)
+ return;
- if (!buf)
- return;
+ buf = perf_get_aux(&pt->handle);
+ if (!buf)
+ return;
+ /*
+ * When not in snapshot/overwrite mode, there is a possibility that the
+ * buffer has run out of space. The accounting for that is handled by
+ * the update, so always update in that case. Snapshot/overwrite mode is
+ * treated differently to allow for pt_event_snapshot_aux() which can
+ * still get called if the AUX-sampling event is not stopped until after
+ * PT is stopped.
+ */
+ if ((mode & PERF_EF_UPDATE) || !buf->snapshot) {
if (WARN_ON_ONCE(pt->handle.event != event))
return;
@@ -1705,6 +1729,7 @@ static void pt_event_stop(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
local_xchg(&buf->data_size,
buf->nr_pages << PAGE_SHIFT);
perf_aux_output_end(&pt->handle, local_xchg(&buf->data_size, 0));
+ event->hw.state |= PERF_HES_UPTODATE;
}
}
@@ -1775,6 +1800,8 @@ static int pt_event_add(struct perf_event *event, int mode)
if (pt->handle.event)
goto fail;
+ event->hw.state |= PERF_HES_UPTODATE;
+
if (mode & PERF_EF_START) {
pt_event_start(event, 0);
ret = -EINVAL;
--
2.53.0