[PATCH v2] sched/debug: reject invalid writes to numa_balancing scan_size_mb

From: lirongqing

Date: Thu Jul 23 2026 - 04:26:23 EST


From: Li RongQing <lirongqing@xxxxxxxxx>

The sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_size parameter is currently registered
via debugfs_create_u32(), which accepts any u32 value including 0. A
zero value triggers division-by-zero in two code paths:

task_scan_min():
windows = MAX_SCAN_WINDOW / scan_size;

task_nr_scan_windows():
rss = round_up(rss, nr_scan_pages);
return rss / nr_scan_pages;

Similarly, values exceeding UINT_MAX would be silently truncated by
the write path before reaching this handler, potentially accepting
unintended values. Reject them explicitly with -ERANGE

Replace the debugfs_create_u32() interface with a custom file_operations
handler that validates writes: reject 0 and values exceeding UINT_MAX
with -ERANGE. Since the ops use DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE() which already
provides removal protection via debugfs_file_get()/put(),
debugfs_create_file_unsafe() is used instead of debugfs_create_file() to
avoid an unnecessary full_proxy layer.

Fixes: 8a99b6833c88 ("sched: Move SCHED_DEBUG sysctl to debugfs")
Signed-off-by: Li RongQing <lirongqing@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Diff with v1: replace debugfs_create_file with debugfs_create_file_unsafe;
and rewrite commit message

kernel/sched/debug.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 22 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/sched/debug.c b/kernel/sched/debug.c
index 40584b2..391a669 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/debug.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/debug.c
@@ -633,6 +633,26 @@ static void debugfs_fair_server_init(void)
}
}

+#ifdef CONFIG_NUMA_BALANCING
+static int numa_scan_size_get(void *data, u64 *val)
+{
+ *val = *(u32 *)data;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+static int numa_scan_size_set(void *data, u64 val)
+{
+ if (val == 0 || val > UINT_MAX)
+ return -ERANGE;
+
+ *(u32 *)data = (u32)val;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+DEFINE_DEBUGFS_ATTRIBUTE(numa_scan_size_fops, numa_scan_size_get,
+ numa_scan_size_set, "%llu\n");
+#endif /* CONFIG_NUMA_BALANCING */
+
static __init int sched_init_debug(void)
{
struct dentry __maybe_unused *numa, *llc;
@@ -664,7 +684,8 @@ static __init int sched_init_debug(void)
debugfs_create_u32("scan_delay_ms", 0644, numa, &sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_delay);
debugfs_create_u32("scan_period_min_ms", 0644, numa, &sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_period_min);
debugfs_create_u32("scan_period_max_ms", 0644, numa, &sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_period_max);
- debugfs_create_u32("scan_size_mb", 0644, numa, &sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_size);
+ debugfs_create_file_unsafe("scan_size_mb", 0644, numa,
+ &sysctl_numa_balancing_scan_size, &numa_scan_size_fops);
debugfs_create_u32("hot_threshold_ms", 0644, numa, &sysctl_numa_balancing_hot_threshold);
#endif /* CONFIG_NUMA_BALANCING */

--
2.9.4