Re: [PATCH v3] cpufreq: schedutil: Fix rate limit overflow

From: Rafael J. Wysocki (Intel)

Date: Sat Aug 15 2026 - 13:06:09 EST


On Thu, Aug 6, 2026 at 4:23 PM Hui Su <sh_def@xxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> rate_limit_us is an unsigned int, while NSEC_PER_USEC is defined as
> 1000L. On 32-bit systems, the multiplication is therefore performed
> using 32-bit unsigned arithmetic before the result is assigned to
> freq_update_delay_ns.
>
> For example, writing 4294968 to rate_limit_us wraps the delay from
> 4294968000 ns to 704 ns. This makes schedutil update far more often
> than configured.
>
> Add sugov_update_rate_limit_us() to widen rate_limit_us to s64 before
> converting it to nanoseconds. Use the helper when updating the tunable
> through sysfs and when starting the governor, so both paths perform the
> conversion without overflow.
>
> Fixes: 9bdcb44e391d ("cpufreq: schedutil: New governor based on scheduler utilization data")
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Hui Su <sh_def@xxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Zhongqiu Han <zhongqiu.han@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Applied as 7.3 material, thanks!

> ---
> Changes in v3:
> - Add a comment explaining why rate_limit_us must be cast before
> multiplication.
>
> v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260806072656.1386351-1-sh_def@xxxxxxx
>
> Changes in v2:
> - Clarify why the multiplication uses 32-bit unsigned arithmetic on
> 32-bit systems.
> - Cast rate_limit_us to s64 to match freq_update_delay_ns.
> - Add Zhongqiu's Reviewed-by tag.
>
> v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260805143942.805176-1-sh_def@xxxxxxx
>
> kernel/sched/cpufreq_schedutil.c | 15 +++++++++++++--
> 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/sched/cpufreq_schedutil.c b/kernel/sched/cpufreq_schedutil.c
> index dff4ee04694c..614ff0d33c01 100644
> --- a/kernel/sched/cpufreq_schedutil.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/cpufreq_schedutil.c
> @@ -61,6 +61,17 @@ static DEFINE_PER_CPU(struct sugov_cpu, sugov_cpu);
>
> /************************ Governor internals ***********************/
>
> +static void sugov_update_rate_limit_us(struct sugov_policy *sg_policy)
> +{
> + /*
> + * Cast rate_limit_us before multiplication to force 64-bit arithmetic.
> + * Otherwise, on 32-bit platforms, both operands are converted to
> + * 32-bit unsigned long and the multiplication may overflow.
> + */
> + sg_policy->freq_update_delay_ns =
> + (s64)sg_policy->tunables->rate_limit_us * NSEC_PER_USEC;
> +}
> +
> static bool sugov_should_update_freq(struct sugov_policy *sg_policy, u64 time)
> {
> s64 delta_ns;
> @@ -606,7 +617,7 @@ rate_limit_us_store(struct gov_attr_set *attr_set, const char *buf, size_t count
> tunables->rate_limit_us = rate_limit_us;
>
> list_for_each_entry(sg_policy, &attr_set->policy_list, tunables_hook)
> - sg_policy->freq_update_delay_ns = rate_limit_us * NSEC_PER_USEC;
> + sugov_update_rate_limit_us(sg_policy);
>
> return count;
> }
> @@ -848,7 +859,7 @@ static int sugov_start(struct cpufreq_policy *policy)
> void (*uu)(struct update_util_data *data, u64 time, unsigned int flags);
> unsigned int cpu;
>
> - sg_policy->freq_update_delay_ns = sg_policy->tunables->rate_limit_us * NSEC_PER_USEC;
> + sugov_update_rate_limit_us(sg_policy);
> sg_policy->last_freq_update_time = 0;
> sg_policy->next_freq = 0;
> sg_policy->work_in_progress = false;
> --
> 2.43.0
>