Re: [PATCH v2 3/3] mm: fail the fault on a malformed swap entry instead of retrying it

From: Barry Song

Date: Sun Aug 16 2026 - 18:23:01 EST


On Thu, Aug 13, 2026 at 6:02 PM Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> do_swap_page() returns 0 when get_swap_device() fails, which the fault
> handler reads as "handled". For an entry that can never become valid
> the retry takes the same fault again, so the thread spins forever,
> retrying on the same fault.
>
> Return VM_FAULT_SIGBUS (Bad access) for a malformed entry (pr_err() was
> called at get_swap_device()).
>
> Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> mm/memory.c | 3 +++
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
> index 7201e848129a7..fa2b3d2ad3202 100644
> --- a/mm/memory.c
> +++ b/mm/memory.c
> @@ -4957,6 +4957,9 @@ vm_fault_t do_swap_page(struct vm_fault *vmf)
> /* Prevent swapoff from happening to us, and reject a bad entry. */
> si = get_swap_device(entry);
> if (IS_ERR_OR_NULL(si)) {
> + /* A malformed entry never becomes valid, so don't retry it. */
> + if (IS_ERR(si))
> + ret = VM_FAULT_SIGBUS;


Hi Breno,

Since you now return VM_FAULT_SIGBUS, the page fault should no
longer retry repeatedly. Do we still need patch 1/3, which adds the
rate-limited printk?

Best Regards
Barry