Re: [PATCH] mm/hugetlb_cgroup: call page_counter_set_max() outside VM_BUG_ON()

From: Muchun Song

Date: Mon Aug 17 2026 - 07:19:13 EST




> On Aug 17, 2026, at 18:34, Narek Jilavyan <njilav@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> hugetlb_cgroup_css_alloc() rounds the counter limit down to a multiple of
> the huge page size and then applies it inside an assertion:
>
> VM_BUG_ON(page_counter_set_max(fault, limit));
> VM_BUG_ON(page_counter_set_max(rsvd, limit));
>
> With CONFIG_DEBUG_VM=n, VM_BUG_ON(cond) is BUILD_BUG_ON_INVALID(cond),
> i.e. ((void)(sizeof((__force long)(cond)))), whose operand is never
> evaluated. page_counter_set_max() is not a predicate - it performs
> xchg(&counter->max, nr_pages) - so on every non-debug kernel the limit is
> never applied and the counters keep page_counter_init()'s
> PAGE_COUNTER_MAX.
>
> That is user-visible, because hugetlb_cgroup_read_u64_max() recomputes
> the same rounded value and uses equality as its "unlimited" sentinel.
> PAGE_COUNTER_MAX is LONG_MAX / PAGE_SIZE = 2251799813685247, which is
> odd, so round_down() really does change it and the two sides disagree.
> With CONFIG_DEBUG_VM=n:
>
> $ cat /sys/fs/cgroup/t/hugetlb.2MB.max
> 9223372036854771712
>
> and with this patch:
>
> $ cat /sys/fs/cgroup/t/hugetlb.2MB.max
> max
>
> A debug option should not change cgroup output.
>
> Call the function, then assert the result, as v6.12 did. Use
> VM_WARN_ON_ONCE() rather than restoring VM_BUG_ON(): the two are
> identical under CONFIG_DEBUG_VM=n, and checkpatch asks that new code not
> use BUG() variants.
>
> Fixes: 0e2759afcaf9 ("page_counter: track failcnt only for legacy cgroups")
> Signed-off-by: Narek Jilavyan <njilav@xxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Muchun Song <muchun.song@xxxxxxxxx>

Thanks.