Re: [patch 7/8] posix-cpu-timers: Prevent enqueueing when PF_EXITING is set

From: Eric W. Biederman

Date: Fri Sep 04 2026 - 14:23:23 EST


"Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes:

2> Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>
>> To prepare for cleaning up POSIX CPU timers in do_exit(), prevent
>> enqueueing POSIX CPU timers on a task which has PF_EXITING set.
>>
>> Queueing a timer on such a task is pointless because the task won't expire
>> the timer anymore.
>>
>> Pretending that the timer is armed allows to keep the POSIX timer mechanism
>> "working" so that the timer stays accessible up to the point where a task
>> is unhashed.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> ---
>> kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c | 27 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>> 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+)
>>
>> --- a/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c
>> +++ b/kernel/time/posix-cpu-timers.c
>> @@ -628,6 +628,7 @@ static int posix_cpu_timer_del(struct k_
>> }
>>
>> if (!ret) {
>> + WARN_ON_ONCE(cpu_timer_queued(&timer->it.cpu));
>> put_pid(timer->it.cpu.pid);
>> timer->it_status = POSIX_TIMER_DISARMED;
>> }
>> @@ -674,6 +675,15 @@ void posix_cpu_timers_exit_group(struct
>> cleanup_timers(&tsk->signal->posix_cputimers);
>> }
>>
>> +static inline bool task_can_enqueue(struct k_itimer *timer, struct task_struct *p)
>> +{
>> + if (likely(!(p->flags & PF_EXITING)))
>> + return true;
>> +
>> + /* Allow TGID type unless the last thread is on the way out. */
>> + return clock_pid_type(timer->it_clock) == PIDTYPE_TGID && atomic_read(&p->signal->live);
>
> Couldn't this be?
>
> /* Allow TGID type unless the group is on the way out. */
> return (clock_pid_type(timer->it_clock) == PIDTYPE_TGID) &&
> !(p->signal->flags & SIGNAL_GROUP_EXIT);
>> +}
>
> I don't understand why we would want to re-arm a timer after it has
> been decided the group is dying.
>
> Plush I really don't like the idea of p->signal->live spreading to more
> places. In the future that has the potential to complicate any changes
> to the group_dead calculation.

Hmm.

Now that I think about it this could be:

static inline bool task_can_enqueue(struct k_itimer *timer, struct task_struct *p)
{
/* Is the process exiting? */
if (signal->flags & SIGNAL_GROUP_EXIT)
return false;

/* Is the thread exiting? */
if ((clock_pid_type(timer->it_clock) == PIDTYPE_PID) &&
(p->flags & PF_EXITING))
return false;

return true;
}

Unless I am missing something subtle with the parts of shutdown. As
there is a difference between starting the shutdown, and having reached
do_exit.

But unless there is some subtle reason to start a timer after some
thread has called exit() or after a fatal signal has been received
I suspect stopping as soon as SIGNAL_GROUP_EXIT is set is a good idea.



>> /*
>> * Insert the timer on the appropriate list before any timers that
>> * expire later. This must be called with the sighand lock held.
>> @@ -684,7 +694,24 @@ static void arm_timer(struct k_itimer *t
>> struct cpu_timer *ctmr = &timer->it.cpu;
>> u64 newexp = cpu_timer_getexpires(ctmr);
>>
>> + lockdep_assert_held(&p->sighand->siglock);
>> +
>> timer->it_status = POSIX_TIMER_ARMED;
>> +
>> + /*
>> + * Don't enqueue timers when the task or the group is exiting. That
>> + * ensures that timer operations are still succeeding as long as the
>> + * tasks are visible, but won't enqueue the timers on the task or
>> + * process. They won't expire anyway because run_posix_cpu_timers()
>> + * exits early when PF_EXITING is set.
>> + *
>> + * Enqueue is skipped if PF_EXITING is set when the timer is per task
>> + * and when the last thread decremented p::signal::live to zero also for
>> + * per process timers.
>> + */
>> + if (unlikely(!task_can_enqueue(timer, p)))
>> + return;
>> +
>> if (!cpu_timer_enqueue(&base->tqhead, ctmr))
>> return;
>>

Eric