Re: [PATCH] ocfs2: fix ABBA deadlock in suballocator reclaim

From: Joseph Qi

Date: Sun Sep 06 2026 - 10:23:12 EST


Seems you don't rebase the latest linux-next.
Actually this is already fixed in:
107451a4d732 ocfs2: defer suballocator block group reclaim to workqueue

Thanks,
Joseph

On 9/6/26 9:31 PM, ThangNN99 wrote:
> _ocfs2_reclaim_suballoc_to_main() runs inside an already-started
> transaction (j_trans_barrier held) and locks the global bitmap inode
> to return clusters to it. Every other allocation path takes that
> inode lock *before* starting a transaction, so this reverses the
> order and can deadlock:
>
> CPU0 CPU1
> rlock(j_trans_barrier)
> lock(sb_internal)
> lock(j_trans_barrier)
> lock(GLOBAL_BITMAP inode)
>
> Since reclaim is best-effort (its caller already ignores the return
> value), fix it by acquiring the global bitmap inode with trylock,
> before mutating anything, and bailing out to skip reclaim on a busy
> lock instead of blocking in the wrong order.
>
> Reproduced with the syzbot C repro under QEMU: the unpatched kernel
> hits the lockdep splat on the very first mount+mkdir+rmdir cycle
> (~10s in); the patched kernel ran the same cycle 169 times with zero
> splats, and instrumentation confirmed reclaim keeps running (trylock
> succeeds) rather than being silently skipped.
>
> Reported-by: syzbot+73d1166b94ed9875af54@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Closes: https://syzkaller.appspot.com/bug?extid=73d1166b94ed9875af54
> Fixes: 4a54331616b3 ("ocfs2: give ocfs2 the ability to reclaim suballocator free bg")
> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: ThangNN99 <ngocthang2710.1999@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> fs/ocfs2/suballoc.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++--------------
> 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/fs/ocfs2/suballoc.c b/fs/ocfs2/suballoc.c
> index 20c3aec6b987..085af9ba38ab 100644
> --- a/fs/ocfs2/suballoc.c
> +++ b/fs/ocfs2/suballoc.c
> @@ -2716,18 +2716,39 @@ static int _ocfs2_reclaim_suballoc_to_main(handle_t *handle,
> idx = le16_to_cpu(group->bg_chain);
> rec = &(cl->cl_recs[idx]);
>
> + /*
> + * We already hold j_trans_barrier, while everywhere else locks the
> + * allocator inode before starting a transaction. Trylock here, before
> + * mutating anything, so a busy lock skips this best-effort reclaim
> + * instead of inverting that order into an ABBA deadlock.
> + */
> + main_bm_inode = ocfs2_get_system_file_inode(osb,
> + GLOBAL_BITMAP_SYSTEM_INODE,
> + OCFS2_INVALID_SLOT);
> + if (!main_bm_inode)
> + goto bail; /* ignore the error in reclaim path */
> +
> + if (!inode_trylock(main_bm_inode)) {
> + iput(main_bm_inode);
> + goto bail; /* ignore the error in reclaim path */
> + }
> +
> + status = ocfs2_try_inode_lock(main_bm_inode, &main_bm_bh, 1);
> + if (status < 0)
> + goto free_bm_inode; /* ignore the error in reclaim path */
> +
> status = ocfs2_extend_trans(handle,
> ocfs2_calc_group_alloc_credits(osb->sb,
> le16_to_cpu(cl->cl_cpg)));
> if (status) {
> mlog_errno(status);
> - goto bail;
> + goto free_bm_bh;
> }
> status = ocfs2_journal_access_di(handle, INODE_CACHE(alloc_inode),
> alloc_bh, OCFS2_JOURNAL_ACCESS_WRITE);
> if (status < 0) {
> mlog_errno(status);
> - goto bail;
> + goto free_bm_bh;
> }
>
> /*
> @@ -2795,18 +2816,6 @@ static int _ocfs2_reclaim_suballoc_to_main(handle_t *handle,
> memset(group, 0, sizeof(struct ocfs2_group_desc));
>
> /* prepare job for reclaim clusters */
> - main_bm_inode = ocfs2_get_system_file_inode(osb,
> - GLOBAL_BITMAP_SYSTEM_INODE,
> - OCFS2_INVALID_SLOT);
> - if (!main_bm_inode)
> - goto bail; /* ignore the error in reclaim path */
> -
> - inode_lock(main_bm_inode);
> -
> - status = ocfs2_inode_lock(main_bm_inode, &main_bm_bh, 1);
> - if (status < 0)
> - goto free_bm_inode; /* ignore the error in reclaim path */
> -
> ocfs2_block_to_cluster_group(main_bm_inode, start_blk, &bg_blkno,
> &start_bit);
> fe = (struct ocfs2_dinode *) main_bm_bh->b_data;