linux/mm
Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) b7041ba61c mm/huge_memory: fix huge_zero_pfn race
[ Upstream commit 33192a26cd ]

Patch series "mm/huge_memory: fix huge_zero_pfn race", v2.

There is a subtle race in the reference-counted huge_zero_folio
implementation.

The fast path atomic logic fails to account for the fact that the shrinker
(which drops the final huge_zero_refcount pin) can overwrite huge_zero_pfn
with the ~0UL sentinel value in shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() after a
racing get_huge_zero_folio() installed a valid value there.

This results in huge_zero_folio being correctly set but huge_zero_pfn
being set incorrectly and thus is_huge_zero_pfn() and consequently
is_huge_zero_pmd() will misidentify the huge zero folio as being an
ordinary THP folio.

This can result in the huge zero folio being split and otherwise treated
incorrectly.

The solution to this is very subtle as there is an atomic fast path, and
thus ordering in weakly ordered architectures has to be treated very
carefully.

The first commit fixes the issue by introducing a spinlock around
huge_zero_[pfn, folio, refcount] write, with careful consideration paid to
load/store ordering in the fast path.  It is placed first and kept as
small as possible so that it can be backported on its own.

The second commit is a pure cleanup which reworks the
CONFIG_PERSISTENT_HUGE_ZERO_FOLIO logic to better separate the persistent
logic from the dynamically allocated one.

This patch (of 2):

If !CONFIG_PERSISTENT_HUGE_ZERO_FOLIO, the huge_zero_folio is refcounted
by huge_zero_refcount and returned by mm_get_huge_zero_folio().

When the caller is done with the huge zero page, its reference count is
decremented.  Only a shrinker can set the reference count to zero.

A race can unfortunately occur between a shrinker decrementing the
reference count to zero and a concurrent page fault.

This is because shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() might, if very unlucky, be
preempted between setting huge_zero_refcount to zero and writing an
invalid value.

During this time get_huge_zero_folio() could write to huge_zero_pfn before
shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() resumes.

In this event the huge zero folio will be persistently misidentified
causing the THP code path to be entered inappropriately for the huge zero
folio:

                CPU 0                                   CPU 1
=======================================|=================================
shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan()          |
   atomic_cmpxchg() sets refcount to 0 |
   xchg() sets huge_zero_folio to NULL | get_huge_zero_folio()
                 |                     |    atomic_inc_not_zero() -> zero
      preempted for a long time        |    Allocate new huge zero folio
                 |                     |    Write valid huge_zero_folio
                 v                     |    Write valid huge_zero_pfn
  Overwrite huge_zero_pfn with ~0UL   <--- Invalid overwrite!

This results in is_huge_zero_pfn() and is_huge_zero_pmd() incorrectly
returning false for a huge zero page which could result in issues like the
huge zero folio being incorrectly split.

Note that the issue is with huge_zero_pfn not huge_zero_folio, as
get_huge_zero_folio() uses cmpxchg() gated on huge_zero_folio being NULL
with a retry loop and shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() uses xchg() to set
huge_zero_folio.

Fix the issue by introducing a spinlock, huge_zero_lock, to prevent
concurrent write of huge_zero_folio, huge_zero_pfn and huge_zero_refcount.

There needs to be significant care taken here to ensure correctness:

The fast path in get_huge_zero_folio() uses atomic_inc_not_zero(), which
is outside of the critical section, and means huge zero allocation is
gated on zero huge_zero_refcount.

The fast path doesn't use huge_zero_lock, so the critical section is
irrelevant to it.

So invariants are required - huge_zero_refcount MUST:

* Only be set in the huge_zero_lock critical section to ensure
  serialisation of huge_zero_pfn, huge_zero_folio and huge_zero_refcount
  writes.

* Be set non-zero only AFTER huge_zero_[pfn, folio] are set to valid values
  so installation of the huge zero folio on read page fault ensures
  concurrent is_huge_zero_*() calls correctly identify the huge zero folio.

* Be set zero only BEFORE huge_zero_[pfn, folio] are set to NULL and ~0UL
  respectively, and atomically.

Establish these by:

* Only setting huge_zero_refcount to zero or an absolute value in the
  huge_zero_lock critical section in get_huge_zero_folio() and
  shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan(), and always updating atomically there
  and elsewhere.

* Using atomic_set_release(&huge_zero_refcount) in get_huge_zero_folio()
  after huge_zero_[pfn, folio] are set. This is paired with
  atomic_inc_not_zero() to ensure atomic_inc_not_zero() only observes a
  non-zero value if huge_zero_[pfn, folio] are set.

* Using atomic_cmpxchg() in shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() (as before) to
  ensure that it is set zero only when equal to 1 and set atomically.

* atomic_cmpxchg() being fully ordered ensures this is done prior to
  huge_zero_[folio, pfn] being set to NULL and ~0UL respectively.

Eliminate the retry loop in get_huge_zero_folio() as the atomic_cmpxchg()
in shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan() is now performed under the lock, and
replace with an equally locked atomic_inc() to set the reference count
should the caller be raced on huge zero folio installation.

folio_put() naturally implies a full memory barrier so its ordering is
maintained correctly.

The huge zero folio also cannot be released except when the shrinker does
so as it is non-LRU and non-rmappable.

Note that only the huge zero shrinker (via shrink_huge_zero_folio_scan())
can actually set huge_zero_refcount to zero, which is the count of mm's
which have at least one huge zero folio installed plus one shrinker pin.

Additionally convert a BUG_ON() to a VM_WARN_ON_ONCE().

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260730-fix-refcounted-huge-zero-v2-0-c5d8a41b317f@kernel.org
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/20260730-fix-refcounted-huge-zero-v2-1-c5d8a41b317f@kernel.org
Fixes: 3b77e8c8cd ("mm/thp: make is_huge_zero_pmd() safe and quicker")
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
Reported-by: Hengbin Zhang <uqbarz@gmail.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/20260727154001.4102341-1-uqbarz@gmail.com/
Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
Acked-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com>
Cc: Barry Song <baohua@kernel.org>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: Hannes Reinecke <hare@suse.de>
Cc: Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>
Cc: Kiryl Shutsemau <kas@kernel.org>
Cc: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>
Cc: Liam R. Howlett <liam@infradead.org>
Cc: Nico Pache <npache@redhat.com>
Cc: Pankaj Raghav <p.raghav@samsung.com>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>
Cc: Yang Shi <shy828301@gmail.com>
Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
[ Expanded `scoped_guard(spinlock, &huge_zero_lock)` into explicit `spin_lock()`/`spin_unlock()` pairs and converted folio APIs to page APIs. ]
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
History 2026-08-27 14:28:19 +02:00
..
damon mm/damon/ops-common: call folio_test_lru() after folio_get() 2026-06-19 13:33:39 +02:00
kasan mm/kasan: fix double free for kasan pXds 2026-06-01 17:35:06 +02:00
kfence mm/kfence: randomize the freelist on initialization 2026-02-11 13:35:27 +01:00
backing-dev.c mm: blk-cgroup: fix use-after-free in cgwb_release_workfn() 2026-06-01 17:35:08 +02:00
balloon_compaction.c mm/balloon_compaction: convert balloon_page_delete() to balloon_page_finalize() 2026-01-19 13:10:10 +01:00
bootmem_info.c bootmem: remove the vmemmap pages from kmemleak in put_page_bootmem 2022-08-31 17:16:48 +02:00
cleancache.c Driver Core and debugfs changes for 5.3-rc1 2019-07-12 12:24:03 -07:00
cma.c mm/cma: drop incorrect alignment check in cma_init_reserved_mem 2024-07-05 09:14:13 +02:00
cma.h mm: cma: support sysfs 2021-05-05 11:27:24 -07:00
cma_debug.c mm/cma: change cma mutex to irq safe spinlock 2021-05-05 11:27:21 -07:00
cma_sysfs.c mm: cma: support sysfs 2021-05-05 11:27:24 -07:00
compaction.c mm, vmscan: prevent infinite loop for costly GFP_NOIO | __GFP_RETRY_MAYFAIL allocations 2024-04-10 16:19:37 +02:00
debug.c mm/debug: sync up latest migrate_reason to migrate_reason_names 2021-09-24 16:13:35 -07:00
debug_page_ref.c License cleanup: add SPDX GPL-2.0 license identifier to files with no license 2017-11-02 11:10:55 +01:00
debug_vm_pgtable.c mm/debug_vm_pgtable: clear page table entries at destroy_args() 2025-08-28 16:24:34 +02:00
dmapool.c mm/dmapool: use DEVICE_ATTR_RO macro 2021-06-29 10:53:52 -07:00
early_ioremap.c mm/early_ioremap.c: remove redundant early_ioremap_shutdown() 2021-09-08 11:50:24 -07:00
fadvise.c mm, fadvise: improve the expensive remote LRU cache draining after FADV_DONTNEED 2020-10-13 18:38:29 -07:00
failslab.c mm/failslab.c: by default, do not fail allocations with direct reclaim only 2019-07-12 11:05:43 -07:00
filemap.c mm: drop the assumption that VM_SHARED always implies writable 2025-08-28 16:24:30 +02:00
frontswap.c mm/mempool: minor coding style tweaks 2021-05-05 11:27:27 -07:00
gup.c mm/gup: fix wrongly calculated returned value in fault_in_safe_writeable() 2025-05-02 07:44:13 +02:00
gup_test.c selftests/vm: gup_test: test faulting in kernel, and verify pinnable pages 2021-05-05 11:27:26 -07:00
gup_test.h selftests/vm: gup_test: fix test flag 2021-05-05 11:27:26 -07:00
highmem.c highmem: fix checks in __kmap_local_sched_{in,out} 2022-04-13 20:59:21 +02:00
hmm.c mm/hmm: move pmd_to_hmm_pfn_flags() to the respective #ifdeffery 2025-08-28 16:24:14 +02:00
huge_memory.c mm/huge_memory: fix huge_zero_pfn race 2026-08-27 14:28:19 +02:00
hugetlb.c mm/hugetlb: fix list corruption in allocate_file_region_entries() 2026-08-19 17:14:08 +02:00
hugetlb_cgroup.c hugetlb: make free_huge_page irq safe 2021-05-05 11:27:22 -07:00
hugetlb_vmemmap.c mm: hugetlb: introduce CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE_FREE_VMEMMAP_DEFAULT_ON 2021-06-30 20:47:26 -07:00
hugetlb_vmemmap.h mm: hugetlb: introduce nr_free_vmemmap_pages in the struct hstate 2021-06-30 20:47:25 -07:00
hwpoison-inject.c mm/hwpoison: avoid the impact of hwpoison_filter() return value on mce handler 2022-07-12 16:35:05 +02:00
init-mm.c mm: add setup_initial_init_mm() helper 2021-07-08 11:48:21 -07:00
internal.h mm: unconditionally close VMAs on error 2024-12-14 19:50:38 +01:00
interval_tree.c mm/interval_tree: add comments to improve code readability 2021-04-30 11:20:38 -07:00
io-mapping.c mm: add a io_mapping_map_user helper 2021-04-30 11:20:39 -07:00
ioremap.c mm: move ioremap_page_range to vmalloc.c 2021-09-08 11:50:24 -07:00
Kconfig x86/kaslr: Recognize all ZONE_DEVICE users as physaddr consumers 2026-02-06 16:41:47 +01:00
Kconfig.debug mm, page_poison: remove CONFIG_PAGE_POISONING_ZERO 2020-12-15 12:13:46 -08:00
khugepaged.c mm/khugepaged: fix the address passed to notifier on testing young 2025-10-02 13:39:01 +02:00
kmemleak.c mm/kmemleak: avoid deadlock by moving pr_warn() outside kmemleak_lock 2025-08-28 16:24:27 +02:00
ksm.c ksm: use range-walk function to jump over holes in scan_get_next_rmap_item 2026-02-06 16:42:03 +01:00
list_lru.c mm: vmscan: consolidate shrinker_maps handling code 2021-05-05 11:27:23 -07:00
maccess.c maccess: Fix writing offset in case of fault in strncpy_from_kernel_nofault() 2022-11-26 09:24:47 +01:00
madvise.c mm: do file ownership checks with the proper mount idmap 2026-08-23 14:17:17 +02:00
Makefile mm: introduce Data Access MONitor (DAMON) 2021-09-08 11:50:24 -07:00
mapping_dirty_helpers.c mm/mapping_dirty_helpers: remove double Note in kerneldoc 2021-07-01 11:06:02 -07:00
memblock.c memblock: allow to specify flags with memblock_add_node() 2023-12-20 15:17:33 +01:00
memcontrol.c memcg: always call cond_resched() after fn() 2025-06-04 14:38:06 +02:00
memfd.c mm: reinstate ability to map write-sealed memfd mappings read-only 2025-08-28 16:24:30 +02:00
memory-failure.c mm/memory-failure: fix VM_BUG_ON_PAGE(PagePoisoned(page)) when unpoison memory 2025-10-02 13:39:05 +02:00
memory.c mm: fix apply_to_existing_page_range() 2025-05-02 07:44:24 +02:00
memory_hotplug.c mm/vmstat: fold stranded per-cpu node stats when a node comes online 2026-08-23 14:17:28 +02:00
mempolicy.c mm/numa_balancing: teach mpol_to_str about the balancing mode 2024-08-19 05:45:17 +02:00
mempool.c kasan: use separate (un)poison implementation for integrated init 2021-06-04 19:32:21 +01:00
memremap.c mm/memremap.c: map FS_DAX device memory as decrypted 2022-11-16 09:58:27 +01:00
memtest.c memtest: use {READ,WRITE}_ONCE in memory scanning 2024-04-10 16:18:42 +02:00
migrate.c migrate: correct lock ordering for hugetlb file folios 2026-02-06 16:41:58 +01:00
mincore.c mm: do file ownership checks with the proper mount idmap 2026-08-23 14:17:17 +02:00
mlock.c mm/mlock: fix potential imbalanced rlimit ucounts adjustment 2022-05-15 20:18:53 +02:00
mm_init.c include/linux/page-flags-layout.h: cleanups 2021-04-30 11:20:42 -07:00
mmap.c mm: reinstate ability to map write-sealed memfd mappings read-only 2025-08-28 16:24:30 +02:00
mmap_lock.c mm: mmap_lock: replace get_memcg_path_buf() with on-stack buffer 2024-08-19 05:45:10 +02:00
mmu_gather.c mm/hugetlb: fix excessive IPI broadcasts when unsharing PMD tables using mmu_gather 2026-04-18 10:33:18 +02:00
mmu_notifier.c mm/mmu_notifier.c: fix race in mmu_interval_notifier_remove() 2022-04-27 14:38:58 +02:00
mmzone.c mm/lru: replace pgdat lru_lock with lruvec lock 2020-12-15 14:48:04 -08:00
mprotect.c mm: don't try to NUMA-migrate COW pages that have other uses 2022-02-23 12:03:03 +01:00
mremap.c mmmremap.c: avoid pointless invalidate_range_start/end on mremap(old_size=0) 2022-04-13 20:59:22 +02:00
msync.c mm/msync: exit early when the flags is an MS_ASYNC and start < vm_start 2021-04-30 11:20:37 -07:00
nommu.c mm: refactor arch_calc_vm_flag_bits() and arm64 MTE handling 2024-12-14 19:50:38 +01:00
oom_kill.c memcg: fix soft lockup in the OOM process 2025-03-13 12:50:48 +01:00
page-writeback.c mm: fix ratelimit_pages update error in dirty_ratio_handler() 2025-06-27 11:05:26 +01:00
page_alloc.c mm, page_alloc, thp: prevent reclaim for __GFP_THISNODE THP allocations 2026-03-04 07:20:30 -05:00
page_counter.c mm: page_counter: mitigate consequences of a page_counter underflow 2021-04-30 11:20:38 -07:00
page_ext.c mm/migrate: add CPU hotplug to demotion #ifdef 2021-10-18 20:22:02 -10:00
page_idle.c mm/idle_page_tracking: make PG_idle reusable 2021-09-08 11:50:24 -07:00
page_io.c use less confusing names for iov_iter direction initializers 2026-06-19 13:33:46 +02:00
page_isolation.c Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2021-09-08 12:55:35 -07:00
page_owner.c mm: remove pfn_valid_within() and CONFIG_HOLES_IN_ZONE 2021-09-08 11:50:22 -07:00
page_poison.c mm: page_poison: print page info when corruption is caught 2021-04-30 11:20:36 -07:00
page_reporting.c mm/page_reporting: use system_freezable_wq to fix UAF during suspend 2026-08-19 17:14:10 +02:00
page_reporting.h mm/page_reporting: export reporting order as module parameter 2021-06-29 10:53:47 -07:00
page_vma_mapped.c mm: device exclusive memory access 2021-07-01 11:06:03 -07:00
pagewalk.c mm/ptdump: always stabilise against page table freeing using init_mm 2026-08-23 14:17:30 +02:00
percpu-internal.h Merge branch 'for-5.14' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/dennis/percpu 2021-07-01 17:17:24 -07:00
percpu-km.c mm/percpu-km: fix bitmap overflow and accounting in pcpu_create_chunk() 2026-08-19 17:14:08 +02:00
percpu-stats.c percpu: rework memcg accounting 2021-06-05 20:43:15 +00:00
percpu-vm.c percpu: flush tlb in pcpu_reclaim_populated() 2021-07-04 18:30:17 +00:00
percpu.c memblock: drop memblock_free_early_nid() and memblock_free_early() 2025-03-13 12:50:07 +01:00
pgalloc-track.h mm: fix typos in comments 2021-05-07 00:26:35 -07:00
pgtable-generic.c mm/thp: fix __split_huge_pmd_locked() on shmem migration entry 2021-06-16 09:24:42 -07:00
process_vm_access.c use less confusing names for iov_iter direction initializers 2026-06-19 13:33:46 +02:00
ptdump.c mm/ptdump: always stabilise against page table freeing using init_mm 2026-08-23 14:17:30 +02:00
readahead.c vfs: fix readahead(2) on block devices 2023-11-20 11:08:13 +01:00
rmap.c mm/hugetlb: fix excessive IPI broadcasts when unsharing PMD tables using mmu_gather 2026-04-18 10:33:18 +02:00
rodata_test.c mm/rodata_test.c: fix missing function declaration 2020-08-21 09:52:53 -07:00
secretmem.c mm/secretmem: fix use-after-free race in fault handler 2025-12-07 06:09:32 +09:00
shmem.c mm: update memfd seal write check to include F_SEAL_WRITE 2025-08-28 16:24:30 +02:00
shuffle.c mm: eliminate "expecting prototype" kernel-doc warnings 2021-04-16 16:10:36 -07:00
shuffle.h mm/shuffle: fix section mismatch warning 2021-05-22 15:09:07 -10:00
slab.c slab: Introduce kmalloc_size_roundup() 2025-04-10 14:31:49 +02:00
slab.h mm, kfence: support kmem_dump_obj() for KFENCE objects 2022-04-27 14:38:51 +02:00
slab_common.c mm, slab: remove duplicate kernel-doc comment for ksize() 2025-04-10 14:32:06 +02:00
slob.c slab: Introduce kmalloc_size_roundup() 2025-04-10 14:31:49 +02:00
slub.c mm/slub: avoid accessing metadata when pointer is invalid in object_err() 2025-09-09 18:50:24 +02:00
sparse-vmemmap.c mm: introduce and use {pgd,p4d}_populate_kernel() 2025-10-02 13:38:59 +02:00
sparse.c memblock: drop memblock_free_early_nid() and memblock_free_early() 2025-03-13 12:50:07 +01:00
swap.c mm: fs: invalidate bh_lrus for only cold path 2021-09-24 16:13:35 -07:00
swap_cgroup.c mm: memcontrol: make swap tracking an integral part of memory control 2020-06-03 20:09:48 -07:00
swap_slots.c mm: Replace deprecated CPU-hotplug functions. 2021-08-28 01:46:17 +02:00
swap_state.c mm: swap: get rid of livelock in swapin readahead 2022-03-23 09:16:41 +01:00
swapfile.c mm/swapfile: skip HugeTLB pages for unuse_vma 2024-10-22 15:40:41 +02:00
truncate.c Merge branch 'akpm' (patches from Andrew) 2021-09-03 10:08:28 -07:00
usercopy.c mm/usercopy: return 1 from hardened_usercopy __setup() handler 2022-04-08 14:24:14 +02:00
userfaultfd.c userfaultfd: fix mmap_changing checking in mfill_atomic_hugetlb 2024-03-01 13:21:43 +01:00
util.c mm: unconditionally close VMAs on error 2024-12-14 19:50:38 +01:00
vmacache.c kernel: better document the use_mm/unuse_mm API contract 2020-06-10 19:14:18 -07:00
vmalloc.c mm/vmalloc: leave lazy MMU mode on PTE mapping error 2025-08-28 16:24:03 +02:00
vmpressure.c net-memcg: Fix scope of sockmem pressure indicators 2023-09-19 12:22:33 +02:00
vmscan.c mm: add missing release barrier on PGDAT_RECLAIM_LOCKED unlock 2025-05-02 07:44:04 +02:00
vmstat.c vmstat: call fold_vm_zone_numa_events() before show per zone NUMA event 2024-12-14 19:50:33 +01:00
workingset.c memcg: sync flush only if periodic flush is delayed 2022-04-27 14:38:57 +02:00
z3fold.c mm/z3fold: add kerneldoc fields for z3fold_pool 2021-07-01 11:06:03 -07:00
zbud.c mm/zbud: add kerneldoc fields for zbud_pool 2021-07-01 11:06:03 -07:00
zpool.c mm: fix typos in comments 2021-05-07 00:26:35 -07:00
zsmalloc.c minmax: make generic MIN() and MAX() macros available everywhere 2025-10-19 16:21:52 +02:00
zswap.c mm/zswap.c: fix two bugs in zswap_writeback_entry() 2021-06-30 20:47:31 -07:00