linux-kernel - [PATCH] mm, page_alloc: fix potential false positive in __zone_watermark

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:   Thu,  2 Nov 2017 13:50:01 +0100
From:   Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
To:     Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:     linux-mm@...ck.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Mel Gorman <mgorman@...hsingularity.net>,
        Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo.kim@....com>,
        Rik van Riel <riel@...hat.com>,
        David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>,
        Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org>,
        Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
Subject: [PATCH] mm, page_alloc: fix potential false positive in __zone_watermark_ok

Since commit 97a16fc82a7c ("mm, page_alloc: only enforce watermarks for order-0
allocations"), __zone_watermark_ok() check for high-order allocations will
shortcut per-migratetype free list checks for ALLOC_HARDER allocations, and
return true as long as there's free page of any migratetype. The intention is
that ALLOC_HARDER can allocate from MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC free lists, while normal
allocations can't.

However, as a side effect, the watermark check will then also return true when
there are pages only on the MIGRATE_ISOLATE list, or (prior to CMA conversion
to ZONE_MOVABLE) on the MIGRATE_CMA list. Since the allocation cannot actually
obtain isolated pages, and might not be able to obtain CMA pages, this can
result in a false positive.

The condition should be rare and perhaps the outcome is not a fatal one. Still,
it's better if the watermark check is correct. There also shouldn't be a
performance tradeoff here.

Fixes: 97a16fc82a7c ("mm, page_alloc: only enforce watermarks for order-0 allocations")
Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
---
 mm/page_alloc.c | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 79cdac1fee42..f43039945148 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -3032,9 +3032,6 @@ bool __zone_watermark_ok(struct zone *z, unsigned int order, unsigned long mark,
 		if (!area->nr_free)
 			continue;

-		if (alloc_harder)
-			return true;
-
 		for (mt = 0; mt < MIGRATE_PCPTYPES; mt++) {
 			if (!list_empty(&area->free_list[mt]))
 				return true;
@@ -3044,6 +3041,9 @@ bool __zone_watermark_ok(struct zone *z, unsigned int order, unsigned long mark,
 		if (!list_empty(&area->free_list[MIGRATE_CMA]))
 			return true;
 #endif
+		if (alloc_harder &&
+			!list_empty(&area->free_list[MIGRATE_HIGHATOMIC]))
+			return true;
 	}
 	return false;
 }
-- 
2.14.3