linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/3] fork: dynamically allocate cache array for vmapped stacks using cpuhp

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

Message-ID: <CABeRdtqfAR+RSxs+2Lr7LZjhKqLfU3QHVN+RULchSbyrVS1qEQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date:   Sat, 4 Feb 2017 11:01:32 +0900
From:   Hoeun Ryu <hoeun.ryu@...il.com>
To:     Andy Lutomirski <luto@...capital.net>
Cc:     Michal Hocko <mhocko@...nel.org>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>,
        Andy Lutomirski <luto@...nel.org>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>,
        Mateusz Guzik <mguzik@...hat.com>,
        "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "kernel-hardening@...ts.openwall.com" 
        <kernel-hardening@...ts.openwall.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/3] fork: dynamically allocate cache array for vmapped
 stacks using cpuhp

On Sat, Feb 4, 2017 at 2:52 AM, Andy Lutomirski <luto@...capital.net> wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 8:42 AM, Hoeun Ryu <hoeun.ryu@...il.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Feb 4, 2017 at 12:39 AM, Michal Hocko <mhocko@...nel.org> wrote:
>>> On Sat 04-02-17 00:30:05, Hoeun Ryu wrote:
>>>>  Using virtually mapped stack, kernel stacks are allocated via vmalloc.
>>>> In the current implementation, two stacks per cpu can be cached when
>>>> tasks are freed and the cached stacks are used again in task duplications.
>>>> but the array for the cached stacks is statically allocated by per-cpu api.
>>>>  In this new implementation, the array for the cached stacks are dynamically
>>>> allocted and freed by cpu hotplug callbacks and the cached stacks are freed
>>>> when cpu is down. setup for cpu hotplug is established in fork_init().
>>>
>>> Why do we want this? I can see that the follow up patch makes the number
>>> configurable but the changelog doesn't describe the motivation for that.
>>> Which workload would benefit from a higher value?
>>>
>>
>> The key difference of this implementation, the cached stacks for a cpu
>> is freed when a cpu is down.
>> so the cached stacks are no longer wasted.
>> In the current implementation, the cached stacks for a cpu still
>> remain on the system when a cpu is down.
>> I think we could imagine what if a machine has many cpus and someone
>> wants to have bigger size of stack caches.
>
> Then how about just registering a simple hotplug hook to free the
> stacks without worrying about freeing the tiny array as well?
>

Michal, What do you think about it. it sounds fair enough.

> --Andy