linux-kernel - [PATCH v2] workqueue: fix state-dump console deadlock

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Date:   Wed,  6 Oct 2021 13:58:52 +0200
From:   Johan Hovold <johan@...nel.org>
To:     Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>
Cc:     Lai Jiangshan <jiangshanlai@...il.com>,
        Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>,
        Sergey Senozhatsky <senozhatsky@...omium.org>,
        Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
        John Ogness <john.ogness@...utronix.de>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Fabio Estevam <festevam@...x.de>, linux-serial@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Johan Hovold <johan@...nel.org>,
        stable@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v2] workqueue: fix state-dump console deadlock

Console drivers often queue work while holding locks also taken in their
console write paths, something which can lead to deadlocks on SMP when
dumping workqueue state (e.g. sysrq-t or on suspend failures).

For serial console drivers this could look like:

	CPU0				CPU1
	----				----

	show_workqueue_state();
	  lock(&pool->lock);		<IRQ>
	  				  lock(&port->lock);
					  schedule_work();
					    lock(&pool->lock);
	  printk();
	    lock(console_owner);
	    lock(&port->lock);

where workqueues are, for example, used to push data to the line
discipline, process break signals and handle modem-status changes. Line
disciplines and serdev drivers can also queue work on write-wakeup
notifications, etc.

Reworking every console driver to avoid queuing work while holding locks
also taken in their write paths would complicate drivers and is neither
desirable or feasible.

Instead use the deferred-printk mechanism to avoid printing while
holding pool locks when dumping workqueue state.

Note that there are a few WARN_ON() assertions in the workqueue code
which could potentially also trigger a deadlock. Hopefully the ongoing
printk rework will provide a general solution for this eventually.

This was originally reported after a lockdep splat when executing
sysrq-t with the imx serial driver.

Fixes: 3494fc30846d ("workqueue: dump workqueues on sysrq-t")
Cc: stable@...r.kernel.org	# 4.0
Reported-by: Fabio Estevam <festevam@...x.de>
Tested-by: Fabio Estevam <festevam@...x.de>
Signed-off-by: Johan Hovold <johan@...nel.org>
---

Changes in v2
 - defer printing also of worker pool state (Peter Mladek)
 - add Fabio's tested-by tag


 kernel/workqueue.c | 18 ++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/workqueue.c b/kernel/workqueue.c
index 33a6b4a2443d..1b3eb1e9531f 100644
--- a/kernel/workqueue.c
+++ b/kernel/workqueue.c
@@ -4830,8 +4830,16 @@ void show_workqueue_state(void)
 
 		for_each_pwq(pwq, wq) {
 			raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&pwq->pool->lock, flags);
-			if (pwq->nr_active || !list_empty(&pwq->inactive_works))
+			if (pwq->nr_active || !list_empty(&pwq->inactive_works)) {
+				/*
+				 * Defer printing to avoid deadlocks in console
+				 * drivers that queue work while holding locks
+				 * also taken in their write paths.
+				 */
+				printk_deferred_enter();
 				show_pwq(pwq);
+				printk_deferred_exit();
+			}
 			raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pwq->pool->lock, flags);
 			/*
 			 * We could be printing a lot from atomic context, e.g.
@@ -4849,7 +4857,12 @@ void show_workqueue_state(void)
 		raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&pool->lock, flags);
 		if (pool->nr_workers == pool->nr_idle)
 			goto next_pool;
-
+		/*
+		 * Defer printing to avoid deadlocks in console drivers that
+		 * queue work while holding locks also taken in their write
+		 * paths.
+		 */
+		printk_deferred_enter();
 		pr_info("pool %d:", pool->id);
 		pr_cont_pool_info(pool);
 		pr_cont(" hung=%us workers=%d",
@@ -4864,6 +4877,7 @@ void show_workqueue_state(void)
 			first = false;
 		}
 		pr_cont("\n");
+		printk_deferred_exit();
 	next_pool:
 		raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&pool->lock, flags);
 		/*
-- 
2.32.0