Message-ID: <CAJuCfpFA0Kqt_KOceq6bxbJG80z-RaxcFbC+-59F_sPOXAorQA@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 29 Apr 2025 13:33:05 -0700
From: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>
To: Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>
Cc: Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>, brauner@...nel.org, 
	linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, akpm@...ux-foundation.org, 
	Liam.Howlett@...cle.com, lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com, david@...hat.com, 
	vbabka@...e.cz, peterx@...hat.com, hannes@...xchg.org, mhocko@...nel.org, 
	paulmck@...nel.org, shuah@...nel.org, adobriyan@...il.com, 
	josef@...icpanda.com, yebin10@...wei.com, linux@...ssschuh.net, 
	willy@...radead.org, osalvador@...e.de, andrii@...nel.org, 
	ryan.roberts@....com, christophe.leroy@...roup.eu, 
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, 
	linux-kselftest@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3 7/8] mm/maps: read proc/pid/maps under RCU

On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 11:55 AM Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 8:04 PM Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 10:21 AM Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi!
> > >
> > > (I just noticed that I incorrectly assumed that VMAs use kfree_rcu
> > > (not SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU) when I wrote my review of this, somehow I
> > > forgot all about that...)
> >
> > Does this fact affect your previous comments? Just want to make sure
> > I'm not missing something...
>
> When I suggested using "WRITE_ONCE(vma->vm_file, NULL)" when tearing
> down a VMA, and using get_file_rcu() for the lockless lookup, I did
> not realize that you could actually also race with all the other
> places that set ->vm_file, like __mmap_new_file_vma() and so on; and I
> did not think about whether any of those code paths might leave a VMA
> with a dangling ->vm_file pointer.

So, let me summarize my understanding and see if it's correct.

If we copy the original vma, ensure that it hasn't changed while we
were copying (with mmap_lock_speculate_retry()) and then use
get_file_rcu(&copy->vm_file) I think we are guaranteed no UAF because
we are in RCU read section. At this point the only issue is that
copy->vm_file might have lost its last refcount and get_file_rcu()
would enter an infinite loop. So, to avoid that we have to use the
original vma when calling get_file_rcu() but then we should also
ensure that vma itself does not change from under us due to
SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU used for vm_area_struct cache. If it does change
from under us we might end up accessing an invalid address if
vma->vm_file is being modified concurrently.

>
> I guess maybe that means you really do need to do the lookup from the
> copied data, as you did in your patch; and that might require calling
> get_file_active() on the copied ->vm_file pointer (instead of
> get_file_rcu()), even though I think that is not really how
> get_file_active() is supposed to be used (it's supposed to be used
> when you know the original file hasn't been freed yet). Really what
> you'd want for that is basically a raw __get_file_rcu(), but that is
> static and I think Christian wouldn't want to expose more of these
> internals outside VFS...
> (In that case, all the stuff below about get_file_rcu() would be moot.)
>
> Or you could pepper WRITE_ONCE() over all the places that write
> ->vm_file, and ensure that ->vm_file is always NULLed before its
> reference is dropped... but that seems a bit more ugly to me.

Ugh, yes. We either ensure no vma->vm_file tearing or use
__get_file_rcu() on a copy of the vma. Or we have to stabilize the vma
by locking it... Let me think about all these options. Thanks!

>
> > > On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 7:09 PM Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com> wrote:
> > > > On Tue, Apr 29, 2025 at 8:40 AM Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com> wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, Apr 18, 2025 at 7:50 PM Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com> wrote:
> > > > > > With maple_tree supporting vma tree traversal under RCU and vma and
> > > > > > its important members being RCU-safe, /proc/pid/maps can be read under
> > > > > > RCU and without the need to read-lock mmap_lock. However vma content
> > > > > > can change from under us, therefore we make a copy of the vma and we
> > > > > > pin pointer fields used when generating the output (currently only
> > > > > > vm_file and anon_name). Afterwards we check for concurrent address
> > > > > > space modifications, wait for them to end and retry. While we take
> > > > > > the mmap_lock for reading during such contention, we do that momentarily
> > > > > > only to record new mm_wr_seq counter. This change is designed to reduce
> > > > > > mmap_lock contention and prevent a process reading /proc/pid/maps files
> > > > > > (often a low priority task, such as monitoring/data collection services)
> > > > > > from blocking address space updates.
> > > > > [...]
> > > > > > diff --git a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > > > > > index b9e4fbbdf6e6..f9d50a61167c 100644
> > > > > > --- a/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > > > > > +++ b/fs/proc/task_mmu.c
> > > > > [...]
> > > > > > +/*
> > > > > > + * Take VMA snapshot and pin vm_file and anon_name as they are used by
> > > > > > + * show_map_vma.
> > > > > > + */
> > > > > > +static int get_vma_snapshot(struct proc_maps_private *priv, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> > > > > > +{
> > > > > > +       struct vm_area_struct *copy = &priv->vma_copy;
> > > > > > +       int ret = -EAGAIN;
> > > > > > +
> > > > > > +       memcpy(copy, vma, sizeof(*vma));
> > > > > > +       if (copy->vm_file && !get_file_rcu(&copy->vm_file))
> > > > > > +               goto out;
> > > > >
> > > > > I think this uses get_file_rcu() in a different way than intended.
> > > > >
> > > > > As I understand it, get_file_rcu() is supposed to be called on a
> > > > > pointer which always points to a file with a non-zero refcount (except
> > > > > when it is NULL). That's why it takes a file** instead of a file* - if
> > > > > it observes a zero refcount, it assumes that the pointer must have
> > > > > been updated in the meantime, and retries. Calling get_file_rcu() on a
> > > > > pointer that points to a file with zero refcount, which I think can
> > > > > happen with this patch, will cause an endless loop.
> > > > > (Just as background: For other usecases, get_file_rcu() is supposed to
> > > > > still behave nicely and not spuriously return NULL when the file* is
> > > > > concurrently updated to point to another file*; that's what that loop
> > > > > is for.)
> > > >
> > > > Ah, I see. I wasn't aware of this subtlety. I think this is fixable by
> > > > checking the return value of get_file_rcu() and retrying speculation
> > > > if it changed.
> > >
> > > I think you could probably still end up looping endlessly in get_file_rcu().
>
> (Just to be clear: What I meant here is that get_file_rcu() loops
> *internally*; get_file_rcu() is not guaranteed to ever return if the
> pointed-to file has a zero refcount.)
>
> > By "retrying speculation" I meant it in the sense of
> > get_vma_snapshot() retry when it takes the mmap_read_lock and then
> > does mmap_lock_speculate_try_begin to restart speculation. I'm also
> > thinking about Liam's concern of guaranteeing forward progress for the
> > reader. Thinking maybe I should not drop mmap_read_lock immediately on
> > contention but generate some output (one vma or one page worth of
> > vmas) before dropping mmap_read_lock and proceeding with speculation.
>
> Hm, yeah, I guess you need that for forward progress...
>
> > > > > (If my understanding is correct, maybe we should document that more
> > > > > explicitly...)
> > > >
> > > > Good point. I'll add comments for get_file_rcu() as a separate patch.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Also, I think you are introducing an implicit assumption that
> > > > > remove_vma() does not NULL out the ->vm_file pointer (because that
> > > > > could cause tearing and could theoretically lead to a torn pointer
> > > > > being accessed here).
> > > > >
> > > > > One alternative might be to change the paths that drop references to
> > > > > vma->vm_file (search for vma_close to find them) such that they first
> > > > > NULL out ->vm_file with a WRITE_ONCE() and do the fput() after that,
> > > > > maybe with a new helper like this:
> > > > >
> > > > > static void vma_fput(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> > > > > {
> > > > >   struct file *file = vma->vm_file;
> > > > >
> > > > >   if (file) {
> > > > >     WRITE_ONCE(vma->vm_file, NULL);
> > > > >     fput(file);
> > > > >   }
> > > > > }
> > > > >
> > > > > Then on the lockless lookup path you could use get_file_rcu() on the
> > > > > ->vm_file pointer _of the original VMA_, and store the returned file*
> > > > > into copy->vm_file.
> > > >
> > > > Ack. Except for storing the return value of get_file_rcu(). I think
> > > > once we detect that  get_file_rcu() returns a different file we should
> > > > bail out and retry. The change in file is an indication that the vma
> > > > got changed from under us, so whatever we have is stale.
> > >
> > > What does "different file" mean here - what file* would you compare
> > > the returned one against?
> >
> > Inside get_vma_snapshot() I would pass the original vma->vm_file to
> > get_file_rcu() and check if it returns the same value. If the value
> > got changed we jump to  /* Address space got modified, vma might be
> > stale. Re-lock and retry. */ section. That should work, right?
>
> Where do you get an "original vma->vm_file" from?
>
> To be clear, get_file_rcu(p) returns one of the values that *p had
> while get_file_rcu(p) is running.

``````

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