linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RFC v2] mm: use per_vma lock for MADV

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Message-ID: <c813c03a-5d95-43a6-9415-0ceb845eb62c@lucifer.local>
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2025 18:50:33 +0100
From: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>
To: Qi Zheng <zhengqi.arch@...edance.com>
Cc: Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>, Barry Song <21cnbao@...il.com>,
        akpm@...ux-foundation.org, linux-mm@...ck.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Barry Song <v-songbaohua@...o.com>,
        "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
        David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>, Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
        Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
        Lokesh Gidra <lokeshgidra@...gle.com>,
        Tangquan Zheng <zhengtangquan@...o.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC v2] mm: use per_vma lock for MADV_DONTNEED

On Wed, Jun 04, 2025 at 02:02:12PM +0800, Qi Zheng wrote:
> Hi Lorenzo,
>
> On 6/3/25 5:54 PM, Lorenzo Stoakes wrote:
> > On Tue, Jun 03, 2025 at 03:24:28PM +0800, Qi Zheng wrote:
> > > Hi Jann,
> > >
> > > On 5/30/25 10:06 PM, Jann Horn wrote:
> > > > On Fri, May 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM Barry Song <21cnbao@...il.com> wrote:
> > > > > Certain madvise operations, especially MADV_DONTNEED, occur far more
> > > > > frequently than other madvise options, particularly in native and Java
> > > > > heaps for dynamic memory management.
> > > > >
> > > > > Currently, the mmap_lock is always held during these operations, even when
> > > > > unnecessary. This causes lock contention and can lead to severe priority
> > > > > inversion, where low-priority threads—such as Android's HeapTaskDaemon—
> > > > > hold the lock and block higher-priority threads.
> > > > >
> > > > > This patch enables the use of per-VMA locks when the advised range lies
> > > > > entirely within a single VMA, avoiding the need for full VMA traversal. In
> > > > > practice, userspace heaps rarely issue MADV_DONTNEED across multiple VMAs.
> > > > >
> > > > > Tangquan’s testing shows that over 99.5% of memory reclaimed by Android
> > > > > benefits from this per-VMA lock optimization. After extended runtime,
> > > > > 217,735 madvise calls from HeapTaskDaemon used the per-VMA path, while
> > > > > only 1,231 fell back to mmap_lock.
> > > > >
> > > > > To simplify handling, the implementation falls back to the standard
> > > > > mmap_lock if userfaultfd is enabled on the VMA, avoiding the complexity of
> > > > > userfaultfd_remove().
> > > >
> > > > One important quirk of this is that it can, from what I can see, cause
> > > > freeing of page tables (through pt_reclaim) without holding the mmap
> > > > lock at all:
> > > >
> > > > do_madvise [behavior=MADV_DONTNEED]
> > > >     madvise_lock
> > > >       lock_vma_under_rcu
> > > >     madvise_do_behavior
> > > >       madvise_single_locked_vma
> > > >         madvise_vma_behavior
> > > >           madvise_dontneed_free
> > > >             madvise_dontneed_single_vma
> > > >               zap_page_range_single_batched [.reclaim_pt = true]
> > > >                 unmap_single_vma
> > > >                   unmap_page_range
> > > >                     zap_p4d_range
> > > >                       zap_pud_range
> > > >                         zap_pmd_range
> > > >                           zap_pte_range
> > > >                             try_get_and_clear_pmd
> > > >                             free_pte
> > > >
> > > > This clashes with the assumption in walk_page_range_novma() that
> > > > holding the mmap lock in write mode is sufficient to prevent
> > > > concurrent page table freeing, so it can probably lead to page table
> > > > UAF through the ptdump interface (see ptdump_walk_pgd()).
> > >
> > > Maybe not? The PTE page is freed via RCU in zap_pte_range(), so in the
> > > following case:
> > >
> > > cpu 0				cpu 1
> > >
> > > ptdump_walk_pgd
> > > --> walk_pte_range
> > >      --> pte_offset_map (hold RCU read lock)
> > > 				zap_pte_range
> > > 				--> free_pte (via RCU)
> > >          walk_pte_range_inner
> > >          --> ptdump_pte_entry (the PTE page is not freed at this time)
> > >
> > > IIUC, there is no UAF issue here?
> > >
> > > If I missed anything please let me know.

Seems to me that we don't need the VMA locks then unless I'm missing
something? :) Jann?

Would this RCU-lock-acquired-by-pte_offset_map also save us from the
munmap() downgraded read lock scenario also? Or is the problem there
intermediate page table teardown I guess?

> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Qi
> > >
> > >
> >
> > I forgot about that interesting placement of RCU lock acquisition :) I will
> > obviously let Jann come back to you on this, but I wonder if I need to
> > update the doc to reflect this actually.
>
> I saw that there is already a relevant description in process_addrs.rst:
>
>
> ```
> So accessing PTE-level page tables requires at least holding an RCU read
> lock;
>   but that only suffices for readers that can tolerate racing with
> concurrent
>   page table updates such that an empty PTE is observed (in a page table
> that
>   has actually already been detached and marked for RCU freeing) while
> another
>   new page table has been installed in the same location and filled with
>   entries. Writers normally need to take the PTE lock and revalidate that
> the
>   PMD entry still refers to the same PTE-level page table.
>   If the writer does not care whether it is the same PTE-level page table,
> it
>   can take the PMD lock and revalidate that the contents of pmd entry still
> meet
>   the requirements. In particular, this also happens in
> :c:func:`!retract_page_tables`
>   when handling :c:macro:`!MADV_COLLAPSE`.
> ```
>
> Thanks!
>
>

Thanks I think you're right!