Message-ID: <790e550f-3d6e-4eb2-be3c-a5feaaac1ce0@redhat.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2025 17:49:27 +0200
From: David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>
To: Lance Yang <lance.yang@...ux.dev>, Barry Song <21cnbao@...il.com>
Cc: akpm@...ux-foundation.org, baolin.wang@...ux.alibaba.com,
 chrisl@...nel.org, kasong@...cent.com, linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-mm@...ck.org,
 linux-riscv@...ts.infradead.org, lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com,
 ryan.roberts@....com, v-songbaohua@...o.com, x86@...nel.org,
 huang.ying.caritas@...il.com, zhengtangquan@...o.com, riel@...riel.com,
 Liam.Howlett@...cle.com, vbabka@...e.cz, harry.yoo@...cle.com,
 mingzhe.yang@...com, stable@...r.kernel.org, Lance Yang <ioworker0@...il.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/1] mm/rmap: fix potential out-of-bounds page table
 access during batched unmap

On 27.06.25 17:29, Lance Yang wrote:
> 
> 
> On 2025/6/27 18:13, David Hildenbrand wrote:
>> On 27.06.25 09:36, Barry Song wrote:
>>> On Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 7:15 PM Lance Yang <lance.yang@...ux.dev> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 2025/6/27 14:55, Barry Song wrote:
>>>>> On Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 6:52 PM Barry Song <21cnbao@...il.com> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Fri, Jun 27, 2025 at 6:23 PM Lance Yang <ioworker0@...il.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> From: Lance Yang <lance.yang@...ux.dev>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As pointed out by David[1], the batched unmap logic in
>>>>>>> try_to_unmap_one()
>>>>>>> can read past the end of a PTE table if a large folio is mapped
>>>>>>> starting at
>>>>>>> the last entry of that table. It would be quite rare in practice, as
>>>>>>> MADV_FREE typically splits the large folio ;)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> So let's fix the potential out-of-bounds read by refactoring the
>>>>>>> logic into
>>>>>>> a new helper, folio_unmap_pte_batch().
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The new helper now correctly calculates the safe number of pages
>>>>>>> to scan by
>>>>>>> limiting the operation to the boundaries of the current VMA and
>>>>>>> the PTE
>>>>>>> table.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> In addition, the "all-or-nothing" batching restriction is removed to
>>>>>>> support partial batches. The reference counting is also cleaned up
>>>>>>> to use
>>>>>>> folio_put_refs().
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/
>>>>>>> a694398c-9f03-4737-81b9-7e49c857fcbe@...hat.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What about ?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As pointed out by David[1], the batched unmap logic in
>>>>>> try_to_unmap_one()
>>>>>> may read past the end of a PTE table when a large folio spans
>>>>>> across two PMDs,
>>>>>> particularly after being remapped with mremap(). This patch fixes the
>>>>>> potential out-of-bounds access by capping the batch at vm_end and
>>>>>> the PMD
>>>>>> boundary.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> It also refactors the logic into a new helper,
>>>>>> folio_unmap_pte_batch(),
>>>>>> which supports batching between 1 and folio_nr_pages. This improves
>>>>>> code
>>>>>> clarity. Note that such cases are rare in practice, as MADV_FREE
>>>>>> typically
>>>>>> splits large folios.
>>>>>
>>>>> Sorry, I meant that MADV_FREE typically splits large folios if the
>>>>> specified
>>>>> range doesn't cover the entire folio.
>>>>
>>>> Hmm... I got it wrong as well :( It's the partial coverage that triggers
>>>> the split.
>>>>
>>>> how about this revised version:
>>>>
>>>> As pointed out by David[1], the batched unmap logic in
>>>> try_to_unmap_one()
>>>> may read past the end of a PTE table when a large folio spans across two
>>>> PMDs, particularly after being remapped with mremap(). This patch fixes
>>>> the potential out-of-bounds access by capping the batch at vm_end and
>>>> the
>>>> PMD boundary.
>>>>
>>>> It also refactors the logic into a new helper, folio_unmap_pte_batch(),
>>>> which supports batching between 1 and folio_nr_pages. This improves code
>>>> clarity. Note that such boundary-straddling cases are rare in
>>>> practice, as
>>>> MADV_FREE will typically split a large folio if the advice range does
>>>> not
>>>> cover the entire folio.
>>>
>>> I assume the out-of-bounds access must be fixed, even though it is very
>>> unlikely. It might occur after a large folio is marked with MADV_FREE and
>>> then remapped to an unaligned address, potentially crossing two PTE
>>> tables.
>>
>> Right. If it can be triggered from userspace, it doesn't matter how
>> likely/common/whatever it is. It must be fixed.
> 
> Agreed. It must be fixed regardless of how rare the scenario is ;)
> 
>>
>>>
>>> A batch size between 2 and nr_pages - 1 is practically rare, as we
>>> typically
>>> split large folios when MADV_FREE does not cover the entire folio range.
>>> Cases where a batch of size 2 or nr_pages - 1 occurs may only happen if a
>>> large folio is partially unmapped after being marked MADV_FREE, which is
>>> quite an unusual pattern in userspace.
>>
>> I think the point is rather "Simplify the code by not special-casing for
>> completely mapped folios, there is no real reason why we cannot batch
>> ranges that don't cover the complete folio.".
> 
> Yeah. That makes the code cleaner and more generic, as there is no
> strong reason to special-case for fully mapped folios ;)
> 
> Based on that, I think we're on the same page now. I'd like to post
> the following commit message for the next version:
> 
> ```
> As pointed out by David[1], the batched unmap logic in try_to_unmap_one()
> may read past the end of a PTE table when a large folio's PTE mappings
> are not fully contained within a single page table.
> 
> While this scenario might be rare, an issue triggerable from userspace must
> be fixed regardless of its likelihood. This patch fixes the out-of-bounds
> access by refactoring the logic into a new helper, folio_unmap_pte_batch().
> 
> The new helper correctly calculates the safe batch size by capping the
> scan at both the VMA and PMD boundaries. To simplify the code, it also
> supports partial batching (i.e., any number of pages from 1 up to the
> calculated safe maximum), as there is no strong reason to special-case
> for fully mapped folios.
> ```
> 
> So, wdyt?

Sounds good to me.

-- 
Cheers,

David / dhildenb

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