linux-kernel - [PATCH rcu 2/5] rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw

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Message-Id: <20250709104118.15532-3-neeraj.upadhyay@kernel.org>
Date: Wed,  9 Jul 2025 16:11:15 +0530
From: neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org
To: rcu@...r.kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	paulmck@...nel.org,
	joelagnelf@...dia.com,
	frederic@...nel.org,
	boqun.feng@...il.com,
	urezki@...il.com,
	rostedt@...dmis.org,
	mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com,
	jiangshanlai@...il.com,
	qiang.zhang1211@...il.com,
	neeraj.iitr10@...il.com,
	neeraj.upadhyay@....com,
	"Neeraj Upadhyay (AMD)" <neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org>
Subject: [PATCH rcu 2/5] rcu: Protect ->defer_qs_iw_pending from data race

From: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>

On kernels built with CONFIG_IRQ_WORK=y, when rcu_read_unlock() is
invoked within an interrupts-disabled region of code [1], it will invoke
rcu_read_unlock_special(), which uses an irq-work handler to force the
system to notice when the RCU read-side critical section actually ends.
That end won't happen until interrupts are enabled at the soonest.

In some kernels, such as those booted with rcutree.use_softirq=y, the
irq-work handler is used unconditionally.

The per-CPU rcu_data structure's ->defer_qs_iw_pending field is
updated by the irq-work handler and is both read and updated by
rcu_read_unlock_special().  This resulted in the following KCSAN splat:

------------------------------------------------------------------------

BUG: KCSAN: data-race in rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler / rcu_read_unlock_special

read to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 90 on cpu 8:
 rcu_read_unlock_special+0x175/0x260
 __rcu_read_unlock+0x92/0xa0
 rt_spin_unlock+0x9b/0xc0
 __local_bh_enable+0x10d/0x170
 __local_bh_enable_ip+0xfb/0x150
 rcu_do_batch+0x595/0xc40
 rcu_cpu_kthread+0x4e9/0x830
 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0
 kthread+0x3bd/0x410
 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

write to 0xffff96b95f42d8d8 of 1 bytes by task 88 on cpu 8:
 rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler+0x1e/0x30
 irq_work_single+0xaf/0x160
 run_irq_workd+0x91/0xc0
 smpboot_thread_fn+0x24d/0x3b0
 kthread+0x3bd/0x410
 ret_from_fork+0x35/0x40
 ret_from_fork_asm+0x1a/0x30

no locks held by irq_work/8/88.
irq event stamp: 200272
hardirqs last  enabled at (200272): [<ffffffffb0f56121>] finish_task_switch+0x131/0x320
hardirqs last disabled at (200271): [<ffffffffb25c7859>] __schedule+0x129/0xd70
softirqs last  enabled at (0): [<ffffffffb0ee093f>] copy_process+0x4df/0x1cc0
softirqs last disabled at (0): [<0000000000000000>] 0x0

------------------------------------------------------------------------

The problem is that irq-work handlers run with interrupts enabled, which
means that rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() could be interrupted,
and that interrupt handler might contain an RCU read-side critical
section, which might invoke rcu_read_unlock_special().  In the strict
KCSAN mode of operation used by RCU, this constitutes a data race on
the ->defer_qs_iw_pending field.

This commit therefore disables interrupts across the portion of the
rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler() that updates the ->defer_qs_iw_pending
field.  This suffices because this handler is not a fast path.

Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@...nel.org>
Signed-off-by: Neeraj Upadhyay (AMD) <neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org>
---
 kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
index 0b0f56f6abc8..a91b2322a0cd 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
@@ -624,10 +624,13 @@ notrace void rcu_preempt_deferred_qs(struct task_struct *t)
  */
 static void rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler(struct irq_work *iwp)
 {
+	unsigned long flags;
 	struct rcu_data *rdp;

 	rdp = container_of(iwp, struct rcu_data, defer_qs_iw);
+	local_irq_save(flags);
 	rdp->defer_qs_iw_pending = false;
+	local_irq_restore(flags);
 }

 /*
-- 
2.40.1