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Message-ID: <f3239ca1-81a8-468c-bca0-e439a18cd304@nvidia.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2025 15:41:29 -0400
From: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@...dia.com>
To: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@...nel.org>, neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org
Cc: rcu@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, paulmck@...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,
 Xiongfeng Wang <wangxiongfeng2@...wei.com>, Qi Xi <xiqi2@...wei.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH rcu 5/5] rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to IRQ
 work



On 7/9/2025 8:48 AM, Frederic Weisbecker wrote:
> Le Wed, Jul 09, 2025 at 04:11:18PM +0530, neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org a écrit :
>> From: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@...dia.com>
>>
>> During rcu_read_unlock_special(), if this happens during irq_exit(), we
>> can lockup if an IPI is issued. This is because the IPI itself triggers
>> the irq_exit() path causing a recursive lock up.
>>
>> This is precisely what Xiongfeng found when invoking a BPF program on
>> the trace_tick_stop() tracepoint As shown in the trace below. Fix by
>> managing the irq_work state correctly.
>>
>> irq_exit()
>>   __irq_exit_rcu()
>>     /* in_hardirq() returns false after this */
>>     preempt_count_sub(HARDIRQ_OFFSET)
>>     tick_irq_exit()
>>       tick_nohz_irq_exit()
>> 	    tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick()
>> 	      trace_tick_stop()  /* a bpf prog is hooked on this trace point */
>> 		   __bpf_trace_tick_stop()
>> 		      bpf_trace_run2()
>> 			    rcu_read_unlock_special()
>>                               /* will send a IPI to itself */
>> 			      irq_work_queue_on(&rdp->defer_qs_iw, rdp->cpu);
>>
>> A simple reproducer can also be obtained by doing the following in
>> tick_irq_exit(). It will hang on boot without the patch:
>>
>>   static inline void tick_irq_exit(void)
>>   {
>>  +	rcu_read_lock();
>>  +	WRITE_ONCE(current->rcu_read_unlock_special.b.need_qs, true);
>>  +	rcu_read_unlock();
>>  +
>>
>> Reported-by: Xiongfeng Wang <wangxiongfeng2@...wei.com>
>> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/9acd5f9f-6732-7701-6880-4b51190aa070@huawei.com/
>> Tested-by: Qi Xi <xiqi2@...wei.com>
>> Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@...dia.com>
>> Reviewed-by: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@...nel.org>
>> Signed-off-by: Neeraj Upadhyay (AMD) <neeraj.upadhyay@...nel.org>
>> ---
>>  kernel/rcu/tree.h        | 11 ++++++++++-
>>  kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h | 23 +++++++++++++++++++----
>>  2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree.h b/kernel/rcu/tree.h
>> index 3830c19cf2f6..f8f612269e6e 100644
>> --- a/kernel/rcu/tree.h
>> +++ b/kernel/rcu/tree.h
>> @@ -174,6 +174,15 @@ struct rcu_snap_record {
>>  	unsigned long   jiffies;	/* Track jiffies value */
>>  };
>>  
>> +/*
>> + * The IRQ work (deferred_qs_iw) is used by RCU to get scheduler's attention.
>> + * It can be in one of the following states:
>> + * - DEFER_QS_IDLE: An IRQ work was never scheduled.
>> + * - DEFER_QS_PENDING: An IRQ work was scheduler but never run.
> 
> Never as in "never ever" ? :-)

You're right this comment needs an update. It should be "An IRQ work was
scheduled, but a deferred QS hasn't been reported yet".

> 
> I'm not a native speaker, so you guys tell me, but isn't it less
> ambiguous:
> 
> - DEFER_QS_IDLE: The IRQ work isn't pending
> - DEFER_QS_PENDING: The IRQ work is pending but hasn't run yet

It actually could have run but we could have been in an RCU critical section at
the time.

> But then the name are already self-explanatory. And then keeping
> it as a boolean should be enough too. Why do we need these two
> states?

Its just more readable, IMO. That's why I kept it like that.

>> + */
>> +#define DEFER_QS_IDLE		0
>> +#define DEFER_QS_PENDING	1
>> +
>>  /* Per-CPU data for read-copy update. */
>>  struct rcu_data {
>>  	/* 1) quiescent-state and grace-period handling : */
>> @@ -192,7 +201,7 @@ struct rcu_data {
>>  					/*  during and after the last grace */
>>  					/* period it is aware of. */
>>  	struct irq_work defer_qs_iw;	/* Obtain later scheduler attention. */
>> -	bool defer_qs_iw_pending;	/* Scheduler attention pending? */
>> +	int defer_qs_iw_pending;	/* Scheduler attention pending? */
>>  	struct work_struct strict_work;	/* Schedule readers for strict GPs. */
>>  
>>  	/* 2) batch handling */
>> diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
>> index a91b2322a0cd..aec584812574 100644
>> --- a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
>> +++ b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
>> @@ -486,13 +486,16 @@ rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_irqrestore(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long flags)
>>  	struct rcu_node *rnp;
>>  	union rcu_special special;
>>  
>> +	rdp = this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data);
>> +	if (rdp->defer_qs_iw_pending == DEFER_QS_PENDING)
>> +		rdp->defer_qs_iw_pending = DEFER_QS_IDLE;
>> +
>>  	/*
>>  	 * If RCU core is waiting for this CPU to exit its critical section,
>>  	 * report the fact that it has exited.  Because irqs are disabled,
>>  	 * t->rcu_read_unlock_special cannot change.
>>  	 */
>>  	special = t->rcu_read_unlock_special;
>> -	rdp = this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data);
>>  	if (!special.s && !rdp->cpu_no_qs.b.exp) {
>>  		local_irq_restore(flags);
>>  		return;
>> @@ -629,7 +632,18 @@ static void rcu_preempt_deferred_qs_handler(struct irq_work *iwp)
>>  
>>  	rdp = container_of(iwp, struct rcu_data, defer_qs_iw);
>>  	local_irq_save(flags);
>> -	rdp->defer_qs_iw_pending = false;
>> +
>> +	/*
>> +	 * Requeue the IRQ work on next unlock in following situation:
> 

Sure.

> s/in/to avoid/
> 
>> +	 * 1. rcu_read_unlock() queues IRQ work (state -> DEFER_QS_PENDING)
>> +	 * 2. CPU enters new rcu_read_lock()
>> +	 * 3. IRQ work runs but cannot report QS due to rcu_preempt_depth() > 0
>> +	 * 4. rcu_read_unlock() does not re-queue work (state still PENDING)
>> +	 * 5. Deferred QS reporting does not happen.
>> +	 */
>> +	if (rcu_preempt_depth() > 0)
>> +		WRITE_ONCE(rdp->defer_qs_iw_pending, DEFER_QS_IDLE);
> 
> Why WRITE_ONCE() ? Also this lacks the explanation telling why it's not
> unconditionally setting back to DEFER_QS_IDLE (ie: just a few words about that
> irq_work() recursion thing), because I'm sure my short memory will suggest to
> make it unconditional for simplification within two years (being optimistic) :-)

The previous code was unconditionally setting it back so we would recurse before
the deferred QS report happened. I can add more comments about that. But
unfortunately, there is some hang that Neeraj and Paul are reporting so I'll go
work on that first.

thanks for the review,

 - Joel




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