linux-kernel - [PATCH] mm: tag kernel stack pages

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Message-ID: <20250820202029.1909925-1-vishal.moola@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Aug 2025 13:20:29 -0700
From: "Vishal Moola (Oracle)" <vishal.moola@...il.com>
To: linux-mm@...ck.org
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>,
	"Vishal Moola (Oracle)" <vishal.moola@...il.com>
Subject: [PATCH] mm: tag kernel stack pages

Currently, we have no way to distinguish a kernel stack page from an
unidentified page. Being able to track this information can be
beneficial for optimizing kernel memory usage (i.e. analyzing
fragmentation, location etc.). Knowing a page is being used for a kernel
stack gives us more insight about pages that are certainly immovable and
important to kernel functionality.

Add a new pagetype, and tag pages alongside the kernel stack accounting.
Also, ensure the type is dumped to /proc/kpageflags and the page-types
tool can find it.

Signed-off-by: Vishal Moola (Oracle) <vishal.moola@...il.com>
---
 fs/proc/page.c                         |  3 ++-
 include/linux/page-flags.h             |  5 +++++
 include/uapi/linux/kernel-page-flags.h |  1 +
 kernel/fork.c                          | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
 tools/mm/page-types.c                  |  1 +
 5 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/proc/page.c b/fs/proc/page.c
index 771e0b6bc630..46be207c5a02 100644
--- a/fs/proc/page.c
+++ b/fs/proc/page.c
@@ -201,7 +201,8 @@ u64 stable_page_flags(const struct page *page)
 
 	if (ps.flags & PAGE_SNAPSHOT_PG_BUDDY)
 		u |= 1 << KPF_BUDDY;
-
+	if (folio_test_stack(folio))
+		u |= 1 << KPF_KSTACK;
 	if (folio_test_offline(folio))
 		u |= 1 << KPF_OFFLINE;
 	if (folio_test_pgtable(folio))
diff --git a/include/linux/page-flags.h b/include/linux/page-flags.h
index d53a86e68c89..5ee6ffbdbf83 100644
--- a/include/linux/page-flags.h
+++ b/include/linux/page-flags.h
@@ -933,6 +933,7 @@ enum pagetype {
 	PGTY_zsmalloc		= 0xf6,
 	PGTY_unaccepted		= 0xf7,
 	PGTY_large_kmalloc	= 0xf8,
+	PGTY_kstack		= 0xf9,
 
 	PGTY_mapcount_underflow = 0xff
 };
@@ -995,6 +996,10 @@ static __always_inline void __ClearPage##uname(struct page *page)	\
 	page->page_type = UINT_MAX;					\
 }
 
+/* PageStack() indicates that a page is used by kernel stacks.
+ */
+PAGE_TYPE_OPS(Stack, kstack, stack)
+
 /*
  * PageBuddy() indicates that the page is free and in the buddy system
  * (see mm/page_alloc.c).
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/kernel-page-flags.h b/include/uapi/linux/kernel-page-flags.h
index ff8032227876..56175b497ace 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/kernel-page-flags.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/kernel-page-flags.h
@@ -36,5 +36,6 @@
 #define KPF_ZERO_PAGE		24
 #define KPF_IDLE		25
 #define KPF_PGTABLE		26
+#define KPF_KSTACK		27
 
 #endif /* _UAPILINUX_KERNEL_PAGE_FLAGS_H */
diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 5115be549234..c8a6e1495acf 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -440,15 +440,22 @@ static void account_kernel_stack(struct task_struct *tsk, int account)
 		struct vm_struct *vm_area = task_stack_vm_area(tsk);
 		int i;
 
-		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++)
+		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++) {
 			mod_lruvec_page_state(vm_area->pages[i], NR_KERNEL_STACK_KB,
 					      account * (PAGE_SIZE / 1024));
+			__SetPageStack(vm_area->pages[i]);
+		}
 	} else {
 		void *stack = task_stack_page(tsk);
+		struct page *page = virt_to_head_page(stack);
+		int i;
 
 		/* All stack pages are in the same node. */
 		mod_lruvec_kmem_state(stack, NR_KERNEL_STACK_KB,
 				      account * (THREAD_SIZE / 1024));
+
+		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++, page++)
+			__SetPageStack(page);
 	}
 }
 
@@ -461,8 +468,16 @@ void exit_task_stack_account(struct task_struct *tsk)
 		int i;
 
 		vm_area = task_stack_vm_area(tsk);
-		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++)
+		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++) {
 			memcg_kmem_uncharge_page(vm_area->pages[i], 0);
+			__ClearPageStack(vm_area->pages[i]);
+		}
+	} else {
+		struct page *page = virt_to_head_page(task_stack_page(tsk));
+		int i;
+
+		for (i = 0; i < THREAD_SIZE / PAGE_SIZE; i++, page++)
+			__ClearPageStack(page);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/tools/mm/page-types.c b/tools/mm/page-types.c
index d7e5e8902af8..4031fdbad3e7 100644
--- a/tools/mm/page-types.c
+++ b/tools/mm/page-types.c
@@ -127,6 +127,7 @@ static const char * const page_flag_names[] = {
 	[KPF_PGTABLE]		= "g:pgtable",
 	[KPF_ZERO_PAGE]		= "z:zero_page",
 	[KPF_IDLE]              = "i:idle_page",
+	[KPF_KSTACK]		= "k:kernel_stack",
 
 	[KPF_RESERVED]		= "r:reserved",
 	[KPF_MLOCKED]		= "m:mlocked",
-- 
2.50.1