linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] slab: Fix obj_ext is mistakenly considered NULL due to race condition

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Message-ID: <aPmR6Fz8HxYk4rTF@hyeyoo>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 11:24:40 +0900
From: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@...cle.com>
To: Hao Ge <hao.ge@...ux.dev>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Christoph Lameter <cl@...two.org>,
        David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>,
        Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@...ux.dev>,
        Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
        Shakeel Butt <shakeel.butt@...ux.dev>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Hao Ge <gehao@...inos.cn>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] slab: Fix obj_ext is mistakenly considered NULL due to
 race condition

On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 09:21:17AM +0800, Hao Ge wrote:
> From: Hao Ge <gehao@...inos.cn>
> 
> If two competing threads enter alloc_slab_obj_exts(), and the
> thread that failed to allocate the object extension vector exits
> after the one that succeeded, it will mistakenly assume slab->obj_ext
> is still empty due to its own allocation failure. This will then trigger
> warnings enforced by CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG checks in
> the subsequent free path.
>
> Therefore, let's add an additional check when alloc_slab_obj_exts fails.
>
> Signed-off-by: Hao Ge <gehao@...inos.cn>
> ---
>  mm/slub.c | 9 ++++++---
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
> index d4403341c9df..42276f0cc920 100644
> --- a/mm/slub.c
> +++ b/mm/slub.c
> @@ -2227,9 +2227,12 @@ prepare_slab_obj_exts_hook(struct kmem_cache *s, gfp_t flags, void *p)
>  	slab = virt_to_slab(p);
>  	if (!slab_obj_exts(slab) &&
>  	    alloc_slab_obj_exts(slab, s, flags, false)) {
> -		pr_warn_once("%s, %s: Failed to create slab extension vector!\n",
> -			     __func__, s->name);
> -		return NULL;
> +		/* Recheck if a racing thread has successfully allocated slab->obj_exts. */
> +		if (!slab_obj_exts(slab)) {
> +			pr_warn_once("%s, %s: Failed to create slab extension vector!\n",
> +				     __func__, s->name);
> +			return NULL;
> +		}
>  	}

Maybe this patch is a bit paranoid... since if mark_failed_objexts_alloc()
win cmpxchg() and then someone else allocates the object extension vector,
the warning will still be printed anyway.

But anyway, I think there is a better way to do this:

diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index dd4c85ea1038..d08d7580349d 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -2052,9 +2052,9 @@ static inline void mark_objexts_empty(struct slabobj_ext *obj_exts)
 	}
 }
 
-static inline void mark_failed_objexts_alloc(struct slab *slab)
+static inline bool mark_failed_objexts_alloc(struct slab *slab)
 {
-	cmpxchg(&slab->obj_exts, 0, OBJEXTS_ALLOC_FAIL);
+	return cmpxchg(&slab->obj_exts, 0, OBJEXTS_ALLOC_FAIL) == 0;
 }
 
 static inline void handle_failed_objexts_alloc(unsigned long obj_exts,
@@ -2076,7 +2076,7 @@ static inline void handle_failed_objexts_alloc(unsigned long obj_exts,
 #else /* CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG */
 
 static inline void mark_objexts_empty(struct slabobj_ext *obj_exts) {}
-static inline void mark_failed_objexts_alloc(struct slab *slab) {}
+static inline bool mark_failed_objexts_alloc(struct slab *slab) { return true; }
 static inline void handle_failed_objexts_alloc(unsigned long obj_exts,
 			struct slabobj_ext *vec, unsigned int objects) {}
 
@@ -2125,7 +2125,9 @@ int alloc_slab_obj_exts(struct slab *slab, struct kmem_cache *s,
 	}
 	if (!vec) {
 		/* Mark vectors which failed to allocate */
-		mark_failed_objexts_alloc(slab);
+		if (!mark_failed_objexts_alloc(slab) &&
+			slab_obj_exts(slab))
+			return 0;
 
 		return -ENOMEM;
 	}

-- 
Cheers,
Harry / Hyeonggon