linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] slab: fix slab accounting imbalance due to defer_deactivate

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Message-ID: <aPrBp_vG_D-8qG_E@hyeyoo>
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:00:39 +0900
From: Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@...cle.com>
To: Alexei Starovoitov <alexei.starovoitov@...il.com>
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>,
        Alexei Starovoitov <ast@...nel.org>, linux-mm <linux-mm@...ck.org>,
        LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] slab: fix slab accounting imbalance due to
 defer_deactivate_slab()

On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 04:13:37PM -0700, Alexei Starovoitov wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 23, 2025 at 5:01 AM Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz> wrote:
> >
> > Since commit af92793e52c3 ("slab: Introduce kmalloc_nolock() and
> > kfree_nolock().") there's a possibility in alloc_single_from_new_slab()
> > that we discard the newly allocated slab if we can't spin and we fail to
> > trylock. As a result we don't perform inc_slabs_node() later in the
> > function. Instead we perform a deferred deactivate_slab() which can
> > either put the unacounted slab on partial list, or discard it
> > immediately while performing dec_slabs_node(). Either way will cause an
> > accounting imbalance.
> >
> > Fix this by not marking the slab as frozen, and using free_slab()
> > instead of deactivate_slab() for non-frozen slabs in
> > free_deferred_objects(). For CONFIG_SLUB_TINY, that's the only possible
> > case. By not using discard_slab() we avoid dec_slabs_node().
> >
> > Fixes: af92793e52c3 ("slab: Introduce kmalloc_nolock() and kfree_nolock().")
> > Signed-off-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>
> > ---
> > Changes in v2:
> > - Fix the problem differently. Harry pointed out that we can't move
> >   inc_slabs_node() outside of list_lock protected regions as that would
> >   reintroduce issues fixed by commit c7323a5ad078
> > - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20251022-fix-slab-accounting-v1-1-27870ec363ce@suse.cz
> > ---
> >  mm/slub.c | 8 +++++---
> >  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> >
> > diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
> > index 23d8f54e9486..87a1d2f9de0d 100644
> > --- a/mm/slub.c
> > +++ b/mm/slub.c
> > @@ -3422,7 +3422,6 @@ static void *alloc_single_from_new_slab(struct kmem_cache *s, struct slab *slab,
> >
> >         if (!allow_spin && !spin_trylock_irqsave(&n->list_lock, flags)) {
> >                 /* Unlucky, discard newly allocated slab */
> > -               slab->frozen = 1;
> >                 defer_deactivate_slab(slab, NULL);
> >                 return NULL;
> >         }
> > @@ -6471,9 +6470,12 @@ static void free_deferred_objects(struct irq_work *work)
> >                 struct slab *slab = container_of(pos, struct slab, llnode);
> >
> >  #ifdef CONFIG_SLUB_TINY
> > -               discard_slab(slab->slab_cache, slab);
> > +               free_slab(slab->slab_cache, slab);
> >  #else
> > -               deactivate_slab(slab->slab_cache, slab, slab->flush_freelist);
> > +               if (slab->frozen)
> > +                       deactivate_slab(slab->slab_cache, slab, slab->flush_freelist);
> > +               else
> > +                       free_slab(slab->slab_cache, slab);
> 
> A bit odd to use 'frozen' flag as such a signal.
> I guess I'm worried that truly !frozen slab can come here
> via ___slab_alloc() -> retry_load_slab: -> defer_deactivate_slab().
> And things will be much worse than just accounting.

But the cpu slab must have been frozen before it's attached to
c->slab?

> Maybe add
>   inc_slabs_node(s, nid, slab->objects);
> right before
>   defer_deactivate_slab(slab, NULL);
>   return NULL;
> 
> I don't quite get why c7323a5ad078 is doing everything under n->list_lock.
> It's been 3 years since.

When n->nr_slabs is inconsistent, validate_slab_node() might report an
error (false positive) when someone wrote '1' to
/sys/kernel/slab/<cache name>/validate

> We have an empty slab here that is going to be freed soon.
> It's effectively frozen, so inc_slabs_node() on it seems like a safe fix.

-- 
Cheers,
Harry / Hyeonggon