linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v4 11/12] x86/xen: use lazy_mmu

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite for Android: free password hash cracker in your pocket

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <285faae4-dab6-4819-847a-889bdf87d5d7@arm.com>
Date: Mon, 3 Nov 2025 18:29:00 +0000
From: Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky@....com>
To: "David Hildenbrand (Red Hat)" <david@...nel.org>, linux-mm@...ck.org
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Alexander Gordeev <agordeev@...ux.ibm.com>,
 Andreas Larsson <andreas@...sler.com>,
 Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
 Boris Ostrovsky <boris.ostrovsky@...cle.com>, Borislav Petkov
 <bp@...en8.de>, Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>,
 Christophe Leroy <christophe.leroy@...roup.eu>,
 Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>,
 David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>, "David S. Miller"
 <davem@...emloft.net>, David Woodhouse <dwmw2@...radead.org>,
 "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
 Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>, Juergen Gross <jgross@...e.com>,
 "Liam R. Howlett" <Liam.Howlett@...cle.com>,
 Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@...cle.com>,
 Madhavan Srinivasan <maddy@...ux.ibm.com>,
 Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>, Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>,
 Mike Rapoport <rppt@...nel.org>, Nicholas Piggin <npiggin@...il.com>,
 Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>, Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@....com>,
 Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>, Thomas Gleixner
 <tglx@...utronix.de>, Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
 Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>, Yeoreum Yun <yeoreum.yun@....com>,
 linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org, linuxppc-dev@...ts.ozlabs.org,
 sparclinux@...r.kernel.org, xen-devel@...ts.xenproject.org, x86@...nel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 11/12] x86/xen: use lazy_mmu_state when
 context-switching

On 03/11/2025 16:15, David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) wrote:
> On 29.10.25 11:09, Kevin Brodsky wrote:
>> [...]
>>
>> @@ -437,7 +436,7 @@ static void xen_end_context_switch(struct
>> task_struct *next)
>>         xen_mc_flush();
>>       leave_lazy(XEN_LAZY_CPU);
>> -    if (test_and_clear_ti_thread_flag(task_thread_info(next),
>> TIF_LAZY_MMU_UPDATES))
>> +    if (next->lazy_mmu_state.active)
>
> This is nasty. If in_lazy_mmu_mode() is not sufficient, we will want
> to have a separate helper that makes it clear what the difference
> between both variants is.

in_lazy_mmu_mode() operates on current, but here we're operating on a
different task. The difference is more fundamental than just passing a
task_struct * or not: in_lazy_mmu_mode() is about whether we're
currently in lazy MMU mode, i.e. not paused and not in interrupt
context. A task that isn't scheduled is never in lazy MMU mode -
lazy_mmu_state.active is just the saved state to be restored when
scheduled again.

My point here is that we could have a helper for this use-case, but it
should not be used in other situations (at least not on current). Maybe
__task_lazy_mmu_active(task)? I do wonder if accessing lazy_mmu_state
directly isn't expressing the intention well enough though (checking the
saved state).

- Kevin