linux-kernel - [PATCH] mm/kfence: fix potential deadlock in reboot notifier

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Message-Id: <20260116-kfence_fix-v1-1-4165a055933f@debian.org>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2026 06:10:11 -0800
From: Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>
To: Alexander Potapenko <glider@...gle.com>, Marco Elver <elver@...gle.com>, 
 Dmitry Vyukov <dvyukov@...gle.com>, 
 Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc: kasan-dev@...glegroups.com, linux-mm@...ck.org, 
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, clm@...a.com, kernel-team@...a.com, 
 Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>
Subject: [PATCH] mm/kfence: fix potential deadlock in reboot notifier

The reboot notifier callback can deadlock when calling
cancel_delayed_work_sync() if toggle_allocation_gate() is blocked
in wait_event_idle() waiting for allocations, that might not happen on
shutdown path.

The issue is that cancel_delayed_work_sync() waits for the work to
complete, but the work is waiting for kfence_allocation_gate > 0
which requires allocations to happen (each allocation is increated by 1)
- allocations that may have stopped during shutdown.

Fix this by:
1. Using cancel_delayed_work() (non-sync) to avoid blocking. Now the
   callback succeeds and return.
2. Adding wake_up() to unblock any waiting toggle_allocation_gate()
3. Adding !kfence_enabled to the wait condition so the wake succeeds

The static_branch_disable() IPI will still execute after the wake,
but at this early point in shutdown (reboot notifier runs with
INT_MAX priority), the system is still functional and CPUs can
respond to IPIs.

Reported-by: Chris Mason <clm@...a.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260113140234.677117-1-clm@meta.com/
Fixes: ce2bba89566b ("mm/kfence: add reboot notifier to disable KFENCE on shutdown")
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>
---
 mm/kfence/core.c | 17 ++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/kfence/core.c b/mm/kfence/core.c
index 577a1699c553..da0f5b6f5744 100644
--- a/mm/kfence/core.c
+++ b/mm/kfence/core.c
@@ -823,6 +823,9 @@ static struct notifier_block kfence_check_canary_notifier = {
 static struct delayed_work kfence_timer;
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_KFENCE_STATIC_KEYS
+/* Wait queue to wake up allocation-gate timer task. */
+static DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD(allocation_wait);
+
 static int kfence_reboot_callback(struct notifier_block *nb,
 				  unsigned long action, void *data)
 {
@@ -832,7 +835,12 @@ static int kfence_reboot_callback(struct notifier_block *nb,
 	 */
 	WRITE_ONCE(kfence_enabled, false);
 	/* Cancel any pending timer work */
-	cancel_delayed_work_sync(&kfence_timer);
+	cancel_delayed_work(&kfence_timer);
+	/*
+	 * Wake up any blocked toggle_allocation_gate() so it can complete
+	 * early while the system is still able to handle IPIs.
+	 */
+	wake_up(&allocation_wait);
 
 	return NOTIFY_OK;
 }
@@ -842,9 +850,6 @@ static struct notifier_block kfence_reboot_notifier = {
 	.priority = INT_MAX, /* Run early to stop timers ASAP */
 };
 
-/* Wait queue to wake up allocation-gate timer task. */
-static DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD(allocation_wait);
-
 static void wake_up_kfence_timer(struct irq_work *work)
 {
 	wake_up(&allocation_wait);
@@ -873,7 +878,9 @@ static void toggle_allocation_gate(struct work_struct *work)
 	/* Enable static key, and await allocation to happen. */
 	static_branch_enable(&kfence_allocation_key);
 
-	wait_event_idle(allocation_wait, atomic_read(&kfence_allocation_gate) > 0);
+	wait_event_idle(allocation_wait,
+			atomic_read(&kfence_allocation_gate) > 0 ||
+			!READ_ONCE(kfence_enabled));
 
 	/* Disable static key and reset timer. */
 	static_branch_disable(&kfence_allocation_key);

---
base-commit: 983d014aafb14ee5e4915465bf8948e8f3a723b5
change-id: 20260116-kfence_fix-9905b284f1cc

Best regards,
--  
Breno Leitao <leitao@...ian.org>