linux-kernel - Re: [RESEND][PATCH 3/5] perf: Use current->flags & PF_KTHREAD|PF_USER

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Message-ID: <20260127102234.755d8c4e@gandalf.local.home>
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2026 10:22:34 -0500
From: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>
To: Guenter Roeck <linux@...ck-us.net>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-trace-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
 linux-perf-users@...r.kernel.org, Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@...nel.org>,
 Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>, Mathieu Desnoyers
 <mathieu.desnoyers@...icios.com>, Andrew Morton
 <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>, Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>, Ingo
 Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>, Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@...nel.org>,
 Namhyung Kim <namhyung@...nel.org>, Alexander Shishkin
 <alexander.shishkin@...ux.intel.com>, Jiri Olsa <jolsa@...nel.org>, Ian
 Rogers <irogers@...gle.com>, Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@...el.com>,
 Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>
Subject: Re: [RESEND][PATCH 3/5] perf: Use current->flags &
 PF_KTHREAD|PF_USER_WORKER instead of current->mm == NULL

On Mon, 26 Jan 2026 17:32:35 -0800
Guenter Roeck <linux@...ck-us.net> wrote:

> Still crashing, though not as often and with a slightly different backtrace.
> I added the backtrace to the bug report @ Google.

I figured there would be other locations. A while ago I had a patch to wrap
the checks in a "is_user_thread()" helper function[1], but Ingo had issues
with it. It seems now it's biting us in the butt and let's see if it would
help now. I modified it slightly.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-trace-kernel/20250425204313.616425861@goodmis.org/

If the below fixes it, I'll resend it, but now as a real bug fix.

-- Steve

diff --git a/include/linux/sched.h b/include/linux/sched.h
index da0133524d08..5f00b5ed0f3b 100644
--- a/include/linux/sched.h
+++ b/include/linux/sched.h
@@ -1776,6 +1776,11 @@ static __always_inline bool is_percpu_thread(void)
 		(current->nr_cpus_allowed  == 1);
 }
 
+static __always_inline bool is_user_task(struct task_struct *task)
+{
+	return task->mm && !(task->flags & (PF_KTHREAD | PF_USER_WORKER));
+}
+
 /* Per-process atomic flags. */
 #define PFA_NO_NEW_PRIVS		0	/* May not gain new privileges. */
 #define PFA_SPREAD_PAGE			1	/* Spread page cache over cpuset */
diff --git a/kernel/events/callchain.c b/kernel/events/callchain.c
index 1f6589578703..9d24b6e0c91f 100644
--- a/kernel/events/callchain.c
+++ b/kernel/events/callchain.c
@@ -246,7 +246,7 @@ get_perf_callchain(struct pt_regs *regs, bool kernel, bool user,
 
 	if (user && !crosstask) {
 		if (!user_mode(regs)) {
-			if (current->flags & (PF_KTHREAD | PF_USER_WORKER))
+			if (!is_user_task(current))
 				goto exit_put;
 			regs = task_pt_regs(current);
 		}
diff --git a/kernel/events/core.c b/kernel/events/core.c
index a0fa488bce84..8cca80094624 100644
--- a/kernel/events/core.c
+++ b/kernel/events/core.c
@@ -7460,7 +7460,7 @@ static void perf_sample_regs_user(struct perf_regs *regs_user,
 	if (user_mode(regs)) {
 		regs_user->abi = perf_reg_abi(current);
 		regs_user->regs = regs;
-	} else if (!(current->flags & (PF_KTHREAD | PF_USER_WORKER))) {
+	} else if (is_user_task(current)) {
 		perf_get_regs_user(regs_user, regs);
 	} else {
 		regs_user->abi = PERF_SAMPLE_REGS_ABI_NONE;
@@ -8100,7 +8100,7 @@ static u64 perf_virt_to_phys(u64 virt)
 		 * Try IRQ-safe get_user_page_fast_only first.
 		 * If failed, leave phys_addr as 0.
 		 */
-		if (!(current->flags & (PF_KTHREAD | PF_USER_WORKER))) {
+		if (is_user_task(current)) {
 			struct page *p;
 
 			pagefault_disable();
@@ -8215,7 +8215,7 @@ perf_callchain(struct perf_event *event, struct pt_regs *regs)
 {
 	bool kernel = !event->attr.exclude_callchain_kernel;
 	bool user   = !event->attr.exclude_callchain_user &&
-		!(current->flags & (PF_KTHREAD | PF_USER_WORKER));
+		is_user_task(current);
 	/* Disallow cross-task user callchains. */
 	bool crosstask = event->ctx->task && event->ctx->task != current;
 	bool defer_user = IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_UNWIND_USER) && user &&