linux-kernel - [PATCH] codetag: Avoid codetag race between same slab object alloc and free

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Message-Id: <20260203073006.151710-1-hao.ge@linux.dev>
Date: Tue,  3 Feb 2026 15:30:06 +0800
From: Hao Ge <hao.ge@...ux.dev>
To: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@...e.cz>,
	Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@...gle.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Christoph Lameter <cl@...two.org>,
	David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>,
	Roman Gushchin <roman.gushchin@...ux.dev>,
	Harry Yoo <harry.yoo@...cle.com>
Cc: linux-mm@...ck.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Hao Ge <hao.ge@...ux.dev>
Subject: [PATCH] codetag: Avoid codetag race between same slab object alloc and free

When CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING_DEBUG is enabled, the following warning
may be noticed:

[ 3959.023862] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[ 3959.023891] alloc_tag was not cleared (got tag for lib/xarray.c:378)
[ 3959.023947] WARNING: ./include/linux/alloc_tag.h:155 at alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178, CPU#6: mkfs.ntfs/113998
[ 3959.023978] Modules linked in: dns_resolver tun brd overlay exfat btrfs blake2b libblake2b xor xor_neon raid6_pq loop sctp ip6_udp_tunnel udp_tunnel ext4 crc16 mbcache jbd2 rfkill sunrpc vfat fat sg fuse nfnetlink sr_mod virtio_gpu cdrom drm_client_lib virtio_dma_buf drm_shmem_helper drm_kms_helper ghash_ce drm sm4 backlight virtio_net net_failover virtio_scsi failover virtio_console virtio_blk virtio_mmio dm_mirror dm_region_hash dm_log dm_multipath dm_mod i2c_dev aes_neon_bs aes_ce_blk [last unloaded: hwpoison_inject]
[ 3959.024170] CPU: 6 UID: 0 PID: 113998 Comm: mkfs.ntfs Kdump: loaded Tainted: G        W           6.19.0-rc7+ #7 PREEMPT(voluntary)
[ 3959.024182] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[ 3959.024186] Hardware name: QEMU KVM Virtual Machine, BIOS unknown 2/2/2022
[ 3959.024192] pstate: 604000c5 (nZCv daIF +PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--)
[ 3959.024199] pc : alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178
[ 3959.024207] lr : alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178
[ 3959.024214] sp : ffff80008b696d60
[ 3959.024219] x29: ffff80008b696d60 x28: 0000000000000000 x27: 0000000000000240
[ 3959.024232] x26: 0000000000000000 x25: 0000000000000240 x24: ffff800085d17860
[ 3959.024245] x23: 0000000000402800 x22: ffff0000c0012dc0 x21: 00000000000002d0
[ 3959.024257] x20: ffff0000e6ef3318 x19: ffff800085ae0410 x18: 0000000000000000
[ 3959.024269] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000 x15: 0000000000000000
[ 3959.024281] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: 0000000000000001 x12: ffff600064101293
[ 3959.024292] x11: 1fffe00064101292 x10: ffff600064101292 x9 : dfff800000000000
[ 3959.024305] x8 : 00009fff9befed6e x7 : ffff000320809493 x6 : 0000000000000001
[ 3959.024316] x5 : ffff000320809490 x4 : ffff600064101293 x3 : ffff800080691838
[ 3959.024328] x2 : 0000000000000000 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : ffff0000d5bcd640
[ 3959.024340] Call trace:
[ 3959.024346]  alloc_tag_add+0x128/0x178 (P)
[ 3959.024355]  __alloc_tagging_slab_alloc_hook+0x11c/0x1a8
[ 3959.024362]  kmem_cache_alloc_lru_noprof+0x1b8/0x5e8
[ 3959.024369]  xas_alloc+0x304/0x4f0
[ 3959.024381]  xas_create+0x1e0/0x4a0
[ 3959.024388]  xas_store+0x68/0xda8
[ 3959.024395]  __filemap_add_folio+0x5b0/0xbd8
[ 3959.024409]  filemap_add_folio+0x16c/0x7e0
[ 3959.024416]  __filemap_get_folio_mpol+0x2dc/0x9e8
[ 3959.024424]  iomap_get_folio+0xfc/0x180
[ 3959.024435]  __iomap_get_folio+0x2f8/0x4b8
[ 3959.024441]  iomap_write_begin+0x198/0xc18
[ 3959.024448]  iomap_write_iter+0x2ec/0x8f8
[ 3959.024454]  iomap_file_buffered_write+0x19c/0x290
[ 3959.024461]  blkdev_write_iter+0x38c/0x978
[ 3959.024470]  vfs_write+0x4d4/0x928
[ 3959.024482]  ksys_write+0xfc/0x1f8
[ 3959.024489]  __arm64_sys_write+0x74/0xb0
[ 3959.024496]  invoke_syscall+0xd4/0x258
[ 3959.024507]  el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0xb4/0x240
[ 3959.024514]  do_el0_svc+0x48/0x68
[ 3959.024520]  el0_svc+0x40/0xf8
[ 3959.024526]  el0t_64_sync_handler+0xa0/0xe8
[ 3959.024533]  el0t_64_sync+0x1ac/0x1b0
[ 3959.024540] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

This is due to a race condition that occurs when two threads concurrently
perform allocation and freeing operations on the same slab object.

When a process is preparing to allocate a slab object, another process
successfully preempts the CPU, and then proceeds to free a slab object.
However, before the freeing process can invoke `alloc_tag_sub()`, it is
preempted again by the original allocating process. At this point, the
allocating process acquires the same slab object, and subsequently triggers
a warning when it invokes `alloc_tag_add()`.

Signed-off-by: Hao Ge <hao.ge@...ux.dev>
---
Hi Suren

I'm not sure if my solution still has any issues, so I'd like to
get your suggestions on it. At the very least, my understanding is
that READ_ONCE and WRITE_ONCE should be used in pairs.

I look forward to your suggestions.

Thanks
---
 mm/slub.c | 7 ++++++-
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mm/slub.c b/mm/slub.c
index f77b7407c51b..0d84fc917a89 100644
--- a/mm/slub.c
+++ b/mm/slub.c
@@ -2261,8 +2261,13 @@ __alloc_tagging_slab_alloc_hook(struct kmem_cache *s, void *object, gfp_t flags)
 	 * If other users appear then mem_alloc_profiling_enabled()
 	 * check should be added before alloc_tag_add().
 	 */
-	if (likely(obj_exts))
+	if (likely(obj_exts)) {
+
+		while (!READ_ONCE(obj_exts->ref.ct))
+			cpu_relax();
+
 		alloc_tag_add(&obj_exts->ref, current->alloc_tag, s->size);
+	}
 	else
 		alloc_tag_set_inaccurate(current->alloc_tag);
 }
-- 
2.25.1