[PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block

[PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block

[Baokun Li]

ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
to avoid exposing stale cached data.  However, the dropped page can be
read back by the eof zeroing:

  fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
    ext4_zero_range()
      ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
        truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
          truncate_inode_pages_range()
            delete_from_page_cache_batch()  # drops the page
      ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
        ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
          ext4_load_tail_bh()
             __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
             # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
             # zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
        ext4_map_blocks(...)  # converts the extent to unwritten
        ext4_update_inode_size(4096)

The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content.  The page is
left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
is dropped:

  page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
   0            512          1024                      4096
   |--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
   | old data    |           |                          |

For example:

  $ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
  $ sync
  $ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
  $ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f  # old data, not zeroes

FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path.  ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
written.  Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
with old data.

Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
zeroing it here is redundant.  Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
allocation covers the eof block entirely.

Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
---
Changes since v1:
 * Also skip the eof zeroing for FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES, which
   reads the dropped page back in the same way (Reported by Sashiko).
 * Corrected the Fixes tags: the ZERO_RANGE regression comes from
   c4602a1d09ec, and f4265b8d32c4 introduced the WRITE_ZEROES one.
 * Fixed the call chains in the commit message.

v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20261022065342.3569693-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com

This hunk does not apply to v6.17 - v7.0, where the eof zeroing is
done inside the allocation loop; those trees need a manual backport.

 fs/ext4/extents.c | 11 +++++++++--
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
index ad0d80e33f60..b05015b8b62c 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
@@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
 	credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
 	depth = ext_depth(inode);
 
-	/* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
-	if (new_size > old_size) {
+	/*
+	 * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
+	 * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
+	 * or zeroed out may leave the page cache inconsistent with the
+	 * disk, and zeroing it is redundant, so skip it.
+	 */
+	if (new_size > old_size &&
+	    !(in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len) &&
+	      (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN || alloc_zero))) {
 		ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
 		if (ret)
 			return ret;
-- 
2.43.7

Re: [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block

[Zhang Yi]

On 10/22/2026 8:26 PM, Baokun Li wrote:
> ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
> to avoid exposing stale cached data.  However, the dropped page can be
> read back by the eof zeroing:
> 
>   fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
>     ext4_zero_range()
>       ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
>         truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
>           truncate_inode_pages_range()
>             delete_from_page_cache_batch()  # drops the page
>       ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
>         ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
>           ext4_load_tail_bh()
>              __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
>              # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
>              # zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
>         ext4_map_blocks(...)  # converts the extent to unwritten
>         ext4_update_inode_size(4096)
> 
> The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content.  The page is
> left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
> a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
> is dropped:
> 
>   page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
>    0            512          1024                      4096
>    |--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
>    | old data    |           |                          |
> 
> For example:
> 
>   $ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
>   $ sync
>   $ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
>   $ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f  # old data, not zeroes
> 
> FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path.  ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
> the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
> written.  Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
> with old data.
> 
> Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
> zeroing it here is redundant.  Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
> allocation covers the eof block entirely.
> 
> Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
> Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>

Hi Baokun,

Thank you for the fix, this is a nice catch. This makes sense to me.
Reviewed-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@huawei.com>

One small point, the condition you added looks a bit confusing. I'm
wondering whether, in the future, it would be more straightforward to
extract ext4_block_zero_eof() from ext4_alloc_file_blocks() into
ext4_zero_range() and ext4_do_fallocate()?

Thanks,
Yi.

> ---
> Changes since v1:
>  * Also skip the eof zeroing for FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES, which
>    reads the dropped page back in the same way (Reported by Sashiko).
>  * Corrected the Fixes tags: the ZERO_RANGE regression comes from
>    c4602a1d09ec, and f4265b8d32c4 introduced the WRITE_ZEROES one.
>  * Fixed the call chains in the commit message.
> 
> v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20261022065342.3569693-1-libaokun@linux.alibaba.com
> 
> This hunk does not apply to v6.17 - v7.0, where the eof zeroing is
> done inside the allocation loop; those trees need a manual backport.
> 
>  fs/ext4/extents.c | 11 +++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/ext4/extents.c b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> index ad0d80e33f60..b05015b8b62c 100644
> --- a/fs/ext4/extents.c
> +++ b/fs/ext4/extents.c
> @@ -4639,8 +4639,15 @@ static int ext4_alloc_file_blocks(struct file *file, loff_t offset, loff_t len,
>  	credits = ext4_chunk_trans_blocks(inode, len_lblk);
>  	depth = ext_depth(inode);
>  
> -	/* Zero to the end of the block containing i_size */
> -	if (new_size > old_size) {
> +	/*
> +	 * Zero to the end of the block containing i_size.
> +	 * Loading the eof block back before it is converted to unwritten
> +	 * or zeroed out may leave the page cache inconsistent with the
> +	 * disk, and zeroing it is redundant, so skip it.
> +	 */
> +	if (new_size > old_size &&
> +	    !(in_range(old_size >> blkbits, map.m_lblk, map.m_len) &&
> +	      (flags & EXT4_GET_BLOCKS_CONVERT_UNWRITTEN || alloc_zero))) {
>  		ret = ext4_block_zero_eof(inode, old_size, LLONG_MAX);
>  		if (ret)
>  			return ret;

Re: [PATCH v2] ext4: skip eof zeroing when the zero range covers the eof block

[Baokun Li]

On 2026/10/23 17:23, Zhang Yi wrote:
> On 10/22/2026 8:26 PM, Baokun Li wrote:
>> ext4_zero_range() drops the page cache of the range before allocating,
>> to avoid exposing stale cached data.  However, the dropped page can be
>> read back by the eof zeroing:
>>
>>   fallocate(fd, FALLOC_FL_ZERO_RANGE, 0, 4096)
>>     ext4_zero_range()
>>       ext4_truncate_page_cache_block_range(0, 4096)
>>         truncate_pagecache_range(0, 4095)
>>           truncate_inode_pages_range()
>>             delete_from_page_cache_batch()  # drops the page
>>       ext4_alloc_file_blocks(..., 4096)
>>         ext4_block_zero_eof(512, LLONG_MAX) # not block aligned
>>           ext4_load_tail_bh()
>>              __filemap_get_folio(FGP_WRITEBEGIN | FGP_ACCESSED)
>>              # FGP_CREAT reads the dropped page back
>>              # zeroes [512,1024), marks the buffer dirty
>>         ext4_map_blocks(...)  # converts the extent to unwritten
>>         ext4_update_inode_size(4096)
>>
>> The bytes below the old EOF keep the stale disk content.  The page is
>> left dirty, so read() returns old data while O_DIRECT reads zeroes, and
>> a write into the same block is not converted and is lost until the page
>> is dropped:
>>
>>   page [0, 4096), 1k block size, file ends at 512
>>    0            512          1024                      4096
>>    |--- data ----|-- tail ---|---- zero range ----------|
>>    | old data    |           |                          |
>>
>> For example:
>>
>>   $ xfs_io -f -c "pwrite -S 1 0 512" f
>>   $ sync
>>   $ fallocate -z -o 0 -l 4096 f
>>   $ xfs_io -c "pread -v 0 16" f  # old data, not zeroes
>>
>> FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES hits the same path.  ext4_issue_zeroout() zeroes
>> the block on disk without updating the page cache, and the block stays
>> written.  Therefore, writeback of the dirty page overwrites the zeroes
>> with old data.
>>
>> Since the whole eof block is converted to unwritten or zeroed out,
>> zeroing it here is redundant.  Therefore, skip the zeroing when this
>> allocation covers the eof block entirely.
>>
>> Fixes: c4602a1d09ec ("ext4: move zero partial block range functions out of active handle")
>> Fixes: f4265b8d32c4 ("ext4: add FALLOC_FL_WRITE_ZEROES support")
>> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
>> Signed-off-by: Baokun Li <libaokun@linux.alibaba.com>
> 
> Hi Baokun,

Hi Yi,

> 
> Thank you for the fix, this is a nice catch. This makes sense to me.
> Reviewed-by: Zhang Yi <yi.zhang@huawei.com>
> 

Thank you for your review!

> One small point, the condition you added looks a bit confusing. I'm
> wondering whether, in the future, it would be more straightforward to
> extract ext4_block_zero_eof() from ext4_alloc_file_blocks() into
> ext4_zero_range() and ext4_do_fallocate()?

That sounds great. By writing zeros before truncating the page,
we won’t have to worry about the page cache being read back,
which means we won’t need to check the position of the EOF block
anymore.

I’ll send this out as a separate refactoring patch.

Thanks for the suggestion.


Cheers,
Baokun