From: "Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
"Liam R. Howlett" <liam@infradead.org>,
Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@kernel.org>,
Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>,
Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>, Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>,
Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>,
Davidlohr Bueso <dave@stgolabs.net>, SJ Park <sj@kernel.org>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>, Colin Cross <ccross@google.com>
Cc: linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
"Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)" <ljs@kernel.org>,
stable@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH 2/4] mm/vma: write lock source VMA before duplicating it in __split_vma()
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2026 14:47:28 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261023-fix-vma-atomic-v1-2-8ff4fae1fc85@kernel.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20261023-fix-vma-atomic-v1-0-8ff4fae1fc85@kernel.org>
From: "David Hildenbrand (Arm)" <david@kernel.org>
__split_vma() duplicates the source VMA before taking its VMA write lock,
and until the VMA is write-locked, a concurrent thread might set
VMA_MAYBE_GUARD_BIT, resulting in the duplication missing the flag.
If this happens, then fork may fail to duplicate guard markers and, if a
file-backed mapping, THP collapse may also discard the markers.
Resolve this by taking the VMA write lock before vm_area_dup() and, since
all callers of vm_area_dup() now hold the VMA write lock, assert that this
is the case there, and add a comment to explain why it's needed.
Fixes: 2ab7f1bbafc9 ("mm/madvise: allow guard page install/remove under VMA lock")
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: David Hildenbrand (Arm) <david@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
[ ljs - add VMA write assert in vm_area_dup(), commit message touchup ]
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
---
mm/vma.c | 2 +-
mm/vma_init.c | 3 +++
2 files changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/mm/vma.c b/mm/vma.c
index 1be613044b4a..aa59005e2f42 100644
--- a/mm/vma.c
+++ b/mm/vma.c
@@ -538,6 +538,7 @@ __split_vma(struct vma_iterator *vmi, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
return err;
}
+ vma_start_write(vma);
new = vm_area_dup(vma);
if (!new)
return -ENOMEM;
@@ -568,7 +569,6 @@ __split_vma(struct vma_iterator *vmi, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
if (new->vm_ops && new->vm_ops->open)
new->vm_ops->open(new);
- vma_start_write(vma);
vma_start_write(new);
init_vma_prep(&vp, vma);
diff --git a/mm/vma_init.c b/mm/vma_init.c
index baa7e82f47e3..d661f229a734 100644
--- a/mm/vma_init.c
+++ b/mm/vma_init.c
@@ -127,6 +127,9 @@ struct vm_area_struct *vm_area_dup(struct vm_area_struct *orig)
{
struct vm_area_struct *new = kmem_cache_alloc(vm_area_cachep, GFP_KERNEL);
+ /* Must hold a write lock to stabilise atomic VMA flags. */
+ vma_assert_write_locked(orig);
+
if (!new)
return NULL;
--
2.56.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-23 13:48 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-23 13:47 [PATCH 0/4] mm: avoid losing atomic VMA flags Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-10-23 13:47 ` [PATCH 1/4] mm: do not unintentionally overwrite " Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-10-23 13:47 ` Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) [this message]
2026-10-23 13:47 ` [PATCH 3/4] mm/madvise: preserve VMA_SOFTDIRTY_BIT when changing anonymous names Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
2026-10-23 13:47 ` [PATCH 4/4] mm/vma: avoid losing atomic VMA flags when setting sticky VMA flags Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM)
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