Re: [PATCH RFC v2] mm/shmem: set __GFP_SKIP_KASAN for swap_cluster_readahead

[Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com>]

CC Kairui,

On 5/20/26 12:31 PM, Chia-I Wu via B4 Relay wrote:
> From: Chia-I Wu <olvaffe@gmail.com>
> 
> swap_cluster_readahead can allocate folios for other mappings. If the
> gfp flags do not have __GFP_SKIP_KASAN, but the other mappings have
> PROT_MTE, we can end up with false KASAN errors such as
> 
>    BUG: KASAN: invalid-access in swap_writepage+0xb0/0x21c
>    Read at addr f5ffff81aa71dff8 by task WM.task-4/6956
>    Pointer tag: [f5], memory tag: [f9]
> 
> In the above example, because __GFP_SKIP_KASAN was missing, KASAN set
> both pointer tag and memory tag to 0xf5 when swap_cluster_readahead
> allocated the folio. But the userspace had already set the memory tag to
> 0xf9 before swapped out. arch_swap_restore restored the memory tag back
> to 0xf9, leading to the mismatch.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Chia-I Wu <olvaffe@gmail.com>
> ---
> Changes in v2:
> - set __GFP_SKIP_KASAN for shmem instead of drm/panthor
> - Link to v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260512-panthor-kasan-v1-1-d8d3e275d71b@gmail.com
> ---
>   mm/shmem.c | 5 +++++
>   1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/shmem.c b/mm/shmem.c
> index 3b5dc21b323c2..db9130a8c5b76 100644
> --- a/mm/shmem.c
> +++ b/mm/shmem.c
> @@ -1784,6 +1784,11 @@ static struct folio *shmem_swapin_cluster(swp_entry_t swap, gfp_t gfp,
>   	pgoff_t ilx;
>   	struct folio *folio;
>   
> +	/* swap_cluster_readahead might cross the mapping boundary and
> +	 * allocate pages for other mappings. We have to skip KASAN.
> +	 */
> +	gfp |= __GFP_SKIP_KASAN;
> +
>   	mpol = shmem_get_pgoff_policy(info, index, 0, &ilx);
>   	folio = swap_cluster_readahead(swap, gfp, mpol, ilx);
>   	mpol_cond_put(mpol);

If we force __GFP_SKIP_KASAN, would this cause issues for mappings that
explicitly should NOT have the flag? and your v1 link already mentions 
this scenario.

Additionally, I'm wondering if we could use shmem_should_replace_folio() 
to detect such cases where shmem is being prematurely swapped in with 
incorrect GFP flags (e.g.: __GFP_SKIP_KASAN), and then handle it through 
shmem_replace_folio()?