Re: [PATCH] mm/vma: predicate setting mmap_prepare VMA fields on new vma alloc

["Vlastimil Babka (SUSE)" <vbabka@kernel.org>]

On 9/23/26 19:45, Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) wrote:
> It only makes sense to manipulate VMA fields if a new VMA was allocated,
> rather than merged.
> 
> VMA merging does not compare vm_ops or vm_private_data, so a merged VMA
> keeps its own, which is also what the legacy f_op->mmap path does since it
> never touches an existing VMA.
> 
> Currently, these fields will get overwritten by whatever state is
> established in the mmap_prepare hook, and if the VMA was merged,
> vm_ops->mapped will not have been called, so this could destructively clear
> existing state without replacing it with anything valid.
> 
> There is an implicit requirement that vm_private_data and vm_ops are
> fungible across VMAs which means that losing the 'new' state is
> fine.
> 
> However in this case the 'old' state is being overwritten by potentially
> invalid 'new' state, so this must be rectified.
> 
> Additionally constify have_mmap_prepare while here.
> 
> All existing in-tree users either derive state for the tree or are
> unmergeable due to VMA flags, so this has no direct impact.
> 
> Fixes: c84bf6dd2b83 ("mm: introduce new .mmap_prepare() file callback")
> Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
> ---
> Note that this is cc: stable to account for any possible back-ports that could
> break it (unlikely)

Does it mean that patches are on the way to mainline that will break it, but
it's unlikely they will be backported? Or there are no such patches yet?
Just curious... if it's the first case then with the amount of random stuff
that goes to stable these days, I'd rather assume they could be backported
at some point :)

or out-of-tree modules which might be affected.

That is never a concern, and even suggesting it can bring hch's wrath ;)

Anyway,

Acked-by: Vlastimil Babka (SUSE) <vbabka@kernel.org>


> ---
>  mm/vma.c | 4 ++--
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/vma.c b/mm/vma.c
> index 9f0a0acf694a..6cde67883fb0 100644
> --- a/mm/vma.c
> +++ b/mm/vma.c
> @@ -2849,7 +2849,7 @@ static unsigned long __mmap_region(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
>  {
>  	struct mm_struct *mm = current->mm;
>  	struct vm_area_struct *vma = NULL;
> -	bool have_mmap_prepare = file && file->f_op->mmap_prepare;
> +	const bool have_mmap_prepare = file && file->f_op->mmap_prepare;
>  	VMA_ITERATOR(vmi, mm, addr);
>  	const pgoff_t anon_pgoff = addr >> PAGE_SHIFT;
>  	MMAP_STATE(map, mm, &vmi, addr, len, pgoff, anon_pgoff, vma_flags, file);
> @@ -2892,7 +2892,7 @@ static unsigned long __mmap_region(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
>  		allocated_new = true;
>  	}
>  
> -	if (have_mmap_prepare)
> +	if (have_mmap_prepare && allocated_new)
>  		set_vma_user_defined_fields(vma, &map);
>  
>  	__mmap_complete(&map, vma);
> 
> ---
> base-commit: fe2ec83746e501645709761605c2464a44fd2929
> change-id: 20260923-fix-mmap-prepare-overwrite-6304d112a4c7
> 
> Best regards,