Re: possible deadlock in __do_page_fault

From: Joel Fernandes
Date: Wed Jan 23 2019 - 10:57:58 EST


On Wed, Jan 23, 2019 at 11:01:04AM +0900, Tetsuo Handa wrote:
> Joel Fernandes wrote:
> > > Why do we need to call fallocate() synchronously with ashmem_mutex held?
> > > Why can't we call fallocate() asynchronously from WQ_MEM_RECLAIM workqueue
> > > context so that we can call fallocate() with ashmem_mutex not held?
> > >
> > > I don't know how ashmem works, but as far as I can guess, offloading is
> > > possible as long as other operations which depend on the completion of
> > > fallocate() operation (e.g. read()/mmap(), querying/changing pinned status)
> > > wait for completion of asynchronous fallocate() operation (like a draft
> > > patch shown below is doing).
> >
> > This adds a bit of complexity, I am worried if it will introduce more
> > bugs especially because ashmem is going away in the long term, in favor of
> > memfd - and if its worth adding more complexity / maintenance burden to it.
>
> I don't care migrating to memfd. I care when bugs are fixed.

That's fair. I'm not a fan of bugs either. I was just making a point that -
we want to fix things while not introducing unwanted complexity and cause
more bugs. That said, thanks for the patch and trying to fix it.

> > I am wondering if we can do this synchronously, without using a workqueue.
> > All you would need is a temporary list of areas to punch. In
> > ashmem_shrink_scan, you would create this list under mutex and then once you
> > release the mutex, you can go through this list and do the fallocate followed
> > by the wake up of waiters on the wait queue, right? If you can do it this
> > way, then it would be better IMO.
>
> Are you sure that none of locks held before doing GFP_KERNEL allocation
> interferes lock dependency used by fallocate() ? If yes, we can do without a
> workqueue context (like a draft patch shown below). Since I don't understand
> what locks are potentially involved, I offloaded to a clean workqueue context.

fallocate acquires inode locks. So there is a lock dependency between
- memory reclaim (fake lock)
- inode locks.

This dependency is there whether we have your patch or not. I am not aware of
any other locks that are held other than these. But you could also just use
lockdep to dump all held locks at that point to confirm.

> Anyway, I need your checks regarding whether this approach is waiting for
> completion at all locations which need to wait for completion.

I think you are waiting in unwanted locations. The only location you need to
wait in is ashmem_pin_unpin.

So, to my eyes all that is needed to fix this bug is:

1. Delete the range from the ashmem_lru_list
2. Release the ashmem_mutex
3. fallocate the range.
4. Do the completion so that any waiting pin/unpin can proceed.

Could you clarify why you feel you need to wait for completion at those other
locations?

Note that once a range is unpinned, it is open sesame and userspace cannot
really expect consistent data from such range till it is pinned again.

Thanks!

- Joel


> ---
> drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++-----
> 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c b/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
> index 90a8a9f1ac7d..6a267563cb66 100644
> --- a/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
> +++ b/drivers/staging/android/ashmem.c
> @@ -75,6 +75,9 @@ struct ashmem_range {
> /* LRU list of unpinned pages, protected by ashmem_mutex */
> static LIST_HEAD(ashmem_lru_list);
>
> +static atomic_t ashmem_shrink_inflight = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
> +static DECLARE_WAIT_QUEUE_HEAD(ashmem_shrink_wait);
> +
> /*
> * long lru_count - The count of pages on our LRU list.
> *
> @@ -292,6 +295,7 @@ static ssize_t ashmem_read_iter(struct kiocb *iocb, struct iov_iter *iter)
> int ret = 0;
>
> mutex_lock(&ashmem_mutex);
> + wait_event(ashmem_shrink_wait, !atomic_read(&ashmem_shrink_inflight));
>
> /* If size is not set, or set to 0, always return EOF. */
> if (asma->size == 0)
> @@ -359,6 +363,7 @@ static int ashmem_mmap(struct file *file, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> int ret = 0;
>
> mutex_lock(&ashmem_mutex);
> + wait_event(ashmem_shrink_wait, !atomic_read(&ashmem_shrink_inflight));
>
> /* user needs to SET_SIZE before mapping */
> if (!asma->size) {
> @@ -438,7 +443,6 @@ static int ashmem_mmap(struct file *file, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> static unsigned long
> ashmem_shrink_scan(struct shrinker *shrink, struct shrink_control *sc)
> {
> - struct ashmem_range *range, *next;
> unsigned long freed = 0;
>
> /* We might recurse into filesystem code, so bail out if necessary */
> @@ -448,17 +452,27 @@ ashmem_shrink_scan(struct shrinker *shrink, struct shrink_control *sc)
> if (!mutex_trylock(&ashmem_mutex))
> return -1;
>
> - list_for_each_entry_safe(range, next, &ashmem_lru_list, lru) {
> + while (!list_empty(&ashmem_lru_list)) {
> + struct ashmem_range *range =
> + list_first_entry(&ashmem_lru_list, typeof(*range), lru);
> loff_t start = range->pgstart * PAGE_SIZE;
> loff_t end = (range->pgend + 1) * PAGE_SIZE;
> + struct file *f = range->asma->file;
>
> - range->asma->file->f_op->fallocate(range->asma->file,
> - FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE | FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE,
> - start, end - start);
> + get_file(f);
> + atomic_inc(&ashmem_shrink_inflight);
> range->purged = ASHMEM_WAS_PURGED;
> lru_del(range);
>
> freed += range_size(range);
> + mutex_unlock(&ashmem_mutex);
> + f->f_op->fallocate(f,
> + FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE | FALLOC_FL_KEEP_SIZE,
> + start, end - start);
> + fput(f);
> + if (atomic_dec_and_test(&ashmem_shrink_inflight))
> + wake_up_all(&ashmem_shrink_wait);
> + mutex_lock(&ashmem_mutex);
> if (--sc->nr_to_scan <= 0)
> break;
> }
> @@ -713,6 +727,7 @@ static int ashmem_pin_unpin(struct ashmem_area *asma, unsigned long cmd,
> return -EFAULT;
>
> mutex_lock(&ashmem_mutex);
> + wait_event(ashmem_shrink_wait, !atomic_read(&ashmem_shrink_inflight));
>
> if (!asma->file)
> goto out_unlock;
> --
> 2.17.1