Re: [PATCH V3] mm: fix use-after free of page_ext after race with memory-offline

From: Vlastimil Babka
Date: Wed Aug 10 2022 - 07:40:20 EST


On 8/9/22 16:46, Charan Teja Kalla wrote:
The below is one path where race between page_ext and offline of the
respective memory blocks will cause use-after-free on the access of
page_ext structure.

process1 process2
--------- ---------
a)doing /proc/page_owner doing memory offline
through offline_pages.

b)PageBuddy check is failed
thus proceed to get the
page_owner information
through page_ext access.
page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);

migrate_pages();
.................
Since all pages are successfully
migrated as part of the offline
operation,send MEM_OFFLINE notification
where for page_ext it calls:
offline_page_ext()-->
__free_page_ext()-->
free_page_ext()-->
vfree(ms->page_ext)
mem_section->page_ext = NULL

c) Check for the PAGE_EXT flags
in the page_ext->flags access
results into the use-after-free(leading
to the translation faults).

As mentioned above, there is really no synchronization between page_ext
access and its freeing in the memory_offline.

The memory offline steps(roughly) on a memory block is as below:
1) Isolate all the pages
2) while(1)
try free the pages to buddy.(->free_list[MIGRATE_ISOLATE])
3) delete the pages from this buddy list.
4) Then free page_ext.(Note: The struct page is still alive as it is
freed only during hot remove of the memory which frees the memmap, which
steps the user might not perform).

This design leads to the state where struct page is alive but the struct
page_ext is freed, where the later is ideally part of the former which
just representing the page_flags (check [3] for why this design is
chosen).

The above mentioned race is just one example __but the problem persists
in the other paths too involving page_ext->flags access(eg:
page_is_idle())__. Since offline waits till the last reference on the
page goes down i.e. any path that took the refcount on the page can make
the memory offline operation to wait. Eg: In the migrate_pages()
operation, we do take the extra refcount on the pages that are under
migration and then we do copy page_owner by accessing page_ext.

Fix those paths where offline races with page_ext access by maintaining
synchronization with rcu lock and is achieved in 3 steps:
1) Invalidate all the page_ext's of the sections of a memory block by
storing a flag in the LSB of mem_section->page_ext.

2) Wait till all the existing readers to finish working with the
->page_ext's with synchronize_rcu(). Any parallel process that starts
after this call will not get page_ext, through lookup_page_ext(), for
the block parallel offline operation is being performed.

3) Now safely free all sections ->page_ext's of the block on which
offline operation is being performed.

Note: If synchronize_rcu() takes time then optimizations can be done in
this path through call_rcu()[2].

Thanks to David Hildenbrand for his views/suggestions on the initial
discussion[1] and Pavan kondeti for various inputs on this patch.

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-mm/59edde13-4167-8550-86f0-11fc67882107@xxxxxxxxxxx/
[2] https://lore.kernel.org/all/a26ce299-aed1-b8ad-711e-a49e82bdd180@xxxxxxxxxxx/T/#u
[3] https://lore.kernel.org/all/6fa6b7aa-731e-891c-3efb-a03d6a700efa@xxxxxxxxxx/

Suggested-by: David Hildenbrand <david@xxxxxxxxxx>
Suggested-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Charan Teja Kalla <quic_charante@xxxxxxxxxxx>

<snip>

--- a/mm/page_owner.c
+++ b/mm/page_owner.c
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ void __reset_page_owner(struct page *page, unsigned short order)
struct page_owner *page_owner;
u64 free_ts_nsec = local_clock();
- page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
return;
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ void __reset_page_owner(struct page *page, unsigned short order)
page_owner->free_ts_nsec = free_ts_nsec;
page_ext = page_ext_next(page_ext);
}
+ page_ext_put();
}
static inline void __set_page_owner_handle(struct page_ext *page_ext,
@@ -183,19 +184,26 @@ static inline void __set_page_owner_handle(struct page_ext *page_ext,
noinline void __set_page_owner(struct page *page, unsigned short order,
gfp_t gfp_mask)
{
- struct page_ext *page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ struct page_ext *page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
depot_stack_handle_t handle;
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
return;
+ page_ext_put();
handle = save_stack(gfp_mask);
+
+ /* Ensure page_ext is valid after page_ext_put() above */
+ page_ext = page_ext_get(page);

Why not simply do the save_stack() first and then page_ext_get() just once? It should be really rare that it's NULL, so I don't think we save much by avoiding an unnecessary save_stack(), while the overhead of doing two get/put instead of one will affect every call.

+ if (unlikely(!page_ext))
+ return;
__set_page_owner_handle(page_ext, handle, order, gfp_mask);
+ page_ext_put();
}
void __set_page_owner_migrate_reason(struct page *page, int reason)
{
- struct page_ext *page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ struct page_ext *page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
struct page_owner *page_owner;
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
@@ -203,12 +211,13 @@ void __set_page_owner_migrate_reason(struct page *page, int reason)
page_owner = get_page_owner(page_ext);
page_owner->last_migrate_reason = reason;
+ page_ext_put();
}
void __split_page_owner(struct page *page, unsigned int nr)
{
int i;
- struct page_ext *page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ struct page_ext *page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
struct page_owner *page_owner;
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
@@ -219,16 +228,24 @@ void __split_page_owner(struct page *page, unsigned int nr)
page_owner->order = 0;
page_ext = page_ext_next(page_ext);
}
+ page_ext_put();
}
void __folio_copy_owner(struct folio *newfolio, struct folio *old)
{
- struct page_ext *old_ext = lookup_page_ext(&old->page);
- struct page_ext *new_ext = lookup_page_ext(&newfolio->page);
+ struct page_ext *old_ext;
+ struct page_ext *new_ext;
struct page_owner *old_page_owner, *new_page_owner;
- if (unlikely(!old_ext || !new_ext))
+ old_ext = page_ext_get(&old->page);
+ if (unlikely(!old_ext))
+ return;
+
+ new_ext = page_ext_get(&newfolio->page);

The second one can keep using just lookup_page_ext() and we can have a single page_ext_put()? I don't think it would be dangerous in case the internals change, as page_ext_put() doesn't have a page parameter anyway so it can't be specific to a page.

+ if (unlikely(!new_ext)) {
+ page_ext_put();
return;
+ }
old_page_owner = get_page_owner(old_ext);
new_page_owner = get_page_owner(new_ext);
@@ -254,6 +271,8 @@ void __folio_copy_owner(struct folio *newfolio, struct folio *old)
*/
__set_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER, &new_ext->flags);
__set_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER_ALLOCATED, &new_ext->flags);
+ page_ext_put();
+ page_ext_put();
}
void pagetypeinfo_showmixedcount_print(struct seq_file *m,
@@ -307,12 +326,12 @@ void pagetypeinfo_showmixedcount_print(struct seq_file *m,
if (PageReserved(page))
continue;
- page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
continue;
if (!test_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER_ALLOCATED, &page_ext->flags))
- continue;
+ goto loop;
page_owner = get_page_owner(page_ext);
page_mt = gfp_migratetype(page_owner->gfp_mask);
@@ -323,9 +342,12 @@ void pagetypeinfo_showmixedcount_print(struct seq_file *m,
count[pageblock_mt]++;
pfn = block_end_pfn;
+ page_ext_put();
break;
}
pfn += (1UL << page_owner->order) - 1;
+loop:
+ page_ext_put();
}
}
@@ -435,7 +457,7 @@ print_page_owner(char __user *buf, size_t count, unsigned long pfn,
void __dump_page_owner(const struct page *page)
{
- struct page_ext *page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ struct page_ext *page_ext = page_ext_get((void *)page);
struct page_owner *page_owner;
depot_stack_handle_t handle;
gfp_t gfp_mask;
@@ -452,6 +474,7 @@ void __dump_page_owner(const struct page *page)
if (!test_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER, &page_ext->flags)) {
pr_alert("page_owner info is not present (never set?)\n");
+ page_ext_put();
return;
}
@@ -482,6 +505,7 @@ void __dump_page_owner(const struct page *page)
if (page_owner->last_migrate_reason != -1)
pr_alert("page has been migrated, last migrate reason: %s\n",
migrate_reason_names[page_owner->last_migrate_reason]);
+ page_ext_put();
}
static ssize_t
@@ -508,6 +532,14 @@ read_page_owner(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
/* Find an allocated page */
for (; pfn < max_pfn; pfn++) {
/*
+ * This temporary page_owner is required so
+ * that we can avoid the context switches while holding
+ * the rcu lock and copying the page owner information to
+ * user through copy_to_user() or GFP_KERNEL allocations.
+ */
+ struct page_owner page_owner_tmp;
+
+ /*
* If the new page is in a new MAX_ORDER_NR_PAGES area,
* validate the area as existing, skip it if not
*/
@@ -525,7 +557,7 @@ read_page_owner(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
continue;
}
- page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
continue;
@@ -534,14 +566,14 @@ read_page_owner(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
* because we don't hold the zone lock.
*/
if (!test_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER, &page_ext->flags))
- continue;
+ goto loop;
/*
* Although we do have the info about past allocation of free
* pages, it's not relevant for current memory usage.
*/
if (!test_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER_ALLOCATED, &page_ext->flags))
- continue;
+ goto loop;
page_owner = get_page_owner(page_ext);
@@ -550,7 +582,7 @@ read_page_owner(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
* would inflate the stats.
*/
if (!IS_ALIGNED(pfn, 1 << page_owner->order))
- continue;
+ goto loop;
/*
* Access to page_ext->handle isn't synchronous so we should
@@ -558,13 +590,17 @@ read_page_owner(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
*/
handle = READ_ONCE(page_owner->handle);
if (!handle)
- continue;
+ goto loop;
/* Record the next PFN to read in the file offset */
*ppos = (pfn - min_low_pfn) + 1;
+ memcpy(&page_owner_tmp, page_owner, sizeof(struct page_owner));
+ page_ext_put();
return print_page_owner(buf, count, pfn, page,
- page_owner, handle);
+ &page_owner_tmp, handle);
+loop:
+ page_ext_put();
}
return 0;
@@ -617,18 +653,20 @@ static void init_pages_in_zone(pg_data_t *pgdat, struct zone *zone)
if (PageReserved(page))
continue;
- page_ext = lookup_page_ext(page);
+ page_ext = page_ext_get(page);
if (unlikely(!page_ext))
continue;
/* Maybe overlapping zone */
if (test_bit(PAGE_EXT_OWNER, &page_ext->flags))
- continue;
+ goto loop;
/* Found early allocated page */
__set_page_owner_handle(page_ext, early_handle,
0, 0);
count++;
+loop:
+ page_ext_put();
}
cond_resched();

This is called from init_page_owner() where races with offline are impossible, so it's unnecessary. Although it won't hurt.