Re: [PATCH] rcu-tasks: Make shrink down to a single callback queue safely

From: Paul E. McKenney
Date: Mon Dec 05 2022 - 16:16:46 EST


On Sun, Dec 04, 2022 at 01:47:11AM +0000, Zhang, Qiang1 wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 02, 2022 at 11:35:09PM +0000, Zhang, Qiang1 wrote:
> > On Wed, Nov 30, 2022 at 01:12:53PM +0800, Zqiang wrote:
> > > Assume that the current RCU-task belongs to per-CPU callback queuing
> > > mode and the rcu_task_cb_adjust is true.
> > >
> > > CPU0 CPU1
> > >
> > > rcu_tasks_need_gpcb()
> > > ncbsnz == 0 and
> > > ncbs < rcu_task_collapse_lim
> > >
> > > invoke call_rcu_tasks_generic()
> > > enqueue callback to CPU1
> > > (CPU1 n_cbs not equal zero)
> > >
> > > if (rcu_task_cb_adjust &&
> > > ncbs <= rcu_task_collapse_lim)
> > > if (rtp->percpu_enqueue_lim > 1)
> > > rtp->percpu_enqueue_lim = 1;
> > > rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq =
> > > get_state_synchronize_rcu();
> > >
> > >
> > > A full RCU grace period has passed
> > >
> > >
> > >I don't see how this grace period can elapse. The rcu_tasks_need_gpcb()
> > >function is invoked only from rcu_tasks_one_gp(), and while holding
> > >->tasks_gp_mutex.
> >
> >
> > Hi Paul
> >
> > I mean that It's the RCU grace period instead of the RCU task grace period.
> >
> > rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq = get_state_synchronize_rcu();
> >
> > get_state_synchronize_rcu(rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq);
> >
> > There is a window period between these two calls, preemption may occur.
> > A full RCU grace period may have passed.
> > when we run it again we find get_state_synchronize_rcu() == true.
> >
> >Ah, thank you!
> >
> >But for that issue, why not just place both "if" statements into an
> >RCU read-side critical section?
>
> Ah, a better method(my brain didn't think of this way at the first time), I have been send v2.

Well, one reason that your brain might not have thought of this way is
that it does not actually fix the problem. ;-)

The reason that it does not fix the problem is that this problem isn't
just that the grace period can end between those two "if" statements.
The problem is also that the grace period can end just after the loop
over the CPUs, the one that computes ncbsnz.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy that you found this bug. After all,
we cannot fix bugs that we don't know about.

So I updated your commit to check for grace-period completion upon entry
to the rcu_tasks_need_gpcb() function.

And now my question to you is "What bugs remain?" There are bugs in
there somewhere! ;-)

Thanx, Paul

------------------------------------------------------------------------

commit d5655681fe0f1cf531ec8300c06d3a7826cbca8f
Author: Zqiang <qiang1.zhang@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat Dec 3 10:25:03 2022 +0800

rcu-tasks: Handle queue-shrink/callback-enqueue race condition

The rcu_tasks_need_gpcb() determines whether or not: (1) There are
callbacks needing another grace period, (2) There are callbacks ready
to be invoked, and (3) It would be a good time to shrink back down to a
single-CPU callback list. This third case is interesting because some
other CPU might be adding new callbacks, which might suddenly make this
a very bad time to be shrinking.

This is currently handled by requiring call_rcu_tasks_generic() to
enqueue callbacks under the protection of rcu_read_lock() and requiring
rcu_tasks_need_gpcb() to wait for an RCU grace period to elapse before
finalizing the transition. This works well in practice.

Unfortunately, the current code assumes that a grace period whose end is
detected by the poll_state_synchronize_rcu() in the second "if" condition
actually ended before the earlier code counted the callbacks queued on
CPUs other than CPU 0 (local variable "ncbsnz"). Given the current code,
it is possible that a long-delayed call_rcu_tasks_generic() invocation
will queue a callback on a non-zero CPU after these CPUs have had their
callbacks counted and zero has been stored to ncbsnz. Such a callback
would trigger the WARN_ON_ONCE() in the second "if" statement.

To see this, consider the following sequence of events:

o CPU 0 invokes rcu_tasks_one_gp(), and counts fewer than
rcu_task_collapse_lim callbacks. It sees at least one
callback queued on some other CPU, thus setting ncbsnz
to a non-zero value.

o CPU 1 invokes call_rcu_tasks_generic() and loads 42 from
->percpu_enqueue_lim. It therefore decides to enqueue its
callback onto CPU 1's callback list, but is delayed.

o CPU 0 sees the rcu_task_cb_adjust is non-zero and that the number
of callbacks does not exceed rcu_task_collapse_lim. It therefore
checks percpu_enqueue_lim, and sees that its value is greater
than the value one. CPU 0 therefore starts the shift back
to a single callback list. It sets ->percpu_enqueue_lim to 1,
but CPU 1 has already read the old value of 42. It also gets
a grace-period state value from get_state_synchronize_rcu().

o CPU 0 sees that ncbsnz is non-zero in its second "if" statement,
so it declines to finalize the shrink operation.

o CPU 0 again invokes rcu_tasks_one_gp(), and counts fewer than
rcu_task_collapse_lim callbacks. It also sees that there are
no callback queued on any other CPU, and thus sets ncbsnz to zero.

o CPU 1 resumes execution and enqueues its callback onto its own
list. This invalidates the value of ncbsnz.

o CPU 0 sees the rcu_task_cb_adjust is non-zero and that the number
of callbacks does not exceed rcu_task_collapse_lim. It therefore
checks percpu_enqueue_lim, but sees that its value is already
unity. It therefore does not get a new grace-period state value.

o CPU 0 sees that rcu_task_cb_adjust is non-zero, ncbsnz is zero,
and that poll_state_synchronize_rcu() says that the grace period
has completed. it therefore finalizes the shrink operation,
setting ->percpu_dequeue_lim to the value one.

o CPU 0 does a debug check, scanning the other CPUs' callback lists.
It sees that CPU 1's list has a callback, so it (rightly)
triggers the WARN_ON_ONCE(). After all, the new value of
->percpu_dequeue_lim says to not bother looking at CPU 1's
callback list, which means that this callback will never be
invoked. This can result in hangs and maybe even OOMs.

Based on long experience with rcutorture, this is an extremely
low-probability race condition, but it really can happen, especially in
preemptible kernels or within guest OSes.

This commit therefore checks for completion of the grace period
before counting callbacks. With this change, in the above failure
scenario CPU 0 would know not to prematurely end the shrink operation
because the grace period would not have completed before the count
operation started.

[ paulmck: Adjust grace-period end rather than adding RCU reader. ]

Signed-off-by: Zqiang <qiang1.zhang@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>

diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tasks.h b/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
index d845723c1af41..38f7b5892560d 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tasks.h
@@ -384,6 +384,7 @@ static int rcu_tasks_need_gpcb(struct rcu_tasks *rtp)
{
int cpu;
unsigned long flags;
+ bool gpdone = poll_state_synchronize_rcu(rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq);
long n;
long ncbs = 0;
long ncbsnz = 0;
@@ -425,12 +426,12 @@ static int rcu_tasks_need_gpcb(struct rcu_tasks *rtp)
WRITE_ONCE(rtp->percpu_enqueue_shift, order_base_2(nr_cpu_ids));
smp_store_release(&rtp->percpu_enqueue_lim, 1);
rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq = get_state_synchronize_rcu();
+ gpdone = false;
pr_info("Starting switch %s to CPU-0 callback queuing.\n", rtp->name);
}
raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&rtp->cbs_gbl_lock, flags);
}
- if (rcu_task_cb_adjust && !ncbsnz &&
- poll_state_synchronize_rcu(rtp->percpu_dequeue_gpseq)) {
+ if (rcu_task_cb_adjust && !ncbsnz && gpdone) {
raw_spin_lock_irqsave(&rtp->cbs_gbl_lock, flags);
if (rtp->percpu_enqueue_lim < rtp->percpu_dequeue_lim) {
WRITE_ONCE(rtp->percpu_dequeue_lim, 1);