RE: [PATCH v4 1/2] vfio: fix deadlock between group lock and kvm lock

From: Tian, Kevin
Date: Sun Feb 05 2023 - 22:52:38 EST


> From: Matthew Rosato <mjrosato@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, February 4, 2023 5:50 AM
>
> After 51cdc8bc120e, we have another deadlock scenario between the
> kvm->lock and the vfio group_lock with two different codepaths acquiring
> the locks in different order. Specifically in vfio_open_device, vfio
> holds the vfio group_lock when issuing device->ops->open_device but some
> drivers (like vfio-ap) need to acquire kvm->lock during their open_device
> routine; Meanwhile, kvm_vfio_release will acquire the kvm->lock first
> before calling vfio_file_set_kvm which will acquire the vfio group_lock.
>
> To resolve this, let's remove the need for the vfio group_lock from the
> kvm_vfio_release codepath. This is done by introducing a new spinlock to
> protect modifications to the vfio group kvm pointer, and acquiring a kvm
> ref from within vfio while holding this spinlock, with the reference held
> until the last close for the device in question.
>
> Fixes: 51cdc8bc120e ("kvm/vfio: Fix potential deadlock on vfio group_lock")
> Reported-by: Anthony Krowiak <akrowiak@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Suggested-by: Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Signed-off-by: Matthew Rosato <mjrosato@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Reviewed-by: Kevin Tian <kevin.tian@xxxxxxxxx>