Re: [v3 2/3] mm: Defer TLB flush by keeping both src and dst folios at migration

From: Byungchul Park
Date: Thu Nov 09 2023 - 20:02:27 EST


On Thu, Nov 09, 2023 at 10:16:57AM +0000, Nadav Amit wrote:
>
>
> > On Nov 8, 2023, at 6:12 AM, Byungchul Park <byungchul@xxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > !! External Email
> >
> > On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 09:51:30PM +0900, Byungchul Park wrote:
> >>>> diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
> >>>> index 6c264d2f969c..75dc48b6e15f 100644
> >>>> --- a/mm/memory.c
> >>>> +++ b/mm/memory.c
> >>>> @@ -3359,6 +3359,19 @@ static vm_fault_t do_wp_page(struct vm_fault *vmf)
> >>>> if (vmf->page)
> >>>> folio = page_folio(vmf->page);
> >>>>
> >>>> + /*
> >>>> + * This folio has its read copy to prevent inconsistency while
> >>>> + * deferring TLB flushes. However, the problem might arise if
> >>>> + * it's going to become writable.
> >>>> + *
> >>>> + * To prevent it, give up the deferring TLB flushes and perform
> >>>> + * TLB flush right away.
> >>>> + */
> >>>> + if (folio && migrc_pending_folio(folio)) {
> >>>> + migrc_unpend_folio(folio);
> >>>> + migrc_try_flush_free_folios(NULL);
> >>>
> >>> So many potential function calls… Probably they should have been combined
> >>> into one and at least migrc_pending_folio() should have been an inline
> >>> function in the header.
> >>
> >> I will try to change it as you mention.
> >>
> >>>> + }
> >>>> +
> >>>
> >>> What about mprotect? I thought David has changed it so it can set writable
> >>> PTEs.
> >>
> >> I will check it out.
> >
> > I found mprotect stuff is already performing TLB flushes needed for it.
> > So some redundant TLB flushes might happen by migrc but it's not that
> > harmful I think. Thanks.
>
> Let me explain the scenario I am concerned with. Assume page P is RO, and
> moves from Psrc to Pdst. Pointer “p” points to P. Initially (*p == 0).
>
> Let’s also assume we also have an atomic variable “a”. Initially (a == 0).
>
> I hope I got the migration function names right, but I hope the problem
> itself can be clear regardless.
>
> CPU0 CPU1 CPU2 CPU3
> ---- ---- ---- ----
> (user-mode) (user-mode)
>
> Access *p
> [Psrc cached in TLB]
>
> migrate_pages_batch()
> -> migrate_folio_unmap()
>
> [ PTE updated,
> still no flush ]
>
> mprotect(p,
> RW)

Here,

mprotect()
do_mprotect_pkey()
tlb_finish_mmu()
tlb_flush_mmu()

I thought TLB flush for mprotect() is performed by tlb_flush_mmu() so
any cached TLB entries on other CPUs can have chance to update. Could
you correct me if I get it wrong? Thanks.

Byungchul

>
> [ Psrc is
> RW ]
>
> [ flush
> deferred]
>
>
> *p = 1 # Pdst
>
> xchg(&a, 1)
> mfence
> if (a == 1)
> assert(*p == 1);
>
>
>
> Now at this point the assertion might fail. CPU2 wrote into Pdst, whereas
> CPU1 reads from Psrc. But based on x86 memory model, userspace might not
> expect this scenario to be possible, hence leading to bugs.