Re: [PATCH v4] mm/swap: fix race when skipping swapcache

From: Chengming Zhou
Date: Tue Feb 20 2024 - 00:38:14 EST


On 2024/2/20 13:32, Kairui Song wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 20, 2024 at 12:49 PM Chengming Zhou <zhouchengming@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>>
>> On 2024/2/20 06:10, Barry Song wrote:
>>> On Mon, Feb 19, 2024 at 9:21 PM Kairui Song <ryncsn@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> From: Kairui Song <kasong@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>>
>>>> When skipping swapcache for SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO, if two or more threads
>>>> swapin the same entry at the same time, they get different pages (A,
> B).
>>>> Before one thread (T0) finishes the swapin and installs page (A)
>>>> to the PTE, another thread (T1) could finish swapin of page (B),
>>>> swap_free the entry, then swap out the possibly modified page
>>>> reusing the same entry. It breaks the pte_same check in (T0) because
>>>> PTE value is unchanged, causing ABA problem. Thread (T0) will
>>>> install a stalled page (A) into the PTE and cause data corruption.
>>>>
>>>> One possible callstack is like this:
>>>>
>>>> CPU0 CPU1
>>>> ---- ----
>>>> do_swap_page() do_swap_page() with same entry
>>>> <direct swapin path> <direct swapin path>
>>>> <alloc page A> <alloc page B>
>>>> swap_read_folio() <- read to page A swap_read_folio() <- read to page
> B
>>>> <slow on later locks or interrupt> <finished swapin first>
>>>> .. set_pte_at()
>>>> swap_free() <- entry is free
>>>> <write to page B, now page A
> stalled>
>>>> <swap out page B to same swap
> entry>
>>>> pte_same() <- Check pass, PTE seems
>>>> unchanged, but page A
>>>> is stalled!
>>>> swap_free() <- page B content lost!
>>>> set_pte_at() <- staled page A installed!
>>>>
>>>> And besides, for ZRAM, swap_free() allows the swap device to discard
>>>> the entry content, so even if page (B) is not modified, if
>>>> swap_read_folio() on CPU0 happens later than swap_free() on CPU1,
>>>> it may also cause data loss.
>>>>
>>>> To fix this, reuse swapcache_prepare which will pin the swap entry
> using
>>>> the cache flag, and allow only one thread to swap it in, also prevent
>>>> any parallel code from putting the entry in the cache. Release the pin
>>>> after PT unlocked.
>>>>
>>>> Racers just loop and wait since it's a rare and very short event.
>>>> A schedule_timeout_uninterruptible(1) call is added to avoid repeated
>>>> page faults wasting too much CPU, causing livelock or adding too much
>>>> noise to perf statistics. A similar livelock issue was described in
>>>> commit 029c4628b2eb ("mm: swap: get rid of livelock in swapin
> readahead")
>>>>
>>>> Reproducer:
>>>>
>>>> This race issue can be triggered easily using a well constructed
>>>> reproducer and patched brd (with a delay in read path) [1]:
>>>>
>>>> With latest 6.8 mainline, race caused data loss can be observed easily:
>>>> $ gcc -g -lpthread test-thread-swap-race.c && ./a.out
>>>> Polulating 32MB of memory region...
>>>> Keep swapping out...
>>>> Starting round 0...
>>>> Spawning 65536 workers...
>>>> 32746 workers spawned, wait for done...
>>>> Round 0: Error on 0x5aa00, expected 32746, got 32743, 3 data loss!
>>>> Round 0: Error on 0x395200, expected 32746, got 32743, 3 data loss!
>>>> Round 0: Error on 0x3fd000, expected 32746, got 32737, 9 data loss!
>>>> Round 0 Failed, 15 data loss!
>>>>
>>>> This reproducer spawns multiple threads sharing the same memory region
>>>> using a small swap device. Every two threads updates mapped pages one
> by
>>>> one in opposite direction trying to create a race, with one dedicated
>>>> thread keep swapping out the data out using madvise.
>>>>
>>>> The reproducer created a reproduce rate of about once every 5 minutes,
>>>> so the race should be totally possible in production.
>>>>
>>>> After this patch, I ran the reproducer for over a few hundred rounds
>>>> and no data loss observed.
>>>>
>>>> Performance overhead is minimal, microbenchmark swapin 10G from 32G
>>>> zram:
>>>>
>>>> Before: 10934698 us
>>>> After: 11157121 us
>>>> Cached: 13155355 us (Dropping SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO flag)
>>>>
>>>> Fixes: 0bcac06f27d7 ("mm, swap: skip swapcache for swapin of
> synchronous device")
>>>> Link:
> https://github.com/ryncsn/emm-test-project/tree/master/swap-stress-race [1]
>>>> Reported-by: "Huang, Ying" <ying.huang@xxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Closes:
> https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/87bk92gqpx.fsf_-_@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
>>>> Signed-off-by: Kairui Song <kasong@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>>> Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>> ---
>>>> V3:
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240216095105.14502-1-ryncsn@xxxxxxxxx/
>>>> Update from V3:
>>>> - Use schedule_timeout_uninterruptible(1) for now instead of
> schedule() to
>>>> prevent the busy faulting task holds CPU and livelocks [Huang, Ying]
>>>>
>>>> V2:
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240206182559.32264-1-ryncsn@xxxxxxxxx/
>>>> Update from V2:
>>>> - Add a schedule() if raced to prevent repeated page faults wasting CPU
>>>> and add noise to perf statistics.
>>>> - Use a bool to state the special case instead of reusing existing
>>>> variables fixing error handling [Minchan Kim].
>>>>
>>>> V1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240205110959.4021-1-ryncsn@xxxxxxxxx/
>>>> Update from V1:
>>>> - Add some words on ZRAM case, it will discard swap content on
> swap_free
>>>> so the race window is a bit different but cure is the same. [Barry
> Song]
>>>> - Update comments make it cleaner [Huang, Ying]
>>>> - Add a function place holder to fix CONFIG_SWAP=n built [SeongJae
> Park]
>>>> - Update the commit message and summary, refer to SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO
>>>> instead of "direct swapin path" [Yu Zhao]
>>>> - Update commit message.
>>>> - Collect Review and Acks.
>>>>
>>>> include/linux/swap.h | 5 +++++
>>>> mm/memory.c | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++
>>>> mm/swap.h | 5 +++++
>>>> mm/swapfile.c | 13 +++++++++++++
>>>> 4 files changed, 43 insertions(+)
>>>>
>>>> diff --git a/include/linux/swap.h b/include/linux/swap.h
>>>> index 4db00ddad261..8d28f6091a32 100644
>>>> --- a/include/linux/swap.h
>>>> +++ b/include/linux/swap.h
>>>> @@ -549,6 +549,11 @@ static inline int swap_duplicate(swp_entry_t swp)
>>>> return 0;
>>>> }
>>>>
>>>> +static inline int swapcache_prepare(swp_entry_t swp)
>>>> +{
>>>> + return 0;
>>>> +}
>>>> +
>>>> static inline void swap_free(swp_entry_t swp)
>>>> {
>>>> }
>>>> diff --git a/mm/memory.c b/mm/memory.c
>>>> index 7e1f4849463a..a99f5e7be9a5 100644
>>>> --- a/mm/memory.c
>>>> +++ b/mm/memory.c
>>>> @@ -3799,6 +3799,7 @@ vm_fault_t do_swap_page(struct vm_fault *vmf)
>>>> struct page *page;
>>>> struct swap_info_struct *si = NULL;
>>>> rmap_t rmap_flags = RMAP_NONE;
>>>> + bool need_clear_cache = false;
>>>> bool exclusive = false;
>>>> swp_entry_t entry;
>>>> pte_t pte;
>>>> @@ -3867,6 +3868,20 @@ vm_fault_t do_swap_page(struct vm_fault *vmf)
>>>> if (!folio) {
>>>> if (data_race(si->flags & SWP_SYNCHRONOUS_IO) &&
>>>> __swap_count(entry) == 1) {
>>>> + /*
>>>> + * Prevent parallel swapin from proceeding with
>>>> + * the cache flag. Otherwise, another thread
> may
>>>> + * finish swapin first, free the entry, and
> swapout
>>>> + * reusing the same entry. It's undetectable as
>>>> + * pte_same() returns true due to entry reuse.
>>>> + */
>>>> + if (swapcache_prepare(entry)) {
>>>> + /* Relax a bit to prevent rapid
> repeated page faults */
>>>> + schedule_timeout_uninterruptible(1);
>>>
>>> Not a ideal model, imaging two tasks,
>>>
>>> task A - low priority running on a LITTLE core
>>> task B - high priority and have real-time requirements such as audio,
>>> graphics running on a big core.
>>>
>>> The original code will make B win even if it is a bit later than A as
> its CPU is
>>> much faster to finish swap_read_folio for example from zRAM. task B's
>>> swap-in can finish very soon.
>>>
>>> With the patch, B will wait a tick and its real-time performance will be
>>> negatively affected from time to time once low priority and high
> priority
>>> tasks fault in the same PTE and high priority tasks are a bit later than
>>> low priority tasks. This is a kind of priority inversion.
>>>
>>> When we support large folio swap-in, things can get worse. For example,
>>> to swap-in 16 or even more pages in one do_swap_page, the chance for
>>> task A and task B located in the same range of 16 PTEs will increase
>>> though they are not located in the same PTE.
>>>
>>> Please consider this is not a blocker for this patch. But I will put
> the problem
>>> in my list and run some real tests on Android phones later.
>>
>> Good point. Late for the discussion, I'm wondering why not get an extra
> reference
>> on the swap entry, instead of swapcache_prepare()? Then the faster thread
> will
>> succeed, but can't free the swap entry. Later, the slower thread will
> find the
>> changed pte value and fail, and free the swap entry. Maybe I missed
> something?
>
> Hi, Chengming
>
> That was my initial purpose. Then found a lot of problems with it. Increase
> swap count here, it may race with another swap free and end up increasing
> the swap count of a freed entry.
>
> That can be fixed with audits and new helpers, but there are many other
> potential issues too. One major problem is that after count bump, raced
> swap threads will fallback to cached swap in. Pages in swapcache can be
> swaped out without allocating an entry, making the problem we were trying
> to resolve more serious.

Thanks for your clarification! Right, there are many issues I just ignored...