Re: [PATCH bpf-next 6/9] uprobes: Don't sleep on mmap_lock with dup_mmap_sem held in dup_mmap()
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From: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
Date: 2026-10-27 15:38:29
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bpf, linux-mm, linux-perf-users, lkml
On Thu, Oct 22, 2026 at 01:57:09AM +0000, Alexei Starovoitov wrote:
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
From: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org> dup_mm() takes dup_mmap_sem for reading and then dup_mmap() sleeps on mmap_lock of the parent. When another thread keeps that mmap_lock busy register_for_each_vma() waits for the reader, and every other fork() in the system waits for the writer. The parent doesn't have to map the file: A thread 1: mmap(MAP_POPULATE) -> mmap_read_lock(A) A thread 2: fork() -> percpu_down_read(&dup_mmap_sem), mmap_write_lock_killable(A) sleeps tracer: percpu_down_write(&dup_mmap_sem) sleeps others: fork() -> percpu_down_read(&dup_mmap_sem) sleeps dup_mmap() needs both locks. Don't sleep on one of them while holding the other. Sleep on mmap_lock and trylock dup_mmap_sem. If that fails sleep on dup_mmap_sem and trylock mmap_lock, and so on. Taking mmap_lock and then sleeping on dup_mmap_sem is simpler, but then all threads of the parent wait for mmap_lock as long as the writer holds dup_mmap_sem. Both are taken in dup_mmap() now, so release dup_mmap_sem there too. Commit 8ac662f5da19 ("fork: avoid inappropriate uprobe access to invalid mm") moved that to dup_mm() to hide the child from uprobes until mmput() when dup_mmap() fails. Since commit 43873af772f8 ("mm: change dup_mmap() recovery") dup_mmap() removes all vmas of such child before it drops mmap_lock. dup_mmap_sem is released before dup_userfaultfd_complete(), so the monitor that doesn't read UFFD_EVENT_FORK no longer blocks every fork(). During that wait register_for_each_vma() can find the child, while no task points to its mm. The next patch deals with that. Thread 1 of process A loops over mmap(4G, MAP_POPULATE) and munmap(). Thread 2 calls fork() in a loop. Nobody maps the file. Process B calls fork() in a loop. 32 cpu VM. Median (max) of 15-25 runs, msec: the longest fork() in B attach before after before after uprobe_multi, 1 uprobe 206 (219) 0.10 (0.30) 220 11.7 uprobe_multi, 4 uprobes 208 (428) 0.08 (0.32) 219 13.5 perf_event, 4 uprobes 419 (424) 0.10 (0.44) 632 11.4 During detach: 265-293 -> 0.19-0.37. Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org> --- include/linux/uprobes.h | 5 +++++ kernel/events/uprobes.c | 5 +++++ kernel/fork.c | 4 ---- mm/mmap.c | 19 +++++++++++++++++-- 4 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)diff --git a/include/linux/uprobes.h b/include/linux/uprobes.h index d34dbc0fbbfe..6d74efa80d04 100644 --- a/include/linux/uprobes.h +++ b/include/linux/uprobes.h@@ -211,6 +211,7 @@ extern void uprobe_unregister_sync(void); extern int uprobe_mmap(struct vm_area_struct *vma); extern void uprobe_munmap(struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long start, unsigned long end); extern void uprobe_start_dup_mmap(void); +extern bool uprobe_try_start_dup_mmap(void); extern void uprobe_end_dup_mmap(void); extern void uprobe_dup_mmap(struct mm_struct *oldmm, struct mm_struct *newmm); extern void uprobe_free_utask(struct task_struct *t);@@ -277,6 +278,10 @@ uprobe_munmap(struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long start, unsigned long end static inline void uprobe_start_dup_mmap(void) { } +static inline bool uprobe_try_start_dup_mmap(void) +{ + return true; +} static inline void uprobe_end_dup_mmap(void) { }diff --git a/kernel/events/uprobes.c b/kernel/events/uprobes.c index a9274016c55d..92ccb730278f 100644 --- a/kernel/events/uprobes.c +++ b/kernel/events/uprobes.c@@ -1927,6 +1927,11 @@ void uprobe_start_dup_mmap(void) percpu_down_read(&dup_mmap_sem); } +bool uprobe_try_start_dup_mmap(void) +{ + return percpu_down_read_trylock(&dup_mmap_sem); +} + void uprobe_end_dup_mmap(void) { percpu_up_read(&dup_mmap_sem);diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c index 10f2d05d816a..8fd6be932afe 100644 --- a/kernel/fork.c +++ b/kernel/fork.c@@ -1539,11 +1539,9 @@ static struct mm_struct *dup_mm(struct task_struct *tsk, if (!mm_init(mm, tsk)) goto fail_nomem; - uprobe_start_dup_mmap(); err = dup_mmap(mm, oldmm); if (err) goto free_pt; - uprobe_end_dup_mmap(); mm->hiwater_rss = get_mm_rss(mm); mm->hiwater_vm = mm->total_vm;@@ -1558,8 +1556,6 @@ static struct mm_struct *dup_mm(struct task_struct *tsk, mm->binfmt = NULL; mm_init_owner(mm, NULL); mmput(mm); - if (err) - uprobe_end_dup_mmap(); fail_nomem: return NULL;diff --git a/mm/mmap.c b/mm/mmap.c index 4bf26b0f1e6e..6ce654e33e3b 100644 --- a/mm/mmap.c +++ b/mm/mmap.c@@ -1713,8 +1713,22 @@ __latent_entropy int dup_mmap(struct mm_struct *mm, struct mm_struct *oldmm) LIST_HEAD(uf); VMA_ITERATOR(vmi, mm, 0); - if (mmap_write_lock_killable(oldmm)) - return -EINTR; + /* + * Take mmap_lock of oldmm and dup_mmap_sem of uprobes. + * Don't sleep on one of them while holding the other. + */ + for (;;) { + if (mmap_write_lock_killable(oldmm)) + return -EINTR; + if (uprobe_try_start_dup_mmap()) + break; + mmap_write_unlock(oldmm); + + uprobe_start_dup_mmap(); + if (mmap_write_trylock(oldmm)) + break; + uprobe_end_dup_mmap(); + }
This isn't beautiful :) As David says, we have an incoming fix that moves things around, i.e. this will no longer actually live in dup_mmap() but rather dup_mm() [which, by the by, I do want to move into mm], but that'd just move this there i guess? I'm concerned by what Jann says re: a livelock here though. I'm not sure this should be unbounded, and fork is a super-sensitive time for mm. I would feel more comfortable with it if it were bounded, and really it'd be nice if this was abstracted into its own function too rather than something open-coded. Do you have numbers on how many loops you are usually observing? Could you get most of the way there by just doing a trylock on uprobe before trying to take the mmap write lock? I mean if 99% of the time you only need 1 iteration, for example, then the fix looks a lot more sensible. All in all it feels a bit egregious for core mm to be held hostage to uprobe like this, isn't a better fix possible? Does uprobe actually need to exclude fork, or could it just eat the cost of checking to see if something forked since?
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
flush_cache_dup_mm(oldmm); uprobe_dup_mmap(oldmm, mm); /*@@ -1883,6 +1897,7 @@ __latent_entropy int dup_mmap(struct mm_struct *mm, struct mm_struct *oldmm) mmap_write_unlock(mm); flush_tlb_mm(oldmm); mmap_write_unlock(oldmm); + uprobe_end_dup_mmap(); if (!retval) dup_userfaultfd_complete(&uf); else --2.55.0
-- Cheers, Lorenzo