Re: [PATCH v6 16/20] dma: swiotlb: free dynamic pools from process context
From: Petr Tesarik <hidden>
Date: 2026-06-09 13:25:41
Also in:
linux-arm-kernel, linux-coco, linux-iommu, linux-s390, lkml
On Thu, 4 Jun 2026 14:09:55 +0530 "Aneesh Kumar K.V (Arm)" [off-list ref] wrote:
swiotlb_dyn_free() is used after removing a dynamic swiotlb pool from RCU-protected lists. It can call swiotlb_free_tlb(), which may need to restore the encryption state of an unencrypted pool with set_memory_encrypted() before freeing the pages. RCU callbacks run in atomic context, but set_memory_encrypted() is not guaranteed to be atomic-safe on all architectures. For example, page attribute updates may allocate page tables or take sleeping locks.
Good catch!
Use queue_rcu_work() for dynamic pool freeing instead. This keeps the RCU grace period before freeing a published pool, while running the actual pool teardown from workqueue context. Use the same helper for the transient-pool error path, since that path may also be reached from atomic DMA mapping context.
Strictly speaking, it's not necessary, because this is in the error path just after allocating a transient pool. There are only two possible scenarios: a. The transient buffer was allocated from a sleeping context, and then it's also OK to decrypt memory. b. The transient buffer was allocated in atomic context, but then it was allocated from a coherent pool and it is returned to that pool rather than decrypted. However, it's also fine to queue an RCU work. The logic is definitely cleaner and easier to maintain.
Tested-by: Michael Kelley <redacted> Tested-by: Mostafa Saleh <smostafa@google.com> Signed-off-by: Aneesh Kumar K.V (Arm) <aneesh.kumar@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Petr Tesarik <redacted> Petr T
quoted hunk ↗ jump to hunk
--- include/linux/swiotlb.h | 4 ++-- kernel/dma/swiotlb.c | 19 +++++++++++-------- 2 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)diff --git a/include/linux/swiotlb.h b/include/linux/swiotlb.h index 4dcbf3931be1..526f82e9da45 100644 --- a/include/linux/swiotlb.h +++ b/include/linux/swiotlb.h@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ extern void __init swiotlb_update_mem_attributes(void); * @areas: Array of memory area descriptors. * @slots: Array of slot descriptors. * @node: Member of the IO TLB memory pool list. - * @rcu: RCU head for swiotlb_dyn_free(). + * @dyn_free: RCU work item used to free the pool from process context. * @transient: %true if transient memory pool. */ struct io_tlb_pool {@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ struct io_tlb_pool { struct io_tlb_slot *slots; #ifdef CONFIG_SWIOTLB_DYNAMIC struct list_head node; - struct rcu_head rcu; + struct rcu_work dyn_free; bool transient; bool unencrypted; #endifdiff --git a/kernel/dma/swiotlb.c b/kernel/dma/swiotlb.c index f4e8b241a1c4..4c56f64602ea 100644 --- a/kernel/dma/swiotlb.c +++ b/kernel/dma/swiotlb.c@@ -774,13 +774,10 @@ static void swiotlb_dyn_alloc(struct work_struct *work) add_mem_pool(mem, pool); } -/** - * swiotlb_dyn_free() - RCU callback to free a memory pool - * @rcu: RCU head in the corresponding struct io_tlb_pool. - */ -static void swiotlb_dyn_free(struct rcu_head *rcu) +static void swiotlb_dyn_free_work(struct work_struct *work) { - struct io_tlb_pool *pool = container_of(rcu, struct io_tlb_pool, rcu); + struct io_tlb_pool *pool = + container_of(to_rcu_work(work), struct io_tlb_pool, dyn_free); size_t slots_size = array_size(sizeof(*pool->slots), pool->nslabs); size_t tlb_size = pool->end - pool->start;@@ -789,6 +786,12 @@ static void swiotlb_dyn_free(struct rcu_head *rcu) kfree(pool); } +static void swiotlb_schedule_dyn_free(struct io_tlb_pool *pool) +{ + INIT_RCU_WORK(&pool->dyn_free, swiotlb_dyn_free_work); + queue_rcu_work(system_wq, &pool->dyn_free); +} + /** * __swiotlb_find_pool() - find the IO TLB pool for a physical address * @dev: Device which has mapped the DMA buffer.@@ -835,7 +838,7 @@ static void swiotlb_del_pool(struct device *dev, struct io_tlb_pool *pool) list_del_rcu(&pool->node); spin_unlock_irqrestore(&dev->dma_io_tlb_lock, flags); - call_rcu(&pool->rcu, swiotlb_dyn_free); + swiotlb_schedule_dyn_free(pool); } #endif /* CONFIG_SWIOTLB_DYNAMIC */@@ -1276,7 +1279,7 @@ static int swiotlb_find_slots(struct device *dev, phys_addr_t orig_addr, index = swiotlb_search_pool_area(dev, pool, 0, orig_addr, tbl_dma_addr, alloc_size, alloc_align_mask); if (index < 0) { - swiotlb_dyn_free(&pool->rcu); + swiotlb_schedule_dyn_free(pool); return -1; }