[PATCH net-next] tcp: make smp_rmb() conditional in tcp_poll()
From: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
Date: 2026-09-13 12:32:28
Subsystem:
networking [general], networking [tcp], the rest · Maintainers:
"David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Neal Cardwell, Linus Torvalds
Commit a4d258036ed9 ("tcp: Fix race in tcp_poll") added smp_rmb() in
tcp_poll() and smp_wmb() in tcp_reset() (now tcp_done_with_error())
to ensure that if tcp_poll() observed socket closure, it would also
observe sk->sk_err.
Currently, tcp_poll() unconditionally executes smp_rmb() at the end
of every invocation, which on weakly-ordered architectures such as ARM64
emits a memory barrier instruction (dmb ishld) on the poll fast path,
even for healthy, active sockets.
However, tcp_poll() only needs this barrier if socket closure has been
observed, to ensure that the error code set by tcp_done_with_error()
before socket closure is visible before returning EPOLLERR.
Move smp_rmb() inside the conditional block handling socket closure
(shutdown == SHUTDOWN_MASK || state == TCP_CLOSE). For healthy
connected sockets in epoll, tcp_poll() avoids the barrier entirely.
Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>
---
net/ipv4/tcp.c | 9 ++++++---
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
diff --git a/net/ipv4/tcp.c b/net/ipv4/tcp.c
index 562752352afe4d7ab864c00b8562c8b8489a76f9..3ac4856852794736c5d49f042ecd08e4246bdd6d 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/tcp.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/tcp.c@@ -578,8 +578,13 @@ __poll_t tcp_poll(struct file *file, struct socket *sock, poll_table *wait) * blocking on fresh not-connected or disconnected socket. --ANK */ shutdown = READ_ONCE(sk->sk_shutdown); - if (shutdown == SHUTDOWN_MASK || state == TCP_CLOSE) + if (shutdown == SHUTDOWN_MASK || state == TCP_CLOSE) { mask |= EPOLLHUP; + /* Coupled with smp_wmb() in tcp_done_with_error() to ensure + * sk->sk_err is visible if socket closure was observed. + */ + smp_rmb(); + } if (shutdown & RCV_SHUTDOWN) mask |= EPOLLIN | EPOLLRDNORM | EPOLLRDHUP;
@@ -626,8 +631,6 @@ __poll_t tcp_poll(struct file *file, struct socket *sock, poll_table *wait) */ mask |= EPOLLOUT | EPOLLWRNORM; } - /* This barrier is coupled with smp_wmb() in tcp_done_with_error() */ - smp_rmb(); if (READ_ONCE(sk->sk_err) || !skb_queue_empty_lockless(&sk->sk_error_queue)) mask |= EPOLLERR;
--
2.55.0.1007.g17ff1f9808-goog