The race was introduced while development of linux-3.11 by
e8437d7ecbc50198705331449367d401ebb3181f and
e9975fdec0138f1b2a85b9624e41660abd9865d4.
Originally it was found and reproduced on linux-3.12.15 and
linux-3.12.15-rt25, by sending 500 byte blocks with 115kbaud to the
target uart in a loop with 100 milliseconds delay.
In short:
 1. The consumer flush_to_ldisc is on to remove the head tty_buffer.
 2. The producer adds a number of bytes, so that a new tty_buffer must
	be allocated and added by __tty_buffer_request_room.
 3. The consumer removes the head tty_buffer element, without handling
	newly committed data.
Detailed example:
 * Initial buffer:
   * Head, Tail -> 0: used=250; commit=250; read=240; next=NULL
 * Consumer: ''flush_to_ldisc''
   * consumed 10 Byte
   * buffer:
     * Head, Tail -> 0: used=250; commit=250; read=250; next=NULL
{{{
		count = head->commit - head->read;	// count = 0
		if (!count) {				// enter
			// INTERRUPTED BY PRODUCER ->
			if (head->next == NULL)
				break;
			buf->head = head->next;
			tty_buffer_free(port, head);
			continue;
		}
}}}
 * Producer: tty_insert_flip_... 10 bytes + tty_flip_buffer_push
   * buffer:
     * Head, Tail -> 0: used=250; commit=250; read=250; next=NULL
   * added 6 bytes: head-element filled to maximum.
     * buffer:
       * Head, Tail -> 0: used=256; commit=250; read=250; next=NULL
   * added 4 bytes: __tty_buffer_request_room is called
     * buffer:
       * Head -> 0: used=256; commit=256; read=250; next=1
       * Tail -> 1: used=4; commit=0; read=250 next=NULL
   * push (tty_flip_buffer_push)
     * buffer:
       * Head -> 0: used=256; commit=256; read=250; next=1
       * Tail -> 1: used=4; commit=4; read=250 next=NULL
 * Consumer
{{{
		count = head->commit - head->read;
		if (!count) {
			// INTERRUPTED BY PRODUCER <-
			if (head->next == NULL)		// -> no break
				break;
			buf->head = head->next;
			tty_buffer_free(port, head);
			// ERROR: tty_buffer head freed -> 6 bytes lost
			continue;
		}
}}}
This patch reintroduces a spin_lock to protect this case. Perhaps later
a lock-less solution could be found.
Signed-off-by: Manfred Schlaegl <manfred.schlaegl@gmx.at>
Cc: stable <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.11
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
 
        if (change || left < size) {
                /* This is the slow path - looking for new buffers to use */
                if ((n = tty_buffer_alloc(port, size)) != NULL) {
+                       unsigned long iflags;
+
                        n->flags = flags;
                        buf->tail = n;
+
+                       spin_lock_irqsave(&buf->flush_lock, iflags);
                        b->commit = b->used;
-                       smp_mb();
                        b->next = n;
+                       spin_unlock_irqrestore(&buf->flush_lock, iflags);
+
                } else if (change)
                        size = 0;
                else
        mutex_lock(&buf->lock);
 
        while (1) {
+               unsigned long flags;
                struct tty_buffer *head = buf->head;
                int count;
 
                if (atomic_read(&buf->priority))
                        break;
 
+               spin_lock_irqsave(&buf->flush_lock, flags);
                count = head->commit - head->read;
                if (!count) {
-                       if (head->next == NULL)
+                       if (head->next == NULL) {
+                               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&buf->flush_lock, flags);
                                break;
+                       }
                        buf->head = head->next;
+                       spin_unlock_irqrestore(&buf->flush_lock, flags);
                        tty_buffer_free(port, head);
                        continue;
                }
+               spin_unlock_irqrestore(&buf->flush_lock, flags);
 
                count = receive_buf(tty, head, count);
                if (!count)
        struct tty_bufhead *buf = &port->buf;
 
        mutex_init(&buf->lock);
+       spin_lock_init(&buf->flush_lock);
        tty_buffer_reset(&buf->sentinel, 0);
        buf->head = &buf->sentinel;
        buf->tail = &buf->sentinel;
 
        struct tty_buffer *head;        /* Queue head */
        struct work_struct work;
        struct mutex       lock;
+       spinlock_t         flush_lock;
        atomic_t           priority;
        struct tty_buffer sentinel;
        struct llist_head free;         /* Free queue head */