]> www.infradead.org Git - users/hch/misc.git/commit
fs/pipe: Read pipe->{head,tail} atomically outside pipe->mutex
authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Tue, 4 Mar 2025 13:51:38 +0000 (13:51 +0000)
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Tue, 4 Mar 2025 18:51:48 +0000 (08:51 -1000)
commit3d252160b818045f3a152b13756f6f37ca34639d
tree35b62438c44941425656425957b0155e0fe29a6a
parent99fa936e8e4f117d62f229003c9799686f74cebc
fs/pipe: Read pipe->{head,tail} atomically outside pipe->mutex

pipe_readable(), pipe_writable(), and pipe_poll() can read "pipe->head"
and "pipe->tail" outside of "pipe->mutex" critical section. When the
head and the tail are read individually in that order, there is a window
for interruption between the two reads in which both the head and the
tail can be updated by concurrent readers and writers.

One of the problematic scenarios observed with hackbench running
multiple groups on a large server on a particular pipe inode is as
follows:

    pipe->head = 36
    pipe->tail = 36

    hackbench-118762  [057] .....  1029.550548: pipe_write: *wakes up: pipe not full*
    hackbench-118762  [057] .....  1029.550548: pipe_write: head: 36 -> 37 [tail: 36]
    hackbench-118762  [057] .....  1029.550548: pipe_write: *wake up next reader 118740*
    hackbench-118762  [057] .....  1029.550548: pipe_write: *wake up next writer 118768*

    hackbench-118768  [206] .....  1029.55055X: pipe_write: *writer wakes up*
    hackbench-118768  [206] .....  1029.55055X: pipe_write: head = READ_ONCE(pipe->head) [37]
    ... CPU 206 interrupted (exact wakeup was not traced but 118768 did read head at 37 in traces)

    hackbench-118740  [057] .....  1029.550558: pipe_read:  *reader wakes up: pipe is not empty*
    hackbench-118740  [057] .....  1029.550558: pipe_read:  tail: 36 -> 37 [head = 37]
    hackbench-118740  [057] .....  1029.550559: pipe_read:  *pipe is empty; wakeup writer 118768*
    hackbench-118740  [057] .....  1029.550559: pipe_read:  *sleeps*

    hackbench-118766  [185] .....  1029.550592: pipe_write: *New writer comes in*
    hackbench-118766  [185] .....  1029.550592: pipe_write: head: 37 -> 38 [tail: 37]
    hackbench-118766  [185] .....  1029.550592: pipe_write: *wakes up reader 118766*

    hackbench-118740  [185] .....  1029.550598: pipe_read:  *reader wakes up; pipe not empty*
    hackbench-118740  [185] .....  1029.550599: pipe_read:  tail: 37 -> 38 [head: 38]
    hackbench-118740  [185] .....  1029.550599: pipe_read:  *pipe is empty*
    hackbench-118740  [185] .....  1029.550599: pipe_read:  *reader sleeps; wakeup writer 118768*

    ... CPU 206 switches back to writer
    hackbench-118768  [206] .....  1029.550601: pipe_write: tail = READ_ONCE(pipe->tail) [38]
    hackbench-118768  [206] .....  1029.550601: pipe_write: pipe_full()? (u32)(37 - 38) >= 16? Yes
    hackbench-118768  [206] .....  1029.550601: pipe_write: *writer goes back to sleep*

    [ Tasks 118740 and 118768 can then indefinitely wait on each other. ]

The unsigned arithmetic in pipe_occupancy() wraps around when
"pipe->tail > pipe->head" leading to pipe_full() returning true despite
the pipe being empty.

The case of genuine wraparound of "pipe->head" is handled since pipe
buffer has data allowing readers to make progress until the pipe->tail
wraps too after which the reader will wakeup a sleeping writer, however,
mistaking the pipe to be full when it is in fact empty can lead to
readers and writers waiting on each other indefinitely.

This issue became more problematic and surfaced as a hang in hackbench
after the optimization in commit aaec5a95d596 ("pipe_read: don't wake up
the writer if the pipe is still full") significantly reduced the number
of spurious wakeups of writers that had previously helped mask the
issue.

To avoid missing any updates between the reads of "pipe->head" and
"pipe->write", unionize the two with a single unsigned long
"pipe->head_tail" member that can be loaded atomically.

Using "pipe->head_tail" to read the head and the tail ensures the
lockless checks do not miss any updates to the head or the tail and
since those two are only updated under "pipe->mutex", it ensures that
the head is always ahead of, or equal to the tail resulting in correct
calculations.

  [ prateek: commit log, testing on x86 platforms. ]

Reported-and-debugged-by: Swapnil Sapkal <swapnil.sapkal@amd.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/e813814e-7094-4673-bc69-731af065a0eb@amd.com/
Reported-by: Alexey Gladkov <legion@kernel.org>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/Z8Wn0nTvevLRG_4m@example.org/
Fixes: 8cefc107ca54 ("pipe: Use head and tail pointers for the ring, not cursor and length")
Tested-by: Swapnil Sapkal <swapnil.sapkal@amd.com>
Reviewed-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Tested-by: Alexey Gladkov <legion@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: K Prateek Nayak <kprateek.nayak@amd.com>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
fs/pipe.c
include/linux/pipe_fs_i.h