find a fix for a pretty serious global_flush_tlb() x86-64 bug below, -stable candidate too i think.
Linus, please pull this fix from the x86 git tree: ssh://master.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tglx/linux-2.6-x86.git | | Ingo Molnar (1): | x86: fix global_flush_tlb() bug thanks, Ingo ------------------> Subject: x86: fix global_flush_tlb() bug From: Ingo Molnar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> While we were reviewing pageattr_32/64.c for unification, Thomas Gleixner noticed the following serious SMP bug in global_flush_tlb(): down_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); list_replace_init(&deferred_pages, &l); up_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); this is SMP-unsafe because list_replace_init() done on two CPUs in parallel can corrupt the list. This bug has been introduced about a year ago in the 64-bit tree: commit ea7322decb974a4a3e804f96a0201e893ff88ce3 Author: Andi Kleen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Thu Dec 7 02:14:05 2006 +0100 [PATCH] x86-64: Speed and clean up cache flushing in change_page_attr down_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); - dpage = xchg(&deferred_pages, NULL); + list_replace_init(&deferred_pages, &l); up_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); the xchg() based version was SMP-safe, but list_replace_init() is not. So this "cleanup" introduced a nasty bug. why this bug never become prominent is a mystery - it can probably be explained with the (still) relative obscurity of the x86_64 architecture. the safe fix for now is to write-lock init_mm.mmap_sem. Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --- arch/x86/mm/pageattr_64.c | 9 +++++++-- 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) Index: linux/arch/x86/mm/pageattr_64.c =================================================================== --- linux.orig/arch/x86/mm/pageattr_64.c +++ linux/arch/x86/mm/pageattr_64.c @@ -255,9 +255,14 @@ void global_flush_tlb(void) struct page *pg, *next; struct list_head l; - down_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); + /* + * Write-protect the semaphore, to exclude two contexts + * doing a list_replace_init() call in parallel and to + * exclude new additions to the deferred_pages list: + */ + down_write(&init_mm.mmap_sem); list_replace_init(&deferred_pages, &l); - up_read(&init_mm.mmap_sem); + up_write(&init_mm.mmap_sem); flush_map(&l); - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/