[Devel] Race in memcg kmem?

[Vladimir Davydov]

On 12/11/2013 03:13 AM, Glauber Costa wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 10, 2013 at 5:59 PM, Vladimir Davydov
> <vdavydov at parallels.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Looking through the per-memcg kmem_cache initialization code, I have a
>> bad feeling that it is prone to a race. Before getting to fixing it, I'd
>> like to ensure this race is not only in my imagination. Here it goes.
>>
>> We keep per-memcg kmem caches in the memcg_params field of each root
>> cache. The memcg_params array is grown dynamically by
>> memcg_update_cache_size(). I guess that if this function is executed
>> concurrently with memcg_create_kmem_cache() we can get a race resulting
>> in a memory leak.
>>
> Ok, let's see.
>
>> -- memcg_create_kmem_cache(memcg, cachep) --
>> creates a new kmem_cache corresponding to a memcg and assigns it to the
>> root cache; called in the background - it is OK to have several such
>> functions trying to create a cache for the same memcg concurrently, but
>> only one of them should succeed.
> Yes.
>
>> @cachep is the root cache
>> @memcg is the memcg we want to create a cache for.
>>
>> The function:
>>
>> A1) assures there is no cache corresponding to the memcg (if it is we
>> have nothing to do):
>>     idx = memcg_cache_id(memcg);
>>     if (cachep->memcg_params[idx])
>>         goto out;
>>
>> A2) creates and assigns a new cache:
>>     new_cachep = kmem_cache_dup(memcg, cachep);
> Please note this cannot proceed in parallel with memcg_update_cache_size(),
> because they both take the slab mutex.

Oh, I see. memcg_create_kmem_cache() takes and releases the slab mutex
in kmem_cache_create_memcg(), which is called by kmem_cache_dup(). This
effectively works as a barrier that does not allow A2 to proceed until
memcg_update_cache_sizes() finishes, which makes the race implausible.
Did not notice that at first. Thanks for clarification!

>
>>     // init new_cachep
>>     cachep->memcg_params->memcg_caches[idx] = new_cachep;
>>
>>
>> -- memcg_update_cache_size(s, num_groups) --
>> grows s->memcg_params to accomodate data for num_groups memcg's
>> @s is the root cache whose memcg_params we want to grow
>> @num_groups is the new number of kmem-active cgroups (defines the new
>> size of memcg_params array).
>>
>> The function:
>>
>> B1) allocates and assigns a new cache:
>>     cur_params = s->memcg_params;
>>     s->memcg_params = kzalloc(size, GFP_KERNEL);
>>
>> B2) copies per-memcg cache ptrs from the old memcg_params array to the
>> new one:
>>     for (i = 0; i < memcg_limited_groups_array_size; i++) {
>>         if (!cur_params->memcg_caches[i])
>>             continue;
>>         s->memcg_params->memcg_caches[i] =
>>                     cur_params->memcg_caches[i];
>>     }
>>
>> B3) frees the old array:
>>     kfree(cur_params);
>>
>>
>> Since these two functions do not share any mutexes, we can get the
> They do share a mutex, the slab mutex.
>
>> following race:
>>
>> Assume, by the time Cpu0 gets to memcg_create_kmem_cache(), the memcg
>> cache has already been created by another thread, so this function
>> should do nothing.
>>
>> Cpu0    Cpu1
>> ----    ----
>>         B1
>> A1              we haven't initialized memcg_params yet so Cpu0 will
>>                 proceed to A2 to alloc and assign a new cache
>> A2
>>         B2      Cpu1 rewrites the memcg cache ptr set by Cpu0 at A2
>>                 - a memory leak?
>>         B3
>>
>> I'd like to add that even if I'm right about the race, this is rather
>> not critical, because memcg_update_cache_sizes() is called very rarely.
>>
> Every race is critical.
>
> So, I am a bit lost by your description. Get back to me if I got anything wrong,
> but I am think that the point that you're missing is that all heavy
> slab operations
> take the slab_mutex underneath, and that includes cache creation and update.
>
>
>> BTW, it seems to me that the way we update memcg_params in
>> memcg_update_cache_size() make cache_from_memcg_idx() prone to
>> use-after-free:
>>
>>> static inline struct kmem_cache *
>>> cache_from_memcg_idx(struct kmem_cache *s, int idx)
>>> {
>>>     if (!s->memcg_params)
>>>         return NULL;
>>>     return s->memcg_params->memcg_caches[idx];
>>> }
>> This is equivalent to
>>
>> 1) struct memcg_cache_params *params = s->memcg_params;
>> 2) return params->memcg_caches[idx];
>>
>> If memcg_update_cache_size() is executed between steps 1 and 2 on
>> another CPU, at step 2 we will dereference memcg_params that has already
>> been freed. This is very unlikely, but still possible. Perhaps, we
>> should free old memcg params only after a sync_rcu()?
>>
> You seem to be right in this one. Indeed, if my mind does not betray
> me, That is how I freed
> the LRUs. (with synchronize_rcus).

Yes, you freed LRUs only after a sync_rcu, that's why the way
memcg_params is updated looks suspicious to me. I'll try to fix it then.

Thanks.