Re: [LOCKDEP BUG][2.6.36-rc1] xt_info_wrlock?

From: Eric Dumazet
Date: Mon Aug 16 2010 - 14:48:16 EST


Le lundi 16 aoÃt 2010 Ã 14:16 -0400, Steven Rostedt a Ãcrit :

> We need a better comment than that. Could that be changed to something like:
>
> /*
> * lockdep tests if we grab a lock and can be preempted by
> * a softirq and that softirq grabs the same lock causing a
> * deadlock.
> * This is a special case because this is a per-cpu lock,
> * and we are only grabbing the lock for other CPUs. A softirq
> * will only takes its local CPU lock thus, if we are preempted
> * by a softirq, then it will grab the current CPU lock which
> * we do not take here.
> *
> * Simply disable lockdep here until it can handle this situation.
> */
>

You mean duplicating this long comment in three files, or only once in
Changelog ?

My choice was to document the lockdep_off() use (very seldom used in
kernel) in the Changelog. Hopefully, people messing with this code know
about git ;)

I agree I didnt document how netfilter locks work in this Changelog.

And in original commit (24b36f019) I forgot to state that get_counters()
is guarded by a mutex, so that no more than one cpu runs in
get_counters().

What about following ?

[PATCH] netfilter: {ip,ip6,arp}_tables: avoid lockdep false positive

After commit 24b36f019 (netfilter: {ip,ip6,arp}_tables: dont block
bottom half more than necessary), lockdep can raise a warning
because we attempt to lock a spinlock with BH enabled, while
the same lock is usually locked by another cpu in a softirq context.

In this use case, the lockdep splat is a false positive, because
the BH disabling only matters for one cpu and its associated.

1) We use one spinlock per cpu.

2) A softirq will only lock the lock associated to current cpu.

3) get_counters() disables sofirqs while fetching data of current cpu.
(to avoid a deadlock if a softirq comes and try to lock same lock)

4) other locks are locked without blocking softirq
(as a softirq will lock another lock)

5) get_counter() calls are serialized by a mutex.

This to avoid a deadlock if two cpus were doing :

CPU1 CPU2
lock lock#1 lock lock#2
copy data#1 copy data#2
unlock lock#1 unlock lock#2

lock#2 lock#1
softirq lock#1 softirq, attempt to lock lock#2
<deadlock> <deadlock>

Use lockdep_off()/lockdep_on() around the problematic section to
avoid the splat.

Reported-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Diagnosed-by: David S. Miller <davem@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <eric.dumazet@xxxxxxxxx>
CC: Patrick McHardy <kaber@xxxxxxxxx>
---
net/ipv4/netfilter/arp_tables.c | 3 +++
net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c | 3 +++
net/ipv6/netfilter/ip6_tables.c | 3 +++
3 files changed, 9 insertions(+)


diff --git a/net/ipv4/netfilter/arp_tables.c b/net/ipv4/netfilter/arp_tables.c
index 6bccba3..b4f7ebf 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/netfilter/arp_tables.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/netfilter/arp_tables.c
@@ -729,8 +729,10 @@ static void get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
local_bh_enable();
/* Processing counters from other cpus, we can let bottom half enabled,
* (preemption is disabled)
+ * We must turn off lockdep to avoid a false positive.
*/

+ lockdep_off();
for_each_possible_cpu(cpu) {
if (cpu == curcpu)
continue;
@@ -743,6 +745,7 @@ static void get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
}
xt_info_wrunlock(cpu);
}
+ lockdep_on();
put_cpu();
}

diff --git a/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c b/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c
index c439721..dc5b2fd 100644
--- a/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c
+++ b/net/ipv4/netfilter/ip_tables.c
@@ -903,8 +903,10 @@ get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
local_bh_enable();
/* Processing counters from other cpus, we can let bottom half enabled,
* (preemption is disabled)
+ * We must turn off lockdep to avoid a false positive.
*/

+ lockdep_off();
for_each_possible_cpu(cpu) {
if (cpu == curcpu)
continue;
@@ -917,6 +919,7 @@ get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
}
xt_info_wrunlock(cpu);
}
+ lockdep_on();
put_cpu();
}

diff --git a/net/ipv6/netfilter/ip6_tables.c b/net/ipv6/netfilter/ip6_tables.c
index 5359ef4..fb55443 100644
--- a/net/ipv6/netfilter/ip6_tables.c
+++ b/net/ipv6/netfilter/ip6_tables.c
@@ -916,8 +916,10 @@ get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
local_bh_enable();
/* Processing counters from other cpus, we can let bottom half enabled,
* (preemption is disabled)
+ * We must turn off lockdep to avoid a false positive.
*/

+ lockdep_off();
for_each_possible_cpu(cpu) {
if (cpu == curcpu)
continue;
@@ -930,6 +932,7 @@ get_counters(const struct xt_table_info *t,
}
xt_info_wrunlock(cpu);
}
+ lockdep_on();
put_cpu();
}



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