[PATCH v2 3/3] vt: fix console lock vs. kernfs s_active lock order

From: Imre Deak
Date: Sat Dec 13 2014 - 16:16:36 EST


Currently there is a lock order problem between the console lock and the
kernfs s_active lock of the console driver's bind sysfs entry. When
writing to the sysfs entry the lock order is first s_active then console
lock, when unregistering the console driver via
do_unregister_con_driver() the order is the opposite. See the below
bugzilla reference for one instance of a lockdep backtrace.

Fix this by unregistering the console driver from a deferred work, where
we can safely drop the console lock while unregistering the device and
corresponding sysfs entries (which in turn acquire s_active). Note that
we have to keep the console driver slot in the registered_con_driver
array reserved for the driver that's being unregistered until it's fully
removed. Otherwise a concurrent call to do_register_con_driver could
try to reuse the same slot and fail when registering the corresponding
device with a minor index that's still in use.

Note that the referenced bug report contains two dmesg logs with two
distinct lockdep reports: the first one [1] is about a locking scenario
involving s_active, console_lock and the fb_notifier list lock, while
the second [2] is about a locking scenario involving only s_active and
console_lock. In [1] locking fb_notifier triggers the lockdep warning
only because of its dependence on console_lock, otherwise case [1] is
the same s_active<->console_lock dependency problem fixed by this patch.
In other words the fb_notifier lock doesn't contribute to this locking
problem, we always acquire it before both s_active and console_lock.
Thus this locking problem is independent of the fb or fbcon code
(owning the fb_notifier lock) and is instead inherent in the vt code
creating the console bind sysfs entry (and so owning the s_active lock).

[1] https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=87716
[2] https://bugs.freedesktop.org/attachment.cgi?id=107602

v2:
- get console_lock earlier in con_driver_unregister_callback(), so we
protect the following console driver field assignments there
- add code coment explaining the reason for deferring the sysfs entry
removal
- add a third paragraph to the commit message explaining why there are
two distinct lockdep reports and that this issue is independent of
fb/fbcon. (Peter Hurley)

Reference: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=70523
Signed-off-by: Imre Deak <imre.deak@xxxxxxxxx>
---
drivers/tty/vt/vt.c | 61 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
1 file changed, 51 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
index 5dd1880..c19333f 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/vt/vt.c
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@
#define CON_DRIVER_FLAG_MODULE 1
#define CON_DRIVER_FLAG_INIT 2
#define CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ATTR 4
+#define CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ZOMBIE 8

struct con_driver {
const struct consw *con;
@@ -153,6 +154,7 @@ static int set_vesa_blanking(char __user *p);
static void set_cursor(struct vc_data *vc);
static void hide_cursor(struct vc_data *vc);
static void console_callback(struct work_struct *ignored);
+static void con_driver_unregister_callback(struct work_struct *ignored);
static void blank_screen_t(unsigned long dummy);
static void set_palette(struct vc_data *vc);

@@ -180,6 +182,7 @@ static int blankinterval = 10*60;
core_param(consoleblank, blankinterval, int, 0444);

static DECLARE_WORK(console_work, console_callback);
+static DECLARE_WORK(con_driver_unregister_work, con_driver_unregister_callback);

/*
* fg_console is the current virtual console,
@@ -3597,7 +3600,8 @@ static int do_register_con_driver(const struct consw *csw, int first, int last)
for (i = 0; i < MAX_NR_CON_DRIVER; i++) {
con_driver = &registered_con_driver[i];

- if (con_driver->con == NULL) {
+ if (con_driver->con == NULL &&
+ !(con_driver->flag & CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ZOMBIE)) {
con_driver->con = csw;
con_driver->desc = desc;
con_driver->node = i;
@@ -3660,16 +3664,20 @@ int do_unregister_con_driver(const struct consw *csw)

if (con_driver->con == csw &&
con_driver->flag & CON_DRIVER_FLAG_MODULE) {
- vtconsole_deinit_device(con_driver);
- device_destroy(vtconsole_class,
- MKDEV(0, con_driver->node));
+ /*
+ * Defer the removal of the sysfs entries since that
+ * will acquire the kernfs s_active lock and we can't
+ * acquire this lock while holding the console lock:
+ * the unbind sysfs entry imposes already the opposite
+ * order. Reset con already here to prevent any later
+ * lookup to succeed and mark this slot as zombie, so
+ * it won't get reused until we complete the removal
+ * in the deferred work.
+ */
con_driver->con = NULL;
- con_driver->desc = NULL;
- con_driver->dev = NULL;
- con_driver->node = 0;
- con_driver->flag = 0;
- con_driver->first = 0;
- con_driver->last = 0;
+ con_driver->flag = CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ZOMBIE;
+ schedule_work(&con_driver_unregister_work);
+
return 0;
}
}
@@ -3678,6 +3686,39 @@ int do_unregister_con_driver(const struct consw *csw)
}
EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(do_unregister_con_driver);

+static void con_driver_unregister_callback(struct work_struct *ignored)
+{
+ int i;
+
+ console_lock();
+
+ for (i = 0; i < MAX_NR_CON_DRIVER; i++) {
+ struct con_driver *con_driver = &registered_con_driver[i];
+
+ if (!(con_driver->flag & CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ZOMBIE))
+ continue;
+
+ console_unlock();
+
+ vtconsole_deinit_device(con_driver);
+ device_destroy(vtconsole_class, MKDEV(0, con_driver->node));
+
+ console_lock();
+
+ if (WARN_ON_ONCE(con_driver->con))
+ con_driver->con = NULL;
+ con_driver->desc = NULL;
+ con_driver->dev = NULL;
+ con_driver->node = 0;
+ WARN_ON_ONCE(con_driver->flag != CON_DRIVER_FLAG_ZOMBIE);
+ con_driver->flag = 0;
+ con_driver->first = 0;
+ con_driver->last = 0;
+ }
+
+ console_unlock();
+}
+
/*
* If we support more console drivers, this function is used
* when a driver wants to take over some existing consoles
--
1.8.4

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