Re: [RFC][PATCH] sched: Fix affine_move_task()

From: Valentin Schneider
Date: Tue Feb 16 2021 - 12:35:50 EST


On 13/02/21 13:50, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> When affine_move_task(p) is called on a running task @p, which is not
> otherwise already changing affinity, we'll first set
> p->migration_pending and then do:
>
> stop_one_cpu(cpu_of_rq(rq), migration_cpu_stop, &arg);
>
> This then gets us to migration_cpu_stop() running on the CPU that was
> previously running our victim task @p.
>
> If we find that our task is no longer on that runqueue (this can
> happen because of a concurrent migration due to load-balance etc.),
> then we'll end up at the:
>
> } else if (dest_cpu < 1 || pending) {
>
> branch. Which we'll take because we set pending earlier. Here we first
> check if the task @p has already satisfied the affinity constraints,
> if so we bail early [A]. Otherwise we'll reissue migration_cpu_stop()
> onto the CPU that is now hosting our task @p:
>
> stop_one_cpu_nowait(cpu_of(rq), migration_cpu_stop,
> &pending->arg, &pending->stop_work);
>
> Except, we've never initialized pending->arg, which will be all 0s.
>
> This then results in running migration_cpu_stop() on the next CPU with
> arg->p == NULL, which gives the by now obvious result of fireworks.
>
> The cure is to change affine_move_task() to always use pending->arg,
> furthermore we can use the exact same pattern as the
> SCA_MIGRATE_ENABLE case, since we'll block on the pending->done
> completion anyway, no point in adding yet another completion in
> stop_one_cpu().
>
> This then gives a clear distinction between the two
> migration_cpu_stop() use cases:
>
> - sched_exec() / migrate_task_to() : arg->pending == NULL
> - affine_move_task() : arg->pending != NULL;
>
> And we can have it ignore p->migration_pending when !arg->pending. Any
> stop work from sched_exec() / migrate_task_to() is in addition to stop
> works from affine_move_task(), which will be sufficient to issue the
> completion.
>
>
> NOTES:
>
> - I've not been able to reproduce this crash on any of my machines
> without first removing the early termination condition [A] above.
> Doing this is a functional NOP but obviously widens up the window.
>

FWIW although I mistakenly didn't model any distinction between arg &
pending->arg, I did "hit" this path in TLA+ [1]

> - With the check [A] removed I can consistently hit the NULL deref
> and the below patch reliably cures it.
>
> - The original reporter says that this patch cures the NULL deref
> but results in another problem, which I've not yet been able to
> make sense of and obviously have failed at reproduction as well :/
>

Do you have a link to that? I fumbled around my mails but haven't seen
anything.

> Fixes: 6d337eab041d ("sched: Fix migrate_disable() vs set_cpus_allowed_ptr()")
> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

The below looks good to me, I'll whack it into the TLA+ machine and see
where it goes. While at it I need to mention I *have* been cleaning it up
for upstreaming, but have hit [1] in the process...

[1]: http://lore.kernel.org/r/20210127193035.13789-1-valentin.schneider@xxxxxxx

> ---
> kernel/sched/core.c | 39 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-----------
> 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
>
> --- a/kernel/sched/core.c
> +++ b/kernel/sched/core.c
> @@ -1924,6 +1924,24 @@ static int migration_cpu_stop(void *data
> rq_lock(rq, &rf);
>
> pending = p->migration_pending;
> + if (pending && !arg->pending) {
> + /*
> + * This happens from sched_exec() and migrate_task_to(),
> + * neither of them care about pending and just want a task to
> + * maybe move about.
> + *
> + * Even if there is a pending, we can ignore it, since
> + * affine_move_task() will have it's own stop_work's in flight
> + * which will manage the completion.
> + *
> + * Notably, pending doesn't need to match arg->pending. This can
> + * happen when tripple concurrent affine_move_task() first sets
^^^^^^
s/tripple/triple

> + * pending, then clears pending and eventually sets another
> + * pending.
> + */
> + pending = NULL;
> + }
> +
> /*
> * If task_rq(p) != rq, it cannot be migrated here, because we're
> * holding rq->lock, if p->on_rq == 0 it cannot get enqueued because