unlock_buffer(), like unlock_page(), must not clear the lock without
ensuring that the critical section is closed.
Mingming later sent the same patch, saying:
We are running SDET benchmark and saw double free issue for ext3 extended
attributes block, which complains the same xattr block already being freed (in
ext3_xattr_release_block()). The problem could also been triggered by
multiple threads loop untar/rm a kernel tree.
The race is caused by missing a memory barrier at unlock_buffer() before the
lock bit being cleared, resulting in possible concurrent h_refcounter update.
That causes a reference counter leak, then later leads to the double free that
we have seen.
Inside unlock_buffer(), there is a memory barrier is placed *after* the lock
bit is being cleared, however, there is no memory barrier *before* the bit is
cleared. On some arch the h_refcount update instruction and the clear bit
instruction could be reordered, thus leave the critical section re-entered.
The race is like this: For example, if the h_refcount is initialized as 1,
cpu 0: cpu1
-------------------------------------- -----------------------------------
lock_buffer() /* test_and_set_bit */
clear_buffer_locked(bh);
lock_buffer() /* test_and_set_bit */
h_refcount = h_refcount+1; /* = 2*/ h_refcount = h_refcount + 1; /*= 2 */
clear_buffer_locked(bh);
.... ......
We lost a h_refcount here. We need a memory barrier before the buffer head lock
bit being cleared to force the order of the two writes. Please apply.
Signed-off-by: Nick Piggin <npiggin@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Mingming Cao <cmm@us.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
72ed3d0358