x86 implements page attribute modification using its Change Page Attributes (CPA) mechanism. This tracks properties of ranges such as cache mode through x86 page attributes, and as part of that logic manipulates kernel page tables. Since commit 41d88484c71c ("x86/mm/pat: restore large ROX pages after fragmentation") ranges of kernel page table entries can be collapsed into huge page table entries as part of this logic. As part of this collapse, it frees the page tables which the collapsed entries previously pointed to, and it does so without any relevant locks being held to preclude concurrent kernel page table walkers. The only way this code can be reached is if CPA_COLLAPSE is specified, and this is only set in set_memory_rox() via: set_memory_rox() -> change_page_attr_set_clr() -> cpa_flush() -> cpa_collapse_large_pages() Notable users of this are execmem and bpf when manipulating executable mappings. However, this is problematic for ptdump, as it walks ranges it does not own and thus runs the risk of a use-after-free on page tables freed underneath it. This patch resolves the issue by acquiring the mmap read lock on init_mm to provide mutual exclusion against ptdump, which acquires the init_mm write lock. It is safe to acquire a sleeping lock as all the callers invoke set_memory_rox() from process context and in any case, change_page_attr_set_clr() calls vm_unmap_alias() which ultimately takes a mutex, disallowing atomic context here. We also include cleanup.h in order to use a scoped_guard() to implement this cleanly. Fixes: 41d88484c71c ("x86/mm/pat: restore large ROX pages after fragmentation") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes --- arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c | 14 +++++++++++--- 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-) diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c b/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c index d023a40a1e03..4c4b8244502f 100644 --- a/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c +++ b/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c @@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ #include #include #include +#include #include #include @@ -436,9 +437,16 @@ static void cpa_collapse_large_pages(struct cpa_data *cpa) flush_tlb_all(); - list_for_each_entry_safe(ptdesc, tmp, &pgtables, pt_list) { - list_del(&ptdesc->pt_list); - pagetable_free(ptdesc); + /* + * ptdump might read these page tables, so avoid a use-after-free by + * acquiring the mmap read lock on init_mm (ptdump acquires the mmap + * write lock). + */ + scoped_guard(mmap_read_lock, &init_mm) { + list_for_each_entry_safe(ptdesc, tmp, &pgtables, pt_list) { + list_del(&ptdesc->pt_list); + pagetable_free(ptdesc); + } } } --- base-commit: a635d6748234582ea287c5ffeae28b9b23f91c7e change-id: 20260710-fix-cpa-ptdump-race-0aa3b65d878d Cheers, -- Lorenzo Stoakes