rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to IRQ work
authorJoel Fernandes <joelagnelf@nvidia.com>
Tue, 8 Jul 2025 14:22:19 +0000 (10:22 -0400)
committerNeeraj Upadhyay (AMD) <neeraj.upadhyay@kernel.org>
Wed, 16 Jul 2025 04:08:26 +0000 (09:38 +0530)
commitb41642c87716bbd09797b1e4ea7d904f06c39b7b
treea7e79ae9c54d2026df59fa6a78c3f51bfb286ef8
parentd827673d8a4e69937dd3731da2686a2d8206aef5
rcu: Fix rcu_read_unlock() deadloop due to IRQ work

During rcu_read_unlock_special(), if this happens during irq_exit(), we
can lockup if an IPI is issued. This is because the IPI itself triggers
the irq_exit() path causing a recursive lock up.

This is precisely what Xiongfeng found when invoking a BPF program on
the trace_tick_stop() tracepoint As shown in the trace below. Fix by
managing the irq_work state correctly.

irq_exit()
  __irq_exit_rcu()
    /* in_hardirq() returns false after this */
    preempt_count_sub(HARDIRQ_OFFSET)
    tick_irq_exit()
      tick_nohz_irq_exit()
    tick_nohz_stop_sched_tick()
      trace_tick_stop()  /* a bpf prog is hooked on this trace point */
   __bpf_trace_tick_stop()
      bpf_trace_run2()
    rcu_read_unlock_special()
                              /* will send a IPI to itself */
      irq_work_queue_on(&rdp->defer_qs_iw, rdp->cpu);

A simple reproducer can also be obtained by doing the following in
tick_irq_exit(). It will hang on boot without the patch:

  static inline void tick_irq_exit(void)
  {
 + rcu_read_lock();
 + WRITE_ONCE(current->rcu_read_unlock_special.b.need_qs, true);
 + rcu_read_unlock();
 +

Reported-by: Xiongfeng Wang <wangxiongfeng2@huawei.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/9acd5f9f-6732-7701-6880-4b51190aa070@huawei.com/
Tested-by: Qi Xi <xiqi2@huawei.com>
Signed-off-by: Joel Fernandes <joelagnelf@nvidia.com>
Reviewed-by: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@kernel.org>
Reported-by: Linux Kernel Functional Testing <lkft@linaro.org>
[neeraj: Apply Frederic's suggested fix for PREEMPT_RT]
Signed-off-by: Neeraj Upadhyay (AMD) <neeraj.upadhyay@kernel.org>
kernel/rcu/tree.h
kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h