]> git.ipfire.org Git - thirdparty/linux.git/commitdiff
mm: introduce copy-on-fork VMAs and make VM_MAYBE_GUARD one
authorLorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
Tue, 18 Nov 2025 10:17:47 +0000 (10:17 +0000)
committerAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Thu, 20 Nov 2025 21:43:58 +0000 (13:43 -0800)
Gather all the VMA flags whose presence implies that page tables must be
copied on fork into a single bitmap - VM_COPY_ON_FORK - and use this
rather than specifying individual flags in vma_needs_copy().

We also add VM_MAYBE_GUARD to this list, as it being set on a VMA implies
that there may be metadata contained in the page tables (that is - guard
markers) which would will not and cannot be propagated upon fork.

This was already being done manually previously in vma_needs_copy(), but
this makes it very explicit, alongside VM_PFNMAP, VM_MIXEDMAP and
VM_UFFD_WP all of which imply the same.

Note that VM_STICKY flags ought generally to be marked VM_COPY_ON_FORK too
- because equally a flag being VM_STICKY indicates that the VMA contains
metadat that is not propagated by being faulted in - i.e.  that the VMA
metadata does not fully describe the VMA alone, and thus we must propagate
whatever metadata there is on a fork.

However, for maximum flexibility, we do not make this necessarily the case
here.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/5d41b24e7bc622cda0af92b6d558d7f4c0d1bc8c.1763460113.git.lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes <lorenzo.stoakes@oracle.com>
Reviewed-by: Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>
Reviewed-by: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Acked-by: David Hildenbrand (Red Hat) <david@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrei Vagin <avagin@gmail.com>
Cc: Baolin Wang <baolin.wang@linux.alibaba.com>
Cc: Barry Song <baohua@kernel.org>
Cc: Dev Jain <dev.jain@arm.com>
Cc: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Cc: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
Cc: Lance Yang <lance.yang@linux.dev>
Cc: Liam Howlett <liam.howlett@oracle.com>
Cc: "Masami Hiramatsu (Google)" <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>
Cc: Nico Pache <npache@redhat.com>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Cc: Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>
Cc: Zi Yan <ziy@nvidia.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
include/linux/mm.h
mm/memory.c
tools/testing/vma/vma_internal.h

index fea113d1d723c13f742f887f30231cc550e4d682..af2904aeb1631a5baf75c58183da09a0d2aabad3 100644 (file)
@@ -555,6 +555,32 @@ extern unsigned int kobjsize(const void *objp);
  */
 #define VM_IGNORE_MERGE (VM_SOFTDIRTY | VM_STICKY)
 
+/*
+ * Flags which should result in page tables being copied on fork. These are
+ * flags which indicate that the VMA maps page tables which cannot be
+ * reconsistuted upon page fault, so necessitate page table copying upon
+ *
+ * VM_PFNMAP / VM_MIXEDMAP - These contain kernel-mapped data which cannot be
+ *                           reasonably reconstructed on page fault.
+ *
+ *              VM_UFFD_WP - Encodes metadata about an installed uffd
+ *                           write protect handler, which cannot be
+ *                           reconstructed on page fault.
+ *
+ *                           We always copy pgtables when dst_vma has uffd-wp
+ *                           enabled even if it's file-backed
+ *                           (e.g. shmem). Because when uffd-wp is enabled,
+ *                           pgtable contains uffd-wp protection information,
+ *                           that's something we can't retrieve from page cache,
+ *                           and skip copying will lose those info.
+ *
+ *          VM_MAYBE_GUARD - Could contain page guard region markers which
+ *                           by design are a property of the page tables
+ *                           only and thus cannot be reconstructed on page
+ *                           fault.
+ */
+#define VM_COPY_ON_FORK (VM_PFNMAP | VM_MIXEDMAP | VM_UFFD_WP | VM_MAYBE_GUARD)
+
 /*
  * mapping from the currently active vm_flags protection bits (the
  * low four bits) to a page protection mask..
index d1728d0538d64a34d4f6f15e6665da44e543e932..27bc457b32c2e1c9c06f4bfe57ca0b99bb68b356 100644 (file)
@@ -1463,25 +1463,15 @@ copy_p4d_range(struct vm_area_struct *dst_vma, struct vm_area_struct *src_vma,
 static bool
 vma_needs_copy(struct vm_area_struct *dst_vma, struct vm_area_struct *src_vma)
 {
+       if (src_vma->vm_flags & VM_COPY_ON_FORK)
+               return true;
        /*
-        * Always copy pgtables when dst_vma has uffd-wp enabled even if it's
-        * file-backed (e.g. shmem). Because when uffd-wp is enabled, pgtable
-        * contains uffd-wp protection information, that's something we can't
-        * retrieve from page cache, and skip copying will lose those info.
+        * The presence of an anon_vma indicates an anonymous VMA has page
+        * tables which naturally cannot be reconstituted on page fault.
         */
-       if (userfaultfd_wp(dst_vma))
-               return true;
-
-       if (src_vma->vm_flags & (VM_PFNMAP | VM_MIXEDMAP))
-               return true;
-
        if (src_vma->anon_vma)
                return true;
 
-       /* Guard regions have modified page tables that require copying. */
-       if (src_vma->vm_flags & VM_MAYBE_GUARD)
-               return true;
-
        /*
         * Don't copy ptes where a page fault will fill them correctly.  Fork
         * becomes much lighter when there are big shared or private readonly
index 73c2025777e6f337a5fc5961e4f560b1170d06a1..233819a9e7ee53f8af08df52e6e309588d7fd79b 100644 (file)
@@ -145,6 +145,32 @@ extern unsigned long dac_mmap_min_addr;
  */
 #define VM_IGNORE_MERGE (VM_SOFTDIRTY | VM_STICKY)
 
+/*
+ * Flags which should result in page tables being copied on fork. These are
+ * flags which indicate that the VMA maps page tables which cannot be
+ * reconsistuted upon page fault, so necessitate page table copying upon
+ *
+ * VM_PFNMAP / VM_MIXEDMAP - These contain kernel-mapped data which cannot be
+ *                           reasonably reconstructed on page fault.
+ *
+ *              VM_UFFD_WP - Encodes metadata about an installed uffd
+ *                           write protect handler, which cannot be
+ *                           reconstructed on page fault.
+ *
+ *                           We always copy pgtables when dst_vma has uffd-wp
+ *                           enabled even if it's file-backed
+ *                           (e.g. shmem). Because when uffd-wp is enabled,
+ *                           pgtable contains uffd-wp protection information,
+ *                           that's something we can't retrieve from page cache,
+ *                           and skip copying will lose those info.
+ *
+ *          VM_MAYBE_GUARD - Could contain page guard region markers which
+ *                           by design are a property of the page tables
+ *                           only and thus cannot be reconstructed on page
+ *                           fault.
+ */
+#define VM_COPY_ON_FORK (VM_PFNMAP | VM_MIXEDMAP | VM_UFFD_WP | VM_MAYBE_GUARD)
+
 #define FIRST_USER_ADDRESS     0UL
 #define USER_PGTABLES_CEILING  0UL