The assumption that only programs attached to perf NMI events can deadlock
on memory allocators is wrong. Assume the following simplified callchain:
kmalloc() from regular non BPF context
cache empty
freelist empty
lock(zone->lock);
tracepoint or kprobe
BPF()
update_elem()
lock(bucket)
kmalloc()
cache empty
freelist empty
lock(zone->lock); <- DEADLOCK
There are other ways which do not involve locking to create wreckage:
kmalloc() from regular non BPF context
local_irq_save();
...
obj = slab_first();
kprobe()
BPF()
update_elem()
lock(bucket)
kmalloc()
local_irq_save();
...
obj = slab_first(); <- Same object as above ...
So preallocation _must_ be enforced for all variants of intrusive
instrumentation.
Unfortunately immediate enforcement would break backwards compatibility, so
for now such programs still are allowed to run, but a one time warning is
emitted in dmesg and the verifier emits a warning in the verifier log as
well so developers are made aware about this and can fix their programs
before the enforcement becomes mandatory.
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20200224145642.540542802@linutronix.de
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