Re: [PATCH 1/3] lib/maple_tree: fix potential NULL dereference in mas_pop_node()

Pedro Falcato
2026-03-13T09:05:42Z

On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 07:17:17AM +0000, Josh Law wrote:
> 12 Mar 2026 23:22:48 Pedro Falcato <pfalcato@suse.de>:
>
> > On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 01:45:31PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote:
> >> On Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:40:53 +0000 Josh Law <hlcj1234567@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >>> If kmem_cache_alloc_from_sheaf() returns NULL (possible under
> >>> GFP_NOWAIT pressure), mas_pop_node() falls through to the out label
> >>> and dereferences the NULL pointer in memset(ret, 0, sizeof(*ret)).
> >>
> >> This is such a glaring bug that I wonder if we're missing something.
> >
> > According to my local copy of lib/maple_tree.c:
> >
> > mas_pop_node() - Get a previously allocated maple node from the maple state.
> >
> > Note the "previously" :) kmem_cache_alloc_from_sheaf() can only fail if you
> > run out of objects in the sheaf.
> >
> > So yeah, this "bug" looks bogus.
> >
> > --
> > Pedro
>
> Hi Pedro,
>
> I see the comment regarding 'previously allocated' nodes. However,
> mas_pop_node() explicitly calls kmem_cache_alloc_from_sheaf() with
> GFP_NOWAIT. If there is any path—even an unexpected one—where the
> sheaf is exhausted or the allocator fails, the code immediately
> performs a memset on the NULL pointer.

And? This does not happen, simply. If it does, your maple tree is hosed
and, really, you're not recovering from it.

>
> Even if this is a 'should never happen' scenario, returning NULL is
> safer than a kernel panic. As Andrew noted, the current structure
> allows a fall-through directly into a dereference. My patch ensures
> we handle that edge case safely.

... and now because none of the mas_pop_node() callers ever checks for NULL
(why would they, they preallocated those same nodes before), you safely
dereference NULL away from mas_pop_node!.

--
Pedro