Re: [PATCH 05/15] fs: afs: correctly drop reference count on mapping failure

Lorenzo Stoakes (Oracle)
2026-03-16T14:29:20Z

On Sun, Mar 15, 2026 at 07:32:54PM -0700, Suren Baghdasaryan wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 5:00 AM Lorenzo Stoakes (Oracle) <ljs@kernel.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 04:07:43AM -0700, Usama Arif wrote:
> > > On Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:27:20 +0000 "Lorenzo Stoakes (Oracle)" <ljs@kernel.org> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Commit 9d5403b1036c ("fs: convert most other generic_file_*mmap() users to
> > > > .mmap_prepare()") updated AFS to use the mmap_prepare callback in favour of
> > > > the deprecated mmap callback.
> > > >
> > > > However, it did not account for the fact that mmap_prepare can fail to map
> > > > due to an out of memory error, and thus should not be incrementing a
> > > > reference count on mmap_prepare.
>
> This is a bit confusing. I see the current implementation does
> afs_add_open_mmap() and then if generic_file_mmap_prepare() fails it
> does afs_drop_open_mmap(), therefore refcounting seems to be balanced.
> Is there really a problem?

Firstly, mmap_prepare is invoked before we try to merge, so the VMA could in
theory get merged and then the refcounting will be wrong.

Secondly, mmap_prepare occurs at such at time where it is _possible_ that
allocation failures as described below could happen.

I'll update the commit message to reflect the merge aspect actually.

>
> > > >
> > > > With the newly added vm_ops->mapped callback available, we can simply defer
> > > > this operation to that callback which is only invoked once the mapping is
> > > > successfully in place (but not yet visible to userspace as the mmap and VMA
> > > > write locks are held).
> > > >
> > > > Therefore add afs_mapped() to implement this callback for AFS.
> > > >
> > > > In practice the mapping allocations are 'too small to fail' so this is
> > > > something that realistically should never happen in practice (or would do
> > > > so in a case where the process is about to die anyway), but we should still
> > > > handle this.
>
> nit: I would drop the above paragraph. If it's impossible why are you
> handling it? If it's unlikely, then handling it is even more
> important.

Sure I can drop it, but it's an ongoing thing with these small allocations.

I wish we could just move to a scenario where we can simpy assume allocations
will always succeed :)

Vlasta - thoughts?

Cheers, Lorenzo

>
> > > >
> > > > Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (Oracle) <ljs@kernel.org>
> > > > ---
> > > > fs/afs/file.c | 20 ++++++++++++++++----
> > > > 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
> > > >
> > > > diff --git a/fs/afs/file.c b/fs/afs/file.c
> > > > index f609366fd2ac..69ef86f5e274 100644
> > > > --- a/fs/afs/file.c
> > > > +++ b/fs/afs/file.c
> > > > @@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ static ssize_t afs_file_splice_read(struct file *in, loff_t *ppos,
> > > > static void afs_vm_open(struct vm_area_struct *area);
> > > > static void afs_vm_close(struct vm_area_struct *area);
> > > > static vm_fault_t afs_vm_map_pages(struct vm_fault *vmf, pgoff_t start_pgoff, pgoff_t end_pgoff);
> > > > +static int afs_mapped(unsigned long start, unsigned long end, pgoff_t pgoff,
> > > > + const struct file *file, void **vm_private_data);
> > > >
> > > > const struct file_operations afs_file_operations = {
> > > > .open = afs_open,
> > > > @@ -61,6 +63,7 @@ const struct address_space_operations afs_file_aops = {
> > > > };
> > > >
> > > > static const struct vm_operations_struct afs_vm_ops = {
> > > > + .mapped = afs_mapped,
> > > > .open = afs_vm_open,
> > > > .close = afs_vm_close,
> > > > .fault = filemap_fault,
> > > > @@ -500,13 +503,22 @@ static int afs_file_mmap_prepare(struct vm_area_desc *desc)
> > > > afs_add_open_mmap(vnode);
> > >
> > > Is the above afs_add_open_mmap an additional one, which could cause a reference
> > > leak? Does the above one need to be removed and only the one in afs_mapped()
> > > needs to be kept?
> >
> > Ah yeah good spot, will fix thanks!
> >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > ret = generic_file_mmap_prepare(desc);
> > > > - if (ret == 0)
> > > > - desc->vm_ops = &afs_vm_ops;
> > > > - else
> > > > - afs_drop_open_mmap(vnode);
> > > > + if (ret)
> > > > + return ret;
> > > > +
> > > > + desc->vm_ops = &afs_vm_ops;
> > > > return ret;
> > > > }
> > > >
> > > > +static int afs_mapped(unsigned long start, unsigned long end, pgoff_t pgoff,
> > > > + const struct file *file, void **vm_private_data)
> > > > +{
> > > > + struct afs_vnode *vnode = AFS_FS_I(file_inode(file));
> > > > +
> > > > + afs_add_open_mmap(vnode);
> > > > + return 0;
> > > > +}
> > > > +
> > > > static void afs_vm_open(struct vm_area_struct *vma)
> > > > {
> > > > afs_add_open_mmap(AFS_FS_I(file_inode(vma->vm_file)));
> > > > --
> > > > 2.53.0
> > > >
> > > >
> >
> > Cheers, Lorenzo