Re: [PATCH 2/4] mm/damon/sysfs: check contexts->nr before clear_schemes_tried_regions

SeongJae Park
2026-03-20T14:47:46Z

On Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:06:48 +0000 Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org> wrote:

>
>
> On 20 March 2026 02:13:17 GMT, SeongJae Park <sj@kernel.org> wrote:
> >On Thu, 19 Mar 2026 15:57:40 +0000 Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org> wrote:
> >
> >> The CLEAR_SCHEMES_TRIED_REGIONS command accesses contexts_arr[0]
> >> without verifying nr_contexts >= 1, causing a NULL pointer dereference
> >> when no context is configured. Add the missing check.
> >
> >Nice catch, thank you!
> >
> >Privileged users can trigger this using DAMON sysfs interface. E.g.,
> >
> > # cd /sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin/kdamonds/
> > # echo 1 > nr_kdamonds
> > # echo clear_schemes_tried_regions > state
> > killed
> > # dmesg
> > [...]
> > [63541.377604] BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
> > [...]
> >
> >Privileged users can do anything even worse than this, but they might also do
> >this by a mistake.
> >
> >So this deserves Fixes: and Cc stable.
> >
> >>
> >> Signed-off-by: Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org>
> >> ---
> >> mm/damon/sysfs.c | 2 ++
> >> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+)
> >>
> >> diff --git a/mm/damon/sysfs.c b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
> >> index b573b9d60784..36ad2e8956c9 100644
> >> --- a/mm/damon/sysfs.c
> >> +++ b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
> >> @@ -1769,6 +1769,8 @@ static int damon_sysfs_handle_cmd(enum damon_sysfs_cmd cmd,
> >> case DAMON_SYSFS_CMD_UPDATE_SCHEMES_TRIED_REGIONS:
> >> return damon_sysfs_update_schemes_tried_regions(kdamond, false);
> >> case DAMON_SYSFS_CMD_CLEAR_SCHEMES_TRIED_REGIONS:
> >> + if (kdamond->contexts->nr != 1)
> >> + return -EINVAL;
> >> return damon_sysfs_schemes_clear_regions(
> >> kdamond->contexts->contexts_arr[0]->schemes);
> >> case DAMON_SYSFS_CMD_UPDATE_SCHEMES_EFFECTIVE_QUOTAS:
> >> --
> >> 2.34.1
> >
> >So this patch looks good as an individual fix for the individual bug, but...
> >
> >Sashiko commented.
> >
> ># review url: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260319155742.186627-3-objecting@objecting.org
> >
> >: Does this missing check also affect other manual commands?
> >:
> >: If a user writes UPDATE_SCHEMES_STATS, UPDATE_SCHEMES_EFFECTIVE_QUOTAS,
> >: or UPDATE_TUNED_INTERVALS to the state file after setting nr_contexts
> >: to 0, damon_sysfs_handle_cmd() queues the corresponding callback via
> >: damon_sysfs_damon_call().
> >:
> >: When the kdamond thread executes the callback, it appears functions like
> >: damon_sysfs_upd_schemes_stats() access contexts_arr[0] without verifying
> >: contexts->nr:
> >:
> >: static int damon_sysfs_upd_schemes_stats(void *data)
> >: {
> >: struct damon_sysfs_kdamond *kdamond = data;
> >: struct damon_ctx *ctx = kdamond->damon_ctx;
> >:
> >: damon_sysfs_schemes_update_stats(
> >: kdamond->contexts->contexts_arr[0]->schemes, ctx);
> >: return 0;
> >: }
> >:
> >: Could this result in a similar NULL pointer dereference if these commands
> >: are triggered while no context is configured?
> >
> >Sashiko is correct. Privileged users can trigger the issues like below.
> >
> ># damo start
> ># cd /sys/kernel/mm/damon/admin/kdamonds/0
> ># echo 0 > contexts/nr_contexts
> ># echo update_schemes_stats > state
> ># echo update_schemes_effective_quotas > state
> ># echo update_tuned_intervals > state
> >
> >Not necessarily blocker of this patch, but seems all the issues are in a same
> >category. The third patch of this series is also fixing one of the category
> >bugs. How about fixing all at once by checking kdamond->contexts->nr at the
> >beginning of damon_sysfs_handle_cmd(), like below?
> >
> >--- a/mm/damon/sysfs.c
> >+++ b/mm/damon/sysfs.c
> >@@ -2404,6 +2404,9 @@ static int damon_sysfs_update_schemes_tried_regions(
> > static int damon_sysfs_handle_cmd(enum damon_sysfs_cmd cmd,
> > struct damon_sysfs_kdamond *kdamond)
> > {
> >+ if (cmd != DAMON_SYSFS_CMD_OFF && kdamond->contexts->nr != 1)
> >+ return -EINVAL;
> >+
> > switch (cmd) {
> > case DAMON_SYSFS_CMD_ON:
> > return damon_sysfs_turn_damon_on(kdamond);
> >
> >If we pick this, Fixes: would be deserve to the oldest buggy commit that
> >introduced the first bug of this category. It is indeed quite old.
> >
> >Fixes: 0ac32b8affb5 ("mm/damon/sysfs: support DAMOS stats")
> >Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 5.18.x
> >
> >
> >Thanks,
> >SJ
>
>
>
> Hello, did you give Reviewed by you? Or not..

Are you meaning Reviewed-by: tag? If so, no, not yet. I want to get your
answer to above question first. Could you please answer?

Thanks,
SJ …