[PATCH] arm64/pageattr: Propagate return value from __change_memory_common

[Dev Jain]

On 11/11/25 9:47 am, Yang Shi wrote:
>
>
> On 11/10/25 7:39 PM, Dev Jain wrote:
>>
>> On 05/11/25 9:27 am, Dev Jain wrote:
>>>
>>> On 04/11/25 6:26 pm, Will Deacon wrote:
>>>> On Tue, Nov 04, 2025 at 09:06:12AM +0530, Dev Jain wrote:
>>>>> On 04/11/25 12:15 am, Yang Shi wrote:
>>>>>> On 11/3/25 7:16 AM, Will Deacon wrote:
>>>>>>> On Mon, Nov 03, 2025 at 11:43:06AM +0530, Dev Jain wrote:
>>>>>>>> Post a166563e7ec3 ("arm64: mm: support large block mapping when
>>>>>>>> rodata=full"),
>>>>>>>> __change_memory_common has a real chance of failing due to split
>>>>>>>> failure.
>>>>>>>> Before that commit, this line was introduced in c55191e96caa,
>>>>>>>> still having
>>>>>>>> a chance of failing if it needs to allocate pagetable memory in
>>>>>>>> apply_to_page_range, although that has never been observed to 
>>>>>>>> be true.
>>>>>>>> In general, we should always propagate the return value to the 
>>>>>>>> caller.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cc: stable at vger.kernel.org
>>>>>>>> Fixes: c55191e96caa ("arm64: mm: apply r/o permissions of VM
>>>>>>>> areas to its linear alias as well")
>>>>>>>> Signed-off-by: Dev Jain <dev.jain at arm.com>
>>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>>> Based on Linux 6.18-rc4.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>    arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c | 5 ++++-
>>>>>>>>    1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c b/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
>>>>>>>> index 5135f2d66958..b4ea86cd3a71 100644
>>>>>>>> --- a/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
>>>>>>>> +++ b/arch/arm64/mm/pageattr.c
>>>>>>>> @@ -148,6 +148,7 @@ static int change_memory_common(unsigned
>>>>>>>> long addr, int numpages,
>>>>>>>>        unsigned long size = PAGE_SIZE * numpages;
>>>>>>>>        unsigned long end = start + size;
>>>>>>>>        struct vm_struct *area;
>>>>>>>> +    int ret;
>>>>>>>>        int i;
>>>>>>>>          if (!PAGE_ALIGNED(addr)) {
>>>>>>>> @@ -185,8 +186,10 @@ static int change_memory_common(unsigned
>>>>>>>> long addr, int numpages,
>>>>>>>>        if (rodata_full && (pgprot_val(set_mask) == PTE_RDONLY ||
>>>>>>>>                    pgprot_val(clear_mask) == PTE_RDONLY)) {
>>>>>>>>            for (i = 0; i < area->nr_pages; i++) {
>>>>>>>> - __change_memory_common((u64)page_address(area->pages[i]),
>>>>>>>> +            ret =
>>>>>>>> __change_memory_common((u64)page_address(area->pages[i]),
>>>>>>>>                               PAGE_SIZE, set_mask, clear_mask);
>>>>>>>> +            if (ret)
>>>>>>>> +                return ret;
>>>>>>> Hmm, this means we can return failure half-way through the 
>>>>>>> operation. Is
>>>>>>> that something callers are expecting to handle? If so, how can 
>>>>>>> they tell
>>>>>>> how far we got?
>>>>>> IIUC the callers don't have to know whether it is half-way or not
>>>>>> because the callers will change the permission back (e.g. to RW) 
>>>>>> for the
>>>>>> whole range when freeing memory.
>>>>> Yes, it is the caller's responsibility to set VM_FLUSH_RESET_PERMS 
>>>>> flag.
>>>>> Upon vfree(), it will change the direct map permissions back to RW.
>>>> Ok, but vfree() ends up using update_range_prot() to do that and if we
>>>> need to worry about that failing (as per your commit message), then
>>>> we're in trouble because the calls to set_area_direct_map() are 
>>>> unchecked.
>>>>
>>>> In other words, this patch is either not necessary or it is 
>>>> incomplete.
>>>
>>> Here is the relevant email, in the discussion between Ryan and Yang:
>>>
>>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/fe52a1d8-5211-4962-afc8-c3f9caf64119@os.amperecomputing.com/ 
>>>
>>>
>>> We had concluded that all callers of set_memory_ro() or 
>>> set_memory_rox() (which require the
>>> linear map perm change back to default, upon vfree() ) will call it 
>>> for the entire region (vm_struct).
>>> So, when we do the set_direct_map_invalid_noflush, it is guaranteed 
>>> that the region has already
>>> been split. So this call cannot fail.
>>>
>>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/f8898c87-8f49-4ef2-86ae-b60bcf67658c@os.amperecomputing.com/ 
>>>
>>>
>>> This email notes that there is some code doing set_memory_rw() and 
>>> unnecessarily setting the VM_FLUSH_RESET_PERMS
>>> flag, but in that case we don't care about the 
>>> set_direct_map_invalid_noflush call failing because the protections
>>> are already RW.
>>>
>>> Although we had also observed that all of this is fragile and 
>>> depends on the caller doing the
>>> correct thing. The real solution should be somehow getting rid of 
>>> the BBM style invalidation.
>>> Ryan had proposed some methods in that email thread.
>>>
>>> One solution which I had thought of, is that, observe that we are 
>>> doing an overkill by
>>> setting the linear map to invalid and then default, for the *entire* 
>>> region. What we
>>> can do is iterate over the linear map alias of the vm_struct *area 
>>> and only change permission
>>> back to RW for the pages which are *not* RW. And, those relevant 
>>> mappings are guaranteed to
>>> be split because they were changed from RW to not RW.
>>
>> @Yang and Ryan,
>>
>> I saw Yang's patch here:
>> https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251023204428.477531-1-yang@os.amperecomputing.com/ 
>>
>> and realized that currently we are splitting away the linear map 
>> alias of the *entire* region.
>>
>> Shouldn't this then imply that set_direct_map_invalid_noflush will 
>> never fail, since even
>>
>> a set_memory_rox() call on a single page will split the linear map 
>> for the entire region,
>>
>> and thus there is no fragility here which we were discussing about? I 
>> may be forgetting
>>
>> something, this linear map stuff is confusing enough already.
>
> It still may fail due to page table allocation failure when doing 
> split. But it is still fine. We may run into 3 cases:
>
> 1. set_memory_rox succeed to split the whole range, then 
> set_direct_map_invalid_noflush() will succeed too
> 2. set_memory_rox fails to split, for example, just change partial 
> range permission due to page table allocation failure, then 
> set_direct_map_invalid_noflush() may
>    a. successfully change the permission back to default till where 
> set_memory_rox fails at since that range has been successfully split. 
> It is ok since the remaining range is actually not changed to ro by 
> set_memory_rox at all
>    b. successfully change the permission back to default for the whole 
> range (for example, memory pressure is mitigated when 
> set_direct_map_invalid_noflush() is called). It is definitely fine as 
> well

Correct, what I mean to imply here is that, your patch will break this? 
If set_memory_* is applied on x till y, your patch changes the linear 
map alias

only from x till y - set_direct_map_invalid_noflush instead operates on 
0 till size - 1, where 0 <=x <=y <= size - 1. So, it may encounter a -ENOMEM

on [0, x) range while invalidating, and that is *not* okay because we 
must reset back [0, x) to default?


>
> Hopefully I don't miss anything.
>
> Thanks,
> Yang
>
>
>>
>>
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Will
>>>
>