[PATCH v2] ACPI: APEI: Handle repeated SEA error storms

[Shuai Xue]

+ Tony, and BP,

On 7/2/26 8:50 PM, hejunhao wrote:
> Gentle ping for this one, and it's ready.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> 
> On 2026/5/27 16:27, Junhao He wrote:
>> When hardware memory corruption occurs and a user process accesses the
>> corrupted page, the CPU triggers a Synchronous External Abort (SEA).
>> The kernel invokes do_sea() to handle the exception, which calls
>> memory_failure() to handle the faulty page.
>>
>> Scenario 1: Memory Error Interrupt First, then SEA
>> The page is already poisoned by the memory error interrupt path. The
>> subsequent SEA handler sends a SIGBUS to the task, which accesses the
>> poisoned page. This flow is correct.
>>
>> Scenario 2: SEA first, then memory error interrupt (problematic scenario)
>> If a user task directly accesses corrupted memory through a PFNMAP-style
>> mapping (e.g., devmem), the page may still be in the free-buddy state when
>> SEA is handled. In this case, memory_failure() will poison the page without
>> invoking kill_accessing_process(), and then takes the free-buddy recovery
>> path.
>>
>> After the CPU returns to the task context, the task re-enters the SEA
>> handler due to the same access. However, ghes_estatus_cached() suppresses
>> all subsequent entries during the 10-second window, preventing
>> ghes_do_proc() from being called. This suppression blocks the
>> MF_ACTION_REQUIRED-based SIGBUS delivery, causing the kernel to fail to
>> kill the task immediately. Consequently, the process keeps re-entering
>> the SEA handler, leading to an SEA storm. Later, the memory error
>> interrupt path also cannot kill the task, leaving the system stuck in
>> this repeated loop.
>>
>> The following error logs are explained using the devmem process:
>>    NOTICE:  SEA Handle
>>    [Hardware Error]: Hardware error from APEI Generic Hardware Error Source: 9
>>    [Hardware Error]: event severity: recoverable
>>    [Hardware Error]:   section_type: ARM processor error
>>    [Hardware Error]:    physical fault address: 0x0000001000093c00
>>    [T54990] Memory failure: 0x1000093: recovery action for free buddy page: Recovered
>>    [ T9955] EDAC MC0: 1 UE Multi-bit ECC on unknown memory
>>             (page:0x1000093 offset:0xc00 grain:1 - APEI location: ...)
>>    NOTICE:  SEA Handle
>>    NOTICE:  SEA Handle
>>    ...
>>    ...        ---> SEA storm
>>    ...
>>    NOTICE:  SEA Handle
>>    [ T9955] Memory failure: 0x1000093: already hardware poisoned
>>    ghes_print_estatus: 1 callbacks suppressed
>>    [Hardware Error]: Hardware error from APEI Generic Hardware Error Source: 9
>>    [Hardware Error]: event severity: recoverable
>>    [Hardware Error]:   section_type: ARM processor error
>>    [Hardware Error]:    physical fault address: 0x0000001000093c00
>>    [T54990] Memory failure: 0x1000093: already hardware poisoned
>>    [T54990] 0x1000093: Sending SIGBUS to devmem:54990 due to hardware memory corruption
>>
>> To resolve this, return an error when encountering the same SEA again.
>> The subsequent SEA handler invocation uses arm64_notify_die() to send a
>> SIGBUS signal to the task, which terminates the process and prevents it
>> from re-entering the handler loop.
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Junhao He <hejunhao3 at h-partners.com>
>> ---
>>   drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c | 10 +++++++++-
>>   1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>>
>> Changes in V2:
>> 1. update the commit message per suggestion from Xueshuai
>> 2. Add a check to only return failure on the ghes_notify_sea() path,
>>     avoiding impact on other NMI-type GHES handlers.
>> Link to V1 - https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251030071321.2763224-1-hejunhao3@h-partners.com/
>>
>> diff --git a/drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c b/drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c
>> index 3236a3ce79d6..787664740150 100644
>> --- a/drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c
>> +++ b/drivers/acpi/apei/ghes.c
>> @@ -1383,8 +1383,16 @@ static int ghes_in_nmi_queue_one_entry(struct ghes *ghes,
>>   	ghes_clear_estatus(ghes, &tmp_header, buf_paddr, fixmap_idx);
>>   
>>   	/* This error has been reported before, don't process it again. */
>> -	if (ghes_estatus_cached(estatus))
>> +	if (ghes_estatus_cached(estatus)) {
>> +		/*
>> +		 * Return failure on duplicate SEA entries so that the
>> +		 * subsequent SEA handler invocation sends a SIGBUS signal to
>> +		 * the task to prevent it from re-entering the handler loop.
>> +		 */
>> +		if (is_hest_sync_notify(ghes))
>> +			rc = -ECANCELED;
>>   		goto no_work;
>> +	}
>>   
>>   	llist_add(&estatus_node->llnode, &ghes_estatus_llist);
>>   

Hello Tony, BP,

Could you please take a look at this patch?

Since `ghes_in_nmi_queue_one_entry()` is a common path for both ARM64
and x86, an Ack from the x86 side would be appreciated.

For ARM part, look good to me.

Reviewed-by: Shuai Xue <xueshuai at linux.alibaba.com>

Thanks.
Shuai