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------------------------------------------------------
From: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
Subject: mm/ksm: fix exec/fork inheritance support for prctl
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2025 18:28:21 +0800 (CST)

Patch series "ksm: fix exec/fork inheritance", v2.

This series fixes exec/fork inheritance.  See the detailed description of
the issue below.


This patch (of 2):

Background
==========

commit d7597f59d1d33 ("mm: add new api to enable ksm per process")
introduced MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY for mm->flags, and allowed user to set it by
prctl() so that the process's VMAs are forcibly scanned by ksmd. 

Subsequently, the 3c6f33b7273a ("mm/ksm: support fork/exec for prctl")
supported inheriting the MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY flag when a task calls execve().

Finally, commit 3a9e567ca45fb ("mm/ksm: fix ksm exec support for prctl")
fixed the issue that ksmd doesn't scan the mm_struct with MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY
by adding the mm_slot to ksm_mm_head in __bprm_mm_init().

Problem
=======

In some extreme scenarios, however, this inheritance of MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY
during exec/fork can fail.  For example, when the scanning frequency of
ksmd is tuned extremely high, a process carrying MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY may
still fail to pass it to the newly exec'd process.  This happens because
ksm_execve() is executed too early in the do_execve flow (prematurely
adding the new mm_struct to the ksm_mm_slot list).

As a result, before do_execve completes, ksmd may have already performed a
scan and found that this new mm_struct has no VM_MERGEABLE VMAs, thus
clearing its MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY flag.  Consequently, when the new program
executes, the flag MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY inheritance missed.

Root reason
===========

commit d7597f59d1d33 ("mm: add new api to enable ksm per process") clear
the flag MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY when ksmd found no VM_MERGEABLE VMAs.

Solution
========

Firstly, Don't clear MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY when ksmd found no VM_MERGEABLE
VMAs, because perhaps their mm_struct has just been added to ksm_mm_slot
list, and its process has not yet officially started running or has not
yet performed mmap/brk to allocate anonymous VMAS.

Secondly, recheck MMF_VM_MERGEABLE again if a process takes
MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY, and create a mm_slot and join it into ksm_scan_list
again.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20251007182504440BJgK8VXRHh8TD7IGSUIY4@zte.com.cn
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20251007182821572h_SoFqYZXEP1mvWI4n9VL@zte.com.cn
Fixes: 3c6f33b7273a ("mm/ksm: support fork/exec for prctl")
Fixes: d7597f59d1d3 ("mm: add new api to enable ksm per process")
Signed-off-by: xu xin <xu.xin16@zte.com.cn>
Cc: Stefan Roesch <shr@devkernel.io>
Cc: David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>
Cc: Jinjiang Tu <tujinjiang@huawei.com>
Cc: Wang Yaxin <wang.yaxin@zte.com.cn>
Cc: Yang Yang <yang.yang29@zte.com.cn>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 include/linux/ksm.h |    4 ++--
 mm/ksm.c            |   20 +++++++++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

--- a/include/linux/ksm.h~mm-ksm-fix-exec-fork-inheritance-support-for-prctl
+++ a/include/linux/ksm.h
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 #ifdef CONFIG_KSM
 int ksm_madvise(struct vm_area_struct *vma, unsigned long start,
 		unsigned long end, int advice, vm_flags_t *vm_flags);
-vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(const struct mm_struct *mm, const struct file *file,
+vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(struct mm_struct *mm, const struct file *file,
 			 vm_flags_t vm_flags);
 int ksm_enable_merge_any(struct mm_struct *mm);
 int ksm_disable_merge_any(struct mm_struct *mm);
@@ -103,7 +103,7 @@ bool ksm_process_mergeable(struct mm_str
 
 #else  /* !CONFIG_KSM */
 
-static inline vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(const struct mm_struct *mm,
+static inline vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(struct mm_struct *mm,
 		const struct file *file, vm_flags_t vm_flags)
 {
 	return vm_flags;
--- a/mm/ksm.c~mm-ksm-fix-exec-fork-inheritance-support-for-prctl
+++ a/mm/ksm.c
@@ -2617,8 +2617,14 @@ no_vmas:
 		spin_unlock(&ksm_mmlist_lock);
 
 		mm_slot_free(mm_slot_cache, mm_slot);
+		/*
+		 * Only clear MMF_VM_MERGEABLE. We must not clear
+		 * MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY, because for those MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY process,
+		 * perhaps their mm_struct has just been added to ksm_mm_slot
+		 * list, and its process has not yet officially started running
+		 * or has not yet performed mmap/brk to allocate anonymous VMAS.
+		 */
 		mm_flags_clear(MMF_VM_MERGEABLE, mm);
-		mm_flags_clear(MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY, mm);
 		mmap_read_unlock(mm);
 		mmdrop(mm);
 	} else {
@@ -2736,12 +2742,20 @@ static int __ksm_del_vma(struct vm_area_
  *
  * Returns: @vm_flags possibly updated to mark mergeable.
  */
-vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(const struct mm_struct *mm, const struct file *file,
+vm_flags_t ksm_vma_flags(struct mm_struct *mm, const struct file *file,
 			 vm_flags_t vm_flags)
 {
 	if (mm_flags_test(MMF_VM_MERGE_ANY, mm) &&
-	    __ksm_should_add_vma(file, vm_flags))
+	    __ksm_should_add_vma(file, vm_flags)) {
 		vm_flags |= VM_MERGEABLE;
+		/*
+		 * Generally, the flags here always include MMF_VM_MERGEABLE.
+		 * However, in rare cases, this flag may be cleared by ksmd who
+		 * scans a cycle without finding any mergeable vma.
+		 */
+		if (unlikely(!mm_flags_test(MMF_VM_MERGEABLE, mm)))
+			__ksm_enter(mm);
+	}
 
 	return vm_flags;
 }
_

Patches currently in -mm which might be from xu.xin16@zte.com.cn are

mm-ksm-fix-exec-fork-inheritance-support-for-prctl.patch
selftests-update-ksm-inheritation-tests-for-prctl-fork-exec.patch+ mm-ksm-fix-exec-fork-inheritance-support-for-prctl.patch added to mm-new branchAndrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> undefinedmm-commits@vger.kernel.org,yang.yang29@zte.com.cn,wang.yaxin@zte.com.cn,tujinjiang@huawei.com,stable@vger.kernel.org,shr@devkernel.io,david@redhat.com,xu.xin16@zte.com.cn,akpm@linux-foundation.org undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined undefined#_
