In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
rcu-tasks: Fix race in schedule and flush work
While booting secondary CPUs, cpus_read_[lock/unlock] is not keeping online cpumask stable. The transient online mask results in below calltrace.
[ 0.324121] CPU1: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000001 [0x410fd083] [ 0.346652] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU2 [ 0.347212] CPU2: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000002 [0x410fd083] [ 0.377255] Detected PIPT I-cache on CPU3 [ 0.377823] CPU3: Booted secondary processor 0x0000000003 [0x410fd083] [ 0.379040] ------------[ cut here ]------------ [ 0.383662] WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 10 at kernel/workqueue.c:3084 __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.384850] Modules linked in: [ 0.385403] CPU: 0 PID: 10 Comm: rcu_tasks_rude_ Not tainted 5.17.0-rc3-v8+ #13 [ 0.386473] Hardware name: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 (DT) [ 0.387289] pstate: 20000005 (nzCv daif -PAN -UAO -TCO -DIT -SSBS BTYPE=--) [ 0.388308] pc : __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.388970] lr : __flush_work+0x80/0x138 [ 0.389620] sp : ffffffc00aaf3c60 [ 0.390139] x29: ffffffc00aaf3d20 x28: ffffffc009c16af0 x27: ffffff80f761df48 [ 0.391316] x26: 0000000000000004 x25: 0000000000000003 x24: 0000000000000100 [ 0.392493] x23: ffffffffffffffff x22: ffffffc009c16b10 x21: ffffffc009c16b28 [ 0.393668] x20: ffffffc009e53861 x19: ffffff80f77fbf40 x18: 00000000d744fcc9 [ 0.394842] x17: 000000000000000b x16: 00000000000001c2 x15: ffffffc009e57550 [ 0.396016] x14: 0000000000000000 x13: ffffffffffffffff x12: 0000000100000000 [ 0.397190] x11: 0000000000000462 x10: ffffff8040258008 x9 : 0000000100000000 [ 0.398364] x8 : 0000000000000000 x7 : ffffffc0093c8bf4 x6 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.399538] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : ffffffc00a976e40 x3 : ffffffc00810444c [ 0.400711] x2 : 0000000000000004 x1 : 0000000000000000 x0 : 0000000000000000 [ 0.401886] Call trace: [ 0.402309] __flush_work+0x12c/0x138 [ 0.402941] schedule_on_each_cpu+0x228/0x278 [ 0.403693] rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp+0x130/0x144 [ 0.404502] rcu_tasks_kthread+0x220/0x254 [ 0.405264] kthread+0x174/0x1ac [ 0.405837] ret_from_fork+0x10/0x20 [ 0.406456] irq event stamp: 102 [ 0.406966] hardirqs last enabled at (101): [] _raw_spin_unlock_irq+0x78/0xb4 [ 0.408304] hardirqs last disabled at (102): [] el1_dbg+0x24/0x5c [ 0.409410] softirqs last enabled at (54): [] local_bh_enable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.410645] softirqs last disabled at (50): [] local_bh_disable+0xc/0x2c [ 0.411890] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- [ 0.413000] smp: Brought up 1 node, 4 CPUs [ 0.413762] SMP: Total of 4 processors activated. [ 0.414566] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL0 Support [ 0.415414] CPU features: detected: 32-bit EL1 Support [ 0.416278] CPU features: detected: CRC32 instructions [ 0.447021] Callback from call_rcu_tasks_rude() invoked. [ 0.506693] Callback from call_rcu_tasks() invoked.
This commit therefore fixes this issue by applying a single-CPU optimization to the RCU Tasks Rude grace-period process. The key point here is that the purpose of this RCU flavor is to force a schedule on each online CPU since some past event. But the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function runs in the context of the RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread, so there must already have been a context switch on the current CPU since the call to either synchronize_rcu_tasks_rude() or call_rcu_tasks_rude(). So if there is only a single CPU online, RCU Tasks Rude's grace-period kthread does not need to anything at all.
It turns out that the rcu_tasks_rude_wait_gp() function's call to schedule_on_each_cpu() causes problems during early boot. During that time, there is only one online CPU, namely the boot CPU. Therefore, applying this single-CPU optimization fixes early-boot instances of this problem.