kmod: avoid deadlock from recursive kmod call
The system deadlocks (at least since 2.6.10) when
call_usermodehelper(UMH_WAIT_EXEC) request triggers
call_usermodehelper(UMH_WAIT_PROC) request.
This is because "khelper thread is waiting for the worker thread at
wait_for_completion() in do_fork() since the worker thread was created
with CLONE_VFORK flag" and "the worker thread cannot call complete()
because do_execve() is blocked at UMH_WAIT_PROC request" and "the khelper
thread cannot start processing UMH_WAIT_PROC request because the khelper
thread is waiting for the worker thread at wait_for_completion() in
do_fork()".
The easiest example to observe this deadlock is to use a corrupted
/sbin/hotplug binary (like shown below).
# : > /tmp/dummy
# chmod 755 /tmp/dummy
# echo /tmp/dummy > /proc/sys/kernel/hotplug
# modprobe whatever
call_usermodehelper("/tmp/dummy", UMH_WAIT_EXEC) is called from
kobject_uevent_env() in lib/kobject_uevent.c upon loading/unloading a
module. do_execve("/tmp/dummy") triggers a call to
request_module("binfmt-0000") from search_binary_handler() which in turn
calls call_usermodehelper(UMH_WAIT_PROC).
In order to avoid deadlock, as a for-now and easy-to-backport solution, do
not try to call wait_for_completion() in call_usermodehelper_exec() if the
worker thread was created by khelper thread with CLONE_VFORK flag. Future
and fundamental solution might be replacing singleton khelper thread with
some workqueue so that recursive calls up to max_active dependency loop
can be handled without deadlock.
[akpm@linux-foundation.org: add comment to kmod_thread_locker]
Signed-off-by: Tetsuo Handa <penguin-kernel@I-love.SAKURA.ne.jp>
Cc: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
Acked-by: Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au>
Cc: Tejun Heo <tj@kernel.org>
Cc: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
diff --git a/kernel/kmod.c b/kernel/kmod.c
index 2a83515..6f99aea 100644
--- a/kernel/kmod.c
+++ b/kernel/kmod.c
@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@
static struct workqueue_struct *khelper_wq;
+/*
+ * kmod_thread_locker is used for deadlock avoidance. There is no explicit
+ * locking to protect this global - it is private to the singleton khelper
+ * thread and should only ever be modified by that thread.
+ */
+static const struct task_struct *kmod_thread_locker;
+
#define CAP_BSET (void *)1
#define CAP_PI (void *)2
@@ -221,6 +228,13 @@
return 0;
}
+static int call_helper(void *data)
+{
+ /* Worker thread started blocking khelper thread. */
+ kmod_thread_locker = current;
+ return ____call_usermodehelper(data);
+}
+
static void call_usermodehelper_freeinfo(struct subprocess_info *info)
{
if (info->cleanup)
@@ -295,9 +309,12 @@
if (wait == UMH_WAIT_PROC)
pid = kernel_thread(wait_for_helper, sub_info,
CLONE_FS | CLONE_FILES | SIGCHLD);
- else
- pid = kernel_thread(____call_usermodehelper, sub_info,
+ else {
+ pid = kernel_thread(call_helper, sub_info,
CLONE_VFORK | SIGCHLD);
+ /* Worker thread stopped blocking khelper thread. */
+ kmod_thread_locker = NULL;
+ }
switch (wait) {
case UMH_NO_WAIT:
@@ -548,6 +565,16 @@
retval = -EBUSY;
goto out;
}
+ /*
+ * Worker thread must not wait for khelper thread at below
+ * wait_for_completion() if the thread was created with CLONE_VFORK
+ * flag, for khelper thread is already waiting for the thread at
+ * wait_for_completion() in do_fork().
+ */
+ if (wait != UMH_NO_WAIT && current == kmod_thread_locker) {
+ retval = -EBUSY;
+ goto out;
+ }
sub_info->complete = &done;
sub_info->wait = wait;