[PATCH net-next v4 0/1] af_unix: Fix priority inversion issue

Nam Cao <[email protected]> Tue, 4 Aug 2026 08:46:15 +0200
Newsgroups gmane.linux.network,gmane.linux.kernel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hi,

While auditing AF_UNIX sockets, I noticed that the sendmsg() code paths may
block on the garbage collector running as workqueue. This can cause
priority inversion and latency for real-time users.

The implementation does kindly avoid blocking "sane users". However, it is
impossible to tell whether the kernel's definition of "sane users"
accurately describes all users out there.

Digging into history and figuring out the reasons why sendmsg() needs to
wait for garbage collector, it is determined that those reasons no longer
apply.

v4:
  - Downsize this series to just removing the priority
    inversion. Garbage collector scheduling should still be cleaned up,
    but that is non-trivial and I do not want that to stand in the way
    of this simple fix.

v3:
  - Move unix_schedule_gc() to be after exit_task_work()

v2:
  - Add patch [1/3]
  - Rebase the other two patches onto the new patch
  - Change commit message to be more precise

Nam Cao (1):
  af_unix: Do not wait for garbage collector in sendmsg()

 net/unix/garbage.c | 3 ---
 1 file changed, 3 deletions(-)

--=20
2.47.3