[PATCH 2/2] sched/psi: Shut down rtpoll_timer in psi_cgroup_free()

Tejun Heo <[email protected]> Sun, 12 Jul 2026 07:46:19 -1000
Newsgroups dev.linux.lists.sched-ext,org.kernel.vger.cgroups,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel,org.kernel.vger.stable
Message-ID <[email protected]>
psi_schedule_rtpoll_work() is called locklessly from the scheduler hotpath
and can race psi_trigger_destroy() taking down the last rtpoll trigger under
rtpoll_trigger_lock:

  psi_schedule_rtpoll_work()        psi_trigger_destroy()

  rcu_read_lock();
  task = rcu_dereference(rtpoll_task);
                                    rcu_assign_pointer(rtpoll_task, NULL);
                                    timer_delete(&rtpoll_timer);
  mod_timer(&rtpoll_timer, ...);
  rcu_read_unlock();
                                    synchronize_rcu();
                                    kthread_stop(task_to_destroy);

The group can then be freed with the re-armed timer still pending, and
poll_timer_fn() runs on freed memory.

461daba06bdc ("psi: eliminate kthread_worker from psi trigger scheduling
mechanism") deleted the timer synchronously after the synchronize_rcu(),
which prevented this but raced trigger creation instead: the deletion could
cancel the timer that a new trigger set armed during the grace period and,
as creation also reinitialized the timer at the time, corrupt it.
8f91efd870ea ("psi: Fix race between psi_trigger_create/destroy") moved the
initialization into group_init() and the deletion into the locked section,
trading the creation races for the window above.

Neither placement in the destruction path works. A pending timer firing
while the group is alive is harmless though. poll_timer_fn() just wakes the
rtpoll waitqueue and doesn't re-arm itself. Bind the timer to the group's
lifetime instead and shut it down in psi_cgroup_free(). Nothing can arm it
by then. timer_shutdown_sync() because the timer is never armed again.

Fixes: 8f91efd870ea ("psi: Fix race between psi_trigger_create/destroy")
Cc: [email protected] # v5.10+
Reported-by: Sashiko AI <[email protected]>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/[email protected]/
Signed-off-by: Tejun Heo <[email protected]>
---
 kernel/sched/psi.c | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/sched/psi.c b/kernel/sched/psi.c
index 565ec7b80743..e2e825dcd088 100644
--- a/kernel/sched/psi.c
+++ b/kernel/sched/psi.c
@@ -1134,6 +1134,12 @@ void psi_cgroup_free(struct cgroup *cgroup)
 		return;
 
 	cancel_delayed_work_sync(&cgroup->psi->avgs_work);
+	/*
+	 * A psi_schedule_rtpoll_work() call racing the last trigger's
+	 * destruction may have re-armed the timer after psi_trigger_destroy()
+	 * deleted it. Spurious firing while the group is alive is harmless.
+	 */
+	timer_shutdown_sync(&cgroup->psi->rtpoll_timer);
 	free_percpu(cgroup->psi->pcpu);
 	/* All triggers must be removed by now */
 	WARN_ONCE(cgroup->psi->rtpoll_states, "psi: trigger leak\n");
-- 
2.55.0