[PATCH RFC 14/16] rcu: Mark accesses to ->rcu_urgent_qs and ->rcu_need_heavy_qs

"Paul E. McKenney" <[email protected]> Thu, 30 Jul 2026 18:01:51 -0700
Newsgroups org.kernel.vger.rcu,org.kernel.vger.linux-kernel
Message-ID <[email protected]>
From: Itai Handler <[email protected]>

rcu_all_qs() and rcu_note_context_switch() read/clear the per-CPU
->rcu_urgent_qs and ->rcu_need_heavy_qs flags with plain raw_cpu_read()
and this_cpu_write(), while the RCU core clears them with WRITE_ONCE() in
rcu_disable_urgency_upon_qs().  KCSAN flags the resulting same-CPU race:

  BUG: KCSAN: data-race in rcu_all_qs / rcu_disable_urgency_upon_qs

It is benign -- the flags are advisory and rcu_all_qs() re-reads
->rcu_urgent_qs with smp_load_acquire() before acting on it -- but these
are the last unmarked accesses to the two flags; every other access
already uses READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE()/smp_*.  Mark them to match.  No
functional change.

Reproduced on a PREEMPT_NONE, CONFIG_KCSAN_INTERRUPT_WATCHER=y kernel with
a pthreads program whose threads (two per CPU) loop reading a large file:

	for (;;) {
		int fd = open("/proc/kallsyms", O_RDONLY);
		while (read(fd, buf, sizeof(buf)) > 0)
			;
		close(fd);
	}

The read()s drive cond_resched() -> rcu_all_qs() while the busy CPUs keep
the grace period urgent, so the RCU core clears the flags concurrently.

Fixes: 2dba13f0b6c2 ("rcu: Switch urgent quiescent-state requests to rcu_data structure")
Signed-off-by: Itai Handler <[email protected]>
Signed-off-by: Paul E. McKenney <[email protected]>
---
 kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h | 10 +++++-----
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
index 353effac5a37f1..844a9ced67cc0e 100644
--- a/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
+++ b/kernel/rcu/tree_plugin.h
@@ -996,7 +996,7 @@ void rcu_all_qs(void)
 {
 	unsigned long flags;
 
-	if (!raw_cpu_read(rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs))
+	if (!READ_ONCE(*raw_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs)))
 		return;
 	preempt_disable();  // For CONFIG_PREEMPT_COUNT=y kernels
 	/* Load rcu_urgent_qs before other flags. */
@@ -1004,8 +1004,8 @@ void rcu_all_qs(void)
 		preempt_enable();
 		return;
 	}
-	this_cpu_write(rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs, false);
-	if (unlikely(raw_cpu_read(rcu_data.rcu_need_heavy_qs))) {
+	WRITE_ONCE(*this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs), false);
+	if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(*this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_need_heavy_qs)))) {
 		local_irq_save(flags);
 		rcu_momentary_eqs();
 		local_irq_restore(flags);
@@ -1025,8 +1025,8 @@ void rcu_note_context_switch(bool preempt)
 	/* Load rcu_urgent_qs before other flags. */
 	if (!smp_load_acquire(this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs)))
 		goto out;
-	this_cpu_write(rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs, false);
-	if (unlikely(raw_cpu_read(rcu_data.rcu_need_heavy_qs)))
+	WRITE_ONCE(*this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_urgent_qs), false);
+	if (unlikely(READ_ONCE(*this_cpu_ptr(&rcu_data.rcu_need_heavy_qs))))
 		rcu_momentary_eqs();
 out:
 	rcu_tasks_qs(current, preempt);
-- 
2.40.1