This series implements the TODO in vrealloc() to unmap and free unused
pages when shrinking across a page boundary.
Problem:
When vrealloc() shrinks an allocation, it updates bookkeeping
(requested_size, KASAN shadow) but does not free the underlying physical
pages. This wastes memory for the lifetime of the allocation.
Solution:
- Patch 1: Extracts a vm_area_free_pages(vm, start_idx, end_idx) helper
from vfree() that frees a range of pages with memcg and nr_vmalloc_pages
accounting. Freed page pointers are set to NULL to prevent stale
references.
- Patch 2: Fixes the grow-in-place path to check vm->nr_pages instead
of get_vm_area_size(), which reflects the virtual reservation and does
not change on shrink. This is a prerequisite for shrinking.
- Patch 3: Zeros newly exposed memory on vrealloc() grow if __GFP_ZERO
is requested, preventing stale data leaks from previously shrunk regions.
- Patch 4: Protects /proc/vmallocinfo readers with READ_ONCE() to safely
handle concurrent decreases to vm->nr_pages and NULL page pointers.
- Patch 5: Uses the helper to free tail pages when vrealloc() shrinks
across a page boundary. Skips huge page allocations, VM_FLUSH_RESET_PERMS,
and VM_USERMAP. Updates Kmemleak tracking of the allocation.
- Patch 6: Adds a vrealloc test case to lib/test_vmalloc that exercises
grow-realloc, shrink-across-boundary, shrink-within-page, and
grow-in-place paths.
The virtual address reservation is kept intact to preserve the range
for potential future grow-in-place support.
A concrete user is the Rust binder driver's KVVec::shrink_to [1], which
performs explicit vrealloc() shrinks for memory reclamation.
Tested:
- KASAN KUnit (vmalloc_oob passes)
- lib/test_vmalloc stress tests (3/3, 1M iterations each)
- checkpatch, sparse, W=1, allmodconfig, coccicheck clean
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260216-binder-shrink-vec-v3-v6-0-ece8e8593e53@zohomail.in/
Signed-off-by: Shivam Kalra <shivamkalra98@zohomail.in>
---
Changes in v6:
- Fix VM_USERMAP crash by explicitly bypassing early in the shrink path if the flag is set.(Sashiko)
- Fix Kmemleak scanner panic by calling kmemleak_free_part() to update tracking on shrink.(Sashiko)
- Fix /proc/vmallocinfo race condition by protecting vm->nr_pages access with
READ_ONCE()/WRITE_ONCE() for concurrent readers.(Sashiko)
- Fix stale data leak on grow-after-shrink by enforcing mandatory zeroing of the newly exposed memory.(Sashiko)
- Fix memory leaks in vrealloc_test() by using a temporary pointer to preserve and
free the original allocation upon failure.(Sashiko)
- Rename vmalloc_free_pages parameters from start/end to start_idx/end_idx for better clarity.(Uladzislau Rezki)
- Link to v5: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260317-vmalloc-shrink-v5-0-bbfbf54c5265@zohomail.in
- Link to Sashiko: https://sashiko.dev/#/patchset/20260317-vmalloc-shrink-v5-0-bbfbf54c5265%40zohomail.in
Changes in v5:
- Skip vrealloc shrink for VM_FLUSH_RESET_PERMS (Uladzislau Rezki)
- Link to v4: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260314-vmalloc-shrink-v4-0-c1e2e0bb5455@zohomail.in
Changes in v4:
- Rename vmalloc_free_pages() to vm_area_free_pages() to align with
vm_area_alloc_pages() (Uladzislau Rezki)
- NULL out freed vm->pages[] entries to prevent stale pointers (Alice Ryhl)
- Remove redundant if (vm->nr_pages) guard in vfree() (Uladzislau Rezki)
- Add vrealloc test case to lib/test_vmalloc (new patch 3/3)
- Link to v3: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260309-vmalloc-shrink-v3-0-5590fd8de2eb@zohomail.in
Changes in v3:
- Restore the comment.
- Rebase to the latest mm-new
- Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260304-vmalloc-shrink-v2-0-28c291d60100@zohomail.in
Changes in v2:
- Updated the base-commit to mm-new
- Fix conflicts after rebase
- Ran `clang-format` on the changes made
- Use a single `kasan_vrealloc` (Alice Ryhl)
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260302-vmalloc-shrink-v1-0-46deff465b7e@zohomail.in
---
Shivam Kalra (6):
mm/vmalloc: extract vm_area_free_pages() helper from vfree()
mm/vmalloc: fix vrealloc() grow-in-place check
mm/vmalloc: zero newly exposed memory on vrealloc() grow
mm/vmalloc: protect /proc/vmallocinfo readers with READ_ONCE()
mm/vmalloc: free unused pages on vrealloc() shrink
lib/test_vmalloc: add vrealloc test case
lib/test_vmalloc.c | 62 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++
mm/vmalloc.c | 121 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------
2 files changed, 154 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)
---
base-commit: 3b9bd243689fa0ab95062ab53f6c5aff90272056
change-id: 20260302-vmalloc-shrink-04b2fa688a14
Best regards,
--
Shivam Kalra <shivamkalra98@zohomail.in>