Linux kernel source tree
Go to file
Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) 9e4a3ec341 x86/mm/pat: Allocate split page tables as kernel page tables
A PTE is allocated directly without going through the standard page table
allocation routines (such as pte_alloc_one_kernel()) when the CPA code
splits a large page (__split_large_page()).

This means the page table constructor is never called nor is the page table
marked as a kernel page table.

The former results in the folio associated with the page table not being
marked as a page table (__pagetable_ctor() is never called thus neither is
__folio_set_pgtable()) nor are statistics updated to reflect
it (lruvec_stat_add_folio() is never called).

The latter issue of failing to mark the page table as a kernel page
table (ptdesc_set_kernel() is never called) is far more problematic.

Since commit:

  5ba2f0a155 ("mm: introduce deferred freeing for kernel page tables")

kernel page table freeing has been batched and since the
subsequent commit:

  e37d5a2d60 ("iommu/sva: invalidate stale IOTLB entries for kernel address space")

IOTLB cache entries for kernel page tables have been invalidated upon
being freed.

Since split page tables are freed without this invalidation, the IOTLB
can contain stale entries for them.

Resolve the issue by using the ordinary PTE allocation API at split time.

This results in these kernel page tables invoking a page table constructor,
and thus requires a page table destructor.

Destructors are not always present, like for early allocated direct map
page tables). Conditionally call pagetable_dtor_free() if the PG_table
folio flag for the ptdesc is set, otherwise we free the page table via
pagetable_free().

Regardless of which path is taken page tables marked as kernel page tables,
which now includes split page tables, take the correct route through
pagetable_free_kernel().

There is a user-visible side effect in that split page tables will appear
in nr_page_table_pages in /proc/vmstat (as do other kernel page tables
allocated after early boot), however this is a positive change.

This issue started being markedly problematic after commit:

  5ba2f0a155 ("mm: introduce deferred freeing for kernel page tables")

so choose this as the Fixes target.

[ dhansen: rephrase in imperative mood ]

Fixes: 5ba2f0a155 ("mm: introduce deferred freeing for kernel page tables")
Signed-off-by: Lorenzo Stoakes (ARM) <ljs@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Vishal Moola <vishal.moola@gmail.com>
Tested-by: Atish Patra <atishp@meta.com>
Tested-by: Nikunj A Dadhania <nikunj@amd.com>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260813-cpa-fixes-v2-4-39b4ff90f91d@kernel.org
2026-09-09 08:39:11 +02:00
arch x86/mm/pat: Allocate split page tables as kernel page tables 2026-09-09 08:39:11 +02:00
block for-7.3/block-20260819 2026-08-20 13:55:16 -07:00
certs treewide: fix indentation and whitespace in Kconfig files 2026-05-28 21:24:42 -07:00
crypto This push fixes a memory allocation overrun in crypto acomp. 2026-08-28 09:28:40 -07:00
Documentation Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
drivers i2c-fixes for v7.3-rc1 2026-08-30 10:53:24 -07:00
fs tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
include x86/mm/pat: Acquire init_mm write lock on collapse to avoid UAF 2026-09-09 08:38:56 +02:00
init Bootconfig updates for v7.3: 2026-08-25 08:59:09 -07:00
io_uring io_uring-7.3-20260828 2026-08-28 16:51:14 -07:00
ipc mm.git review status for master..mm-nonmm-stable 2026-08-23 08:07:11 -07:00
kernel - Revert a commit to spinlock cleanup guards that got caught up 2026-08-30 09:57:35 -07:00
lib mm.git review status for linus..mm-stable 2026-08-27 09:17:06 -07:00
LICENSES LICENSES: Add modern form of the LGPL-2.1 tags to the usage guide section 2025-10-22 07:58:19 +02:00
mm mm.git review status for linus..mm-stable 2026-08-27 09:17:06 -07:00
net A wide variety of mostly CephFS fixes and cleanups, split between 2026-08-28 11:51:05 -07:00
rust Rust fixes for v7.3 2026-08-30 09:47:39 -07:00
samples tracing fixes for v7.3: 2026-08-30 09:22:00 -07:00
scripts Coccinelle patches for Linux v7.3 2026-08-30 10:42:40 -07:00
security Hi, 2026-08-28 09:36:27 -07:00
sound sound fixes for 7.3-rc1 2026-08-28 10:01:02 -07:00
tools Rust fixes for v7.3 2026-08-30 09:47:39 -07:00
usr usr: Correct a spelling by changing a letter 2026-08-05 14:51:58 +02:00
virt Arm: 2026-08-25 11:48:04 -07:00
.clang-format drm/bridge: rename drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain_scoped() to drm_for_each_bridge_in_chain() 2026-07-14 17:55:51 +02:00
.clippy.toml rust: bump Clippy's MSRV and clean incompatible_msrv allows 2026-04-07 09:51:39 +02:00
.cocciconfig
.editorconfig editorconfig: add rst extension 2026-01-26 19:07:09 -08:00
.get_maintainer.ignore .get_maintainer.ignore: add Nathan Chancellor 2026-08-03 21:10:12 -07:00
.gitattributes .gitattributes: set diff driver for Rust source code files 2023-05-31 17:48:25 +02:00
.gitignore SPDX patches for 7.2-rc1 2026-06-22 12:06:22 -07:00
.mailmap CREDITS/mailmap: add some info about Darrick J. Wong 2026-08-30 10:29:08 -07:00
.pylintrc docs: Move the python libraries to tools/lib/python 2025-11-18 09:22:40 -07:00
.rustfmt.toml rust: add .rustfmt.toml 2022-09-28 09:02:20 +02:00
COPYING
CREDITS CREDITS/mailmap: add some info about Darrick J. Wong 2026-08-30 10:29:08 -07:00
Kbuild checksyscalls: move instance functionality into generic code 2026-04-05 09:21:32 +02:00
Kconfig io_uring: Rename KConfig to Kconfig 2025-02-19 14:53:27 -07:00
MAINTAINERS SCSI updates for 7.3 2026-08-29 11:55:36 -07:00
Makefile Linux 7.3-rc1 2026-08-30 13:34:40 -07:00
README README: remove out of place emdashes 2026-07-15 10:51:29 -06:00

Linux kernel
============

The Linux kernel is the core of any Linux operating system. It manages hardware,
system resources, and provides the fundamental services for all other software.

Quick Start
-----------

* Report a bug: See Documentation/admin-guide/reporting-issues.rst
* Get the latest kernel: https://kernel.org
* Build the kernel: See Documentation/admin-guide/quickly-build-trimmed-linux.rst
* Join the community: https://lore.kernel.org/

Essential Documentation
-----------------------

All users should be familiar with:

* Building requirements: Documentation/process/changes.rst
* Code of Conduct: Documentation/process/code-of-conduct.rst
* License: See COPYING

Documentation can be built with make htmldocs or viewed online at:
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/


Who Are You?
============

Find your role below:

* New Kernel Developer: Getting started with kernel development
* Academic Researcher: Studying kernel internals and architecture
* Security Expert: Hardening and vulnerability analysis
* Backport/Maintenance Engineer: Maintaining stable kernels
* System Administrator: Configuring and troubleshooting
* Maintainer: Leading subsystems and reviewing patches
* Hardware Vendor: Writing drivers for new hardware
* Distribution Maintainer: Packaging kernels for distros
* AI Coding Assistant: LLMs and AI-powered development tools


For Specific Users
==================

New Kernel Developer
--------------------

Welcome! Start your kernel development journey here:

* Getting Started: Documentation/process/development-process.rst
* Your First Patch: Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst
* Coding Style: Documentation/process/coding-style.rst
* Build System: Documentation/kbuild/index.rst
* Development Tools: Documentation/dev-tools/index.rst
* Kernel Hacking Guide: Documentation/kernel-hacking/hacking.rst
* Core APIs: Documentation/core-api/index.rst

Academic Researcher
-------------------

Explore the kernel's architecture and internals:

* Researcher Guidelines: Documentation/process/researcher-guidelines.rst
* Memory Management: Documentation/mm/index.rst
* Scheduler: Documentation/scheduler/index.rst
* Networking Stack: Documentation/networking/index.rst
* Filesystems: Documentation/filesystems/index.rst
* RCU (Read-Copy Update): Documentation/RCU/index.rst
* Locking Primitives: Documentation/locking/index.rst
* Power Management: Documentation/power/index.rst

Security Expert
---------------

Security documentation and hardening guides:

* Security Documentation: Documentation/security/index.rst
* LSM Development: Documentation/security/lsm-development.rst
* Self Protection: Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
* Reporting Vulnerabilities: Documentation/process/security-bugs.rst
* CVE Procedures: Documentation/process/cve.rst
* Embargoed Hardware Issues: Documentation/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.rst
* Security Features: Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst

Backport/Maintenance Engineer
-----------------------------

Maintain and stabilize kernel versions:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* Backporting Guide: Documentation/process/backporting.rst
* Applying Patches: Documentation/process/applying-patches.rst
* Subsystem Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git for Maintainers: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

System Administrator
--------------------

Configure, tune, and troubleshoot Linux systems:

* Admin Guide: Documentation/admin-guide/index.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Sysctl Tuning: Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/index.rst
* Tracing/Debugging: Documentation/trace/index.rst
* Performance Security: Documentation/admin-guide/perf-security.rst
* Hardware Monitoring: Documentation/hwmon/index.rst

Maintainer
----------

Lead kernel subsystems and manage contributions:

* Maintainer Handbook: Documentation/maintainer/index.rst
* Pull Requests: Documentation/maintainer/pull-requests.rst
* Managing Patches: Documentation/maintainer/modifying-patches.rst
* Rebasing and Merging: Documentation/maintainer/rebasing-and-merging.rst
* Development Process: Documentation/process/maintainer-handbooks.rst
* Maintainer Entry Profile: Documentation/maintainer/maintainer-entry-profile.rst
* Git Configuration: Documentation/maintainer/configure-git.rst

Hardware Vendor
---------------

Write drivers and support new hardware:

* Driver API Guide: Documentation/driver-api/index.rst
* Driver Model: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/driver.rst
* Device Drivers: Documentation/driver-api/infrastructure.rst
* Bus Types: Documentation/driver-api/driver-model/bus.rst
* Device Tree Bindings: Documentation/devicetree/bindings/
* Power Management: Documentation/driver-api/pm/index.rst
* DMA API: Documentation/core-api/dma-api.rst

Distribution Maintainer
-----------------------

Package and distribute the kernel:

* Stable Kernel Rules: Documentation/process/stable-kernel-rules.rst
* ABI Documentation: Documentation/ABI/README
* Kernel Configuration: Documentation/kbuild/kconfig.rst
* Module Signing: Documentation/admin-guide/module-signing.rst
* Kernel Parameters: Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst
* Tainted Kernels: Documentation/admin-guide/tainted-kernels.rst

AI Coding Assistant
-------------------

CRITICAL: If you are an LLM or AI-powered coding assistant, you MUST read and
follow the AI coding assistants documentation before contributing to the Linux
kernel:

* Documentation/process/coding-assistants.rst

This documentation contains essential requirements about licensing, attribution,
and the Developer Certificate of Origin that all AI tools must comply with.


Communication and Support
=========================

* Mailing Lists: https://lore.kernel.org/
* IRC: #kernelnewbies on irc.oftc.net
* Bugzilla: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/
* MAINTAINERS file: Lists subsystem maintainers and mailing lists
* Email Clients: Documentation/process/email-clients.rst