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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-08-30 09:22:00 -0700
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Fix error output of boot instance creation failure Currently if a boot instance creation fails, instead of printing out the name of the instance that failed, it prints "(null)". That is because it prints "cur_str" that had already been processed by strsep(). Print the saved name instead. While at it, print the error code of the failure. - Fix use-after-free for same named historgrams Histograms can be named so that they can be used in multiple events. But if the named histogram has a variable attached, the second event that uses the named histogram which duplicates it and needs to free the original after duplication leaves the old variable in place and still visible. If another histogram uses than variable, it will use the stale one which will try to reference the freed duplicate histogram and crash the kernel. Free the duplicate variables along with the duplicated histogram data. - Check return value of kthread_run() in event self test The events self tests uses a kthread for testing but does not check if it succeeded in creating a kthread. If the kthread creation were to fail, the code will still try to call kthread_stop() on the error returned. - Fix race between reading trace_pipe and updating subbuffer size If a user is reading the trace_pipe file at the same time they update the ring buffer sub-buffer size, can cause the trace_pipe read to read stale data. Add trace_access_lock() around updating the ring buffer sub-buffer size. - Fix eventfs_inode on failure path in creation of the events directory In the creation of the "events" directory, if after allocating the eventfs_inode a failure is detected, it calls cleanup_ei() which calls free_ei(). The free_ei() will test if eventfs_inode being freed has no children. It is a bug if it does. But on the failure case of the creation of the "events" directory, the children lists have not yet been initialized and the free will trigger a warning because list_empty() on an uninitialized list returns false. Move the initialization into init_ei() where it makes more sense and makes sure that a created eventfs_inode has its lists initialized upon creation. - Check return value of kthread_run() in ftrace direct sample code The sample code that shows how to use the ftrace direct calls does not test the return of kthread_run() to see if it succeeds. Return a failure if the kthread_run() doesn't succeed. - Clear user events state on fork in case of alloc failure On fork, the child gets a pointer to the parent's user events state. It makes a copy of it then updates the child's pointer to it. But if the allocation fails, the duplication function leaves the child with a pointer to its parent's descriptor. When the child cleans up its data, it will free the parent's descriptor while the parent is still using it. In the duplication function, set the child's user_event_mm to NULL before testing if the allocation succeeded, and when it exits it will not free the parent's descriptor. - Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap simple_ring_buffer_swap_reader_page() starts with retry set to 8 and post-decrements it only after a failed link replacement. On the final attempt, a successful replacement leaves retry at zero, while a failed replacement leaves it at -1. But the check for success expects the retry value to be non-zero and exits with an error on zero. This is the opposite result. Fix it. - Fail nicely when the remote swap_reader_page() returns an error Currently, if the swap_reader_page() of a remote buffer fails, it triggers a WARN_ON_ONCE() and continues normally. Instead, have it exit with an error and a pr_warn() print instead of a full WARNING. * tag 'trace-v7.3-2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: ring-buffer: Stop remote reader update when page swap fails tracing: Fix retry exhaustion in simple ring buffer reader swap tracing/user_events: Clear copied tracing state before fork duplication samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-multi-modify samples/ftrace: Fix kthread_stop() on ERR_PTR in ftrace-direct-modify eventfs: Initialize ei->children and ei->list in init_ei() tracing: Fix use-after-free in trace_pipe read on sub-buffer order change tracing: Fix crash passing ERR_PTR to kthread_stop() tracing: Fix use-after-free with same-name named triggers tracing: Fix logged instance name on creation failure
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+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+=============
+Kernel Stacks
+=============
+
+Kernel stacks on x86-64 bit
+===========================
+
+Most of the text from Keith Owens, hacked by AK
+
+x86_64 page size (PAGE_SIZE) is 4K.
+
+Like all other architectures, x86_64 has a kernel stack for every
+active thread. These thread stacks are THREAD_SIZE (4*PAGE_SIZE) big.
+These stacks contain useful data as long as a thread is alive or a
+zombie. While the thread is in user space the kernel stack is empty
+except for the thread_info structure at the bottom.
+
+In addition to the per thread stacks, there are specialized stacks
+associated with each CPU. These stacks are only used while the kernel
+is in control on that CPU; when a CPU returns to user space the
+specialized stacks contain no useful data. The main CPU stacks are:
+
+* Interrupt stack. IRQ_STACK_SIZE
+
+ Used for external hardware interrupts. If this is the first external
+ hardware interrupt (i.e. not a nested hardware interrupt) then the
+ kernel switches from the current task to the interrupt stack. Like
+ the split thread and interrupt stacks on i386, this gives more room
+ for kernel interrupt processing without having to increase the size
+ of every per thread stack.
+
+ The interrupt stack is also used when processing a softirq.
+
+Switching to the kernel interrupt stack is done by software based on a
+per CPU interrupt nest counter. This is needed because x86-64 "IST"
+hardware stacks cannot nest without races.
+
+x86_64 also has a feature which is not available on i386, the ability
+to automatically switch to a new stack for designated events such as
+double fault or NMI, which makes it easier to handle these unusual
+events on x86_64. This feature is called the Interrupt Stack Table
+(IST). There can be up to 7 IST entries per CPU. The IST code is an
+index into the Task State Segment (TSS). The IST entries in the TSS
+point to dedicated stacks; each stack can be a different size.
+
+An IST is selected by a non-zero value in the IST field of an
+interrupt-gate descriptor. When an interrupt occurs and the hardware
+loads such a descriptor, the hardware automatically sets the new stack
+pointer based on the IST value, then invokes the interrupt handler. If
+the interrupt came from user mode, then the interrupt handler prologue
+will switch back to the per-thread stack. If software wants to allow
+nested IST interrupts then the handler must adjust the IST values on
+entry to and exit from the interrupt handler. (This is occasionally
+done, e.g. for debug exceptions.)
+
+Events with different IST codes (i.e. with different stacks) can be
+nested. For example, a debug interrupt can safely be interrupted by an
+NMI. arch/x86_64/kernel/entry.S::paranoidentry adjusts the stack
+pointers on entry to and exit from all IST events, in theory allowing
+IST events with the same code to be nested. However in most cases, the
+stack size allocated to an IST assumes no nesting for the same code.
+If that assumption is ever broken then the stacks will become corrupt.
+
+The currently assigned IST stacks are:
+
+* ESTACK_DF. EXCEPTION_STKSZ (PAGE_SIZE).
+
+ Used for interrupt 8 - Double Fault Exception (#DF).
+
+ Invoked when handling one exception causes another exception. Happens
+ when the kernel is very confused (e.g. kernel stack pointer corrupt).
+ Using a separate stack allows the kernel to recover from it well enough
+ in many cases to still output an oops.
+
+* ESTACK_NMI. EXCEPTION_STKSZ (PAGE_SIZE).
+
+ Used for non-maskable interrupts (NMI).
+
+ NMI can be delivered at any time, including when the kernel is in the
+ middle of switching stacks. Using IST for NMI events avoids making
+ assumptions about the previous state of the kernel stack.
+
+* ESTACK_DB. EXCEPTION_STKSZ (PAGE_SIZE).
+
+ Used for hardware debug interrupts (interrupt 1) and for software
+ debug interrupts (INT3).
+
+ When debugging a kernel, debug interrupts (both hardware and
+ software) can occur at any time. Using IST for these interrupts
+ avoids making assumptions about the previous state of the kernel
+ stack.
+
+ To handle nested #DB correctly there exist two instances of DB stacks. On
+ #DB entry the IST stackpointer for #DB is switched to the second instance
+ so a nested #DB starts from a clean stack. The nested #DB switches
+ the IST stackpointer to a guard hole to catch triple nesting.
+
+* ESTACK_MCE. EXCEPTION_STKSZ (PAGE_SIZE).
+
+ Used for interrupt 18 - Machine Check Exception (#MC).
+
+ MCE can be delivered at any time, including when the kernel is in the
+ middle of switching stacks. Using IST for MCE events avoids making
+ assumptions about the previous state of the kernel stack.
+
+For more details see the Intel IA32 or AMD AMD64 architecture manuals.
+
+
+Printing backtraces on x86
+==========================
+
+The question about the '?' preceding function names in an x86 stacktrace
+keeps popping up, here's an indepth explanation. It helps if the reader
+stares at print_context_stack() and the whole machinery in and around
+arch/x86/kernel/dumpstack.c.
+
+Adapted from Ingo's mail, Message-ID: <20150521101614.GA10889@gmail.com>:
+
+We always scan the full kernel stack for return addresses stored on
+the kernel stack(s) [1]_, from stack top to stack bottom, and print out
+anything that 'looks like' a kernel text address.
+
+If it fits into the frame pointer chain, we print it without a question
+mark, knowing that it's part of the real backtrace.
+
+If the address does not fit into our expected frame pointer chain we
+still print it, but we print a '?'. It can mean two things:
+
+ - either the address is not part of the call chain: it's just stale
+ values on the kernel stack, from earlier function calls. This is
+ the common case.
+
+ - or it is part of the call chain, but the frame pointer was not set
+ up properly within the function, so we don't recognize it.
+
+This way we will always print out the real call chain (plus a few more
+entries), regardless of whether the frame pointer was set up correctly
+or not - but in most cases we'll get the call chain right as well. The
+entries printed are strictly in stack order, so you can deduce more
+information from that as well.
+
+The most important property of this method is that we _never_ lose
+information: we always strive to print _all_ addresses on the stack(s)
+that look like kernel text addresses, so if debug information is wrong,
+we still print out the real call chain as well - just with more question
+marks than ideal.
+
+.. [1] For things like IRQ and IST stacks, we also scan those stacks, in
+ the right order, and try to cross from one stack into another
+ reconstructing the call chain. This works most of the time.