[PATCH v2 02/13] fork: Don't assume fully populated stack during reuse

From: David Stevens

Date: Fri Apr 24 2026 - 15:19:30 EST


In preparation for dynamic kernel stacks, don't assume that
vm_area->nr_pages matches THREAD_SIZE when clearing a stack for reuse.

Signed-off-by: David Stevens <stevensd@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/fork.c | 6 +++++-
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/fork.c b/kernel/fork.c
index 8961b895bf05..50772c0cc5da 100644
--- a/kernel/fork.c
+++ b/kernel/fork.c
@@ -332,6 +332,8 @@ static int alloc_thread_stack_node(struct task_struct *tsk, int node)

vm_area = alloc_thread_stack_node_from_cache(tsk, node);
if (vm_area) {
+ unsigned long memset_offset = 0;
+
if (memcg_charge_kernel_stack(vm_area)) {
vfree(vm_area->addr);
return -ENOMEM;
@@ -343,7 +345,9 @@ static int alloc_thread_stack_node(struct task_struct *tsk, int node)
stack = kasan_reset_tag(vm_area->addr);

/* Clear stale pointers from reused stack. */
- memset(stack, 0, THREAD_SIZE);
+ if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_STACK_GROWSUP))
+ memset_offset = THREAD_SIZE - vm_area->nr_pages * PAGE_SIZE;
+ memset(stack + memset_offset, 0, vm_area->nr_pages * PAGE_SIZE);

tsk->stack_vm_area = vm_area;
tsk->stack = stack;
--
2.54.0.rc2.544.gc7ae2d5bb8-goog