[PATCH v1] mm/mlock: use a long for the page count in mlock_fixup()

From: Nickolai Zeldovich

Date: Wed Oct 14 2026 - 09:22:40 EST


mlock_fixup() adjusts mm->locked_vm, an unsigned long, by the number of
pages whose VM_LOCKED state it changes, but computes that number in an
int:

int nr_pages;
...
nr_pages = (end - start) >> PAGE_SHIFT;
...
mm->locked_vm += nr_pages;

When a single VMA range of 2^31 pages (8 TiB with 4 KiB pages) or more
is locked or unlocked, the count is truncated to 32 bits and then
sign-extended, so locked_vm is changed by the wrong amount, while
munmap(), mremap() and the other paths that maintain locked_vm use the
full unsigned long page count.

Such a range is reachable on 64-bit architectures with a 47-bit or
larger user address space (x86_64, arm64 with 48-bit VA, riscv64 Sv48)
by a task with CAP_IPC_LOCK or a raised RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, which do_mlock()
checks against the full untruncated length. It costs nothing with
MAP_NORESERVE and MLOCK_ONFAULT/MCL_ONFAULT, since then no page is
populated. On x86_64, after

p = mmap(NULL, 8UL << 40, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0);
mlock2(p, 8UL << 40, MLOCK_ONFAULT);

VmLck in /proc/self/status reads 18446744065119617024 kB instead of
8589934592 kB; munmap() of the region then subtracts the true size and
leaves VmLck at 18446744056529682432 kB instead of 0. With 16 TiB,
locked_vm is not changed at all, VmLck stays 0 kB, and after the task
drops CAP_IPC_LOCK or lowers RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, mlock(), mmap(MAP_LOCKED)
and the other mlock_future_ok() and account_locked_vm() users enforce
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK against that count, so they let the task lock memory
beyond its limit (or, in the 8 TiB case, refuse every further lock).
The error persists for the life of the mm; unlocking the range in pieces
skews it further. The wrong count is per-mm accounting only: it does
not change which pages are locked.

The int has been there since before git history (the variable was named
"pages" until it was renamed in 2.6.28); every other updater of
locked_vm uses an unsigned long or long count. Make nr_pages a long,
which holds the page count of any user range and its negation, so the
existing sign handling is unchanged.

Found by formal verification of mm/mlock.c against the kernel binary.

Fixes: 1da177e4c3f4 ("Linux-2.6.12-rc2")
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Nickolai Zeldovich <nickolai@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

Notes:
Reproducer: the program below, run as root from an initramfs on
v7.3-rc7-28-g4056b3c9d3c9 defconfig (LLVM=1) under QEMU, x86_64 (TCG,
-cpu max) and riscv64 (virt, -cpu max); a longer version also checks
munmap(), a 16 TiB lock and RLIMIT_MEMLOCK enforcement.

before after
VmLck after locking 8 TiB 18446744065119617024 kB 8589934592 kB
VmLck after munmap() of it 18446744056529682432 kB 0 kB
VmLck after locking 16 TiB 0 kB 17179869184 kB
mlock() of 16 pages over a 16-page succeeds ENOMEM
RLIMIT_MEMLOCK, CAP_IPC_LOCK dropped

// Needs root (or CAP_IPC_LOCK), >= 16 TiB user VA, vm.overcommit_memory != 2.
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>
#include <unistd.h>

int main(void)
{
size_t len = 8UL << 40; /* 2^31 pages of 4 KiB */
char line[128];
FILE *f;
void *p;

p = mmap(NULL, len, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_NORESERVE, -1, 0);
if (p == MAP_FAILED || syscall(SYS_mlock2, p, len, 1 /* MLOCK_ONFAULT */)) {
perror("mmap/mlock2");
return 2;
}
f = fopen("/proc/self/status", "r");
while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), f))
if (!strncmp(line, "VmLck:", 6))
printf("%s", line); /* expected 8589934592 kB */
return 0;
}

mm/mlock.c | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/mm/mlock.c b/mm/mlock.c
index 39215a3eab1f..4fb43cddafa8 100644
--- a/mm/mlock.c
+++ b/mm/mlock.c
@@ -470,7 +470,7 @@ static int mlock_fixup(struct vma_iterator *vmi, struct vm_area_struct *vma,
{
const vma_flags_t old_vma_flags = vma->flags;
struct mm_struct *mm = vma->vm_mm;
- int nr_pages;
+ long nr_pages;
int ret = 0;

if (vma_flags_same_pair(&old_vma_flags, new_vma_flags) ||

base-commit: 4056b3c9d3c92ea45955641dbafeb9b960e146ef
--
2.53.0