In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
sched/rt: Skip currently executing CPU in rto_next_cpu()
CPU0 becomes overloaded when hosting a CPU-bound RT task, a non-CPU-bound
RT task, and a CFS task stuck in kernel space. When other CPUs switch from
RT to non-RT tasks, RT load balancing (LB) is triggered; with
HAVE_RT_PUSH_IPI enabled, they send IPIs to CPU0 to drive the execution
of rto_push_irq_work_func. During push_rt_task on CPU0,
if next_task->prio < rq->donor->prio, resched_curr() sets NEED_RESCHED
and after the push operation completes, CPU0 calls rto_next_cpu().
Since only CPU0 is overloaded in this scenario, rto_next_cpu() should
ideally return -1 (no further IPI needed).
However, multiple CPUs invoking tell_cpu_to_push() during LB increments
rd->rto_loop_next. Even when rd->rto_cpu is set to -1, the mismatch between
rd->rto_loop and rd->rto_loop_next forces rto_next_cpu() to restart its
search from -1. With CPU0 remaining overloaded (satisfying rt_nr_migratory
&& rt_nr_total > 1), it gets reselected, causing CPU0 to queue irq_work to
itself and send self-IPIs repeatedly. As long as CPU0 stays overloaded and
other CPUs run pull_rt_tasks(), it falls into an infinite self-IPI loop,
which triggers a CPU hardlockup due to continuous self-interrupts.
The trigging scenario is as follows:
<pre>
cpu0 cpu1 cpu2
pull_rt_task
tell_cpu_to_push
<------------irq_work_queue_on
</pre>
rto_push_irq_work_func
push_rt_task
resched_curr(rq) pull_rt_task
rto_next_cpu tell_cpu_to_push
<-------------------------- atomic_inc(rto_loop_next)
rd->rto_loop != next
rto_next_cpu
irq_work_queue_on
rto_push_irq_work_func
Fix redundant self-IPI by filtering the initiating CPU in rto_next_cpu().
This solution has been verified to effectively eliminate spurious self-IPIs
and prevent CPU hardlockup scenarios.