Public bug reported: A bug was introduced when backporting the fix for http://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1597908. This bug exists in all Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4 kernels >= 4.4.0-36, and many other non-LTS kernels.
This patch changes the context in which timeout work is scheduled for block devices in the kernel. Previously, timeout work was executed directly from the timer callback that fired when a deadline was met. After the patch, timeout work is scheduled using a background work queue. This means that by the time the work executes, the device queue which originally scheduled the work could be torn down. In order to prevent this, the patch takes a reference on the device queue when executing the timeout work. The problem is that the last reference to this queue can be removed before the timeout work can be executed. During teardown, the block system executes a freeze followed by a drain. The freeze drops the last reference on the queue. The drain tries to clean up any outstanding work, including timeout work. After a freeze, the timeout work in the background queue is unable to obtain a reference, and exits early without completing work. The work is now permanently stuck in the queue and it will never be completed. The drain in the device teardown path spins indefinitely. The bug manifests as a hang that looks like this: [<ffffffff81829f15>] schedule+0x35/0x80 [<ffffffffc014aea9>] hpsa_scan_start+0x109/0x140 [hpsa] [<ffffffff810c3cb0>] ? wake_atomic_t_function+0x60/0x60 [<ffffffffc014b602>] hpsa_rescan_ctlr_worker+0x1d2/0x652 [hpsa] [<ffffffff8109a2c5>] process_one_work+0x165/0x480 [<ffffffff8109a62b>] worker_thread+0x4b/0x4c0 [<ffffffff8109a5e0>] ? process_one_work+0x480/0x480 [<ffffffff810a0808>] kthread+0xd8/0xf0 [<ffffffff810a0730>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x1e0/0x1e0 [<ffffffff8182e38f>] ret_from_fork+0x3f/0x70 [<ffffffff810a0730>] ? kthread_create_on_node+0x1e0/0x1e0 The fix exists upstream. It applies, builds, and runs cleanly on Ubuntu's most recent 4.4 kernel. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit?id=4e9b6f20828ac880dbc1fa2fdbafae779473d1af We hit this bug nearly 100% of the time on some of our HP hardware. The HPSA driver has a tendency to aggressively remove missing devices, so it widens the race. As a result, we've been building our own kernel with this patch applied. It would be really nice if we could get it into mainline Ubuntu. Let me know what additional information is needed. Thanks! ** Affects: linux (Ubuntu) Importance: Undecided Status: New -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1791790 Title: Kernel hang on drive pull caused by incomplete backport for bug 1597908 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1791790/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list [email protected] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
