Subject: Re: [PATCH bpf-next v3 10/16] bpf: Support lockless unlink when freeing map or local storage

From: Martin KaFai Lau <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2026 12:16:02 -0800

On 12/18/25 9:56 AM, Amery Hung wrote:
> Introduce bpf_selem_unlink_lockless() to properly handle errors returned
> from rqspinlock in bpf_local_storage_map_free() and
> bpf_local_storage_destroy() where the operation must succeeds.
> 
> The idea of bpf_selem_unlink_lockless() is to allow an selem to be
> partially linked and use refcount to determine when and who can free the
> selem. An selem initially is fully linked to a map and a local storage
> and therefore selem->link_cnt is set to 2. Under normal circumstances,
> bpf_selem_unlink_lockless() will be able to grab locks and unlink
> an selem from map and local storage in sequeunce, just like
> bpf_selem_unlink(), and then add it to a local tofree list provide by
> the caller. However, if any of the lock attempts fails, it will
> only clear SDATA(selem)->smap or selem->local_storage depending on the
> caller and decrement link_cnt to signal that the corresponding data
> structure holding a reference to the selem is gone. Then, only when both
> map and local storage are gone, an selem can be free by the last caller
> that turns link_cnt to 0.
> 
> To make sure bpf_obj_free_fields() is done only once and when map is
> still present, it is called when unlinking an selem from b->list under
> b->lock.
> 
> To make sure uncharging memory is only done once and when owner is still
> present, only unlink selem from local_storage->list in
> bpf_local_storage_destroy() and return the amount of memory to uncharge
> to the caller (i.e., owner) since the map associated with an selem may
> already be gone and map->ops->map_local_storage_uncharge can no longer
> be referenced.
> 
> Finally, access of selem, SDATA(selem)->smap and selem->local_storage
> are racy. Callers will protect these fields with RCU.
> 
> Co-developed-by: Martin KaFai Lau <[email-masked]>
> Signed-off-by: Martin KaFai Lau <[email-masked]>
> Signed-off-by: Amery Hung <[email-masked]>
> ---
>   include/linux/bpf_local_storage.h |  2 +-
>   kernel/bpf/bpf_local_storage.c    | 77 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>   2 files changed, 74 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/include/linux/bpf_local_storage.h b/include/linux/bpf_local_storage.h
> index 20918c31b7e5..1fd908c44fb6 100644
> --- a/include/linux/bpf_local_storage.h
> +++ b/include/linux/bpf_local_storage.h
> @@ -80,9 +80,9 @@ struct bpf_local_storage_elem {
>   						 * after raw_spin_unlock
>   						 */
>   	};
> +	atomic_t link_cnt;
>   	u16 size;
>   	bool use_kmalloc_nolock;
> -	/* 4 bytes hole */
>   	/* The data is stored in another cacheline to minimize
>   	 * the number of cachelines access during a cache hit.
>   	 */
> diff --git a/kernel/bpf/bpf_local_storage.c b/kernel/bpf/bpf_local_storage.c
> index 62201552dca6..4c682d5aef7f 100644
> --- a/kernel/bpf/bpf_local_storage.c
> +++ b/kernel/bpf/bpf_local_storage.c
> @@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ bpf_selem_alloc(struct bpf_local_storage_map *smap, void *owner,
>   			if (swap_uptrs)
>   				bpf_obj_swap_uptrs(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data, value);
>   		}
> +		atomic_set(&selem->link_cnt, 2);
>   		selem->size = smap->elem_size;
>   		selem->use_kmalloc_nolock = smap->use_kmalloc_nolock;
>   		return selem;
> @@ -200,9 +201,11 @@ static void bpf_selem_free_rcu(struct rcu_head *rcu)
>   	/* The bpf_local_storage_map_free will wait for rcu_barrier */
>   	smap = rcu_dereference_check(SDATA(selem)->smap, 1);
>   
> -	migrate_disable();
> -	bpf_obj_free_fields(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data);
> -	migrate_enable();
> +	if (smap) {
> +		migrate_disable();
> +		bpf_obj_free_fields(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data);
> +		migrate_enable();
> +	}
>   	kfree_nolock(selem);
>   }
>   
> @@ -227,7 +230,8 @@ void bpf_selem_free(struct bpf_local_storage_elem *selem,
>   		 * is only supported in task local storage, where
>   		 * smap->use_kmalloc_nolock == true.
>   		 */
> -		bpf_obj_free_fields(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data);
> +		if (smap)
> +			bpf_obj_free_fields(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data);
>   		__bpf_selem_free(selem, reuse_now);
>   		return;
>   	}
> @@ -419,6 +423,71 @@ int bpf_selem_unlink(struct bpf_local_storage_elem *selem, bool reuse_now)
>   	return err;
>   }
>   
> +/* Callers of bpf_selem_unlink_lockless() */
> +#define BPF_LOCAL_STORAGE_MAP_FREE	0
> +#define BPF_LOCAL_STORAGE_DESTROY	1
> +
> +/*
> + * Unlink an selem from map and local storage with lockless fallback if callers
> + * are racing or rqspinlock returns error. It should only be called by
> + * bpf_local_storage_destroy() or bpf_local_storage_map_free().
> + */
> +static void bpf_selem_unlink_lockless(struct bpf_local_storage_elem *selem,
> +				      struct hlist_head *to_free, int caller)
> +{
> +	struct bpf_local_storage *local_storage;
> +	struct bpf_local_storage_map_bucket *b;
> +	struct bpf_local_storage_map *smap;
> +	unsigned long flags;
> +	int err, unlink = 0;
> +
> +	local_storage = rcu_dereference_check(selem->local_storage, bpf_rcu_lock_held());
> +	smap = rcu_dereference_check(SDATA(selem)->smap, bpf_rcu_lock_held());
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * Free special fields immediately as SDATA(selem)->smap will be cleared.
> +	 * No BPF program should be reading the selem.
> +	 */
> +	if (smap) {
> +		b = select_bucket(smap, selem);
> +		err = raw_res_spin_lock_irqsave(&b->lock, flags);
> +		if (!err) {
> +			if (likely(selem_linked_to_map(selem))) {
> +				hlist_del_init_rcu(&selem->map_node);
> +				bpf_obj_free_fields(smap->map.record, SDATA(selem)->data);
> +				RCU_INIT_POINTER(SDATA(selem)->smap, NULL);
> +				unlink++;
> +			}
> +			raw_res_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&b->lock, flags);
> +		} else if (caller == BPF_LOCAL_STORAGE_MAP_FREE) {
> +			RCU_INIT_POINTER(SDATA(selem)->smap, NULL);

I suspect I am missing something obvious, so it will be faster to ask here.

I could see why init NULL can work if it could assume the map_free 
caller always succeeds in the b->lock, the "if (!err)" path above.

If the b->lock did fail here for the map_free caller, it reset 
SDATA(selem)->smap to NULL here. Who can do the bpf_obj_free_fields() in 
the future?

> +		}
> +	}
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * Only let destroy() unlink from local_storage->list and do mem_uncharge
> +	 * as owner is guaranteed to be valid in destroy().
> +	 */
> +	if (local_storage && caller == BPF_LOCAL_STORAGE_DESTROY) {

If I read here correctly, only bpf_local_storage_destroy() can do the 
bpf_selem_free(). For example, if a bpf_sk_storage_map is going away, 
the selem (which is memcg charged) will stay in the sk until the sk is 
closed?

> +		err = raw_res_spin_lock_irqsave(&local_storage->lock, flags);
> +		if (!err) {
> +			hlist_del_init_rcu(&selem->snode);
> +			unlink++;
> +			raw_res_spin_unlock_irqrestore(&local_storage->lock, flags);
> +		}
> +		RCU_INIT_POINTER(selem->local_storage, NULL);
> +	}
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * Normally, an selem can be unlink under local_storage->lock and b->lock, and
> +	 * then added to a local to_free list. However, if destroy() and map_free() are
> +	 * racing or rqspinlock returns errors in unlikely situations (unlink != 2), free
> +	 * the selem only after both map_free() and destroy() drop the refcnt.
> +	 */
> +	if (unlink == 2 || atomic_dec_and_test(&selem->link_cnt))
> +		hlist_add_head(&selem->free_node, to_free);
> +}
> +
>   void __bpf_local_storage_insert_cache(struct bpf_local_storage *local_storage,
>   				      struct bpf_local_storage_map *smap,
>   				      struct bpf_local_storage_elem *selem)