[PATCH] powerpc, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user callchain

[Venkat]

> On 27 Feb 2026, at 1:55 PM, Viktor Malik <vmalik at redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> It may happen that mm is already released, which leads to kernel panic.
> This adds the NULL check for current->mm, similarly to 20afc60f892d
> ("x86, perf: Check that current->mm is alive before getting user
> callchain").
> 
> I was getting this panic when running a profiling BPF program
> (profile.py from bcc-tools):
> 
>    [26215.051935] Kernel attempted to read user page (588) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
>    [26215.051950] BUG: Kernel NULL pointer dereference on read at 0x00000588
>    [26215.051952] Faulting instruction address: 0xc00000000020fac0
>    [26215.051957] Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
>    [...]
>    [26215.052049] Call Trace:
>    [26215.052050] [c000000061da6d30] [c00000000020fc10] perf_callchain_user_64+0x2d0/0x490 (unreliable)
>    [26215.052054] [c000000061da6dc0] [c00000000020f92c] perf_callchain_user+0x1c/0x30
>    [26215.052057] [c000000061da6de0] [c0000000005ab2a0] get_perf_callchain+0x100/0x360
>    [26215.052063] [c000000061da6e70] [c000000000573bc8] bpf_get_stackid+0x88/0xf0
>    [26215.052067] [c000000061da6ea0] [c008000000042258] bpf_prog_16d4ab9ab662f669_do_perf_event+0xf8/0x274
>    [...]
> 
> Fixes: 20002ded4d93 ("perf_counter: powerpc: Add callchain support")
> Signed-off-by: Viktor Malik <vmalik at redhat.com>
> ---

This issue was reported [1] sometime last year on the linux-next repo. And even Shrikanth, has also reported this, and with more accurate repro steps[2].

[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/49cb29fc-003c-422a-98bd-dee8f13aa0b4@linux.ibm.com/

[2]: https://lore.kernel.org/all/2a71b853-f461-4327-8d44-ef97564b2b91@linux.ibm.com/

If it makes sense, add below tag.

Reported-by: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88 at linux.ibm.com>

Regards,
Venkat. 

> arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_32.c | 3 +++
> arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_64.c | 3 +++
> 2 files changed, 6 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_32.c b/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_32.c
> index ddcc2d8aa64a..b46e21679566 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_32.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_32.c
> @@ -144,6 +144,9 @@ void perf_callchain_user_32(struct perf_callchain_entry_ctx *entry,
> sp = regs->gpr[1];
> perf_callchain_store(entry, next_ip);
> 
> + if (!current->mm)
> + return;
> +
> while (entry->nr < entry->max_stack) {
> fp = (unsigned int __user *) (unsigned long) sp;
> if (invalid_user_sp(sp) || read_user_stack_32(fp, &next_sp))
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_64.c b/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_64.c
> index 115d1c105e8a..eaaadd6fa81b 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_64.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/perf/callchain_64.c
> @@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ void perf_callchain_user_64(struct perf_callchain_entry_ctx *entry,
> sp = regs->gpr[1];
> perf_callchain_store(entry, next_ip);
> 
> + if (!current->mm)
> + return;
> +
> while (entry->nr < entry->max_stack) {
> fp = (unsigned long __user *) sp;
> if (invalid_user_sp(sp) || read_user_stack_64(fp, &next_sp))
> -- 
> 2.53.0
>