The problem occurs on !CONFIG_VM86 kernels [1] when a kernel-mode task
returns from a system call with a pending signal.
A real-life scenario is a child of 'khelper' returning from a failed
kernel_execve() in ____call_usermodehelper() [ kernel/kmod.c ].
kernel_execve() fails due to a pending SIGKILL, which is the result of
"kill -9 -1" (at least, busybox's init does it upon reboot).
The loop is as follows:
* syscall_exit_work:
- work_pending: // start_of_the_loop
- work_notify_sig:
- do_notify_resume()
- do_signal()
- if (!user_mode(regs)) return;
- resume_userspace // TIF_SIGPENDING is still set
- work_pending // so we call work_pending => goto
// start_of_the_loop
More information can be found in another LKML thread:
http://www.serverphorums.com/read.php?12,457826
[1] the problem was also seen on MIPS.
Signed-off-by: Dmitry Adamushko <dmitry.adamushko@gmail.com>
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1332448765.2299.68.camel@dimm
Cc: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Cc: Roland McGrath <roland@hack.frob.com>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com>
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