The function rb_check_pages() was added to make sure the ring buffer's
pages were sane. This check is done when the ring buffer size is modified
as well as when the iterator is released (closing the "trace" file),
as that was considered a non fast path and a good place to do a sanity
check.
The problem is that the check does not have any locks around it.
If one process were to read the trace file, and another were to read
the raw binary file, the check could happen while the reader is reading
the file.
The issues with this is that the check requires to clear the HEAD page
before doing the full check and it restores it afterward. But readers
require the HEAD page to exist before it can read the buffer, otherwise
it gives a nasty warning and disables the buffer.
By adding the reader lock around the check, this keeps the race from
happening.
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org # 3.6
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
9366c1ba13