diff options
| author | Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com> | 2026-09-04 10:43:19 +0200 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org> | 2026-09-04 07:58:36 -0700 |
| commit | 6668ed271eaefaa63e686bdfbedaeb7b8e492722 (patch) | |
| tree | 58e8288fead484f6755ad0815fc74c3742663761 /Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-6668ed271eaefaa63e686bdfbedaeb7b8e492722.tar.gz linux-stable-6668ed271eaefaa63e686bdfbedaeb7b8e492722.zip | |
selftests/bpf: Reject graph kptr use after RCU unlockgrafted
Add a sleepable verifier test that loads a graph-node local kptr in an
explicit RCU read-side critical section, then passes its node to
bpf_rbtree_remove() after the section ends.
Before the verifier fix, the stale NON_OWN_REF flag makes the node look like
a live borrowed reference and the program is accepted. After the fix, the
pointer is demoted without NON_OWN_REF and the graph kfunc argument is
rejected.
Also exercise a graph kptr loaded while a spin lock provides implicit RCU
protection. The pointer must be invalidated when the lock is released, which
guards the required ordering between non-owning-reference invalidation and
RCU demotion.
Update the existing fault-protected load test state description. The
post-unlock pointer no longer carries NON_OWN_REF, but remains readable
because the load is rewritten to use BPF_PROBE_MEM.
Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260904084325.52250-7-memxor@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst | 99 |
1 files changed, 99 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..c1768d9e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/syscall-user-dispatch.rst @@ -0,0 +1,99 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +===================== +Syscall User Dispatch +===================== + +Background +---------- + +Compatibility layers like Wine need a way to efficiently emulate system +calls of only a part of their process - the part that has the +incompatible code - while being able to execute native syscalls without +a high performance penalty on the native part of the process. Seccomp +falls short on this task, since it has limited support to efficiently +filter syscalls based on memory regions, and it doesn't support removing +filters. Therefore a new mechanism is necessary. + +Syscall User Dispatch brings the filtering of the syscall dispatcher +address back to userspace. The application is in control of a flip +switch, indicating the current personality of the process. A +multiple-personality application can then flip the switch without +invoking the kernel, when crossing the compatibility layer API +boundaries, to enable/disable the syscall redirection and execute +syscalls directly (disabled) or send them to be emulated in userspace +through a SIGSYS. + +The goal of this design is to provide very quick compatibility layer +boundary crosses, which is achieved by not executing a syscall to change +personality every time the compatibility layer executes. Instead, a +userspace memory region exposed to the kernel indicates the current +personality, and the application simply modifies that variable to +configure the mechanism. + +There is a relatively high cost associated with handling signals on most +architectures, like x86, but at least for Wine, syscalls issued by +native Windows code are currently not known to be a performance problem, +since they are quite rare, at least for modern gaming applications. + +Since this mechanism is designed to capture syscalls issued by +non-native applications, it must function on syscalls whose invocation +ABI is completely unexpected to Linux. Syscall User Dispatch, therefore +doesn't rely on any of the syscall ABI to make the filtering. It uses +only the syscall dispatcher address and the userspace key. + +As the ABI of these intercepted syscalls is unknown to Linux, these +syscalls are not instrumentable via ptrace or the syscall tracepoints. + +Interface +--------- + +A thread can setup this mechanism on supported kernels by executing the +following prctl: + + prctl(PR_SET_SYSCALL_USER_DISPATCH, <op>, <offset>, <length>, [selector]) + +<op> is either PR_SYS_DISPATCH_EXCLUSIVE_ON/PR_SYS_DISPATCH_INCLUSIVE_ON +or PR_SYS_DISPATCH_OFF, to enable and disable the mechanism globally for +that thread. When PR_SYS_DISPATCH_OFF is used, the other fields must be zero. + +For PR_SYS_DISPATCH_EXCLUSIVE_ON [<offset>, <offset>+<length>) delimit +a memory region interval from which syscalls are always executed directly, +regardless of the userspace selector. This provides a fast path for the +C library, which includes the most common syscall dispatchers in the native +code applications, and also provides a way for the signal handler to return +without triggering a nested SIGSYS on (rt\_)sigreturn. Users of this +interface should make sure that at least the signal trampoline code is +included in this region. In addition, for syscalls that implement the +trampoline code on the vDSO, that trampoline is never intercepted. + +For PR_SYS_DISPATCH_INCLUSIVE_ON [<offset>, <offset>+<length>) delimit +a memory region interval from which syscalls are dispatched based on +the userspace selector. Syscalls from outside of the range are always +executed directly. + +[selector] is a pointer to a char-sized region in the process memory +region, that provides a quick way to enable disable syscall redirection +thread-wide, without the need to invoke the kernel directly. selector +can be set to SYSCALL_DISPATCH_FILTER_ALLOW or SYSCALL_DISPATCH_FILTER_BLOCK. +Any other value should terminate the program with a SIGSYS. + +Additionally, a tasks syscall user dispatch configuration can be peeked +and poked via the PTRACE_(GET|SET)_SYSCALL_USER_DISPATCH_CONFIG ptrace +requests. This is useful for checkpoint/restart software. + +Security Notes +-------------- + +Syscall User Dispatch provides functionality for compatibility layers to +quickly capture system calls issued by a non-native part of the +application, while not impacting the Linux native regions of the +process. It is not a mechanism for sandboxing system calls, and it +should not be seen as a security mechanism, since it is trivial for a +malicious application to subvert the mechanism by jumping to an allowed +dispatcher region prior to executing the syscall, or to discover the +address and modify the selector value. If the use case requires any +kind of security sandboxing, Seccomp should be used instead. + +Any fork or exec of the existing process resets the mechanism to +PR_SYS_DISPATCH_OFF. |
