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authorAli Ahmet Memis <ali@iusegentoo.com>2026-08-21 01:45:27 +0000
committerStafford Horne <shorne@gmail.com>2026-08-29 07:32:26 +0100
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tree137c22dd795222931b9d2bf2501d37cd766741aa /Documentation/arch/powerpc/elfnote.rst
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openrisc: fix arbitrary kernel memory access via or1k_atomic syscallgrafted
sys_or1k_atomic() (syscall 244 in the "or1k" ABI) takes two user pointers, v1 and v2, and swaps the words they point to in hand-written assembly. l.lwz r29,0(r4) l.lwz r27,0(r5) l.sw 0(r4),r27 l.sw 0(r5),r29 The pointers are not checked with access_ok(). The four memory accesses also have no exception table entries. A caller passes a kernel address as either pointer, and the syscall reads from and writes to it directly. This gives an unprivileged process a kernel read/write primitive. It overwrites kernel data such as the sys_call_table, gaining code execution in kernel context. Check both pointers before entering the critical section. Add fixups for the four memory accesses so faults on valid but unmapped user addresses return -EFAULT. [shorne@gmail.com: fix comment style] Fixes: 9d02a4283e9c ("OpenRISC: Boot code") Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Ali Ahmet Memis <ali@iusegentoo.com> Signed-off-by: Stafford Horne <shorne@gmail.com>
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+==========================
+ELF Note PowerPC Namespace
+==========================
+
+The PowerPC namespace in an ELF Note of the kernel binary is used to store
+capabilities and information which can be used by a bootloader or userland.
+
+Types and Descriptors
+---------------------
+
+The types to be used with the "PowerPC" namespace are defined in [#f1]_.
+
+ 1) PPC_ELFNOTE_CAPABILITIES
+
+Define the capabilities supported/required by the kernel. This type uses a
+bitmap as "descriptor" field. Each bit is described below:
+
+- Ultravisor-capable bit (PowerNV only).
+
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #define PPCCAP_ULTRAVISOR_BIT (1 << 0)
+
+Indicate that the powerpc kernel binary knows how to run in an
+ultravisor-enabled system.
+
+In an ultravisor-enabled system, some machine resources are now controlled
+by the ultravisor. If the kernel is not ultravisor-capable, but it ends up
+being run on a machine with ultravisor, the kernel will probably crash
+trying to access ultravisor resources. For instance, it may crash in early
+boot trying to set the partition table entry 0.
+
+In an ultravisor-enabled system, a bootloader could warn the user or prevent
+the kernel from being run if the PowerPC ultravisor capability doesn't exist
+or the Ultravisor-capable bit is not set.
+
+References
+----------
+
+.. [#f1] arch/powerpc/include/asm/elfnote.h
+