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| author | Ali Ahmet Memis <ali@iusegentoo.com> | 2026-08-21 01:45:27 +0000 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Stafford Horne <shorne@gmail.com> | 2026-08-29 07:32:26 +0100 |
| commit | 78004e9a87f240df03e2f73120d291763c32e0a7 (patch) | |
| tree | 137c22dd795222931b9d2bf2501d37cd766741aa /Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-78004e9a87f240df03e2f73120d291763c32e0a7.tar.gz linux-stable-78004e9a87f240df03e2f73120d291763c32e0a7.zip | |
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>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst | 133 |
1 files changed, 133 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst b/Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..914445784 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.rst @@ -0,0 +1,133 @@ +====================== +(Un)patching Callbacks +====================== + +Livepatch (un)patch-callbacks provide a mechanism for livepatch modules +to execute callback functions when a kernel object is (un)patched. They +can be considered a **power feature** that **extends livepatching abilities** +to include: + + - Safe updates to global data + + - "Patches" to init and probe functions + + - Patching otherwise unpatchable code (i.e. assembly) + +In most cases, (un)patch callbacks will need to be used in conjunction +with memory barriers and kernel synchronization primitives, like +mutexes/spinlocks, or even stop_machine(), to avoid concurrency issues. + +1. Motivation +============= + +Callbacks differ from existing kernel facilities: + + - Module init/exit code doesn't run when disabling and re-enabling a + patch. + + - A module notifier can't stop a to-be-patched module from loading. + +Callbacks are part of the klp_object structure and their implementation +is specific to that klp_object. Other livepatch objects may or may not +be patched, irrespective of the target klp_object's current state. + +2. Callback types +================= + +Callbacks can be registered for the following livepatch actions: + + * Pre-patch + - before a klp_object is patched + + * Post-patch + - after a klp_object has been patched and is active + across all tasks + + * Pre-unpatch + - before a klp_object is unpatched (ie, patched code is + active), used to clean up post-patch callback + resources + + * Post-unpatch + - after a klp_object has been patched, all code has + been restored and no tasks are running patched code, + used to cleanup pre-patch callback resources + +3. How it works +=============== + +Each callback is optional, omitting one does not preclude specifying any +other. However, the livepatching core executes the handlers in +symmetry: pre-patch callbacks have a post-unpatch counterpart and +post-patch callbacks have a pre-unpatch counterpart. An unpatch +callback will only be executed if its corresponding patch callback was +executed. Typical use cases pair a patch handler that acquires and +configures resources with an unpatch handler tears down and releases +those same resources. + +A callback is only executed if its host klp_object is loaded. For +in-kernel vmlinux targets, this means that callbacks will always execute +when a livepatch is enabled/disabled. For patch target kernel modules, +callbacks will only execute if the target module is loaded. When a +module target is (un)loaded, its callbacks will execute only if the +livepatch module is enabled. + +The pre-patch callback, if specified, is expected to return a status +code (0 for success, -ERRNO on error). An error status code indicates +to the livepatching core that patching of the current klp_object is not +safe and to stop the current patching request. (When no pre-patch +callback is provided, the transition is assumed to be safe.) If a +pre-patch callback returns failure, the kernel's module loader will: + + - Refuse to load a livepatch, if the livepatch is loaded after + targeted code. + + or: + + - Refuse to load a module, if the livepatch was already successfully + loaded. + +No post-patch, pre-unpatch, or post-unpatch callbacks will be executed +for a given klp_object if the object failed to patch, due to a failed +pre_patch callback or for any other reason. + +If a patch transition is reversed, no pre-unpatch handlers will be run +(this follows the previously mentioned symmetry -- pre-unpatch callbacks +will only occur if their corresponding post-patch callback executed). + +If the object did successfully patch, but the patch transition never +started for some reason (e.g., if another object failed to patch), +only the post-unpatch callback will be called. + +4. Use cases +============ + +Sample livepatch modules demonstrating the callback API can be found in +samples/livepatch/ directory. These samples were modified for use in +kselftests and can be found in the lib/livepatch directory. + +Global data update +------------------ + +A pre-patch callback can be useful to update a global variable. For +example, commit 75ff39ccc1bd ("tcp: make challenge acks less predictable") +changes a global sysctl, as well as patches the tcp_send_challenge_ack() +function. + +In this case, if we're being super paranoid, it might make sense to +patch the data *after* patching is complete with a post-patch callback, +so that tcp_send_challenge_ack() could first be changed to read +sysctl_tcp_challenge_ack_limit with READ_ONCE. + +__init and probe function patches support +----------------------------------------- + +Although __init and probe functions are not directly livepatch-able, it +may be possible to implement similar updates via pre/post-patch +callbacks. + +The commit 48900cb6af42 ("virtio-net: drop NETIF_F_FRAGLIST") change the way that +virtnet_probe() initialized its driver's net_device features. A +pre/post-patch callback could iterate over all such devices, making a +similar change to their hw_features value. (Client functions of the +value may need to be updated accordingly.) |
