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| author | Jinke Han <jinkehan@didiglobal.com> | 2026-09-08 15:37:42 +0800 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org> | 2026-09-17 09:48:42 +0200 |
| commit | a5f7a5bb3b7f28ba7e4fa246775b29a0e5537255 (patch) | |
| tree | 73fef824f9a846cf935869d0dbc5070ef6e2f741 /Documentation/security/sak.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-a5f7a5bb3b7f28ba7e4fa246775b29a0e5537255.tar.gz linux-stable-a5f7a5bb3b7f28ba7e4fa246775b29a0e5537255.zip | |
x86/kprobes: Fix crash when probing CS CALL instructionsgrafted
When using eBPF to probe CS CALL instructions within a function,
a crash can be triggered.
The eBPF tool probes offset 257 of the __hrtimer_run_queues()
function:
<__hrtimer_run_queues+249>: nopl 0x0(%rax,%rax,1)
<__hrtimer_run_queues+254>: mov %r14,%rdi
<__hrtimer_run_queues+257>: cs call <__x86_indirect_thunk_r12>
<__hrtimer_run_queues+263>: mov %eax,%r12d
<__hrtimer_run_queues+266>: xchg %ax,%ax
<__hrtimer_run_queues+268>: mov %r13,%rdi
Which triggers this crash:
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: 00000000000f41c9
#PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP NOPTI
CPU: 1 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/1 Kdump: loaded Tainted: P
RIP: 0010:__hrtimer_run_queues+0x106/0x230
Note that __hrtimer_run_queues+0x106 is __hrtimer_run_queues+262, which is
at the 6th byte of the above CS CALL instruction. Since the CS CALL
instruction occupies 6 bytes, the exception occurred in the middle of that
call instruction.
The root cause is that when using eBPF tools to probe in the middle of a
function, a kprobe with INT3 is used as the underlying implementation.
During single-step emulation of the original CALL instruction,
int3_emulate_call() assumes that the probed CALL instruction is 5 bytes
long. However, the actual CS-prefixed CALL instruction occupies 6 bytes,
so it constructs an incorrect exception return address. When the CPU
returns from the kprobe handler, the next instruction to be executed is at
the address of the last byte of that CS CALL instruction. Coincidentally,
starting from that address, the CPU fetches and decodes a completely
different instruction, which ultimately triggers a kernel crash.
Fix the issue by using the actual instruction length obtained from
the instruction decoder when constructing the exception return
address, rather than relying on the hardcoded CALL_INSN_SIZE macro.
[ mingo: Refined the changelog ]
Fixes: 6256e668b7af ("x86/kprobes: Use int3 instead of debug trap for single-step")
Suggested-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Jinke Han <jinkehan@didiglobal.com>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) <mhiramat@kernel.org>
Acked-by: Yafang Shao <laoar.shao@gmail.com>
Acked-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260908073742.GA10517@didi-ThinkCentre-M920t-N000
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/security/sak.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/security/sak.rst | 91 |
1 files changed, 91 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/security/sak.rst b/Documentation/security/sak.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..260e1d368 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/sak.rst @@ -0,0 +1,91 @@ +========================================= +Linux Secure Attention Key (SAK) handling +========================================= + +:Date: 18 March 2001 +:Author: Andrew Morton + +An operating system's Secure Attention Key is a security tool which is +provided as protection against trojan password capturing programs. It +is an undefeatable way of killing all programs which could be +masquerading as login applications. Users need to be taught to enter +this key sequence before they log in to the system. + +From the PC keyboard, Linux has two similar but different ways of +providing SAK. One is the ALT-SYSRQ-K sequence. You shouldn't use +this sequence. It is only available if the kernel was compiled with +sysrq support. + +The proper way of generating a SAK is to define the key sequence using +``loadkeys``. This will work whether or not sysrq support is compiled +into the kernel. + +SAK works correctly when the keyboard is in raw mode. This means that +once defined, SAK will kill a running X server. If the system is in +run level 5, the X server will restart. This is what you want to +happen. + +What key sequence should you use? Well, CTRL-ALT-DEL is used to reboot +the machine. CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE is magical to the X server. We'll +choose CTRL-ALT-PAUSE. + +In your rc.sysinit (or rc.local) file, add the command:: + + echo "control alt keycode 101 = SAK" | /bin/loadkeys + +And that's it! Only the superuser may reprogram the SAK key. + + +.. note:: + + 1. Linux SAK is said to be not a "true SAK" as is required by + systems which implement C2 level security. This author does not + know why. + + + 2. On the PC keyboard, SAK kills all applications which have + /dev/console opened. + + Unfortunately this includes a number of things which you don't + actually want killed. This is because these applications are + incorrectly holding /dev/console open. Be sure to complain to your + Linux distributor about this! + + You can identify processes which will be killed by SAK with the + command:: + + # ls -l /proc/[0-9]*/fd/* | grep console + l-wx------ 1 root root 64 Mar 18 00:46 /proc/579/fd/0 -> /dev/console + + Then:: + + # ps aux|grep 579 + root 579 0.0 0.1 1088 436 ? S 00:43 0:00 gpm -t ps/2 + + So ``gpm`` will be killed by SAK. This is a bug in gpm. It should + be closing standard input. You can work around this by finding the + initscript which launches gpm and changing it thusly: + + Old:: + + daemon gpm + + New:: + + daemon gpm < /dev/null + + Vixie cron also seems to have this problem, and needs the same treatment. + + Also, one prominent Linux distribution has the following three + lines in its rc.sysinit and rc scripts:: + + exec 3<&0 + exec 4>&1 + exec 5>&2 + + These commands cause **all** daemons which are launched by the + initscripts to have file descriptors 3, 4 and 5 attached to + /dev/console. So SAK kills them all. A workaround is to simply + delete these lines, but this may cause system management + applications to malfunction - test everything well. + |
