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* x86/alternatives, kvm: Fix a couple of CALLs without a frame pointerBorislav Petkov (AMD)2024-07-011-0/+19
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | objtool complains: arch/x86/kvm/kvm.o: warning: objtool: .altinstr_replacement+0xc5: call without frame pointer save/setup vmlinux.o: warning: objtool: .altinstr_replacement+0x2eb: call without frame pointer save/setup Make sure %rSP is an output operand to the respective asm() statements. The test_cc() hunk and ALT_OUTPUT_SP() courtesy of peterz. Also from him add some helpful debugging info to the documentation. Now on to the explanations: tl;dr: The alternatives macros are pretty fragile. If I do ALT_OUTPUT_SP(output) in order to be able to package in a %rsp reference for objtool so that a stack frame gets properly generated, the inline asm input operand with positional argument 0 in clear_page(): "0" (page) gets "renumbered" due to the added : "+r" (current_stack_pointer), "=D" (page) and then gcc says: ./arch/x86/include/asm/page_64.h:53:9: error: inconsistent operand constraints in an ‘asm’ The fix is to use an explicit "D" constraint which points to a singleton register class (gcc terminology) which ends up doing what is expected here: the page pointer - input and output - should be in the same %rdi register. Other register classes have more than one register in them - example: "r" and "=r" or "A": ‘A’ The ‘a’ and ‘d’ registers. This class is used for instructions that return double word results in the ‘ax:dx’ register pair. Single word values will be allocated either in ‘ax’ or ‘dx’. so using "D" and "=D" just works in this particular case. And yes, one would say, sure, why don't you do "+D" but then: : "+r" (current_stack_pointer), "+D" (page) : [old] "i" (clear_page_orig), [new1] "i" (clear_page_rep), [new2] "i" (clear_page_erms), : "cc", "memory", "rax", "rcx") now find the Waldo^Wcomma which throws a wrench into all this. Because that silly macro has an "input..." consume-all last macro arg and in it, one is supposed to supply input *and* clobbers, leading to silly syntax snafus. Yap, they need to be cleaned up, one fine day... Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/oe-kbuild-all/202406141648.jO9qNGLa-lkp@intel.com/ Reported-by: kernel test robot <lkp@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov (AMD) <bp@alien8.de> Acked-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com> Acked-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240625112056.GDZnqoGDXgYuWBDUwu@fat_crate.local
* objtool: Move noreturn function list to separate fileJosh Poimboeuf2023-05-161-3/+2
| | | | | | | | | This makes it a little cleaner and easier to maintain. Suggested-by: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/cecacf07a69a244c74474c18b7652627de67a528.1681853186.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
* objtool: Detect missing __noreturn annotationsJosh Poimboeuf2023-05-161-0/+6
| | | | | | | | | | Most "unreachable instruction" warnings these days seem to actually be the result of a missing __noreturn annotation. Add an explicit check for that. Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/6e2b93d8c65eaed6c4166a358269dc0ef01f890c.1681853186.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
* objtool: Include backtrace in verbose modeJosh Poimboeuf2023-05-161-2/+2
| | | | | | | | | Include backtrace in verbose mode. This makes it easy to gather all the information needed for diagnosing objtool warnings. Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/c255224fabcf7e64bac232fec1c77c9fc2d7d7ab.1681853186.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
* objtool: Add verbose option for disassembling affected functionsJosh Poimboeuf2023-05-161-0/+5
| | | | | | | | | | | | When a warning is associated with a function, add an option to disassemble that function. This makes it easier for reporters to submit the information needed to diagnose objtool warnings. Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/dd0fe13428ede186f09c74059a8001f4adcea5fc.1681853186.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
* docs: move x86 documentation into Documentation/arch/Jonathan Corbet2023-03-301-1/+1
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Move the x86 documentation under Documentation/arch/ as a way of cleaning up the top-level directory and making the structure of our docs more closely match the structure of the source directories it describes. All in-kernel references to the old paths have been updated. Acked-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com> Cc: linux-arch@vger.kernel.org Cc: x86@kernel.org Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230315211523.108836-1-corbet@lwn.net/ Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
* objtool: Check that module init/exit function is an indirect call targetMichal Kubecek2023-01-211-0/+8
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Some out-of-tree modules still do not use module_init() / module_exit() macros and simply create functions with magic names init_module() and cleanup_module() instead. As a result, these functions are not recognized as indirect call targets by objtool and such module fails to load into an IBT enabled kernel. This old way is not even documented any more but it is cleaner to issue a warning than to let the module fail on load without obvious reason. Signed-off-by: Michal Kubecek <mkubecek@suse.cz> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20230118105215.B9DA960514@lion.mk-sys.cz
* objtool: Update documentationJosh Poimboeuf2022-04-221-20/+102
| | | | | | | | | | The objtool documentation is very stack validation centric. Broaden the documentation and describe all the features objtool supports. Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/b6a84d301d9f73ec6725752654097f4e31fa1b69.1650300597.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com
* objtool: Support stack layout changes in alternativesJosh Poimboeuf2021-01-141-7/+9
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The ORC unwinder showed a warning [1] which revealed the stack layout didn't match what was expected. The problem was that paravirt patching had replaced "CALL *pv_ops.irq.save_fl" with "PUSHF;POP". That changed the stack layout between the PUSHF and the POP, so unwinding from an interrupt which occurred between those two instructions would fail. Part of the agreed upon solution was to rework the custom paravirt patching code to use alternatives instead, since objtool already knows how to read alternatives (and converging runtime patching infrastructure is always a good thing anyway). But the main problem still remains, which is that runtime patching can change the stack layout. Making stack layout changes in alternatives was disallowed with commit 7117f16bf460 ("objtool: Fix ORC vs alternatives"), but now that paravirt is going to be doing it, it needs to be supported. One way to do so would be to modify the ORC table when the code gets patched. But ORC is simple -- a good thing! -- and it's best to leave it alone. Instead, support stack layout changes by "flattening" all possible stack states (CFI) from parallel alternative code streams into a single set of linear states. The only necessary limitation is that CFI conflicts are disallowed at all possible instruction boundaries. For example, this scenario is allowed: Alt1 Alt2 Alt3 0x00 CALL *pv_ops.save_fl CALL xen_save_fl PUSHF 0x01 POP %RAX 0x02 NOP ... 0x05 NOP ... 0x07 <insn> The unwind information for offset-0x00 is identical for all 3 alternatives. Similarly offset-0x05 and higher also are identical (and the same as 0x00). However offset-0x01 has deviating CFI, but that is only relevant for Alt3, neither of the other alternative instruction streams will ever hit that offset. This scenario is NOT allowed: Alt1 Alt2 0x00 CALL *pv_ops.save_fl PUSHF 0x01 NOP6 ... 0x07 NOP POP %RAX The problem here is that offset-0x7, which is an instruction boundary in both possible instruction patch streams, has two conflicting stack layouts. [ The above examples were stolen from Peter Zijlstra. ] The new flattened CFI array is used both for the detection of conflicts (like the second example above) and the generation of linear ORC entries. BTW, another benefit of these changes is that, thanks to some related cleanups (new fake nops and alt_group struct) objtool can finally be rid of fake jumps, which were a constant source of headaches. [1] https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20201111170536.arx2zbn4ngvjoov7@treble Cc: Shinichiro Kawasaki <shinichiro.kawasaki@wdc.com> Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
* objtool: Add support for intra-function callsAlexandre Chartre2020-04-301-0/+8
| | | | | | | | | | | | | Change objtool to support intra-function calls. On x86, an intra-function call is represented in objtool as a push onto the stack (of the return address), and a jump to the destination address. That way the stack information is correctly updated and the call flow is still accurate. Signed-off-by: Alexandre Chartre <alexandre.chartre@oracle.com> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200414103618.12657-4-alexandre.chartre@oracle.com
* objtool: Fix ORC vs alternativesPeter Zijlstra2020-04-301-0/+7
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Jann reported that (for instance) entry_64.o:general_protection has very odd ORC data: 0000000000000f40 <general_protection>: #######sp:sp+8 bp:(und) type:iret end:0 f40: 90 nop #######sp:(und) bp:(und) type:call end:0 f41: 90 nop f42: 90 nop #######sp:sp+8 bp:(und) type:iret end:0 f43: e8 a8 01 00 00 callq 10f0 <error_entry> #######sp:sp+0 bp:(und) type:regs end:0 f48: f6 84 24 88 00 00 00 testb $0x3,0x88(%rsp) f4f: 03 f50: 74 00 je f52 <general_protection+0x12> f52: 48 89 e7 mov %rsp,%rdi f55: 48 8b 74 24 78 mov 0x78(%rsp),%rsi f5a: 48 c7 44 24 78 ff ff movq $0xffffffffffffffff,0x78(%rsp) f61: ff ff f63: e8 00 00 00 00 callq f68 <general_protection+0x28> f68: e9 73 02 00 00 jmpq 11e0 <error_exit> #######sp:(und) bp:(und) type:call end:0 f6d: 0f 1f 00 nopl (%rax) Note the entry at 0xf41. Josh found this was the result of commit: 764eef4b109a ("objtool: Rewrite alt->skip_orig") Due to the early return in validate_branch() we no longer set insn->cfi of the original instruction stream (the NOPs at 0xf41 and 0xf42) and we'll end up with the above weirdness. In other discussions we realized alternatives should be ORC invariant; that is, due to there being only a single ORC table, it must be valid for all alternatives. The easiest way to ensure this is to not allow any stack modifications in alternatives. When we enforce this latter observation, we get the property that the whole alternative must have the same CFI, which we can employ to fix the former report. Fixes: 764eef4b109a ("objtool: Rewrite alt->skip_orig") Reported-by: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com> Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org> Reviewed-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200428191659.499074346@infradead.org
* objtool: Documentation: document UACCESS warningsNick Desaulniers2020-04-221-0/+26
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Compiling with Clang and CONFIG_KASAN=y was exposing a few warnings: call to memset() with UACCESS enabled Document how to fix these for future travelers. Link: https://github.com/ClangBuiltLinux/linux/issues/876 Suggested-by: Kamalesh Babulal <kamalesh@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Suggested-by: Matt Helsley <mhelsley@vmware.com> Suggested-by: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Suggested-by: Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org> Signed-off-by: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com> Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* docs: fix broken documentation linksMauro Carvalho Chehab2019-06-081-2/+2
| | | | | | | | | | | | Mostly due to x86 and acpi conversion, several documentation links are still pointing to the old file. Fix them. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+samsung@kernel.org> Reviewed-by: Wolfram Sang <wsa@the-dreams.de> Reviewed-by: Sven Van Asbroeck <TheSven73@gmail.com> Reviewed-by: Bhupesh Sharma <bhsharma@redhat.com> Acked-by: Mark Brown <broonie@kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
* Merge branch 'core-urgent-for-linus' of ↵Linus Torvalds2019-05-161-1/+1
|\ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip Pull core fixes from Ingo Molnar: "A handful of objtool updates, plus a documentation addition for __ab_c_size()" * 'core-urgent-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: objtool: Fix whitelist documentation typo objtool: Fix function fallthrough detection objtool: Don't use ignore flag for fake jumps overflow.h: Add comment documenting __ab_c_size()
| * objtool: Fix whitelist documentation typoRaphael Gault2019-05-151-1/+1
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The directive specified in the documentation to add an exception for a single file in a Makefile was inverted. Signed-off-by: Raphael Gault <raphael.gault@arm.com> Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/522362a1b934ee39d0af0abb231f68e160ecf1a8.1557874043.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* | docs: livepatch: convert docs to ReST and rename to *.rstMauro Carvalho Chehab2019-05-071-1/+1
|/ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Convert livepatch documentation to ReST format. The changes are mostly trivial, as the documents are already on a good shape. Just a few markup changes are needed for Sphinx to properly parse the docs. The conversion is actually: - add blank lines and identation in order to identify paragraphs; - fix tables markups; - add some lists markups; - mark literal blocks; - The in-file TOC becomes a comment, in order to skip it from the output, as Sphinx already generates an index there. - adjust title markups. At its new index.rst, let's add a :orphan: while this is not linked to the main index.rst file, in order to avoid build warnings. Signed-off-by: Mauro Carvalho Chehab <mchehab+samsung@kernel.org> Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.com> Acked-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@suse.cz> Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Acked-by: Joe Lawrence <joe.lawrence@redhat.com> Reviewed-by: Kamalesh Babulal <kamalesh@linux.vnet.ibm.com> Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
* x86/asm: Fix inline asm call constraints for ClangJosh Poimboeuf2017-09-231-3/+3
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | For inline asm statements which have a CALL instruction, we list the stack pointer as a constraint to convince GCC to ensure the frame pointer is set up first: static inline void foo() { register void *__sp asm(_ASM_SP); asm("call bar" : "+r" (__sp)) } Unfortunately, that pattern causes Clang to corrupt the stack pointer. The fix is easy: convert the stack pointer register variable to a global variable. It should be noted that the end result is different based on the GCC version. With GCC 6.4, this patch has exactly the same result as before: defconfig defconfig-nofp distro distro-nofp before 9820389 9491555 8816046 8516940 after 9820389 9491555 8816046 8516940 With GCC 7.2, however, GCC's behavior has changed. It now changes its behavior based on the conversion of the register variable to a global. That somehow convinces it to *always* set up the frame pointer before inserting *any* inline asm. (Therefore, listing the variable as an output constraint is a no-op and is no longer necessary.) It's a bit overkill, but the performance impact should be negligible. And in fact, there's a nice improvement with frame pointers disabled: defconfig defconfig-nofp distro distro-nofp before 9796316 9468236 9076191 8790305 after 9796957 9464267 9076381 8785949 So in summary, while listing the stack pointer as an output constraint is no longer necessary for newer versions of GCC, it's still needed for older versions. Suggested-by: Andrey Ryabinin <aryabinin@virtuozzo.com> Reported-by: Matthias Kaehlcke <mka@chromium.org> Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Alexander Potapenko <glider@google.com> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de> Cc: Dmitriy Vyukov <dvyukov@google.com> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Miguel Bernal Marin <miguel.bernal.marin@linux.intel.com> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/3db862e970c432ae823cf515c52b54fec8270e0e.1505942196.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* objtool: Add ORC unwind table generationJosh Poimboeuf2017-07-181-39/+17
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Now that objtool knows the states of all registers on the stack for each instruction, it's straightforward to generate debuginfo for an unwinder to use. Instead of generating DWARF, generate a new format called ORC, which is more suitable for an in-kernel unwinder. See Documentation/x86/orc-unwinder.txt for a more detailed description of this new debuginfo format and why it's preferable to DWARF. Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de> Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com> Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com> Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com> Cc: Jiri Slaby <jslaby@suse.cz> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Mike Galbraith <efault@gmx.de> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Cc: live-patching@vger.kernel.org Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/c9b9f01ba6c5ed2bdc9bb0957b78167fdbf9632e.1499786555.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* objtool: Implement stack validation 2.0Josh Poimboeuf2017-06-301-88/+65
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | This is a major rewrite of objtool. Instead of only tracking frame pointer changes, it now tracks all stack-related operations, including all register saves/restores. In addition to making stack validation more robust, this also paves the way for undwarf generation. Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> Cc: Jiri Slaby <jslaby@suse.cz> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Cc: live-patching@vger.kernel.org Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/678bd94c0566c6129bcc376cddb259c4c5633004.1498659915.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* objtool: Detect falling through to the next functionJosh Poimboeuf2016-04-161-9/+29
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | There are several cases in compiled C code where a function may not return at the end, and may instead fall through to the next function. That may indicate a bug in the code, or a gcc bug, or even an objtool bug. But in each case, objtool reports an unhelpful warning, something like: drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_attr.o: warning: objtool: qla2x00_get_fc_host_stats()+0x0: duplicate frame pointer save drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_attr.o: warning: objtool: qla2x00_get_fc_host_stats()+0x0: frame pointer state mismatch Detect this situation and print a more useful error message: drivers/scsi/qla2xxx/qla_attr.o: warning: objtool: qla2x00_get_host_fabric_name() falls through to next function qla2x00_get_starget_node_name() Also add some information about this warning and its potential causes to the documentation. Reported-by: kbuild test robot <fengguang.wu@intel.com> Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net> Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com> Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de> Cc: Brian Gerst <brgerst@gmail.com> Cc: Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@redhat.com> Cc: H. Peter Anvin <hpa@zytor.com> Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@redhat.com> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/caa4ec6c687931db805e692d4e4bf06cd87d33e6.1460729697.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
* objtool: Add tool to perform compile-time stack metadata validationJosh Poimboeuf2016-02-291-0/+342
This adds a host tool named objtool which has a "check" subcommand which analyzes .o files to ensure the validity of stack metadata. It enforces a set of rules on asm code and C inline assembly code so that stack traces can be reliable. For each function, it recursively follows all possible code paths and validates the correct frame pointer state at each instruction. It also follows code paths involving kernel special sections, like .altinstructions, __jump_table, and __ex_table, which can add alternative execution paths to a given instruction (or set of instructions). Similarly, it knows how to follow switch statements, for which gcc sometimes uses jump tables. Here are some of the benefits of validating stack metadata: a) More reliable stack traces for frame pointer enabled kernels Frame pointers are used for debugging purposes. They allow runtime code and debug tools to be able to walk the stack to determine the chain of function call sites that led to the currently executing code. For some architectures, frame pointers are enabled by CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER. For some other architectures they may be required by the ABI (sometimes referred to as "backchain pointers"). For C code, gcc automatically generates instructions for setting up frame pointers when the -fno-omit-frame-pointer option is used. But for asm code, the frame setup instructions have to be written by hand, which most people don't do. So the end result is that CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER is honored for C code but not for most asm code. For stack traces based on frame pointers to be reliable, all functions which call other functions must first create a stack frame and update the frame pointer. If a first function doesn't properly create a stack frame before calling a second function, the *caller* of the first function will be skipped on the stack trace. For example, consider the following example backtrace with frame pointers enabled: [<ffffffff81812584>] dump_stack+0x4b/0x63 [<ffffffff812d6dc2>] cmdline_proc_show+0x12/0x30 [<ffffffff8127f568>] seq_read+0x108/0x3e0 [<ffffffff812cce62>] proc_reg_read+0x42/0x70 [<ffffffff81256197>] __vfs_read+0x37/0x100 [<ffffffff81256b16>] vfs_read+0x86/0x130 [<ffffffff81257898>] SyS_read+0x58/0xd0 [<ffffffff8181c1f2>] entry_SYSCALL_64_fastpath+0x12/0x76 It correctly shows that the caller of cmdline_proc_show() is seq_read(). If we remove the frame pointer logic from cmdline_proc_show() by replacing the frame pointer related instructions with nops, here's what it looks like instead: [<ffffffff81812584>] dump_stack+0x4b/0x63 [<ffffffff812d6dc2>] cmdline_proc_show+0x12/0x30 [<ffffffff812cce62>] proc_reg_read+0x42/0x70 [<ffffffff81256197>] __vfs_read+0x37/0x100 [<ffffffff81256b16>] vfs_read+0x86/0x130 [<ffffffff81257898>] SyS_read+0x58/0xd0 [<ffffffff8181c1f2>] entry_SYSCALL_64_fastpath+0x12/0x76 Notice that cmdline_proc_show()'s caller, seq_read(), has been skipped. Instead the stack trace seems to show that cmdline_proc_show() was called by proc_reg_read(). The benefit of "objtool check" here is that because it ensures that *all* functions honor CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER, no functions will ever[*] be skipped on a stack trace. [*] unless an interrupt or exception has occurred at the very beginning of a function before the stack frame has been created, or at the very end of the function after the stack frame has been destroyed. This is an inherent limitation of frame pointers. b) 100% reliable stack traces for DWARF enabled kernels This is not yet implemented. For more details about what is planned, see tools/objtool/Documentation/stack-validation.txt. c) Higher live patching compatibility rate This is not yet implemented. For more details about what is planned, see tools/objtool/Documentation/stack-validation.txt. To achieve the validation, "objtool check" enforces the following rules: 1. Each callable function must be annotated as such with the ELF function type. In asm code, this is typically done using the ENTRY/ENDPROC macros. If objtool finds a return instruction outside of a function, it flags an error since that usually indicates callable code which should be annotated accordingly. This rule is needed so that objtool can properly identify each callable function in order to analyze its stack metadata. 2. Conversely, each section of code which is *not* callable should *not* be annotated as an ELF function. The ENDPROC macro shouldn't be used in this case. This rule is needed so that objtool can ignore non-callable code. Such code doesn't have to follow any of the other rules. 3. Each callable function which calls another function must have the correct frame pointer logic, if required by CONFIG_FRAME_POINTER or the architecture's back chain rules. This can by done in asm code with the FRAME_BEGIN/FRAME_END macros. This rule ensures that frame pointer based stack traces will work as designed. If function A doesn't create a stack frame before calling function B, the _caller_ of function A will be skipped on the stack trace. 4. Dynamic jumps and jumps to undefined symbols are only allowed if: a) the jump is part of a switch statement; or b) the jump matches sibling call semantics and the frame pointer has the same value it had on function entry. This rule is needed so that objtool can reliably analyze all of a function's code paths. If a function jumps to code in another file, and it's not a sibling call, objtool has no way to follow the jump because it only analyzes a single file at a time. 5. A callable function may not execute kernel entry/exit instructions. The only code which needs such instructions is kernel entry code, which shouldn't be be in callable functions anyway. This rule is just a sanity check to ensure that callable functions return normally. It currently only supports x86_64. I tried to make the code generic so that support for other architectures can hopefully be plugged in relatively easily. On my Lenovo laptop with a i7-4810MQ 4-core/8-thread CPU, building the kernel with objtool checking every .o file adds about three seconds of total build time. It hasn't been optimized for performance yet, so there are probably some opportunities for better build performance. Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> Cc: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@kernel.org> Cc: Bernd Petrovitsch <bernd@petrovitsch.priv.at> Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de> Cc: Chris J Arges <chris.j.arges@canonical.com> Cc: Jiri Slaby <jslaby@suse.cz> Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> Cc: Michal Marek <mmarek@suse.cz> Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@gmail.com> Cc: Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com> Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de> Cc: live-patching@vger.kernel.org Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/f3efb173de43bd067b060de73f856567c0fa1174.1456719558.git.jpoimboe@redhat.com Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>