The following commit has been merged into the objtool/core branch of tip:

Commit-ID:     4cd3cfb8b54feca89a682720434092a87bfa4967
Gitweb:        https://git.kernel.org/tip/4cd3cfb8b54feca89a682720434092a87bfa4967
Author:        Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
AuthorDate:    Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:37:53 -07:00
Committer:     Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
CommitterDate: Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:10:51 -07:00

objtool/klp: Fix relocations for EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() symbols

EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() puts a symbol in a "module:<names>"
namespace, which the module loader grants access to by matching the
importing module's name against that list.

klp_reloc_needed() only creates a klp reloc for module-owned exports; a
vmlinux export gets a normal reloc.  For a vmlinux symbol exported with
EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES(), using a normal reloc results in a modpost
failure in klp-build:

  ERROR: modpost: module livepatch-foo uses symbol mpol_shared_policy_lookup from namespace module:kvm, but does not import it.

And the modpost error is correct: even with that error removed, the
patch module would fail to load:

  livepatch_foo: module uses symbol (mpol_shared_policy_lookup) from namespace module:kvm, but does not import it.
  livepatch_foo: Unknown symbol mpol_shared_policy_lookup (err -22)

Treat it like an unexported symbol by using a klp reloc.

Note this only affects "module:" namespaces.  Ordinary namespaced
exports continue to work with normal relocs thanks to copy_import_ns(),
which propagates the patched object's import_ns tags to the patch
module.

Fixes: dd590d4d57eb ("objtool/klp: Introduce klp diff subcommand for diffing object files")
Reported-by: Joe Lawrence <joe.lawrence@redhat.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/6a6608f4-0a05-4d75-8b7f-edddfac9c5d4@redhat.com
Acked-by: Joe Lawrence <joe.lawrence@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Song Liu <song@kernel.org>
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/fe5a00818e06ec613344d41d5944de054fcd8832.1786138493.git.jpoimboe@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>
---
 tools/objtool/klp-diff.c | 28 +++++++++++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 23 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/objtool/klp-diff.c b/tools/objtool/klp-diff.c
index 0211e5c..1f05646 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/klp-diff.c
+++ b/tools/objtool/klp-diff.c
@@ -30,7 +30,9 @@ struct elfs {
 
 struct export {
 	struct hlist_node hash;
-	char *mod, *sym;
+	char *mod;
+	char *sym;
+	bool mod_ns;
 };
 
 bool debug, debug_correlate, debug_clone;
@@ -135,7 +137,7 @@ static int read_exports(void)
 	}
 
 	while (fgets(line, 1024, file)) {
-		char *sym, *mod, *type;
+		char *sym, *mod, *type, *namespace;
 		struct export *export;
 
 		sym = strchr(line, '\t');
@@ -162,6 +164,14 @@ static int read_exports(void)
 
 		*type++ = '\0';
 
+		namespace = strchr(type, '\t');
+		if (!namespace) {
+			ERROR("malformed Module.symvers (namespace) at line %d", line_num);
+			return -1;
+		}
+
+		*namespace++ = '\0';
+
 		if (*sym == '\0' || *mod == '\0') {
 			ERROR("malformed Module.symvers at line %d", line_num);
 			return -1;
@@ -188,6 +198,9 @@ static int read_exports(void)
 			return -1;
 		}
 
+		/* EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() */
+		export->mod_ns = strstarts(namespace, "module:");
+
 		hash_add(exports, &export->hash, str_hash(sym));
 	}
 
@@ -1175,11 +1188,16 @@ static bool klp_reloc_needed(struct reloc *patched_reloc)
 	 * clusterfunk that is late module patching, the patch module is
 	 * allowed to be loaded before any modules it depends on.
 	 *
-	 * If exported by vmlinux, a normal reloc will do.
+	 * If exported by vmlinux to all modules, a normal reloc will do.
 	 */
 	export = find_export(patched_sym);
-	if (export)
-		return strcmp(export->mod, "vmlinux");
+	if (export) {
+		if (strcmp(export->mod, "vmlinux"))
+			return true;
+
+		/* EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() gets a klp reloc */
+		return export->mod_ns;
+	}
 
 	if (!patched_sym->twin) {
 		/*