Linear Address Space Separation (LASS) is currently disabled [1] when
support for vsyscall emulation is configured. This series extends LASS
support specifically to the default mode (vsyscall=xonly).
Changes in v3
-------------
- Pick up review tags from Peter Anvin.
- Pick up tested-by tags from Maciej.
- Minor change in patch 1 to make the reorganized code flow similar to
the original.
Note, Peter suggested a few more changes to tighten the #PF vsyscall
emulation code. I'll post those separately as they are beyond the scope
of this series.
v2: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260305214026.3887452-1-sohil.mehta@intel.com/
Patches
-------
These patches were originally part of the v10 LASS series [2] before
being split out into a smaller series to make it easier to review and
merge. The overall approach to enable vsyscall support was okayed by
Andy Lutomirski [3].
The patches are based on the tip x86/cpu branch which has the recently
merged LASS-EFI series [4].
Issue
-----
Userspace attempts to access any kernel address generate a #GP when LASS
is enabled. Legacy vsyscall functions are located in the address range
0xffffffffff600000 - 0xffffffffff601000. Prior to LASS, default access
(XONLY) to the vsyscall page would generate a page fault and the access
would be emulated in the kernel. Currently, as the #GP handler lacks any
emulation support, LASS is disabled when config X86_VSYSCALL_EMULATION
is set.
Solution
--------
These patches primarily update the #GP handler to reuse the existing
vsyscall emulation code for #PF. In XONLY mode, the faulting RIP is
readily available and can be used to determine if the #GP was triggered
due to a vsyscall access.
In contrast, the vsyscall EMULATE mode is deprecated and not expected to
be used by anyone. Supporting EMULATE mode with LASS would require
complex instruction decoding in the #GP fault handler, which is not
worth the effort. So, LASS is disabled in the rare case when someone
absolutely needs to enable vsyscall=emulate via the command line.
Please find more details in the individual commit messages.
Links
-----
[1]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251118182911.2983253-1-sohil.mehta@intel.com/
[2]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20251007065119.148605-1-sohil.mehta@intel.com/
[3]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/f4ae0030-9bc2-4675-ae43-e477cd894750@app.fastmail.com/
[4]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260120234730.2215498-1-sohil.mehta@intel.com/
Sohil Mehta (5):
x86/vsyscall: Reorganize the page fault emulation code
x86/traps: Consolidate user fixups in the #GP handler
x86/vsyscall: Restore vsyscall=xonly mode under LASS
x86/vsyscall: Disable LASS if vsyscall mode is set to EMULATE
x86/cpu: Remove LASS restriction on vsyscall emulation
.../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 4 +-
arch/x86/entry/vsyscall/vsyscall_64.c | 91 ++++++++++++-------
arch/x86/include/asm/vsyscall.h | 13 ++-
arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c | 15 ---
arch/x86/kernel/traps.c | 12 ++-
arch/x86/kernel/umip.c | 3 +
arch/x86/mm/fault.c | 2 +-
7 files changed, 79 insertions(+), 61 deletions(-)
base-commit: 68400c1aaf02636a97c45ba198110b66feb270a9
--
2.43.0