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From: Bill Roberts <bill.roberts@arm.com>
To: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>, Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
	Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
	rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com, Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>,
	x86@kernel.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org,
	Bill Roberts <bill.roberts@arm.com>
Subject: [PATCH RESEND v2 1/2] arch/x86: handle ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE explicitly
Date: Mon,  2 Nov 2026 12:17:07 -0600	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261102181708.29178-1-bill.roberts@arm.com> (raw)

On x86 user shadow stack is controlled via an arch_prctl() interface, in
order to allow ptrace to actuate some of the options, and allow normal
syscall execution of arch_prctl() to execute others. Only valid shadow stack
options, for both ptrace and normal userspace callers, are directed into the
shstk_prctl() handler via checking in do_arch_prctl_64(). Then in
shstk_prctl(), it differentiates ptrace callers by checking if task !=
current.

The trouble starts when the handling of the task == current (normal syscall)
case treats the enabling option, ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE, like a default case. It
reasons that shstk_prctl() has handled all other possible shadow stack
options, so ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE can be the only remaining. Or so it thinks.
Because the ARCH_SHSTK_UNLOCK option is only handled in the ptrace case.
Since it has no handler in the syscall case, ARCH_SHSTK_UNLOCK can get
misinterpreted as ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE by the erroneous default case logic.

The impact is that doing an arch_prtcl(ARCH_SHSTK_UNLOCK) syscall actually
behaves like an arch_prtcl(ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE) syscall. This is a surprising
behavior, but does not expose any control to userspace that it doesn't
already have.

So drop the buggy default assumptions by checking for ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE
explicitly.

Reviewed-by: Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Bill Roberts <bill.roberts@arm.com>
---
 arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c | 12 +++++++-----
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c b/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
index eb690ba90180..8deed118040c 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
@@ -607,11 +607,13 @@ long shstk_prctl(struct task_struct *task, int option, unsigned long arg2)
 		return -EINVAL;
 	}
 
-	/* Handle ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE */
-	if (features & ARCH_SHSTK_SHSTK)
-		return shstk_setup();
-	if (features & ARCH_SHSTK_WRSS)
-		return wrss_control(true);
+	if (option == ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE) {
+		if (features & ARCH_SHSTK_SHSTK)
+			return shstk_setup();
+		if (features & ARCH_SHSTK_WRSS)
+			return wrss_control(true);
+	}
+
 	return -EINVAL;
 }
 
-- 
2.55.0


             reply	other threads:[~2026-11-03 18:47 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 2+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-11-02 18:17 Bill Roberts [this message]
2026-11-02 18:17 ` [PATCH RESEND v2 2/2] selftest/x86: test ARCH_SHSTK_UNLOCK Bill Roberts

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