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From: "Ritesh Harjani (IBM)" <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
To: linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org
Cc: Madhavan Srinivasan <maddy@linux.ibm.com>,
	Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@linux.ibm.com>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, chleroy@kernel.org,
	Michael Ellerman <mpe@ellerman.id.au>,
	Nicholas Piggin <npiggin@gmail.com>,
	Shrikanth Hegde <sshegde@linux.ibm.com>,
	Hari Bathini <hbathini@linux.ibm.com>,
	"Ritesh Harjani (IBM)" <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCHv2 2/3] powerpc/execmem: Allocate kprobes insn pages from the modules area on book3s/32
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2026 18:01:37 +0530	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <82c4973addebd82923c460cb44221f5b76146afe.1794572365.git.ritesh.list@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <cover.1794572365.git.ritesh.list@gmail.com>

On book3s/32, a kprobe on an instruction that can't be emulated and has
to be single stepped out of line, crashes the kernel. For e.g. with the
following cmds...
    ~> echo 9 > /proc/sys/kernel/printk
    ~> mount -t debugfs debugfs /sys/kernel/debug
    ~> echo 'p:wx filldir64+0xb8' > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/kprobe_events
    ~> echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/wx/enable
    ~> echo 1 > /sys/kernel/debug/tracing/events/kprobes/enable

...we can see the following crash:
    kernel tried to execute exec-protected page (f101a008) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0)
    BUG: Unable to handle kernel instruction fetch
    Faulting instruction address: 0xc02b919c
    Vector: 400 (Instruction Access) at [f19a9d60]
        pc: c02b919c: filldir64+0xb8/0x2dc
        lr: c02b9148: filldir64+0x64/0x2dc
        sp: f19a9e20
       msr: 10029032
      current = 0xc112e900
        pid   = 102, comm = ls
    enter ? for help
    [f19a9e20] c1a8d420 (unreliable)
    [f19a9e50] c02e4074 dcache_readdir+0x208/0x2a8
    [f19a9e90] c02b8c5c iterate_dir+0x88/0x1fc
    [f19a9ec0] c02b96e0 sys_getdents64+0x88/0x198
    [f19a9f10] c0014400 system_call_exception+0xf8/0x20c
    [f19a9f30] c00191ac ret_from_syscall+0x0/0x2c
    ---- Exception: c00 (System Call) at a7596164
    SP (af802310) is in userspace

This happens because on book3s/32 the exec permission is per segment
(256MB), not per page. The page tables have no hardware exec bit, only
the segment registers have a no-execute (N) bit. mmu_mark_initmem_nx()
sets N on all the kernel segments except the ones of the modules area.
So nothing in the vmalloc area can be executed, even when the page is
mapped with PAGE_KERNEL_ROX or PAGE_KERNEL_EXEC, because _PAGE_EXEC is
a software only bit there and the segment's N bit is what the MMU
enforces.

Before commit 1b750c2fbf82 ("powerpc: extend execmem_params for kprobes
allocations"), the kprobes insn pages came from module_alloc(). That
commit moved them to the whole of the vmalloc space, on the grounds
that kprobes use a breakpoint and don't need to be near the kernel
text. That is fine on platforms where the exec permission is per page,
as PAGE_KERNEL_ROX is then enough to make a vmalloc page executable.
It is not on book3s/32, where the modules area is not only close to
the kernel text but is also the only page-mapped area whose segment is
left executable. So the insn pages must keep coming from there.

Hence, use the modules area for EXECMEM_KPROBES on book3s/32.

Fixes: 1b750c2fbf82 ("powerpc: extend execmem_params for kprobes allocations")
Signed-off-by: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
---
 arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c | 10 ++++++++--
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
index 77b63b52d8f2..ae1bc7359353 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/mem.c
@@ -391,6 +391,7 @@ struct execmem_info __init *execmem_arch_setup(void)
 	pgprot_t kprobes_prot = strict_kernel_rwx_enabled() ? PAGE_KERNEL_ROX : PAGE_KERNEL_EXEC;
 	pgprot_t prot = strict_module_rwx_enabled() ? PAGE_KERNEL : PAGE_KERNEL_EXEC;
 	unsigned long fallback_start = 0, fallback_end = 0;
+	unsigned long kprobes_start = VMALLOC_START, kprobes_end = VMALLOC_END;
 	unsigned long start, end;

 	/*
@@ -410,6 +411,11 @@ struct execmem_info __init *execmem_arch_setup(void)
 	}

 	end = MODULES_END;
+
+	if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PPC_BOOK3S_32)) {
+		kprobes_start = MODULES_VADDR;
+		kprobes_end = MODULES_END;
+	}
 #else
 	start = VMALLOC_START;
 	end = VMALLOC_END;
@@ -428,8 +434,8 @@ struct execmem_info __init *execmem_arch_setup(void)
 				.fallback_end	= fallback_end,
 			},
 			[EXECMEM_KPROBES] = {
-				.start	= VMALLOC_START,
-				.end	= VMALLOC_END,
+				.start	= kprobes_start,
+				.end	= kprobes_end,
 				.pgprot	= kprobes_prot,
 				.alignment = 1,
 			},
--
2.39.5


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-11-13 12:32 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-11-13 12:31 [PATCHv2 0/3] powerpc: kprobes insn page fixes Ritesh Harjani (IBM)
2026-11-13 12:31 ` [PATCHv2 1/3] powerpc/execmem: Don't leave kprobes insn pages W+X when CONFIG_MODULES=n Ritesh Harjani (IBM)
2026-11-13 12:31 ` Ritesh Harjani (IBM) [this message]
2026-11-13 12:31 ` [PATCHv2 3/3] powerpc/ptdump: Show the exec flag of kernel mappings on e500 Ritesh Harjani (IBM)

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