Re: [PATCH, RFC] MIPS: Implement the getcontext API

[Ralf Baechle <ralf@linux-mips.org>]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2009 at 05:46:56AM +0200, Markus Gothe wrote:

> That article is a classic one, just the name itself...
>
> However the article itself is based on M68K and Intel x86 IIRC.

There is a variant or extension of it which specifically looks at MIPS
o32 issues.

> Indeed, IRIX < 6.2 was all o32, correct me if I'm wrong.
>
> To get back on track, what about a kernel that can be compiled by  
> MIPSPro C and not relaying on glibc and GNUisms (al right, 'asmlinkage' 
> cracked that idea once and for all a few years ago), but my point is to 
> change the libc as little as possible.

Do you have a MIPSpro compiler that is hosted on a non-IRIX?  Asmlinkage
is just an empty define.

> I hope I brought a grasp of light on the issue (and yes $ra is fun to  
> play with), and as Ralph pointed out: the special stack frame makes the 
> return address traceability disappear after one step as __GNUC__ knows 
> it.

The first problem with the usual stack smashing techniques is that the
return address of a leaf function is not getting stored on the stack at
all, so can't be smashed by a stack overflow.  So the caller's return
address is becoming the new attack target.

  Ralf

PS: Who's that Ralph?