[PATCH] powerpc/irq: Fix missing r2 clobber in PCREL inline assembly

[PATCH] powerpc/irq: Fix missing r2 clobber in PCREL inline assembly

[Saket Kumar Bhaskar]

In CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL mode, r2 is no longer reserved for the TOC
pointer and is available as a caller-saved register [0].

Both call_do_irq() and call_do_softirq() use inline assembly to call
functions with stack switching, but fail to list r2 in their clobber
lists. This causes the compiler to assume r2 is preserved across these
calls, leading to register corruption when the called functions
(__do_irq and __do_softirq) clobber r2.

As a result of this kernel crash during interrupt handling is seen and
the kernel fails to boot:

BUG: Unable to handle kernel data access on write at 0xc000000404697638
Faulting instruction address: 0xc0000000000181ec
Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1]
NIP [c0000000000181ec] __do_IRQ+0x6c/0xc0

With older GCC, the compiler would conservatively allocate
callee-saved registers (like r31) for values spanning function calls,
accidentally avoiding the bug:

<__do_IRQ>:
00 00 00 60 	nop
a6 02 08 7c 	mflr    r0
f8 ff e1 fb 	std     r31,-8(r1)
f0 ff c1 fb 	std     r30,-16(r1)
2d 03 10 06 	pla     r31,53297316

...

3d e8 ff 4b 	bl      c0000000000165ac <__do_irq>
00 00 21 e8 	ld      r1,0(r1)
28 00 4d e9 	ld      r10,40(r13)
40 00 21 38 	addi    r1,r1,64
2a f9 aa 7f 	stdx    r29,r10,r31

With newer GCC 14, the compiler uses r2 for such values, exposing the
missing clobber specification:

<__do_IRQ>:
00 00 00 60     nop
a6 02 08 7c     mflr    r0
f0 ff c1 fb     std     r30,-16(r1)
f8 ff e1 fb     std     r31,-8(r1)
29 02 10 06     pla     r2,36252592     # c0000000022aadc0 <__irq_regs>

...

85 dc ff 4b 	bl      c000000000015ee0 <__do_irq>
00 00 21 e8 	ld      r1,0(r1)
28 00 2d e9 	ld      r9,40(r13)
30 00 21 38 	addi    r1,r1,48
2a 11 c9 7f 	stdx    r30,r9,r2

Fix this by adding r2 to the clobber list for both call_do_irq() and
call_do_softirq() when CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL is enabled.

[0]: https://www.mail-archive.com/gcc-patches@gcc.gnu.org/msg313226.html

Fixes: 7e3a68be42e1 ("powerpc/64: vmlinux support building with PCREL addresing")
Signed-off-by: Saket Kumar Bhaskar <skb99@linux.ibm.com>
---
 arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c | 14 ++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 12 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c b/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c
index a0e8b998c9b5..26df38bdd334 100644
--- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c
+++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c
@@ -218,7 +218,12 @@ static __always_inline void call_do_softirq(const void *sp)
 		   [callee] "i" (__do_softirq)
 		 : // Clobbers
 		   "lr", "xer", "ctr", "memory", "cr0", "cr1", "cr5", "cr6",
-		   "cr7", "r0", "r3", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
+		   "cr7", "r0",
+		  /* r2 is clobbered in PCREL mode */
+#ifdef CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL
+		   "r2",
+#endif
+		   "r3", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
 		   "r11", "r12"
 	);
 }
@@ -276,7 +281,12 @@ static __always_inline void call_do_irq(struct pt_regs *regs, void *sp)
 		   [callee] "i" (__do_irq)
 		 : // Clobbers
 		   "lr", "xer", "ctr", "memory", "cr0", "cr1", "cr5", "cr6",
-		   "cr7", "r0", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
+		   "cr7", "r0",
+		  /* r2 is clobbered in PCREL mode */
+#ifdef CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL
+		   "r2",
+#endif
+		   "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
 		   "r11", "r12"
 	);
 }
-- 
2.54.0

Re: [PATCH] powerpc/irq: Fix missing r2 clobber in PCREL inline assembly

[Segher Boessenkool]

Hi!

On Mon, Jul 20, 2026 at 12:43:47PM +0530, Saket Kumar Bhaskar wrote:
> In CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL mode, r2 is no longer reserved for the TOC
> pointer and is available as a caller-saved register [0].

Just like on many more ABIs.  Yeah.  It's the first that PowerPC Linux
supports though :-)

> Both call_do_irq() and call_do_softirq() use inline assembly to call
> functions with stack switching, but fail to list r2 in their clobber
> lists. This causes the compiler to assume r2 is preserved across these
> calls, leading to register corruption when the called functions
> (__do_irq and __do_softirq) clobber r2.

Yeah.

> index a0e8b998c9b5..26df38bdd334 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/kernel/irq.c
> @@ -218,7 +218,12 @@ static __always_inline void call_do_softirq(const void *sp)
>  		   [callee] "i" (__do_softirq)
>  		 : // Clobbers
>  		   "lr", "xer", "ctr", "memory", "cr0", "cr1", "cr5", "cr6",
> -		   "cr7", "r0", "r3", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
> +		   "cr7", "r0",
> +		  /* r2 is clobbered in PCREL mode */

"Note that r2 may be clobbered in the call, when using the ELF V2 ABI"?

PCREL has nothing to do with it.  Well, not directly :-)  And the
clobber list does not specify registers that definitely *are* clobbered,
but registers that *may be* clobbered, instead :-)  Registers that *are*
clobbered are in the output list (and given a name there so that the new
value can be accessed, etc.)

> +#ifdef CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL
> +		   "r2",
> +#endif
> +		   "r3", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
>  		   "r11", "r12"
>  	);
>  }
> @@ -276,7 +281,12 @@ static __always_inline void call_do_irq(struct pt_regs *regs, void *sp)
>  		   [callee] "i" (__do_irq)
>  		 : // Clobbers
>  		   "lr", "xer", "ctr", "memory", "cr0", "cr1", "cr5", "cr6",
> -		   "cr7", "r0", "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
> +		   "cr7", "r0",
> +		  /* r2 is clobbered in PCREL mode */
> +#ifdef CONFIG_PPC_KERNEL_PCREL
> +		   "r2",
> +#endif
> +		   "r4", "r5", "r6", "r7", "r8", "r9", "r10",
>  		   "r11", "r12"
>  	);
>  }


Segher