* [PATCH v3 1/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision for BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB
2025-06-23 4:03 [PATCH v3 0/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision of BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB Harishankar Vishwanathan
@ 2025-06-23 4:03 ` Harishankar Vishwanathan
2025-06-24 21:59 ` Eduard Zingerman
2025-06-23 4:03 ` [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/bpf: Add testcases " Harishankar Vishwanathan
2025-06-25 2:00 ` [PATCH v3 0/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision of " patchwork-bot+netdevbpf
2 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Harishankar Vishwanathan @ 2025-06-23 4:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: ast
Cc: m.shachnai, srinivas.narayana, santosh.nagarakatte,
Harishankar Vishwanathan, Daniel Borkmann, John Fastabend,
Andrii Nakryiko, Martin KaFai Lau, Eduard Zingerman, Song Liu,
Yonghong Song, KP Singh, Stanislav Fomichev, Hao Luo, Jiri Olsa,
bpf, linux-kernel
This patch improves the precison of the scalar(32)_min_max_add and
scalar(32)_min_max_sub functions, which update the u(32)min/u(32)_max
ranges for the BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB instructions. We discovered this more
precise operator using a technique we are developing for automatically
synthesizing functions for updating tnums and ranges.
According to the BPF ISA [1], "Underflow and overflow are allowed during
arithmetic operations, meaning the 64-bit or 32-bit value will wrap".
Our patch leverages the wrap-around semantics of unsigned overflow and
underflow to improve precision.
Below is an example of our patch for scalar_min_max_add; the idea is
analogous for all four functions.
There are three cases to consider when adding two u64 ranges [dst_umin,
dst_umax] and [src_umin, src_umax]. Consider a value x in the range
[dst_umin, dst_umax] and another value y in the range [src_umin,
src_umax].
(a) No overflow: No addition x + y overflows. This occurs when even the
largest possible sum, i.e., dst_umax + src_umax <= U64_MAX.
(b) Partial overflow: Some additions x + y overflow. This occurs when
the largest possible sum overflows (dst_umax + src_umax > U64_MAX), but
the smallest possible sum does not overflow (dst_umin + src_umin <=
U64_MAX).
(c) Full overflow: All additions x + y overflow. This occurs when both
the smallest possible sum and the largest possible sum overflow, i.e.,
both (dst_umin + src_umin) and (dst_umax + src_umax) are > U64_MAX.
The current implementation conservatively sets the output bounds to
unbounded, i.e, [umin=0, umax=U64_MAX], whenever there is *any*
possibility of overflow, i.e, in cases (b) and (c). Otherwise it
computes tight bounds as [dst_umin + src_umin, dst_umax + src_umax]:
if (check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, src_reg->umin_value, dst_umin) ||
check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, src_reg->umax_value, dst_umax)) {
*dst_umin = 0;
*dst_umax = U64_MAX;
}
Our synthesis-based technique discovered a more precise operator.
Particularly, in case (c), all possible additions x + y overflow and
wrap around according to eBPF semantics, and the computation of the
output range as [dst_umin + src_umin, dst_umax + src_umax] continues to
work. Only in case (b), do we need to set the output bounds to
unbounded, i.e., [0, U64_MAX].
Case (b) can be checked by seeing if the minimum possible sum does *not*
overflow and the maximum possible sum *does* overflow, and when that
happens, we set the output to unbounded:
min_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, src_reg->umin_value, dst_umin);
max_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, src_reg->umax_value, dst_umax);
if (!min_overflow && max_overflow) {
*dst_umin = 0;
*dst_umax = U64_MAX;
}
Below is an example eBPF program and the corresponding log from the
verifier.
The current implementation of scalar_min_max_add() sets r3's bounds to
[0, U64_MAX] at instruction 5: (0f) r3 += r3, due to conservative
overflow handling.
0: R1=ctx() R10=fp0
0: (b7) r4 = 0 ; R4_w=0
1: (87) r4 = -r4 ; R4_w=scalar()
2: (18) r3 = 0xa000000000000000 ; R3_w=0xa000000000000000
4: (4f) r3 |= r4 ; R3_w=scalar(smin=0xa000000000000000,smax=-1,umin=0xa000000000000000,var_off=(0xa000000000000000; 0x5fffffffffffffff)) R4_w=scalar()
5: (0f) r3 += r3 ; R3_w=scalar()
6: (b7) r0 = 1 ; R0_w=1
7: (95) exit
With our patch, r3's bounds after instruction 5 are set to a much more
precise [0x4000000000000000,0xfffffffffffffffe].
...
5: (0f) r3 += r3 ; R3_w=scalar(umin=0x4000000000000000,umax=0xfffffffffffffffe)
6: (b7) r0 = 1 ; R0_w=1
7: (95) exit
The logic for scalar32_min_max_add is analogous. For the
scalar(32)_min_max_sub functions, the reasoning is similar but applied
to detecting underflow instead of overflow.
We verified the correctness of the new implementations using Agni [3,4].
We since also discovered that a similar technique has been used to
calculate output ranges for unsigned interval addition and subtraction
in Hacker's Delight [2].
[1] https://docs.kernel.org/bpf/standardization/instruction-set.html
[2] Hacker's Delight Ch.4-2, Propagating Bounds through Add’s and Subtract’s
[3] https://github.com/bpfverif/agni
[4] https://people.cs.rutgers.edu/~sn349/papers/sas24-preprint.pdf
Co-developed-by: Matan Shachnai <m.shachnai@rutgers.edu>
Signed-off-by: Matan Shachnai <m.shachnai@rutgers.edu>
Co-developed-by: Srinivas Narayana <srinivas.narayana@rutgers.edu>
Signed-off-by: Srinivas Narayana <srinivas.narayana@rutgers.edu>
Co-developed-by: Santosh Nagarakatte <santosh.nagarakatte@rutgers.edu>
Signed-off-by: Santosh Nagarakatte <santosh.nagarakatte@rutgers.edu>
Signed-off-by: Harishankar Vishwanathan <harishankar.vishwanathan@gmail.com>
---
kernel/bpf/verifier.c | 76 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------
1 file changed, 56 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/bpf/verifier.c b/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
index 279a64933262..f403524bd215 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
@@ -14605,14 +14605,25 @@ static void scalar32_min_max_add(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
s32 *dst_smax = &dst_reg->s32_max_value;
u32 *dst_umin = &dst_reg->u32_min_value;
u32 *dst_umax = &dst_reg->u32_max_value;
+ u32 umin_val = src_reg->u32_min_value;
+ u32 umax_val = src_reg->u32_max_value;
+ bool min_overflow, max_overflow;
if (check_add_overflow(*dst_smin, src_reg->s32_min_value, dst_smin) ||
check_add_overflow(*dst_smax, src_reg->s32_max_value, dst_smax)) {
*dst_smin = S32_MIN;
*dst_smax = S32_MAX;
}
- if (check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, src_reg->u32_min_value, dst_umin) ||
- check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, src_reg->u32_max_value, dst_umax)) {
+
+ /* If either all additions overflow or no additions overflow, then
+ * it is okay to set: dst_umin = dst_umin + src_umin, dst_umax =
+ * dst_umax + src_umax. Otherwise (some additions overflow), set
+ * the output bounds to unbounded.
+ */
+ min_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, umin_val, dst_umin);
+ max_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, umax_val, dst_umax);
+
+ if (!min_overflow && max_overflow) {
*dst_umin = 0;
*dst_umax = U32_MAX;
}
@@ -14625,14 +14636,25 @@ static void scalar_min_max_add(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
s64 *dst_smax = &dst_reg->smax_value;
u64 *dst_umin = &dst_reg->umin_value;
u64 *dst_umax = &dst_reg->umax_value;
+ u64 umin_val = src_reg->umin_value;
+ u64 umax_val = src_reg->umax_value;
+ bool min_overflow, max_overflow;
if (check_add_overflow(*dst_smin, src_reg->smin_value, dst_smin) ||
check_add_overflow(*dst_smax, src_reg->smax_value, dst_smax)) {
*dst_smin = S64_MIN;
*dst_smax = S64_MAX;
}
- if (check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, src_reg->umin_value, dst_umin) ||
- check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, src_reg->umax_value, dst_umax)) {
+
+ /* If either all additions overflow or no additions overflow, then
+ * it is okay to set: dst_umin = dst_umin + src_umin, dst_umax =
+ * dst_umax + src_umax. Otherwise (some additions overflow), set
+ * the output bounds to unbounded.
+ */
+ min_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umin, umin_val, dst_umin);
+ max_overflow = check_add_overflow(*dst_umax, umax_val, dst_umax);
+
+ if (!min_overflow && max_overflow) {
*dst_umin = 0;
*dst_umax = U64_MAX;
}
@@ -14643,8 +14665,11 @@ static void scalar32_min_max_sub(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
{
s32 *dst_smin = &dst_reg->s32_min_value;
s32 *dst_smax = &dst_reg->s32_max_value;
+ u32 *dst_umin = &dst_reg->u32_min_value;
+ u32 *dst_umax = &dst_reg->u32_max_value;
u32 umin_val = src_reg->u32_min_value;
u32 umax_val = src_reg->u32_max_value;
+ bool min_underflow, max_underflow;
if (check_sub_overflow(*dst_smin, src_reg->s32_max_value, dst_smin) ||
check_sub_overflow(*dst_smax, src_reg->s32_min_value, dst_smax)) {
@@ -14652,14 +14677,18 @@ static void scalar32_min_max_sub(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
*dst_smin = S32_MIN;
*dst_smax = S32_MAX;
}
- if (dst_reg->u32_min_value < umax_val) {
- /* Overflow possible, we know nothing */
- dst_reg->u32_min_value = 0;
- dst_reg->u32_max_value = U32_MAX;
- } else {
- /* Cannot overflow (as long as bounds are consistent) */
- dst_reg->u32_min_value -= umax_val;
- dst_reg->u32_max_value -= umin_val;
+
+ /* If either all subtractions underflow or no subtractions
+ * underflow, it is okay to set: dst_umin = dst_umin - src_umax,
+ * dst_umax = dst_umax - src_umin. Otherwise (some subtractions
+ * underflow), set the output bounds to unbounded.
+ */
+ min_underflow = check_sub_overflow(*dst_umin, umax_val, dst_umin);
+ max_underflow = check_sub_overflow(*dst_umax, umin_val, dst_umax);
+
+ if (min_underflow && !max_underflow) {
+ *dst_umin = 0;
+ *dst_umax = U32_MAX;
}
}
@@ -14668,8 +14697,11 @@ static void scalar_min_max_sub(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
{
s64 *dst_smin = &dst_reg->smin_value;
s64 *dst_smax = &dst_reg->smax_value;
+ u64 *dst_umin = &dst_reg->umin_value;
+ u64 *dst_umax = &dst_reg->umax_value;
u64 umin_val = src_reg->umin_value;
u64 umax_val = src_reg->umax_value;
+ bool min_underflow, max_underflow;
if (check_sub_overflow(*dst_smin, src_reg->smax_value, dst_smin) ||
check_sub_overflow(*dst_smax, src_reg->smin_value, dst_smax)) {
@@ -14677,14 +14709,18 @@ static void scalar_min_max_sub(struct bpf_reg_state *dst_reg,
*dst_smin = S64_MIN;
*dst_smax = S64_MAX;
}
- if (dst_reg->umin_value < umax_val) {
- /* Overflow possible, we know nothing */
- dst_reg->umin_value = 0;
- dst_reg->umax_value = U64_MAX;
- } else {
- /* Cannot overflow (as long as bounds are consistent) */
- dst_reg->umin_value -= umax_val;
- dst_reg->umax_value -= umin_val;
+
+ /* If either all subtractions underflow or no subtractions
+ * underflow, it is okay to set: dst_umin = dst_umin - src_umax,
+ * dst_umax = dst_umax - src_umin. Otherwise (some subtractions
+ * underflow), set the output bounds to unbounded.
+ */
+ min_underflow = check_sub_overflow(*dst_umin, umax_val, dst_umin);
+ max_underflow = check_sub_overflow(*dst_umax, umin_val, dst_umax);
+
+ if (min_underflow && !max_underflow) {
+ *dst_umin = 0;
+ *dst_umax = U64_MAX;
}
}
--
2.45.2
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread
* [PATCH v3 2/2] selftests/bpf: Add testcases for BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB
2025-06-23 4:03 [PATCH v3 0/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision of BPF_ADD and BPF_SUB Harishankar Vishwanathan
2025-06-23 4:03 ` [PATCH v3 1/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision for " Harishankar Vishwanathan
@ 2025-06-23 4:03 ` Harishankar Vishwanathan
2025-06-24 22:45 ` Eduard Zingerman
2025-06-25 2:00 ` [PATCH v3 0/2] bpf, verifier: Improve precision of " patchwork-bot+netdevbpf
2 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Harishankar Vishwanathan @ 2025-06-23 4:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: ast
Cc: m.shachnai, srinivas.narayana, santosh.nagarakatte,
Harishankar Vishwanathan, Eduard Zingerman, Daniel Borkmann,
John Fastabend, Andrii Nakryiko, Martin KaFai Lau, Song Liu,
Yonghong Song, KP Singh, Stanislav Fomichev, Hao Luo, Jiri Olsa,
Mykola Lysenko, Shuah Khan, Matan Shachnai, Henriette Herzog,
Luis Gerhorst, Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi, bpf, linux-kernel,
linux-kselftest
The previous commit improves the precision in scalar(32)_min_max_add,
and scalar(32)_min_max_sub. The improvement in precision occurs in cases
when all outcomes overflow or underflow, respectively.
This commit adds selftests that exercise those cases.
This commit also adds selftests for cases where the output register
state bounds for u(32)_min/u(32)_max are conservatively set to unbounded
(when there is partial overflow or underflow).
Signed-off-by: Harishankar Vishwanathan <harishankar.vishwanathan@gmail.com>
Co-developed-by: Matan Shachnai <m.shachnai@rutgers.edu>
Signed-off-by: Matan Shachnai <m.shachnai@rutgers.edu>
Suggested-by: Eduard Zingerman <eddyz87@gmail.com>
---
.../selftests/bpf/progs/verifier_bounds.c | 161 ++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 161 insertions(+)
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/verifier_bounds.c b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/verifier_bounds.c
index 30e16153fdf1..31986f6c609e 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/verifier_bounds.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/verifier_bounds.c
@@ -1371,4 +1371,165 @@ __naked void mult_sign_ovf(void)
__imm(bpf_skb_store_bytes)
: __clobber_all);
}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("64-bit addition, all outcomes overflow")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("5: (0f) r3 += r3 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(umin=0x4000000000000000,umax=0xfffffffffffffffe)")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void add64_full_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "r4 = 0;"
+ "r4 = -r4;"
+ "r3 = 0xa000000000000000 ll;"
+ "r3 |= r4;"
+ "r3 += r3;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("64-bit addition, partial overflow, result in unbounded reg")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("4: (0f) r3 += r3 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar()")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void add64_partial_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "r4 = 0;"
+ "r4 = -r4;"
+ "r3 = 2;"
+ "r3 |= r4;"
+ "r3 += r3;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("32-bit addition overflow, all outcomes overflow")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("4: (0c) w3 += w3 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(smin=umin=umin32=0x40000000,smax=umax=umax32=0xfffffffe,var_off=(0x0; 0xffffffff))")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void add32_full_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "w4 = 0;"
+ "w4 = -w4;"
+ "w3 = 0xa0000000;"
+ "w3 |= w4;"
+ "w3 += w3;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("32-bit addition, partial overflow, result in unbounded u32 bounds")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("4: (0c) w3 += w3 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(smin=0,smax=umax=0xffffffff,var_off=(0x0; 0xffffffff))")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void add32_partial_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "w4 = 0;"
+ "w4 = -w4;"
+ "w3 = 2;"
+ "w3 |= w4;"
+ "w3 += w3;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("64-bit subtraction, all outcomes underflow")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("6: (1f) r3 -= r1 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(umin=1,umax=0x8000000000000000)")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void sub64_full_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "r1 = 0;"
+ "r1 = -r1;"
+ "r2 = 0x8000000000000000 ll;"
+ "r1 |= r2;"
+ "r3 = 0;"
+ "r3 -= r1;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("64-bit subtration, partial overflow, result in unbounded reg")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("3: (1f) r3 -= r2 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar()")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void sub64_partial_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "r3 = 0;"
+ "r3 = -r3;"
+ "r2 = 1;"
+ "r3 -= r2;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("32-bit subtraction overflow, all outcomes underflow")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("5: (1c) w3 -= w1 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(smin=umin=umin32=1,smax=umax=umax32=0x80000000,var_off=(0x0; 0xffffffff))")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void sub32_full_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "w1 = 0;"
+ "w1 = -w1;"
+ "w2 = 0x80000000;"
+ "w1 |= w2;"
+ "w3 = 0;"
+ "w3 -= w1;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
+SEC("socket")
+__description("32-bit subtration, partial overflow, result in unbounded u32 bounds")
+__success __log_level(2)
+__msg("3: (1c) w3 -= w2 {{.*}} R3_w=scalar(smin=0,smax=umax=0xffffffff,var_off=(0x0; 0xffffffff))")
+__retval(0)
+__naked void sub32_partial_overflow(void)
+{
+ asm volatile (
+ "w3 = 0;"
+ "w3 = -w3;"
+ "w2 = 1;"
+ "w3 -= w2;"
+ "r0 = 0;"
+ "exit"
+ :
+ :
+ : __clobber_all);
+}
+
char _license[] SEC("license") = "GPL";
--
2.45.2
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread