From: Russell King <linux@armlinux.org.uk>
To: Linus Walleij <linusw@kernel.org>
Cc: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>,
Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>,
linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, stable@vger.kernel.org,
slipher <slipher@protonmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v3] ARM: breakpoint: CFI breakpoints only on demand
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2026 12:10:14 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <akT1lr2iNzbnGEzH@shell.armlinux.org.uk> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260701-arm32-cfi-bug-v3-1-e3c37e2b80a4@kernel.org>
On Wed, Jul 01, 2026 at 12:42:09PM +0200, Linus Walleij wrote:
> This removes the stub hw_breakpoint_cfi_handler() from ARM, making
> it not steal breakpoint type 0x03 (ARM_ENTRY_CFI_BREAKPOINT) unless
> CFI is actively used in the kernel.
>
> When not instrumenting with CFI, we fall through to return 1 from
> hw_breakpoint_pending() "unhandled fault" so userspace can make use
> of this breakpoint.
>
> This of course does not work if userspace want to use CFI and custom
> breakpoints at the same time, and CONFIG_CFI does exist as something
> users might want to select for their kernel. If this is not good
> acceptable we need to think about other ways for CFI to interfer, such
> as not using BKPT at all (rather something like BUG()) and back out
> the offending patch until the compiler behaviour has changed.
>
> Fixes: c3f89986fde7 ("ARM: 9391/2: hw_breakpoint: Handle CFI breakpoints")
> Reported-by: slipher <slipher@protonmail.com>
> Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/kJqktbpLphg_Pk5I5SPptgTLjl3E3eq5mN5UzCslyFj7Q1Irp-wDid4mj5eQVd2iZtRGXgeZd8goq195EkXdjyt864YMc8mVb2B9NGH91NQ=@protonmail.com/
> Signed-off-by: Linus Walleij <linusw@kernel.org>
> ---
> Trying to solve the CFI bug. Let's see of this first
> approach is acceptable for the reporter.
Looks fine to me, but will depend whether the reporter has CONFIG_CFI
enabled in their kernel build.
Have the LLVM compiler people responded to this bug yet? What is their
plan with the silly choice of BKPT usage for CFI failure?
--
RMK's Patch system: https://www.armlinux.org.uk/developer/patches/
FTTP is here! 80Mbps down 10Mbps up. Decent connectivity at last!
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-07-01 11:10 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-07-01 10:42 [PATCH v3] ARM: breakpoint: CFI breakpoints only on demand Linus Walleij
2026-07-01 11:10 ` Russell King [this message]
2026-07-01 12:49 ` Linus Walleij
2026-07-01 15:30 ` Sami Tolvanen
2026-07-03 9:27 ` Mark Rutland
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