From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
To: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>,
Ilias Apalodimas <ilias.apalodimas@linaro.org>,
Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>, Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>, Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>,
"Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@igalia.com>,
Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>,
Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>, Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
x86@kernel.org, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: linux-efi@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,
kernel-team@meta.com
Subject: [PATCH v3 5/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: bound the wait for EFI runtime service calls
Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026 05:09:38 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260616-efi_timeout-v3-5-76dd1d26657b@debian.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260616-efi_timeout-v3-0-76dd1d26657b@debian.org>
When an EFI runtime service hangs in firmware, the efi_rts_wq worker is
stuck inside the call and cannot be cancelled. __efi_queue_work() then
waits on the completion forever while holding efi_runtime_lock, so every
later EFI caller is wedged until reboot; the only symptom is a "workqueue
lockup" and tasks piling up on the semaphore.
Replace wait_for_completion() with wait_for_completion_timeout() bounded
by EFI_RTS_TIMEOUT (120 seconds). On timeout, clear EFI_RUNTIME_SERVICES
and return EFI_ABORTED so later callers fail fast at the entry check
instead of each paying another 120 seconds. The wedged worker is
intentionally leaked and keeps ownership of efi_rts_work.
A worker that only starts running after the timeout would otherwise
dereference efi_rts_work.args, now pointing into the caller's freed stack
frame, and hand stale pointers to firmware. Park it with
efi_rts_park_worker() at the entry of efi_call_rts() when runtime
services are already disabled, before it touches args or enters firmware.
Known limitation: a worker already inside firmware when the timeout fires
still holds efi_rts_args pointing into the caller's stack frame; if
firmware unblocks afterwards and writes the output buffers, they land in
reused memory. Firmware hung this long rarely recovers; a follow-up could
bounce the buffers through kmalloc.
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
---
drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c | 19 ++++++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c b/drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c
index ae974edc0b04e..2ec5cbdf46d07 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c
+++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/runtime-wrappers.c
@@ -118,6 +118,14 @@ union efi_rts_args {
struct efi_runtime_work efi_rts_work;
+/*
+ * Upper bound on how long we wait for a single EFI runtime service
+ * call to finish before declaring firmware wedged. Chosen to be longer
+ * than any plausible legitimate call (including UpdateCapsule on slow
+ * SPI-NOR) while still bounding userspace wait time.
+ */
+#define EFI_RTS_TIMEOUT (120 * HZ)
+
/*
* efi_queue_work: Queue EFI runtime service call and wait for completion
* @_rts: EFI runtime service function identifier
@@ -234,6 +242,9 @@ static void __nocfi efi_call_rts(struct work_struct *work)
efi_status_t status = EFI_NOT_FOUND;
unsigned long flags;
+ if (!efi_enabled(EFI_RUNTIME_SERVICES))
+ efi_rts_park_worker();
+
efi_runtime_lock_owner = current;
arch_efi_call_virt_setup();
@@ -355,7 +366,13 @@ static efi_status_t __efi_queue_work(enum efi_rts_ids id,
goto exit;
}
- wait_for_completion(&efi_rts_work.efi_rts_comp);
+ if (!wait_for_completion_timeout(&efi_rts_work.efi_rts_comp,
+ EFI_RTS_TIMEOUT)) {
+ pr_err("EFI runtime service %d wedged in firmware; disabling EFI runtime services\n",
+ id);
+ clear_bit(EFI_RUNTIME_SERVICES, &efi.flags);
+ return EFI_ABORTED;
+ }
WARN_ON_ONCE(efi_rts_work.status == EFI_ABORTED);
exit:
--
2.53.0-Meta
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-16 12:10 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-16 12:09 [PATCH v3 0/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: bound the wait for EFI runtime service calls Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 1/7] efi: fix stale reference to efi_recover_from_page_fault() Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 2/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: factor out efi_rts_park_worker() Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 3/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: handle queue_work() failure with goto exit Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 4/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: check EFI_RUNTIME_SERVICES before using efi_rts_work Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` Breno Leitao [this message]
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 6/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: honour EFI_RUNTIME_SERVICES in the non-blocking paths Breno Leitao
2026-06-16 12:09 ` [PATCH v3 7/7] efi/runtime-wrappers: retire the worker if a wedged call ever returns Breno Leitao
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=20260616-efi_timeout-v3-5-76dd1d26657b@debian.org \
--to=leitao@debian.org \
--cc=ardb@kernel.org \
--cc=bp@alien8.de \
--cc=bp@suse.de \
--cc=dave.hansen@linux.intel.com \
--cc=gpiccoli@igalia.com \
--cc=hpa@zytor.com \
--cc=ilias.apalodimas@linaro.org \
--cc=kees@kernel.org \
--cc=kernel-team@meta.com \
--cc=linux-efi@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
--cc=luto@kernel.org \
--cc=mingo@redhat.com \
--cc=tglx@kernel.org \
--cc=tony.luck@intel.com \
--cc=x86@kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox