[PATCH v7 15/22] objtool: Add action to check for absence of absolute relocations

Ard Biesheuvel
2025-08-28T10:22:53Z

From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>

The x86 startup code must not use absolute references to code or data,
as it executes before the kernel virtual mapping is up.

Add an action to objtool to check all allocatable sections (with the
exception of __patchable_function_entries, which uses absolute
references for nebulous reasons) and raise an error if any absolute
references are found.

Note that debug sections typically contain lots of absolute references
too, but those are not allocatable so they will be ignored.

Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
---
tools/objtool/arch/x86/decode.c | 12 ++++++
tools/objtool/builtin-check.c | 2 +
tools/objtool/check.c | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++
tools/objtool/include/objtool/arch.h | 1 +
tools/objtool/include/objtool/builtin.h | 1 +
5 files changed, 60 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tools/objtool/arch/x86/decode.c b/tools/objtool/arch/x86/decode.c
index 98c4713c1b09..0ad5cc70ecbe 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/arch/x86/decode.c
+++ b/tools/objtool/arch/x86/decode.c
@@ -880,3 +880,15 @@ unsigned int arch_reloc_size(struct reloc *reloc)
return 8;
}
}
+
+bool arch_absolute_reloc(struct elf *elf, struct reloc *reloc)
+{
+ switch (reloc_type(reloc)) {
+ case R_X86_64_32:
+ case R_X86_64_32S:
+ case R_X86_64_64:
+ return true;
+ default:
+ return false;
+ }
+}
diff --git a/tools/objtool/builtin-check.c b/tools/objtool/builtin-check.c
index 80239843e9f0..0f6b197cfcb0 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/builtin-check.c
+++ b/tools/objtool/builtin-check.c
@@ -87,6 +87,7 @@ static const struct option check_options[] = {
OPT_BOOLEAN('t', "static-call", &opts.static_call, "annotate static calls"),
OPT_BOOLEAN('u', "uaccess", &opts.uaccess, "validate uaccess rules for SMAP"),
OPT_BOOLEAN(0 , "cfi", &opts.cfi, "annotate kernel control flow integrity (kCFI) function preambles"),
+ OPT_BOOLEAN(0 , "noabs", &opts.noabs, "reject absolute references in allocatable sections"),
OPT_CALLBACK_OPTARG(0, "dump", NULL, NULL, "orc", "dump metadata", parse_dump),

OPT_GROUP("Options:"),
@@ -162,6 +163,7 @@ static bool opts_valid(void)
opts.hack_noinstr ||
opts.ibt ||
opts.mcount ||
+ opts.noabs ||
opts.noinstr ||
opts.orc ||
opts.retpoline ||
diff --git a/tools/objtool/check.c b/tools/objtool/check.c
index 79eab61cd944..aeefc749e237 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/check.c
+++ b/tools/objtool/check.c
@@ -4686,6 +4686,47 @@ static void disas_warned_funcs(struct objtool_file *file)
disas_funcs(funcs);
}

+__weak bool arch_absolute_reloc(struct elf *elf, struct reloc *reloc)
+{
+ unsigned int type = reloc_type(reloc);
+ size_t sz = elf_addr_size(elf);
+
+ return (sz == 8) ? (type == R_ABS64) : (type == R_ABS32);
+}
+
+static int check_abs_references(struct objtool_file *file)
+{
+ struct section *sec;
+ struct reloc *reloc;
+ int ret = 0;
+
+ for_each_sec(file, sec) {
+ /* absolute references in non-loadable sections are fine */
+ if (!(sec->sh.sh_flags & SHF_ALLOC))
+ continue;
+
+ /* section must have an associated .rela section */
+ if (!sec->rsec)
+ continue;
+
+ /*
+ * Special case for compiler generated metadata that is not
+ * consumed until after boot.
+ */
+ if (!strcmp(sec->name, "__patchable_function_entries"))
+ continue;
+
+ for_each_reloc(sec->rsec, reloc) {
+ if (arch_absolute_reloc(file->elf, reloc)) {
+ WARN("section %s has absolute relocation at offset 0x%lx",
+ sec->name, reloc_offset(reloc));
+ ret++;
+ }
+ }
+ }
+ return ret;
+}
+
struct insn_chunk {
void *addr;
struct insn_chunk *next;
@@ -4819,6 +4860,9 @@ int check(struct objtool_file *file)
goto out;
}

+ if (opts.noabs)
+ warnings += check_abs_references(file);
+
if (opts.orc && nr_insns) {
ret = orc_create(file);
if (ret)
diff --git a/tools/objtool/include/objtool/arch.h b/tools/objtool/include/objtool/arch.h
index 01ef6f415adf..be33c7b43180 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/include/objtool/arch.h
+++ b/tools/objtool/include/objtool/arch.h
@@ -97,6 +97,7 @@ bool arch_is_embedded_insn(struct symbol *sym);
int arch_rewrite_retpolines(struct objtool_file *file);

bool arch_pc_relative_reloc(struct reloc *reloc);
+bool arch_absolute_reloc(struct elf *elf, struct reloc *reloc);

unsigned int arch_reloc_size(struct reloc *reloc);
unsigned long arch_jump_table_sym_offset(struct reloc *reloc, struct reloc *table);
diff --git a/tools/objtool/include/objtool/builtin.h b/tools/objtool/include/objtool/builtin.h
index 6b08666fa69d..ab22673862e1 100644
--- a/tools/objtool/include/objtool/builtin.h
+++ b/tools/objtool/include/objtool/builtin.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ struct opts {
bool uaccess;
int prefix;
bool cfi;
+ bool noabs;

/* options: */
bool backtrace;
--
2.51.0.268.g9569e192d0-goog