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From: Sohil Mehta <sohil.mehta@intel.com>
To: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: <x86@kernel.org>, Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
	"Thomas Gleixner" <tglx@linutronix.de>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
	"Jonathan Corbet" <corbet@lwn.net>,
	"H . Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>,
	Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@kernel.org>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>,
	Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>,
	"Kirill A . Shutemov" <kas@kernel.org>, Xin Li <xin@zytor.com>,
	David Woodhouse <dwmw@amazon.co.uk>,
	Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>,
	Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>,
	Vegard Nossum <vegard.nossum@oracle.com>,
	Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>,
	Randy Dunlap <rdunlap@infradead.org>,
	Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@linux-m68k.org>,
	Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>, Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>,
	Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com>,
	<linux-doc@vger.kernel.org>, <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	<linux-efi@vger.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v12 6/8] x86/traps: Communicate a LASS violation in #GP message
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 2025 09:24:20 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <bfce23cc-bf7f-494e-a443-baea41f33381@intel.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20251117144840.GIaRs1yNEYjdNF0SHu@fat_crate.local>

On 11/17/2025 6:48 AM, Borislav Petkov wrote:

> Why is the first page frame special to justify a special check?
> 

Any dereference to a very low address (the first page frame) is
typically considered as a "NULL" pointer dereference.

$ git log | grep "BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference"

    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000010
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000040
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000264
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000098
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
    BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 00000000000003c0

The page fault error messages have similar logic:

if (address < PAGE_SIZE && !user_mode(regs))
	pr_alert("BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: %px\n",
		(void *)address);

I believe the check is to account for arithmetic or other operations
that may have happened on the "NULL" pointer before it is dereferenced.

  reply	other threads:[~2025-11-17 17:24 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 14+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2025-11-13 22:41 [PATCH v12 0/8] x86: Enable base Linear Address Space Separation support Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:41 ` [PATCH v12 1/8] x86/cpufeatures: Enumerate the LASS feature bits Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:41 ` [PATCH v12 2/8] x86/cpu: Add an LASS dependency on SMAP Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:41 ` [PATCH v12 3/8] x86/asm: Introduce inline memcpy and memset Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:42 ` [PATCH v12 4/8] x86/alternatives: Disable LASS when patching kernel code Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:42 ` [PATCH v12 5/8] x86/kexec: Disable LASS during relocate kernel Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:42 ` [PATCH v12 6/8] x86/traps: Communicate a LASS violation in #GP message Sohil Mehta
2025-11-17 14:48   ` Borislav Petkov
2025-11-17 17:24     ` Sohil Mehta [this message]
2025-11-17 18:29       ` Borislav Petkov
2025-11-17 19:45         ` Sohil Mehta
2025-11-18 11:23           ` Borislav Petkov
2025-11-13 22:42 ` [PATCH v12 7/8] selftests/x86: Update the negative vsyscall tests to expect a #GP Sohil Mehta
2025-11-13 22:42 ` [PATCH v12 8/8] x86/cpu: Enable LASS during CPU initialization Sohil Mehta

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