[PATCH bpf-next 2/3] bpf: Disallow freplace on kprobe with mismatched kprobe_write_ctx values

Leon Hwang
2026-03-24T15:05:44Z

uprobe programs are allowed to modify struct pt_regs.

Since the actual program type of uprobe is KPROBE, it can be abused to
modify struct pt_regs via kprobe+freplace when the kprobe attaches to
kernel functions.

For example,

SEC("?kprobe")
int kprobe(struct pt_regs *regs)
{
return 0;
}

SEC("?freplace")
int freplace_kprobe(struct pt_regs *regs)
{
regs->di = 0;
return 0;
}

freplace_kprobe prog will attach to kprobe prog.
kprobe prog will attach to a kernel function.

Without this patch, when the kernel function runs, its first arg will
always be set as 0 via the freplace_kprobe prog.

To avoid the abuse of kprobe_write_ctx=true via kprobe+freplace, disallow
freplace on kprobe programs with mismatched kprobe_write_ctx values.

Fixes: 7384893d970e ("bpf: Allow uprobe program to change context registers")
Signed-off-by: Leon Hwang <leon.hwang@linux.dev>
---
kernel/bpf/verifier.c | 8 ++++++++
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/bpf/verifier.c b/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
index 12330466d58b..f8257bae6081 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/verifier.c
@@ -6404,6 +6404,14 @@ static int check_ctx_access(struct bpf_verifier_env *env, int insn_idx, int off,
/* remember the offset of last byte accessed in ctx */
if (env->prog->aux->max_ctx_offset < off + size)
env->prog->aux->max_ctx_offset = off + size;
+ if (env->prog->type == BPF_PROG_TYPE_EXT) {
+ struct bpf_prog *dst_prog = env->prog->aux->dst_prog;
+
+ if (env->prog->aux->kprobe_write_ctx != dst_prog->aux->kprobe_write_ctx) {
+ verbose(env, "Extension program cannot have different kprobe_write_ctx value with target prog\n");
+ return -EINVAL;
+ }
+ }
return 0;
}

--
2.53.0