Re: [Patch v2 1/4] perf/x86/intel: Clear stale ACR mask before updating new mask

Mi, Dapeng
2026-04-21T05:03:52Z

On 4/20/2026 2:29 PM, Mi, Dapeng wrote:
> On 4/20/2026 11:24 AM, sashiko-bot@kernel.org wrote:
>> Sashiko AI review found 1 potential issue(s):
>> - [High] Unvalidated user input in ACR setup leads to cross-user hardware state corruption and PMU DoS
>> --
>>
>> commit 67dc3d7b096879ed6418f54978bf45536496156f
>> Author: Dapeng Mi <dapeng1.mi@linux.intel.com>
>>
>> perf/x86/intel: Clear stale ACR mask before updating new mask
>>
>> This commit zeroes out the ACR mask (event->hw.config1) for all scheduled
>> events before applying a new mask. This ensures that bits from a previous
>> stale ACR mask do not persist and pollute the hardware state during event
>> rescheduling.
>>
>>> diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
>>> index 4768236c054bb..774ae9a4eeaf8 100644
>>> --- a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
>>> +++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
>>> @@ -3334,6 +3334,12 @@ static void intel_pmu_acr_late_setup(struct cpu_hw_events *cpuc)
>>> struct perf_event *event, *leader;
>>> int i, j, idx;
>>>
>>> + /* Clear stale ACR mask first. */
>>> + for (i = 0; i < cpuc->n_events; i++) {
>>> + event = cpuc->event_list[i];
>>> + event->hw.config1 = 0;
>>> + }
>>> +
>> Does this new clearing loop inadvertently amplify an existing regression where
>> a single user can disable Auto Counter Reload for all processes on the same CPU?
>>
>> Looking further down in the same function, the code iterates over
>> user-controlled bits from event->attr.config2:
>>
>> arch/x86/events/intel/core.c:intel_pmu_acr_late_setup() {
>> ...
>> for_each_set_bit(idx, (unsigned long *)&event->attr.config2, X86_PMC_IDX_MAX) {
>> if (i + idx >= cpuc->n_events ||
>> !is_acr_event_group(cpuc->event_list[i + idx]))
>> return;
>> __set_bit(cpuc->assign[i + idx], (unsigned long *)&event->hw.config1);
>> }
>> ...
>> }
>>
>> Because idx is derived from the user-controlled event->attr.config2 mask
>> without being validated against the actual size of the event group, a
>> user could provide an artificially large idx.
>>
>> The validation in intel_pmu_hw_config() only checks the weight of the mask
>> using hweight64(), rather than checking the actual bit indices, leaving this
>> exposed. Subsequent patches in the series do not fix this.
>>
>> If the computed index hits a non-ACR event or exceeds cpuc->n_events, the
>> loop triggers an early return. Since the newly added code zeroes out
>> event->hw.config1 for all scheduled events before this loop, wouldn't this
>> early return leave all subsequent valid ACR events with a cleared mask?
>>
>> Additionally, if the out-of-bounds idx points to another user's valid ACR
>> group, is_acr_event_group() returns true, and the code proceeds to update
>> the event->hw.config1 with the victim's hardware counter index.
>>
>> Could this also result in cross-user state corruption of event->hw.config1
>> when the event overflows and cross-reloads the victim's counter?
> That looks a real potential issue. Current validation for the acr_mask
> needs to be enhanced. The acr_mask from user space should not exceeds the
> index bitmap of current ACR events group.
> Thanks.

The following changes would be done to address all current found issues.
- Calculate the indices bitmap for each ACR events group. Any bits in
the user-space mask not present in the group's bitmap are now dropped.
- Instead of an early return on invalid bits, drop only the invalid
portions and continue iterating through all ACR events to ensure full
configuration.
- Explicitly clear the stale hardware ACR mask for each event prior to
writing the new configuration.

diff --git a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
index 4768236c054b..1a2c268018a2 100644
--- a/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
+++ b/arch/x86/events/intel/core.c
@@ -3332,23 +3332,41 @@ static void intel_pmu_enable_event(struct
perf_event *event)
static void intel_pmu_acr_late_setup(struct cpu_hw_events *cpuc)
{
struct perf_event *event, *leader;
-       int i, j, idx;
+       int i, j, k, bit, idx;
+       u64 group_mask;

for (i = 0; i < cpuc->n_events; i++) {
leader = cpuc->event_list[i];
if (!is_acr_event_group(leader))
continue;

-               /* The ACR events must be contiguous. */
+               /* Find the last event of the ACR group. */
for (j = i; j < cpuc->n_events; j++) {
event = cpuc->event_list[j];
if (event->group_leader != leader->group_leader)
break;
-                       for_each_set_bit(idx, (unsigned long
*)&event->attr.config2, X86_PMC_IDX_MAX) {
-                               if (i + idx >= cpuc->n_events ||
-                                   !is_acr_event_group(cpuc->event_list[i
+ idx]))
-                                       return;
-                               __set_bit(cpuc->assign[i + idx], (unsigned
long *)&event->hw.config1);
+               }
+
+               /* Figure out the group indices bitmap. */
+               group_mask = 0;
+               for (k = i; k < j; k++)
+                       group_mask |= BIT_ULL(cpuc->assign[k]);
+
+               /*
+                * Translate the user-space ACR mask (attr.config2) into
the physical
+                * counter bitmask (hw.config1) for each ACR event in the
group.
+                * NOTE: ACR event contiguity is guaranteed by
intel_pmu_hw_config().
+                */
+               for (k = i; k < j; k++) {
+                       event = cpuc->event_list[k];
+                       event->hw.config1 = 0;
+                       for_each_set_bit(bit, (unsigned long
*)&event->attr.config2, X86_PMC_IDX_MAX) {
+                               idx = i + bit;
+                               if (idx >= cpuc->n_events ||
+                                   !(BIT_ULL(cpuc->assign[idx]) &
group_mask) ||
+                                   !is_acr_event_group(cpuc->event_list[idx]))
+                                       continue;
+                               __set_bit(cpuc->assign[idx], (unsigned long
*)&event->hw.config1);
}
}
i = j - 1;

>
>
>>> for (i = 0; i < cpuc->n_events; i++) {
>>> leader = cpuc->event_list[i];
>>> if (!is_acr_event_group(leader))