From: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
To: Sourabh Jain <sourabhjain@linux.ibm.com>, linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org
Cc: Sourabh Jain <sourabhjain@linux.ibm.com>,
Aditya Gupta <adityag@linux.ibm.com>,
Daniel Axtens <dja@axtens.net>,
Hari Bathini <hbathini@linux.ibm.com>,
Madhavan Srinivasan <maddy@linux.ibm.com>,
Mahesh Salgaonkar <mahesh@linux.ibm.com>,
Michael Ellerman <mpe@ellerman.id.au>,
Shivang Upadhyay <shivangu@linux.ibm.com>,
Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@linux.ibm.com>,
Aboorva Devarajan <aboorvad@linux.ibm.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/2] powerpc/kexec: Disable KASAN for VMX helpers used in MMU-off path
Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2026 06:48:45 +0530 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <wlyvmo0a.ritesh.list@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260321053121.614022-2-sourabhjain@linux.ibm.com>
Sourabh Jain <sourabhjain@linux.ibm.com> writes:
> The kexec sequence invokes enter_vmx_ops() and exit_vmx_ops() with the
> MMU disabled. In this context, code must not rely on normal virtual
> address translations or trigger page faults.
> With KASAN enabled, these functions get instrumented and may access
> shadow memory using regular address translation. When executed with
> the MMU off, this can lead to page faults (bad_page_fault) from which
> the kernel cannot recover in the kexec path, resulting in a hang.
Right, so with mmu off, kernel can't access KASAN shadow memory.
So, let me trace down the path a bit... you skipped an important detail
i.e. preempt_count() is always inline, and we play a few tricks in kexec
path to tell enter_vmx_ops() that we are in HARDIRQ mode.
default_machine_kexec(image)
current_thread_info()->preempt_count = HARDIRQ_OFFSET
kexec_sequence(..., copy_with_mmu_off = 1)
if (copy_with_mmu_off) bl real_mode
bl kexec_copy_flush(image)
memcpy(ranges, image->segment, ...)
copy_segments()
copy_page(dest, addr)
bl enter_vmx_ops()
if (in_interrupt() == true) return 0 // preempt_count == HARDIRQ_OFFSET
beq .Lnonvmx_copy
>
> Mark enter_vmx_ops() and exit_vmx_ops() with __no_sanitize_address to
> avoid KASAN instrumentation and ensure kexec boots fine with KASAN
> enabled.
>
IIUC, preempt_count() is always inline, and since you are disabling kasan
instrumentation on enter_vmx_ops(), hence it just works for this reason.
But you missed adding that detail here.
enter_vmx_ops()
if (in_interrupt()) // return 0
preempt_count() & ... | HARDIRQ_OFFSET // preempt_count() is this is __always_inline
static __always_inline int preempt_count(void)
{
return READ_ONCE(current_thread_info()->preempt_count);
}
> Cc: Aditya Gupta <adityag@linux.ibm.com>
> Cc: Daniel Axtens <dja@axtens.net>
> Cc: Hari Bathini <hbathini@linux.ibm.com>
> Cc: Madhavan Srinivasan <maddy@linux.ibm.com>
> Cc: Mahesh Salgaonkar <mahesh@linux.ibm.com>
> Cc: Michael Ellerman <mpe@ellerman.id.au>
> Cc: Ritesh Harjani (IBM) <ritesh.list@gmail.com>
> Cc: Shivang Upadhyay <shivangu@linux.ibm.com>
> Cc: Venkat Rao Bagalkote <venkat88@linux.ibm.com>
> Reported-by: Aboorva Devarajan <aboorvad@linux.ibm.com>
> Signed-off-by: Sourabh Jain <sourabhjain@linux.ibm.com>
> ---
> arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c | 4 ++--
> 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c b/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> index 554b248002b4..c01b2d856650 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/lib/vmx-helper.c
> @@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ int exit_vmx_usercopy(void)
> }
> EXPORT_SYMBOL(exit_vmx_usercopy);
>
> -int enter_vmx_ops(void)
In that case, should we should add a comment here saying:
/*
* Can be called from kexec copy_page() path with MMU off. The kexec
* code sets preempt_count to HARDIRQ_OFFSET so we return early here.
* Since in_interrupt() is always inline, __no_sanitize_address on this
* function is sufficient to avoid KASAN shadow memory accesses in real
* mode.
*/
> +int __no_sanitize_address enter_vmx_ops(void)
> {
> if (in_interrupt())
> return 0;
> @@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ int enter_vmx_ops(void)
> * passed a pointer to the destination which we return as required by a
> * memcpy implementation.
> */
> -void *exit_vmx_ops(void *dest)
> +void __no_sanitize_address *exit_vmx_ops(void *dest)
I am assuming since we never enter into VMX in kexec path, so kexec path
must not be calling exit_vmx_ops anyways? So do we need __no_sanitize_address here?
-ritesh
> {
> disable_kernel_altivec();
> preempt_enable();
> --
> 2.52.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-03-29 1:56 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-03-21 5:31 [PATCH 1/2] powerpc/kdump: fix KASAN sanitization flag for core_$(BITS).o Sourabh Jain
2026-03-21 5:31 ` [PATCH 2/2] powerpc/kexec: Disable KASAN for VMX helpers used in MMU-off path Sourabh Jain
2026-03-29 1:18 ` Ritesh Harjani [this message]
2026-04-02 0:04 ` Ritesh Harjani
2026-04-02 3:59 ` Sourabh Jain
2026-03-23 6:11 ` [PATCH 1/2] powerpc/kdump: fix KASAN sanitization flag for core_$(BITS).o Mahesh J Salgaonkar
2026-03-23 10:36 ` Sourabh Jain
2026-03-23 8:53 ` Venkat Rao Bagalkote
2026-03-29 1:56 ` Ritesh Harjani
2026-04-01 13:42 ` Sourabh Jain
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