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From: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
To: X86 ML <x86@kernel.org>
Cc: LKML <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
Subject: [PATCH] x86/entry: Clarify the RF saving/restoring situation with SYSCALL/SYSRET
Date: Wed,  3 Aug 2016 12:19:24 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20160803101924.27247-1-bp@alien8.de> (raw)

From: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>

Clarify why exactly RF cannot be restored properly by SYSRET to avoid
confusion.

No functionality change.

Signed-off-by: Borislav Petkov <bp@suse.de>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
---
 arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S | 14 +++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S b/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
index 8956eae04c25..80ad6d0fe38b 100644
--- a/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
+++ b/arch/x86/entry/entry_64.S
@@ -288,11 +288,15 @@ return_from_SYSCALL_64:
 	jne	opportunistic_sysret_failed
 
 	/*
-	 * SYSRET can't restore RF.  SYSRET can restore TF, but unlike IRET,
-	 * restoring TF results in a trap from userspace immediately after
-	 * SYSRET.  This would cause an infinite loop whenever #DB happens
-	 * with register state that satisfies the opportunistic SYSRET
-	 * conditions.  For example, single-stepping this user code:
+	 * SYSCALL clears RF when it saves rFLAGS in R11 so SYSRET cannot
+	 * restore RF properly. If the slowpath sets it for whatever reason, we
+	 * need to restore it correctly.
+	 *
+	 * SYSRET can restore TF, but unlike IRET, restoring TF results in a
+	 * trap from userspace immediately after SYSRET.  This would cause an
+	 * infinite loop whenever #DB happens with register state that satisfies
+	 * the opportunistic SYSRET conditions.  For example, single-stepping
+	 * this user code:
 	 *
 	 *           movq	$stuck_here, %rcx
 	 *           pushfq
-- 
2.8.4

             reply	other threads:[~2016-08-03 10:28 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 6+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2016-08-03 10:19 Borislav Petkov [this message]
2016-08-03 16:42 ` [PATCH] x86/entry: Clarify the RF saving/restoring situation with SYSCALL/SYSRET Andy Lutomirski
2016-08-03 17:14   ` Borislav Petkov
2016-08-03 17:24     ` Andy Lutomirski
2016-08-03 17:54       ` Borislav Petkov
2016-08-10 18:10     ` [tip:x86/urgent] " tip-bot for Borislav Petkov

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