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From: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
To: LKML <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: x86@kernel.org, Stephen Hemminger <stephen@networkplumber.org>,
	Willy Tarreau <w@1wt.eu>, Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>,
	Sean Christopherson <sean.j.christopherson@intel.com>,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Subject: [patch 6/9] x86/iopl: Fixup misleading comment
Date: Wed, 06 Nov 2019 20:35:05 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20191106202806.333598601@linutronix.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 20191106193459.581614484@linutronix.de

The comment for the sys_iopl() implementation is outdated and actively
misleading in some parts. Fix it up.

Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
---
 arch/x86/kernel/ioport.c |   35 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
 1 file changed, 27 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

--- a/arch/x86/kernel/ioport.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/ioport.c
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 #include <asm/desc.h>
 
 /*
- * this changes the io permissions bitmap in the current task.
+ * This changes the io permissions bitmap in the current task.
  */
 long ksys_ioperm(unsigned long from, unsigned long num, int turn_on)
 {
@@ -163,14 +163,24 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE3(ioperm, unsigned long, f
 }
 
 /*
- * sys_iopl has to be used when you want to access the IO ports
- * beyond the 0x3ff range: to get the full 65536 ports bitmapped
- * you'd need 8kB of bitmaps/process, which is a bit excessive.
+ * The sys_iopl functionality depends on the level argument, which if
+ * granted for the task is used by the CPU to check I/O instruction and
+ * CLI/STI against the current priviledge level (CPL). If CPL is less than
+ * or equal the tasks IOPL level the instructions take effect. If not a #GP
+ * is raised. The default IOPL is 0, i.e. no permissions.
  *
- * Here we just change the flags value on the stack: we allow
- * only the super-user to do it. This depends on the stack-layout
- * on system-call entry - see also fork() and the signal handling
- * code.
+ * Setting IOPL to level 0-2 is disabling the userspace access. Only level
+ * 3 enables it. If set it allows the user space thread:
+ *
+ * - Unrestricted access to all 65535 I/O ports
+ * - The usage of CLI/STI instructions
+ *
+ * The advantage over ioperm is that the context switch does not require to
+ * update the I/O bitmap which is especially true when a large number of
+ * ports is accessed. But the allowance of CLI/STI in userspace is
+ * considered a major problem.
+ *
+ * IOPL is strictly per thread and inherited on fork.
  */
 SYSCALL_DEFINE1(iopl, unsigned int, level)
 {
@@ -191,9 +201,18 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE1(iopl, unsigned int, leve
 		    security_locked_down(LOCKDOWN_IOPORT))
 			return -EPERM;
 	}
+	/*
+	 * Change the flags value on the return stack, which has been set
+	 * up on system-call entry. See also the fork and signal handling
+	 * code how this is handled.
+	 */
 	regs->flags = (regs->flags & ~X86_EFLAGS_IOPL) |
 		(level << X86_EFLAGS_IOPL_BIT);
+	/* Store the new level in the thread struct */
 	t->iopl = level << X86_EFLAGS_IOPL_BIT;
+	/*
+	 * X86_32 switches immediately and XEN handles it via emulation.
+	 */
 	set_iopl_mask(t->iopl);
 
 	return 0;



  parent reply	other threads:[~2019-11-06 20:56 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 62+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2019-11-06 19:34 [patch 0/9] x86/iopl: Prevent user space from using CLI/STI with iopl(3) Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 1/9] x86/ptrace: Prevent truncation of bitmap size Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  7:31   ` Ingo Molnar
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 2/9] x86/process: Unify copy_thread_tls() Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-08 22:31   ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-08 23:43     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-10 12:36       ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-10 16:56         ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-11  8:52           ` Peter Zijlstra
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 3/9] x86/cpu: Unify cpu_init() Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-08 22:34   ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 4/9] x86/io: Speedup schedule out of I/O bitmap user Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  9:12   ` Peter Zijlstra
2019-11-07 14:04     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07 14:08       ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-08 22:41         ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-08 23:45           ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-09  3:32             ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-10 12:43               ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-09  0:24   ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 5/9] x86/ioport: Reduce ioperm impact for sane usage further Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  1:11   ` Linus Torvalds
2019-11-07  7:44     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  8:25     ` Ingo Molnar
2019-11-07  9:17       ` Willy Tarreau
2019-11-07 10:00         ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07 10:13           ` Willy Tarreau
2019-11-07 10:19           ` hpa
2019-11-07 10:27             ` Willy Tarreau
2019-11-07 10:50               ` hpa
2019-11-07 12:56                 ` Willy Tarreau
2019-11-07 16:45                   ` Eric W. Biederman
2019-11-07 16:53                     ` Linus Torvalds
2019-11-07 16:57                     ` Willy Tarreau
2019-11-10 17:17       ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-07  7:37   ` Ingo Molnar
2019-11-07  7:45     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  8:16   ` Ingo Molnar
2019-11-07 18:02     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07 19:24   ` Brian Gerst
2019-11-07 19:54     ` Linus Torvalds
2019-11-07 21:00       ` Brian Gerst
2019-11-07 21:32         ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07 23:20           ` hpa
2019-11-07 21:44         ` Linus Torvalds
2019-11-08  1:12           ` H. Peter Anvin
2019-11-08  2:12             ` Brian Gerst
2019-11-10 17:21           ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-06 19:35 ` Thomas Gleixner [this message]
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 7/9] x86/iopl: Restrict iopl() permission scope Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  9:09   ` Peter Zijlstra
2019-11-10 17:26   ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-10 20:31     ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-10 21:05       ` Andy Lutomirski
2019-11-10 21:21         ` Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 8/9] x86/iopl: Remove legacy IOPL option Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  6:11   ` Jürgen Groß
2019-11-07  6:26     ` hpa
2019-11-07 16:44     ` Stephen Hemminger
2019-11-07  9:13   ` Peter Zijlstra
2019-11-06 19:35 ` [patch 9/9] selftests/x86/iopl: Verify that CLI/STI result in #GP Thomas Gleixner
2019-11-07  7:28 ` [patch] x86/iopl: Remove unused local variable, update comments in ksys_ioperm() Ingo Molnar

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