Re: [PATCH -tip v8 13/13] x86/kprobes: Fixup return address in generic trampoline handler

[Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>]

* Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org> wrote:

> In x86, kretprobe trampoline address on the stack frame will
> be replaced with the real return address after returning from
> trampoline_handler. Before fixing the return address, the real
> return address can be found in the current->kretprobe_instances.
> 
> However, since there is a window between updating the
> current->kretprobe_instances and fixing the address on the stack,
> if an interrupt caused at that timing and the interrupt handler
> does stacktrace, it may fail to unwind because it can not get
> the correct return address from current->kretprobe_instances.
> 
> This will minimize that window by fixing the return address
> right before updating current->kretprobe_instances.

Is there still a window? I.e. is it "minimized" (to how big of a window?), 
or eliminated?

> +void arch_kretprobe_fixup_return(struct pt_regs *regs,
> +				 unsigned long correct_ret_addr)
> +{
> +	unsigned long *frame_pointer;
> +
> +	frame_pointer = ((unsigned long *)&regs->sp) + 1;
> +
> +	/* Replace fake return address with real one. */
> +	*frame_pointer = correct_ret_addr;

Firstly, why does &regs->sp have to be forced to 'unsigned long *'? 

pt_regs::sp is 'unsigned long' on both 32-bit and 64-bit kernels AFAICS.

Secondly, the new code modified by your patch now looks like this:

        frame_pointer = ((unsigned long *)&regs->sp) + 1;
 
+       kretprobe_trampoline_handler(regs, frame_pointer);

where:

+void arch_kretprobe_fixup_return(struct pt_regs *regs,
+                                unsigned long correct_ret_addr)
+{
+       unsigned long *frame_pointer;
+
+       frame_pointer = ((unsigned long *)&regs->sp) + 1;
+
+       /* Replace fake return address with real one. */
+       *frame_pointer = correct_ret_addr;
+}

So we first do:

        frame_pointer = ((unsigned long *)&regs->sp) + 1;

... and pass that in to arch_kretprobe_fixup_return() as 
'correct_ret_addr', which does:

+       frame_pointer = ((unsigned long *)&regs->sp) + 1;
+	*frame_pointer = correct_ret_addr;

... which looks like the exact same thing as:

	*frame_pointer = frame_pointer;

... obfuscated through a thick layer of type casts?

Thanks,

	Ingo