Re: [PATCH 0/6] arm64: make kexec_file able to load zboot image

[Pingfan Liu <kernelfans@gmail.com>]

Hi Ard,

Thanks for sharing your idea. Please see the comment.

On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:08:03AM +0100, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> (cc Mark)
> 
> Hello Pingfan,
> 
> Thanks for working on this.
> 
> On Mon, 6 Mar 2023 at 04:03, Pingfan Liu <kernelfans@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > After introducing zboot image, kexec_file can not load and jump to the
> > new style image. Hence it demands a method to load the new kernel.
> >
> > The crux of the problem lies in when and how to decompress the Image.gz.
> > There are three possible courses to take: -1. in user space, but hard to
> > achieve due to the signature verification inside the kernel.
> 
> That depends. The EFI zboot image encapsulates another PE/COFF image,
> which could be signed as well.
> 
> So there are at least three other options here:
> - sign the encapsulated image with the same key as the zboot image
> - sign the encapsulated image with a key that is only valid for kexec boot
> - sign the encapsulated image with an ephemeral key that is only valid
> for a kexec'ing an image that was produced by the same kernel build
> 
> >  -2. at the
> > boot time, let the efi_zboot_entry() handles it, which means a simulated
> > EFI service should be provided to that entry, especially about how to be
> > aware of the memory layout.
> 
> This is actually an idea I intend to explore: with the EFI runtime
> services regions mapped 1:1, it wouldn't be too hard to implement a
> minimal environment that can run the zboot image under the previous

The idea of the minimal environment lools amazing. After digging
more deeply into it, I think it means to implement most of the function
members in efi_boot_services, besides that, some UEFI protocols due to
the reference of efi_call_proto(). So a clear boundary between zboot and
its dependent EFI service is demanded before the work.

> kernel up to the point where it call ExitBootServices(), after which
> kexec() would take over.
> 

IIUC, after kexec switches to efi_zboot_entry(), it will not return,
right?

> >  -3. in kernel space, during the file load
> > of the zboot image. At that point, the kernel masters the whole memory
> > information, and easily allocates a suitable memory for the decompressed
> > kernel image. (I think this is similar to what grub does today).
> >
> 
> GRUB just calls LoadImage(), and the decompression code runs in the EFI context.
> 

Ah, thanks for the correcting. I had made an wrong assumption of grub
based on [1], from which, I thought that grub is the case "For
compatibility with non-EFI loaders, the payload can be decompressed and
executed by the loader as well, provided that the loader implements the
decompression algorithm and that non-EFI boot is supported by the
encapsulated image" 


[1]: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.1-Generic-EFI-Zboot


Eager to find a solution to kexec a zboot image. Hope it will come soon.


Thanks,

	Pingfan
> > The core of this series is [5/6].  [3,6/6] handles the config option.
> > The assumption of [3/6] is kexec_file_load is independent of zboot,
> > especially it can load kernel images compressed with different
> > compression method.  [6/6] is if EFI_ZBOOT, the corresponding
> > decompression method should be included.
> >
> >
> > Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
> > Cc: Will Deacon <will@kernel.org>
> > Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
> > Cc: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
> > Cc: kexec@lists.infradead.org
> > To: linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
> > To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
> >
> > Pingfan Liu (6):
> >   arm64: kexec: Rename kexec_image.c to kexec_raw_image.c
> >   lib/decompress: Introduce decompress_method_by_name()
> >   arm64: Kconfig: Pick decompressing method for kexec file load
> >   lib/decompress: Keep decompress routines based on selection
> >   arm64: kexec: Introduce zboot image loader
> >   init/Kconfig: Select decompressing method if compressing kernel
> >
> >  arch/arm64/Kconfig                            |  59 ++++++
> >  arch/arm64/include/asm/kexec.h                |   4 +-
> >  arch/arm64/kernel/Makefile                    |   2 +-
> >  .../{kexec_image.c => kexec_raw_image.c}      |   2 +-
> >  arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_zboot_image.c         | 186 ++++++++++++++++++
> >  arch/arm64/kernel/machine_kexec.c             |   1 +
> >  arch/arm64/kernel/machine_kexec_file.c        |   3 +-
> >  include/linux/decompress/generic.h            |   2 +
> >  include/linux/decompress/mm.h                 |   9 +-
> >  include/linux/zboot.h                         |  26 +++
> >  init/Kconfig                                  |   7 +
> >  lib/Kconfig                                   |   3 +
> >  lib/decompress.c                              |  17 +-
> >  13 files changed, 314 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> >  rename arch/arm64/kernel/{kexec_image.c => kexec_raw_image.c} (98%)
> >  create mode 100644 arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_zboot_image.c
> >  create mode 100644 include/linux/zboot.h
> >
> > --
> > 2.31.1
> >