Kernel Issue: Wrong EFI Loader Signature followed by Kernel Panic

Kernel Issue: Wrong EFI Loader Signature followed by Kernel Panic

[Atishya Jain]

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Dear Linux Stable Team,

I am writing to report an issue encountered while attempting to boot kernel
version 5.4.274 with an egress XDP patch applied. The issue arises with the
EFI loader signature, leading to subsequent kernel panic.

*Problem Description:*

When attempting to boot kernel version 5.4.274 with the egress XDP patch, I
encountered the following sequence of events:

1. Initially, the system displays the message "Wrong EFI loader signature."
2. Following this message, the system proceeds to decompress the Linux
kernel and performs ELF parsing and relocations successfully.
3. However, upon attempting to boot the kernel, a kernel panic occurs with
the error message: "Kernel panic not syncing: UFS: Unable to mount root fs
on unknown-block(0,0)."

*Error Messages*:(ScreenShots Attached)

Upon selecting the kernel version 5.4.274, the system displays the
following error messages:

```
Wrong EFI loader signature.

early console in extract_kernel input_data: 0x00000000027493b1
input_len: 0x000000000086892c
output: 0x0000000001000000
output_len: 0x0000000001f81298
kernel_total_size: 0x0000000001e2c000
needed_size: 0x0000000002000000
trampoline_32bit: 0x0000000000090000
booted via startup_32()
Physical, KASLR using RDTSC. Virtual KASLR using RDTSC..
Decompressing Linux... Parsing ELF... Performing relocations... done.
Booting the kernel.
8.0522441 RETBleed: WARNING: Spectre v2 mitigation leaves CPU vulnerable to
RETBleed attacks, data leaks possible!
0.9972031 Kernel panic not syncing: UFS: Unable to mount root fs on
unknown-block(0,0)
CPU: 1 PID: 1 Command: swapper/0 Not tainted 5.4.274 #1 Hardware name:
VMware, Inc. VMware Virtual Platform/440BX Desktop
Reference Platform, BIOS 6.00 11/12/2020
Call Trace:
dump_stack+0x58/0x63
panic+0x188/0x2ce
Mount_block_root+0x19b/0x23a
prepare_namespace+0x136/0x16c
kernel_init_freeable+0x207/0x210
rest_init+0x90/0x90
kernel_init+0x5/0xf6
ret_from_fork+0x35/0x48
Kernel Offset: 0x8488000 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range:
0xffffffff80000000-0xfffffffffffffff) --- end Kernel panic not syncing:
UFS: Unable to mount root fs on unknown-block(0,8)
```

*Additional Information*:

- The issue persists even after signing the kernel.
- I am using Kali Linux in VMware, with the following system information:
  - Linux kali 6.6.15-amd64 #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Kali 6.6.15-2kali1
(2024-04-09) x86_64 GNU/Linux

*Steps Taken*:

1. Applied egress XDP patch to kernel version 5.4.274.
2. Attempted to boot the patched kernel.
3. Encountered the "Wrong EFI loader signature" message followed by kernel
panic.

*Action Required*:

I kindly request assistance in resolving this issue or guidance on further
troubleshooting steps.

Please let me know if any additional information is required.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Best regards,

Atishya Jain
Project Associate
Indian Institute of Technology  Gandhinagar
Palaj, Gandhinagar - 382055 - India.
Email: atishya.jain@iitgn.ac.in
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/atishya-jain-it

*Screenshots:*

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Re: Kernel Issue: Wrong EFI Loader Signature followed by Kernel Panic

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 12:16:24PM +0530, Atishya Jain wrote:
> Dear Linux Stable Team,
> 
> I am writing to report an issue encountered while attempting to boot kernel
> version 5.4.274 with an egress XDP patch applied. The issue arises with the
> EFI loader signature, leading to subsequent kernel panic.
> 
> *Problem Description:*
> 
> When attempting to boot kernel version 5.4.274 with the egress XDP patch, I
> encountered the following sequence of events:

What is "the egress XDP patch"?

And why such an old kernel version?  Why not use the latest 6.8 release
instead?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: Kernel Issue: Wrong EFI Loader Signature followed by Kernel Panic

[Greg KH]

On Tue, Apr 30, 2024 at 01:20:27PM +0530, Atishya Jain wrote:
> XDP is used for Fast Packet Processing which is only on the RX path of the
> kernel . XDP on TX path is not supported by the kernel .
> Mail list for egress XDP : (Add Support of egress XDP patch )

If you rely on external changes, please work with the developers of
those changes, nothing we can do about them.

> So I Extracted the patch from it and first Applied on the latest Version
> only but got many failed to patch messages so I looked for different
> versions and 5.4 got matched almost perfectly .

Again, 5.4 is VERY old, and probably is doing something wrong with the
efi stuff that your system is expecting.  Please try a more modern
kernel version please.

good luck!

greg k-h