Re: [PATCH v2] arm64: mm: Fix CFI failure due to kpti_ng_pgd_alloc function signature

From: David Hildenbrand
Date: Fri Aug 29 2025 - 15:13:28 EST


On 29.08.25 21:07, Kees Cook wrote:
Seen during KPTI initialization:

CFI failure at create_kpti_ng_temp_pgd+0x124/0xce8 (target: kpti_ng_pgd_alloc+0x0/0x14; expected type: 0xd61b88b6)

The call site is alloc_init_pud() at arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c:

pud_phys = pgtable_alloc(TABLE_PUD);

alloc_init_pud() has the prototype:

static void alloc_init_pud(p4d_t *p4dp, unsigned long addr, unsigned long end,
phys_addr_t phys, pgprot_t prot,
phys_addr_t (*pgtable_alloc)(enum pgtable_type),
int flags)

where the pgtable_alloc() prototype is declared.

The target (kpti_ng_pgd_alloc) is used in arch/arm64/kernel/cpufeature.c:

create_kpti_ng_temp_pgd(kpti_ng_temp_pgd, __pa(alloc), KPTI_NG_TEMP_VA,
PAGE_SIZE, PAGE_KERNEL, kpti_ng_pgd_alloc, 0);

which is an alias for __create_pgd_mapping_locked() with prototype:

extern __alias(__create_pgd_mapping_locked)
void create_kpti_ng_temp_pgd(pgd_t *pgdir, phys_addr_t phys,
unsigned long virt,
phys_addr_t size, pgprot_t prot,
phys_addr_t (*pgtable_alloc)(enum pgtable_type),
int flags);

__create_pgd_mapping_locked() passes the function pointer down:

__create_pgd_mapping_locked() -> alloc_init_p4d() -> alloc_init_pud()

But the target function (kpti_ng_pgd_alloc) has the wrong signature:

static phys_addr_t __init kpti_ng_pgd_alloc(int shift);

The "int" should be "enum pgtable_type".

To make "enum pgtable_type" available to cpufeature.c, move
enum pgtable_type definition from arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c to
arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h.

Adjust kpti_ng_pgd_alloc to use "enum pgtable_type" instead of "int".
The function behavior remains identical (parameter is unused).

Fixes: c64f46ee1377 ("arm64: mm: use enum to identify pgtable level instead of *_SHIFT")
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v2: Fixed the Fixes line. ;)
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20250829154913.work.943-kees@xxxxxxxxxx/
Cc: Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Oliver Upton <oliver.upton@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Yue Haibing <yuehaibing@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Marc Zyngier <maz@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mark Brown <broonie@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <linux-arm-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h | 7 +++++++
arch/arm64/kernel/cpufeature.c | 5 +++--
arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c | 7 -------
3 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h
index 6e8aa8e72601..49f1a810df16 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h
@@ -17,6 +17,13 @@
#include <linux/refcount.h>
#include <asm/cpufeature.h>
+enum pgtable_type {
+ TABLE_PTE,
+ TABLE_PMD,
+ TABLE_PUD,
+ TABLE_P4D,
+};

Just noting that we now have "enum pgtable_level" in include/linux/pgtable.h that could at some point possibly be used here instead (not in this fix).

--
Cheers

David / dhildenb