[PATCH v2 1/2] x86/shstk: support via prctl

From: Bill Roberts

Date: Wed Aug 12 2026 - 13:20:31 EST


Historically, managing the user-space shadow stack state on x86 has
been handled exclusively through the arch_prctl() interface via the
ARCH_SHSTK_* operations. However, other architectures (such as arm64 and
riscv) do not implement arch_prctl() and instead utilize the newer,
arch-agnostic, prctl() interface (i.e. PR_GET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS and
PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS).

To provide language runtimes, toolchains, and libc implementations with a
consistent, cross-architecture interface for managing control-flow
integrity, wire up the generic shadow stack prctl handlers for x86.

Map the generic PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE, PR_SHADOW_STACK_DISABLE, and
PR_SHADOW_STACK_LOCK operations onto the underlying x86 internal CET helper
routines. This allows portable userspace applications to toggle or query
shadow stack states without relying on architecture-specific system calls,
while maintaining backward compatibility with existing arch_prctl() calls.

Signed-off-by: Bill Roberts <bill.roberts@xxxxxxx>
---
arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 37 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c b/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
index 0ca64900192f..c34ba3701dd0 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/shstk.c
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
#include <linux/sizes.h>
#include <linux/user.h>
#include <linux/syscalls.h>
+#include <linux/prctl.h>
#include <asm/msr.h>
#include <asm/fpu/xstate.h>
#include <asm/fpu/types.h>
@@ -630,3 +631,39 @@ bool shstk_is_enabled(void)
{
return features_enabled(ARCH_SHSTK_SHSTK);
}
+
+#define PR_SHADOW_STACK_SUPPORTED_STATUS_MASK \
+ (PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE | PR_SHADOW_STACK_WRITE | PR_SHADOW_STACK_PUSH)
+
+/* Handles the generic prctl interface for PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS and its feature bits */
+int arch_set_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status)
+{
+ int rc;
+
+ if (status & ~PR_SHADOW_STACK_SUPPORTED_STATUS_MASK)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ /* x86 arch_prctl is single bit at a time, so handle these one at time */
+ if (!status & PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE)
+ return shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_DISABLE, ARCH_SHSTK_SHSTK);
+
+ rc = shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE, ARCH_SHSTK_SHSTK);
+ if (rc)
+ return rc;
+
+ if (status & PR_SHADOW_STACK_WRITE)
+ return shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_ENABLE, ARCH_SHSTK_WRSS);
+
+ return shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_DISABLE, ARCH_SHSTK_WRSS);
+}
+
+/* Handles the generic prctl interface for PR_LOCK_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS and its feature bits */
+int arch_lock_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status)
+{
+ return shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_LOCK, status);
+}
+
+int arch_get_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long __user *status)
+{
+ return shstk_prctl(t, ARCH_SHSTK_STATUS, (unsigned long)status);
+}
--
2.55.0