[tip: objtool/core] objtool/klp: Add test for vmlinux relocs in a patched module

From: tip-bot2 for Song Liu

Date: Mon Sep 21 2026 - 05:35:06 EST


The following commit has been merged into the objtool/core branch of tip:

Commit-ID: 65b0aac4125c18280efbda38174ec14bcef887b2
Gitweb: https://git.kernel.org/tip/65b0aac4125c18280efbda38174ec14bcef887b2
Author: Song Liu <song@xxxxxxxxxx>
AuthorDate: Wed, 16 Sep 2026 11:43:22 -07:00
Committer: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
CommitterDate: Mon, 21 Sep 2026 11:11:36 +02:00

objtool/klp: Add test for vmlinux relocs in a patched module

The kernel refuses a module-targeted klp relocation which names a vmlinux
symbol. An EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES() symbol needs a klp relocation, so
patching a module function that references one only loads if klp diff files
that relocation under vmlinux rather than under the patched module.

This fails at load, not at build: klp-build produces a module and static
checks of it find nothing wrong. Hence the assertion on which object the
relocation is filed against.

Reported by Dylan Hatch, whose mod-ns-lp branch carries the kernel-side
half of this case.

Co-developed-by: Dylan Hatch <dylanbhatch@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Dylan Hatch <dylanbhatch@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Song Liu <song@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-5
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20260916184351.2720310-30-song@xxxxxxxxxx
---
tools/objtool/tests/generic/test-module-vmlinux-reloc.sh | 40 +++++++-
1 file changed, 40 insertions(+)
create mode 100755 tools/objtool/tests/generic/test-module-vmlinux-reloc.sh

diff --git a/tools/objtool/tests/generic/test-module-vmlinux-reloc.sh b/tools/objtool/tests/generic/test-module-vmlinux-reloc.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..635a75f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/objtool/tests/generic/test-module-vmlinux-reloc.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+#
+# Patching a module, where the patched code references a vmlinux symbol which
+# needs a klp relocation.
+#
+# The kernel does not allow a module-targeted klp relocation to reference a
+# vmlinux symbol, and a symbol exported with EXPORT_SYMBOL_FOR_MODULES gets a
+# klp relocation. Put together, filing that relocation under the patched
+# module produces a patch the kernel refuses to apply to its target.
+#
+# So it goes under vmlinux instead, and is applied when the patch module loads
+# rather than when the patched module does. That is the opposite of the rule
+# for a reference to a module's symbol, which test-module-object covers; this
+# is the other branch of the same decision.
+
+. "$(dirname "$0")/../lib.sh"
+
+setup
+# The object being patched is a module ...
+build_module_pair cross_module.c klp_testmod
+
+# ... and the symbol it references belongs to vmlinux, exported in a way that
+# still requires a klp relocation.
+export_syms
+add_exports_ns vmlinux module:kvm other_mod_func
+run_diff
+
+# Filed against vmlinux, applied when the patch loads.
+assert_section __klp_relocs.vmlinux
+assert_klp_sym other_mod_func vmlinux
+
+# Not against the patched module: that is the relocation the kernel rejects.
+assert_no_section __klp_relocs.klp_testmod
+
+run_post_link
+assert_klp_rela vmlinux .text.target
+assert_no_section ".klp.rela.klp_testmod..text.target"
+
+pass "klp relocation to a vmlinux symbol filed under vmlinux, not the patched module"