[PATCH v2 3/4] selftests/arm64: GCS must not leak on a failed clone3

From: Iván Ezequiel Rodriguez

Date: Tue Oct 20 2026 - 14:24:39 EST


clone3(CLONE_VM|CLONE_PIDFD) with an unwritable pidfd pointer fails
in put_user() after copy_thread() has mapped a GCS. copy_process()
then calls exit_thread(). Without HAVE_EXIT_THREAD that free is a
no-op and the VMA stays in the parent's mm.

Use kselftest.h / KTAP. Skip paths that cannot run the regression
run before ksft_set_plan(). Then confirm a valid clone3 writes a
pidfd, reject 16 bad-pidfd clones with -EFAULT, and require the
shadow-stack VMA count (VmFlags " ss") to stay unchanged.

ENOSYS, EINVAL, and EPERM from the valid clone skip; any other
error, or a success that leaves pidfd unset, fails. The rejected
child exits with a raw svc. The test expects /proc already mounted.

Move my_syscall2 into gcs-util.h and reuse it from gcs-locking.c and
libc-gcs.c.

Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Iván Ezequiel Rodriguez <ivanrwcm25@xxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/Makefile | 3 +-
.../selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-clone-pidfd.c | 168 ++++++++++++++++++
.../testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-locking.c | 20 ---
tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-util.h | 24 +++
tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/libc-gcs.c | 20 ---
5 files changed, 194 insertions(+), 41 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-clone-pidfd.c

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/Makefile b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/Makefile
index 1fbbf0ca1f02..f1365eea31c9 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/Makefile
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/Makefile
@@ -6,7 +6,8 @@
# nolibc.
#

-TEST_GEN_PROGS := basic-gcs libc-gcs gcs-locking gcs-stress gcspushm gcsstr
+TEST_GEN_PROGS := basic-gcs libc-gcs gcs-locking gcs-stress gcspushm gcsstr \
+ gcs-clone-pidfd
TEST_GEN_PROGS_EXTENDED := gcs-stress-thread

LDLIBS+=-lpthread
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-clone-pidfd.c b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-clone-pidfd.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..96400ea376c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-clone-pidfd.c
@@ -0,0 +1,168 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+/*
+ * clone3(CLONE_VM|CLONE_PIDFD) with an unwritable pidfd pointer must
+ * not leak a GCS VMA. copy_thread() maps one, then put_user() fails
+ * and copy_process() calls exit_thread(). Without HAVE_EXIT_THREAD
+ * that free is a no-op and the VMA stays in the parent's mm.
+ *
+ * After enabling GCS, do not return from main(): libc frames above
+ * that point have no GCS entries.
+ */
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
+#include <errno.h>
+#include <linux/sched.h>
+#include <sched.h>
+#include <signal.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <sys/auxv.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <sys/syscall.h>
+#include <sys/wait.h>
+#include <unistd.h>
+
+#include <asm/hwcap.h>
+
+#include "kselftest.h"
+#include "gcs-util.h"
+
+#ifndef HWCAP_GCS
+#define HWCAP_GCS (1UL << 32)
+#endif
+
+#ifndef __NR_clone3
+#define __NR_clone3 435
+#endif
+
+#define NCLONE 16
+#define STACK_SIZE (64 * 1024)
+
+static int count_ss_vmas(void)
+{
+ FILE *f;
+ char line[256];
+ int vmas = 0;
+
+ f = fopen("/proc/self/smaps", "r");
+ if (!f)
+ ksft_exit_fail_msg("fopen /proc/self/smaps: %s\n",
+ strerror(errno));
+
+ while (fgets(line, sizeof(line), f)) {
+ if (!strncmp(line, "VmFlags:", 8) && strstr(line, " ss"))
+ vmas++;
+ }
+ fclose(f);
+ return vmas;
+}
+
+/*
+ * CLONE_VM maps a new GCS. CLONE_PIDFD lets put_user() fail after that.
+ * Use a raw svc: the child resumes on an empty GCS, so a libc return
+ * after clone3 would fault; exit the same way.
+ */
+static long clone_pidfd(void *stack, size_t stack_size, int *pidfd_ptr)
+{
+ struct clone_args args = {
+ .flags = CLONE_VM | CLONE_PIDFD,
+ .pidfd = (uint64_t)(uintptr_t)pidfd_ptr,
+ .exit_signal = SIGCHLD,
+ .stack = (uint64_t)(uintptr_t)stack,
+ .stack_size = stack_size,
+ };
+ register long num __asm__("x8") = __NR_clone3;
+ register long ret __asm__("x0") = (long)&args;
+ register long sz __asm__("x1") = sizeof(args);
+ int st;
+
+ asm volatile("svc #0"
+ : "+r"(ret)
+ : "r"(num), "r"(sz)
+ : "memory", "cc");
+ if (ret == 0) {
+ register long n __asm__("x8") = __NR_exit;
+ register long e __asm__("x0") = 0;
+
+ asm volatile("svc #0" : : "r"(n), "r"(e) : "memory");
+ __builtin_unreachable();
+ }
+ if (ret < 0)
+ return ret;
+ if (waitpid((pid_t)ret, &st, 0) < 0)
+ return -errno;
+ if (!WIFEXITED(st) || WEXITSTATUS(st) != 0)
+ return 1;
+ return 0;
+}
+
+int main(void)
+{
+ void *stack;
+ void *bad_pidfd;
+ unsigned long gcs_mode;
+ long rc;
+ int pidfd = -1;
+ int vmas0, vmas1;
+ int i, n_efault = 0;
+
+ ksft_print_header();
+
+ if (!(getauxval(AT_HWCAP) & HWCAP_GCS))
+ ksft_exit_skip("GCS not supported\n");
+
+ stack = mmap(NULL, STACK_SIZE, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+ MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS | MAP_STACK, -1, 0);
+ if (stack == MAP_FAILED)
+ ksft_exit_fail_msg("mmap stack: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+
+ bad_pidfd = mmap(NULL, 4096, PROT_NONE,
+ MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0);
+ if (bad_pidfd == MAP_FAILED)
+ ksft_exit_fail_msg("mmap pidfd page: %s\n", strerror(errno));
+
+ rc = my_syscall2(__NR_prctl, PR_GET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS, &gcs_mode);
+ if (rc)
+ ksft_exit_fail_msg("PR_GET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS: %ld\n", rc);
+
+ if (!(gcs_mode & PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE)) {
+ rc = my_syscall2(__NR_prctl, PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS,
+ PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE);
+ if (rc == -EOPNOTSUPP || rc == -EINVAL || rc == -EBUSY)
+ ksft_exit_skip("cannot enable GCS: %ld\n", rc);
+ if (rc)
+ ksft_exit_fail_msg("PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS: %ld\n",
+ rc);
+ }
+
+ rc = clone_pidfd(stack, STACK_SIZE, &pidfd);
+ if (rc == -ENOSYS || rc == -EINVAL || rc == -EPERM)
+ ksft_exit_skip("clone3 valid pidfd unavailable: %s\n",
+ strerror(-rc));
+
+ ksft_set_plan(3);
+
+ ksft_test_result(rc == 0 && pidfd >= 0,
+ "clone3 valid pidfd (rc=%ld pidfd=%d)\n",
+ rc, pidfd);
+ if (pidfd >= 0)
+ close(pidfd);
+
+ vmas0 = count_ss_vmas();
+
+ for (i = 0; i < NCLONE; i++) {
+ rc = clone_pidfd(stack, STACK_SIZE, bad_pidfd);
+ if (rc == -EFAULT)
+ n_efault++;
+ }
+ ksft_test_result(n_efault == NCLONE,
+ "clone3 bad pidfd returns -EFAULT x%d\n", NCLONE);
+
+ vmas1 = count_ss_vmas();
+ ksft_test_result(vmas1 == vmas0,
+ "no GCS VMA leak (%d -> %d)\n", vmas0, vmas1);
+
+ ksft_finished();
+}
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-locking.c b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-locking.c
index 1e6abb136ffd..61789bdd2744 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-locking.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-locking.c
@@ -18,26 +18,6 @@

#include "gcs-util.h"

-#define my_syscall2(num, arg1, arg2) \
-({ \
- register long _num __asm__ ("x8") = (num); \
- register long _arg1 __asm__ ("x0") = (long)(arg1); \
- register long _arg2 __asm__ ("x1") = (long)(arg2); \
- register long _arg3 __asm__ ("x2") = 0; \
- register long _arg4 __asm__ ("x3") = 0; \
- register long _arg5 __asm__ ("x4") = 0; \
- \
- __asm__ volatile ( \
- "svc #0\n" \
- : "=r"(_arg1) \
- : "r"(_arg1), "r"(_arg2), \
- "r"(_arg3), "r"(_arg4), \
- "r"(_arg5), "r"(_num) \
- : "memory", "cc" \
- ); \
- _arg1; \
-})
-
/* No mode bits are rejected for locking */
TEST(lock_all_modes)
{
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-util.h b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-util.h
index 7a81bb07ed4b..46f6ed9cf54d 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-util.h
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/gcs-util.h
@@ -43,6 +43,30 @@
#define GCS_CAP(x) (((unsigned long)(x) & GCS_CAP_ADDR_MASK) | \
GCS_CAP_VALID_TOKEN)

+/*
+ * prctl(..., arg1, arg2) with unused registers forced to zero. The
+ * kernel rejects non-zero unused args; libc may leave garbage there.
+ */
+#define my_syscall2(num, arg1, arg2) \
+({ \
+ register long _num __asm__ ("x8") = (num); \
+ register long _arg1 __asm__ ("x0") = (long)(arg1); \
+ register long _arg2 __asm__ ("x1") = (long)(arg2); \
+ register long _arg3 __asm__ ("x2") = 0; \
+ register long _arg4 __asm__ ("x3") = 0; \
+ register long _arg5 __asm__ ("x4") = 0; \
+ \
+ __asm__ volatile ( \
+ "svc #0\n" \
+ : "=r"(_arg1) \
+ : "r"(_arg1), "r"(_arg2), \
+ "r"(_arg3), "r"(_arg4), \
+ "r"(_arg5), "r"(_num) \
+ : "memory", "cc" \
+ ); \
+ _arg1; \
+})
+
static inline unsigned long *get_gcspr(void)
{
unsigned long *gcspr;
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/libc-gcs.c b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/libc-gcs.c
index ddb0b2b20155..4e9fa9b82f0f 100644
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/libc-gcs.c
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/arm64/gcs/libc-gcs.c
@@ -24,26 +24,6 @@

#include "gcs-util.h"

-#define my_syscall2(num, arg1, arg2) \
-({ \
- register long _num __asm__ ("x8") = (num); \
- register long _arg1 __asm__ ("x0") = (long)(arg1); \
- register long _arg2 __asm__ ("x1") = (long)(arg2); \
- register long _arg3 __asm__ ("x2") = 0; \
- register long _arg4 __asm__ ("x3") = 0; \
- register long _arg5 __asm__ ("x4") = 0; \
- \
- __asm__ volatile ( \
- "svc #0\n" \
- : "=r"(_arg1) \
- : "r"(_arg1), "r"(_arg2), \
- "r"(_arg3), "r"(_arg4), \
- "r"(_arg5), "r"(_num) \
- : "memory", "cc" \
- ); \
- _arg1; \
-})
-
static noinline void gcs_recurse(int depth)
{
if (depth)
--
2.43.0