Re: Review of KPTI patchset

[Thomas Gleixner]

On Sat, 30 Dec 2017, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:

> Hi Thomas,
> 
> Here is some feedback on the KPTI patchset. Sorry for not replying to the
> patch, I was not CC'd on the original email, and don't have it in my inbox.

I can bounce you 196 versions if you want.

> I notice that fill_ldt() sets the desc->type with "|= 1", whereas all
> other operations on the desc type are done with a type enum based on
> clearly defined bits. Is the hardcoded "1" on purpose ?

I don't understand your question. That code does not have any enum involved
at all:

        desc->type              = (info->read_exec_only ^ 1) << 1;
        desc->type             |= info->contents << 2;
        /* Set the ACCESS bit so it can be mapped RO */
        desc->type             |= 1;

So the |= 1 is completely consistent with the rest of that code.

> arch/x86/include/asm/processor.h:
> 
> "+ * With page table isolation enabled, we map the LDT in ... [stay tuned]"
> 
> I look forward to publication of the next chapter containing the rest of
> this sentence. When is it due ? ;)

Don't know. Lost my crystal ball.

> +static void free_ldt_pgtables(struct mm_struct *mm)
> +{
> +#ifdef CONFIG_PAGE_TABLE_ISOLATION
> +	struct mmu_gather tlb;
> +	unsigned long start = LDT_BASE_ADDR;
> +	unsigned long end = start + (1UL << PGDIR_SHIFT);
> +
> +	if (!static_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_PTI))
> +		return;
> +
> +	tlb_gather_mmu(&tlb, mm, start, end);
> +	free_pgd_range(&tlb, start, end, start, end);
> +	tlb_finish_mmu(&tlb, start, end);
> +#endif
> 
> ^ AFAIK, the usual approach is to move the #ifdef outside of the function body,
> and have one empty function.

That really depends. If you have several functions that makes sense, if you
have only one, not so much.
 
> @@ -156,6 +271,12 @@ int ldt_dup_context(struct mm_struct *old_mm, struct mm_struct *mm)
>  	       new_ldt->nr_entries * LDT_ENTRY_SIZE);
>  	finalize_ldt_struct(new_ldt);
>  
> +	retval = map_ldt_struct(mm, new_ldt, 0);
> +	if (retval) {
> +		free_ldt_pgtables(mm);
> +		free_ldt_struct(new_ldt);
> +		goto out_unlock;
> +	}
>  	mm->context.ldt = new_ldt;
>  
>  out_unlock:
> 
> ^ I don't get why it does "free_ldt_pgtables(mm)" on the mm argument, but
> it's not done in other error paths. Perhaps it's OK, but ownership seems
> non-obvious.

The pagetable for LDT is allocated and populated in the user space visible
part of a process PGDIR, which obviously is connected to the mm struct....

Which other error paths are you talking about? 

> @@ -287,6 +413,18 @@ static int write_ldt(void __user *ptr, unsigned long bytecount, int oldmode)
>  	new_ldt->entries[ldt_info.entry_number] = ldt;
>  	finalize_ldt_struct(new_ldt);
>  
> +	/*
> +	 * If we are using PTI, map the new LDT into the userspace pagetables.
> +	 * If there is already an LDT, use the other slot so that other CPUs
> +	 * will continue to use the old LDT until install_ldt() switches
> +	 * them over to the new LDT.
> +	 */
> +	error = map_ldt_struct(mm, new_ldt, old_ldt ? !old_ldt->slot : 0);
> +	if (error) {
> +		free_ldt_struct(old_ldt);
> +		goto out_unlock;
> +	}
> +
> 
> ^ is it really "old_ldt" that we want freed on error here ? Or should it be
> "new_ldt" ?

Ouch. Yes, that wants to be new_ldt indeed.

> +	/*
> +	 * Force the population of PMDs for not yet allocated per cpu
> +	 * memory like debug store buffers.
> +	 */
> +	npages = sizeof(struct debug_store_buffers) / PAGE_SIZE;
> +	for (; npages; npages--, cea += PAGE_SIZE)
> +		cea_set_pte(cea, 0, PAGE_NONE);
> 
> ^ the code above (in percpu_setup_debug_store()) depends on having
> struct debug_store_buffers's size being a multiple of PAGE_SIZE. A
> comment should be added near the structure declaration to document
> this requirement.

Hmm. There was a build_bug_on() somewhere which ensured that. That must
have been lost in one of the gazillion iterations.

> +static void __init pti_setup_espfix64(void)
> +{
> +#ifdef CONFIG_X86_ESPFIX64
> +	pti_clone_p4d(ESPFIX_BASE_ADDR);
> +#endif
> +}
> 
> Seeing how this ifdef within function layout is everywhere in the patch,
> I start to wonder whether I missed a coding style guideline somewhere... ?

I don't see how extra empty functions would improve that, but that's a
pointless debate.

> +/*
> + * We get here when we do something requiring a TLB invalidation
> + * but could not go invalidate all of the contexts.  We do the
> + * necessary invalidation by clearing out the 'ctx_id' which
> + * forces a TLB flush when the context is loaded.
> + */
> +void clear_asid_other(void)
> +{
> +	u16 asid;
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * This is only expected to be set if we have disabled
> +	 * kernel _PAGE_GLOBAL pages.
> +	 */
> +	if (!static_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_PTI)) {
> +		WARN_ON_ONCE(1);
> +		return;
> +	}
> +
> +	for (asid = 0; asid < TLB_NR_DYN_ASIDS; asid++) {
> +		/* Do not need to flush the current asid */
> +		if (asid == this_cpu_read(cpu_tlbstate.loaded_mm_asid))
> +			continue;
> +		/*
> +		 * Make sure the next time we go to switch to
> +		 * this asid, we do a flush:
> +		 */
> +		this_cpu_write(cpu_tlbstate.ctxs[asid].ctx_id, 0);
> +	}
> +	this_cpu_write(cpu_tlbstate.invalidate_other, false);
> +}
> 
> Can this be called with preemption enabled ? If so, what happens
> if migrated ?

No, it can't and if it is then it's a bug and the smp_processor_id() debug
code will yell at you.

Thanks,

	tglx