Re: [RFC PATCH for 4.18] rseq: use __u64 for rseq_cs fields, validate user inputs

[Christopher Lameter]

On Mon, 2 Jul 2018, Mathieu Desnoyers wrote:

> Are there any kind of guarantees that a __u64 update on a 32-bit architecture
> won't be torn into something daft like byte-per-byte stores when performed
> from C code ?
>
> I don't worry whether the upper bits get updated or how, but I really care
> about not having store tearing of the low bits update.

Platforms with 32 bit word size only guarantee atomicity of a 32 bit
write or RMV instruction.

Special instructions may exist on a platform to perform 64 bit atomic
updates. We use cmpxchg64 f.e. on Intel 32 bit platforms to guarantee
atomicity8.

So use the macros that we have to guarantee 64 bit ops and you should be
fine. See linux/arch/x86/include/asm/atomic64_32.h