Re: [PATCH v11 25/25] x86/cet/shstk: Add arch_prctl functions for shadow stack

From: Yu, Yu-cheng
Date: Tue Aug 25 2020 - 17:04:05 EST


On 8/25/2020 12:19 PM, Dave Hansen wrote:
On 8/25/20 11:43 AM, Yu, Yu-cheng wrote:
arch_prctl(ARCH_X86_CET_MMAP_SHSTK, u64 *args)
     Allocate a new shadow stack.

     The parameter 'args' is a pointer to a user buffer.

     *args = desired size
     *(args + 1) = MAP_32BIT or MAP_POPULATE

     On returning, *args is the allocated shadow stack address.

This is hideous.  Would this be better as a new syscall?

Could you point out why this is hideous, so that I can modify the
arch_prctl?

Passing values in memory is hideous when we don't have to. A syscall
would let you have separate arguments for size and flags and would also
let you have a nice return value instead of needing to do that in memory
too.

That is a good justification.


I think this is more arch-specific.  Even if it becomes a new syscall,
we still need to pass the same parameters.

Right, but without the copying in and out of memory.

Linux-api is already on the Cc list. Do we need to add more people to get some agreements for the syscall?