Re: [PATCH] x86/smap: Fix the smap_save() asm

From: Borislav Petkov
Date: Wed Sep 16 2020 - 04:26:35 EST


On Wed, Sep 16, 2020 at 12:40:30AM +0100, Andrew Cooper wrote:
> It's worse than that.  Even when stating that %rsp is modified in the
> asm, the generated code sequence is still buggy, for recent Clang and GCC.
>
> https://godbolt.org/z/ccz9v7
>
> It's clearly not safe to ever use memory operands with pushf/popf asm
> fragments.

So I went and singlestepped your snippet in gdb. And it all seems to
work - it is simply a bit confusing: :-)

eflags 0x246 [ PF ZF IF ]

=> 0x000055555555505d <main+13>: 9c pushfq
0x7fffffffe440: 0x00007fffffffe540 0x0000000000000000
0x7fffffffe450: 0x0000000000000000 0x00007ffff7e0ecca
0x7fffffffe460: 0x00007fffffffe548 0x00000001ffffe7c9
0x7fffffffe470: 0x0000555555555050 0x00007ffff7e0e8f8
0x7fffffffe480: 0x0000000000000000 0x0c710afd7e78681b

those lines under the "=>" line are the stack contents printed with

$ x/10gx $sp

Then, we will pop into 0x8(%rsp):

=> 0x55555555505e <main+14>: popq 0x8(%rsp)
0x7fffffffe438: 0x0000000000000346 0x00007fffffffe540
0x7fffffffe448: 0x0000000000000000 0x0000000000000000
0x7fffffffe458: 0x00007ffff7e0ecca 0x00007fffffffe548
0x7fffffffe468: 0x00000001ffffe7c9 0x0000555555555050
0x7fffffffe478: 0x00007ffff7e0e8f8 0x0000000000000000

Now, POP copies the value pointed to by %rsp, *increments* the stack
pointer and *then* computes the effective address of the operand. It
says so in the SDM too (thanks peterz!):

"If the ESP register is used as a base register for addressing a
destination operand in memory, the POP instruction computes the
effective address of the operand after it increments the ESP register."

*That*s why, FLAGS is in 0x7fffffffe448! which is %rsp + 8.

Basically flags is there *twice* on the stack:

(gdb) x/10x 0x7fffffffe438
0x7fffffffe438: 0x0000000000000346 0x00007fffffffe540
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
0x7fffffffe448: 0x0000000000000346 0x0000000000000000
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
0x7fffffffe458: 0x00007ffff7e0ecca 0x00007fffffffe548
0x7fffffffe468: 0x00000001ffffe7c9 0x0000555555555050
0x7fffffffe478: 0x00007ffff7e0e8f8 0x0000000000000000

and now we read the second copy into %rsi.

=> 0x555555555062 <main+18>: mov 0x8(%rsp),%rsi
0x7fffffffe440: 0x00007fffffffe540 0x0000000000000346
0x7fffffffe450: 0x0000000000000000 0x00007ffff7e0ecca
0x7fffffffe460: 0x00007fffffffe548 0x00000001ffffe7c9
0x7fffffffe470: 0x0000555555555050 0x00007ffff7e0e8f8
0x7fffffffe480: 0x0000000000000000 0x0c710afd7e78681b

Looks like it works as designed.

--
Regards/Gruss,
Boris.

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