Re: [PATCH] x86/mm: Set NX bit when making pages present

[Edgecombe, Rick P]

On Fri, 2022-09-09 at 08:27 -0700, Dave Hansen wrote:
> 0day ran across a case triggered by module unloading, but that looks
> to be a generic problem.  It presumably goes like this:
> 
>         1. Load module with direct map, P=1,W=1,NX=1
>         2. Map module executable, set P=1,W=0,NX=0
>         3. Free module, land in vfree()->vm_remove_mappings()
>         4. Set P=0 during alias processing, P=0,W=0,NX=0
>         5. Restore kernel mapping via
> set_direct_map_default_noflush(),
>            set P=1,W=1, resulting in P=1,W=1,NX=0

I don't think this is right. CPA skips NX modification on the alias, so
the earlier module CPA's (1-2) shouldn't have touched NX where
set_direct_map() is operating. So NX *shouldn't* have been cleared in
this case.

Clearly somehow it is though. The original report has this in the log:
Notice: NX (Execute Disable) protection cannot be enabled: non-PAE
kernel!

So probably the W^X checker needs to check this non-PAE case
differently.