Re: [PATCH bpf-next 1/2] bpf: Allow invoking kfuncs from BPF_PROG_TYPE_SYSCALL progs

From: Yonghong Song
Date: Thu Apr 04 2024 - 11:32:45 EST



On 4/3/24 6:03 PM, David Vernet wrote:
Currently, a set of core BPF kfuncs (e.g. bpf_task_*, bpf_cgroup_*,
bpf_cpumask_*, etc) cannot be invoked from BPF_PROG_TYPE_SYSCALL
programs. The whitelist approach taken for enabling kfuncs makes sense:
it not safe to call these kfuncs from every program type. For example,
it may not be safe to call bpf_task_acquire() in an fentry to
free_task().

BPF_PROG_TYPE_SYSCALL, on the other hand, is a perfectly safe program
type from which to invoke these kfuncs, as it's a very controlled
environment, and we should never be able to run into any of the typical
problems such as recursive invoations, acquiring references on freeing
kptrs, etc. Being able to invoke these kfuncs would be useful, as
BPF_PROG_TYPE_SYSCALL can be invoked with BPF_PROG_RUN, and would
therefore enable user space programs to synchronously call into BPF to
manipulate these kptrs.

This patch therefore enables invoking the aforementioned core kfuncs
from BPF_PROG_TYPE_SYSCALL progs.

Signed-off-by: David Vernet <void@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Acked-by: Yonghong Song <yonghong.song@xxxxxxxxx>