Re: [PATCH bpf-next v2 1/2] bpf: verifier: Support eliding map lookup nullness

From: Eduard Zingerman
Date: Fri Sep 20 2024 - 18:05:56 EST


On Sun, 2024-09-15 at 21:45 -0600, Daniel Xu wrote:
> This commit allows progs to elide a null check on statically known map
> lookup keys. In other words, if the verifier can statically prove that
> the lookup will be in-bounds, allow the prog to drop the null check.
>
> This is useful for two reasons:
>
> 1. Large numbers of nullness checks (especially when they cannot fail)
> unnecessarily pushes prog towards BPF_COMPLEXITY_LIMIT_JMP_SEQ.
> 2. It forms a tighter contract between programmer and verifier.
>
> For (1), bpftrace is starting to make heavier use of percpu scratch
> maps. As a result, for user scripts with large number of unrolled loops,
> we are starting to hit jump complexity verification errors. These
> percpu lookups cannot fail anyways, as we only use static key values.
> Eliding nullness probably results in less work for verifier as well.
>
> For (2), percpu scratch maps are often used as a larger stack, as the
> currrent stack is limited to 512 bytes. In these situations, it is
> desirable for the programmer to express: "this lookup should never fail,
> and if it does, it means I messed up the code". By omitting the null
> check, the programmer can "ask" the verifier to double check the logic.

Nit: maybe add a few lines why tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/iters.c
has to be changed.

[...]

> +/* Returns constant key value if possible, else -1 */
> +static long get_constant_map_key(struct bpf_verifier_env *env,
> + struct bpf_reg_state *key)
> +{
> + struct bpf_func_state *state = func(env, key);
> + struct bpf_reg_state *reg;
> + int stack_off;
> + int slot;
> + int spi;
> +
> + if (key->type != PTR_TO_STACK)
> + return -1;
> + if (!tnum_is_const(key->var_off))
> + return -1;
> +
> + stack_off = key->off + key->var_off.value;
> + slot = -stack_off - 1;
> + if (slot >= state->allocated_stack)
> + /* Stack uninitialized */
> + return -1;

I'm not sure verifier guarantees that key->off is negative.
E.g. the following simple program:

0: (b7) r1 = 16 ; R1_w=16
1: (bf) r2 = r10 ; R2_w=fp0 R10=fp0
2: (0f) r2 += r1
mark_precise: frame0: last_idx 2 first_idx 0 subseq_idx -1
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r1 stack= before 1: (bf) r2 = r10
mark_precise: frame0: regs=r1 stack= before 0: (b7) r1 = 16
3: R1_w=16 R2_w=fp16

=> I think 'slot' should be checked to be >= 0.

> +
> + spi = slot / BPF_REG_SIZE;
> + reg = &state->stack[spi].spilled_ptr;
> + if (!tnum_is_const(reg->var_off))
> + /* Stack value not statically known */
> + return -1;
> +
> + return reg->var_off.value;
> +}
> +
> static int get_helper_proto(struct bpf_verifier_env *env, int func_id,
> const struct bpf_func_proto **ptr)
> {
> @@ -10511,6 +10557,15 @@ static int check_helper_call(struct bpf_verifier_env *env, struct bpf_insn *insn
> env->insn_aux_data[insn_idx].storage_get_func_atomic = true;
> }
>
> + /* Logically we are trying to check on key register state before
> + * the helper is called, so process here. Otherwise argument processing
> + * may clobber the spilled key values.
> + */
> + regs = cur_regs(env);
> + if (func_id == BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem)
> + meta.const_map_key = get_constant_map_key(env, &regs[BPF_REG_2]);

Nit: there is a long 'switch (func_id)' slightly below this point,
maybe move this check there?

> +
> +
> meta.func_id = func_id;
> /* check args */
> for (i = 0; i < MAX_BPF_FUNC_REG_ARGS; i++) {

[...]