[RFC PATCH v2 1/4] compiler.h: Introduce ptr_eq() to preserve address dependency

[Mathieu Desnoyers]

Compiler CSE and SSA GVN optimizations can cause the address dependency
of addresses returned by rcu_dereference to be lost when comparing those
pointers with either constants or previously loaded pointers.

Introduce ptr_eq() to compare two addresses while preserving the address
dependencies for later use of the address. It should be used when
comparing an address returned by rcu_dereference().

This is needed to prevent the compiler CSE and SSA GVN optimizations
from using @a (or @b) in places where the source refers to @b (or @a)
based on the fact that after the comparison, the two are known to be
equal, which does not preserve address dependencies and allows the
following misordering speculations:

- If @b is a constant, the compiler can issue the loads which depend
  on @a before loading @a.
- If @b is a register populated by a prior load, weakly-ordered
  CPUs can speculate loads which depend on @a before loading @a.

The same logic applies with @a and @b swapped.

Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Suggested-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@xxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Mathieu Desnoyers <mathieu.desnoyers@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@xxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Joel Fernandes (Google) <joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Tested-by: Joel Fernandes (Google) <joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>
Acked-by: Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paulmck@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Will Deacon <will@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Alan Stern <stern@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: John Stultz <jstultz@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Neeraj Upadhyay <Neeraj.Upadhyay@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Joel Fernandes <joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Josh Triplett <josh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Uladzislau Rezki <urezki@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Lai Jiangshan <jiangshanlai@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Zqiang <qiang.zhang1211@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Waiman Long <longman@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@xxxxxxx>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@xxxxxxx>
Cc: maged.michael@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: Mateusz Guzik <mjguzik@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Gary Guo <gary@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jonas Oberhauser <jonas.oberhauser@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: rcu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: linux-mm@xxxxxxxxx
Cc: lkmm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Nikita Popov <github@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: llvm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
Changes since v0:
- Include feedback from Alan Stern.
---
 include/linux/compiler.h | 63 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/compiler.h b/include/linux/compiler.h
index 2df665fa2964..75a378ae7af1 100644
--- a/include/linux/compiler.h
+++ b/include/linux/compiler.h
@@ -186,6 +186,69 @@ void ftrace_likely_update(struct ftrace_likely_data *f, int val,
 	__asm__ ("" : "=r" (var) : "0" (var))
 #endif
 
+/*
+ * Compare two addresses while preserving the address dependencies for
+ * later use of the address. It should be used when comparing an address
+ * returned by rcu_dereference().
+ *
+ * This is needed to prevent the compiler CSE and SSA GVN optimizations
+ * from using @a (or @b) in places where the source refers to @b (or @a)
+ * based on the fact that after the comparison, the two are known to be
+ * equal, which does not preserve address dependencies and allows the
+ * following misordering speculations:
+ *
+ * - If @b is a constant, the compiler can issue the loads which depend
+ *   on @a before loading @a.
+ * - If @b is a register populated by a prior load, weakly-ordered
+ *   CPUs can speculate loads which depend on @a before loading @a.
+ *
+ * The same logic applies with @a and @b swapped.
+ *
+ * Return value: true if pointers are equal, false otherwise.
+ *
+ * The compiler barrier() is ineffective at fixing this issue. It does
+ * not prevent the compiler CSE from losing the address dependency:
+ *
+ * int fct_2_volatile_barriers(void)
+ * {
+ *     int *a, *b;
+ *
+ *     do {
+ *         a = READ_ONCE(p);
+ *         asm volatile ("" : : : "memory");
+ *         b = READ_ONCE(p);
+ *     } while (a != b);
+ *     asm volatile ("" : : : "memory");  <-- barrier()
+ *     return *b;
+ * }
+ *
+ * With gcc 14.2 (arm64):
+ *
+ * fct_2_volatile_barriers:
+ *         adrp    x0, .LANCHOR0
+ *         add     x0, x0, :lo12:.LANCHOR0
+ * .L2:
+ *         ldr     x1, [x0]  <-- x1 populated by first load.
+ *         ldr     x2, [x0]
+ *         cmp     x1, x2
+ *         bne     .L2
+ *         ldr     w0, [x1]  <-- x1 is used for access which should depend on b.
+ *         ret
+ *
+ * On weakly-ordered architectures, this lets CPU speculation use the
+ * result from the first load to speculate "ldr w0, [x1]" before
+ * "ldr x2, [x0]".
+ * Based on the RCU documentation, the control dependency does not
+ * prevent the CPU from speculating loads.
+ */
+static __always_inline
+int ptr_eq(const volatile void *a, const volatile void *b)
+{
+	OPTIMIZER_HIDE_VAR(a);
+	OPTIMIZER_HIDE_VAR(b);
+	return a == b;
+}
+
 #define __UNIQUE_ID(prefix) __PASTE(__PASTE(__UNIQUE_ID_, prefix), __COUNTER__)
 
 /**
-- 
2.39.2