Re: [PATCH] LoongArch: fix silent hang on kernel exec into an NX page
From: Song Hu
Date: Thu Jul 16 2026 - 03:29:44 EST
在 2026/7/16 14:24, Huacai Chen 写道:
> Hi, Song,
>
> On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 11:02 AM Song Hu <husong@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> spurious_fault() returns 1 for any non-write fault on a present page
>> without checking the access permission, so a kernel instruction fetch into
>> a present NX page (TLBNX) is treated as spurious and the faulting
>> instruction re-executes forever -- a silent hang that bypasses
>> fixup_exception() and the oops path.
> Can you give a method to reproduce this hang?
Hi Huacai,
Thanks for the review.
A late_initcall that allocates a page-table-backed executable page, flips it
NX, then calls into it -- the TLBNX loops forever in spurious_fault() on the
unpatched kernel. Built as obj-y:
static int __init repro_init(void)
{
void (*fn)(void) = __vmalloc_node_range(PAGE_SIZE, PAGE_SIZE,
VMALLOC_START, VMALLOC_END, GFP_KERNEL,
PAGE_KERNEL_EXEC, VM_FLUSH_RESET_PERMS,
NUMA_NO_NODE, __builtin_return_address(0));
if (!fn)
return 0;
set_memory_nx((unsigned long)fn, 1);
fn(); /* TLBNX -> spurious_fault()=1 -> infinite fault loop */
return 0;
}
late_initcall(repro_init);
The page must be page-table-backed (vmalloc range); an alloc_page()/DMW
linear-map address isn't in the kernel page tables, so the walk in
spurious_fault() never finds it.
Tested in a qemu-system-loongarch64 guest (-machine virt -accel kvm -cpu
la464) on a Loongson-3A6000 host :
unpatched, the initcall never returns -- silent infinite TLBNX loop, no oops;
with the fix, it oopses ("Unable to handle kernel paging request ... era ==
<addr>").
>> Recover the access type from the exception code: an exec fault (TLBNX) is
>> spurious only if the page is executable, a read fault only if it is
>> readable. Fold the pmd/pte check together and add pud_leaf/p4d_leaf.
>>
>> Fixes: 09cfefb7fa70c ("LoongArch: Add memory management")
>> Signed-off-by: Song Hu <husong@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> ---
>> arch/loongarch/mm/fault.c | 24 ++++++++++++++++++++----
>> 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/arch/loongarch/mm/fault.c b/arch/loongarch/mm/fault.c
>> index 2c93d33356e5..591a9c7060f2 100644
>> --- a/arch/loongarch/mm/fault.c
>> +++ b/arch/loongarch/mm/fault.c
>> @@ -38,6 +38,7 @@ static int __kprobes spurious_fault(unsigned long write, unsigned long address)
>> pud_t *pud;
>> pmd_t *pmd;
>> pte_t *pte;
>> + unsigned long prot;
>>
>> if (!(address & __UA_LIMIT))
>> return 0;
>> @@ -58,15 +59,30 @@ static int __kprobes spurious_fault(unsigned long write, unsigned long address)
>> if (!pmd_present(pmdp_get(pmd)))
>> return 0;
>>
>> - if (pmd_leaf(*pmd)) {
>> - return write ? pmd_write(pmdp_get(pmd)) : 1;
>> + if (p4d_leaf(p4dp_get(p4d))) {
>> + prot = p4d_val(p4dp_get(p4d));
>> + } else if (pud_leaf(pudp_get(pud))) {
>> + prot = pud_val(pudp_get(pud));
>> + } else if (pmd_leaf(*pmd)) {
>> + prot = pmd_val(pmdp_get(pmd));
> P4D doesn't exist on LoongArch, PUD huge page isn't supported on
> LoongArch, so what are you doing?
my mistake. p4d is folded here and there is no PUD huge page
on LoongArch, so p4d_leaf()/pud_leaf() are always false in this path -- they
were unnecessary. I'll drop both in v2 and keep only the pmd_leaf()/pte
paths.
Thanks,
Song
> Huacai
>
>> } else {
>> pte = pte_offset_kernel(pmd, address);
>> if (!pte_present(ptep_get(pte)))
>> return 0;
>> -
>> - return write ? pte_write(ptep_get(pte)) : 1;
>> + prot = pte_val(ptep_get(pte));
>> }
>> +
>> + /*
>> + * The TLB-protect handler passes write=0 for read (TLBNR), exec (TLBNX)
>> + * and privilege (TLBPE) faults alike, so recover the real cause from the
>> + * exception code; otherwise an exec into a present NX page (or a read of
>> + * a NO_READ page) is wrongly treated as spurious and loops forever.
>> + */
>> + if (write)
>> + return prot & _PAGE_WRITE;
>> + if (read_csr_excode() == EXCCODE_TLBNX)
>> + return !(prot & _PAGE_NO_EXEC);
>> + return !(prot & _PAGE_NO_READ);
>> }
>>
>> static void __kprobes no_context(struct pt_regs *regs,
>> --
>> 2.43.0
>>