Re: [PATCH v2] x86/mm/pat: fix effective RW computation in lookup_address_in_pgd_attr()

From: David Laight

Date: Fri Jul 17 2026 - 06:34:23 EST


On Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:41:43 +0300
"Mike Rapoport (Microsoft)" <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> lookup_address_in_pgd_attr() accumulates the effective NX and RW bits of
> the walked page table levels so that verify_rwx() can detect mappings that
> are both writable and executable.
>
> The RW bits are folded into a bool with
>
> rw &= pXd_flags(*pXd) & _PAGE_RW;
>
> but _PAGE_RW is 0x2. So consider the accumulation line:
>
> rw &= pXd_flags(*pXd) & _PAGE_RW;
>
> where rw=0x1 and the right side evaluates down to 0x2. It'll end up doing:
>
> rw = 0x1 & 0x2
>
> and rw always ends up 0.
>
> This way rw becomes false at the first level walked, regardless of the
> actual permissions, and verify_rwx() treats every mapping as non-writable
> and never reports a W^X violation.
>
> Add double negation to the right side to normalize the _PAGE_RW flag to
> 0 or 1.
>
> Fixes: ceb647b4b529 ("x86/pat: Introduce lookup_address_in_pgd_attr()")
> Assisted-by: Copilot:claude-opus-4.8
> Signed-off-by: Mike Rapoport (Microsoft) <rppt@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Juergen Gross <jgross@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
> v2 changes:
> * use a simpler version that uses !! to ensure the comparison result is
> 0 or 1

Isn't this slower (and probably larger) because of the repeated references
to the parameter passed by reference?

David

>
> v1: https://patch.msgid.link/20260716-verify-rwx-fix-v1-1-d8a04854df06@xxxxxxxxxx
> ---
> arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c | 8 ++++----
> 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c b/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c
> index d023a40a1e03..cd9ecc8e52f9 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c
> +++ b/arch/x86/mm/pat/set_memory.c
> @@ -731,7 +731,7 @@ pte_t *lookup_address_in_pgd_attr(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long address,
>
> *level = PG_LEVEL_512G;
> *nx |= pgd_flags(*pgd) & _PAGE_NX;
> - *rw &= pgd_flags(*pgd) & _PAGE_RW;
> + *rw &= !!(pgd_flags(*pgd) & _PAGE_RW);
>
> p4d = p4d_offset(pgd, address);
> if (p4d_none(*p4d))
> @@ -742,7 +742,7 @@ pte_t *lookup_address_in_pgd_attr(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long address,
>
> *level = PG_LEVEL_1G;
> *nx |= p4d_flags(*p4d) & _PAGE_NX;
> - *rw &= p4d_flags(*p4d) & _PAGE_RW;
> + *rw &= !!(p4d_flags(*p4d) & _PAGE_RW);
>
> pud = pud_offset(p4d, address);
> if (pud_none(*pud))
> @@ -753,7 +753,7 @@ pte_t *lookup_address_in_pgd_attr(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long address,
>
> *level = PG_LEVEL_2M;
> *nx |= pud_flags(*pud) & _PAGE_NX;
> - *rw &= pud_flags(*pud) & _PAGE_RW;
> + *rw &= !!(pud_flags(*pud) & _PAGE_RW);
>
> pmd = pmd_offset(pud, address);
> if (pmd_none(*pmd))
> @@ -764,7 +764,7 @@ pte_t *lookup_address_in_pgd_attr(pgd_t *pgd, unsigned long address,
>
> *level = PG_LEVEL_4K;
> *nx |= pmd_flags(*pmd) & _PAGE_NX;
> - *rw &= pmd_flags(*pmd) & _PAGE_RW;
> + *rw &= !!(pmd_flags(*pmd) & _PAGE_RW);
>
> return pte_offset_kernel(pmd, address);
> }
>
> ---
> base-commit: a13c140cc289c0b7b3770bce5b3ad42ab35074aa
> change-id: 20260716-verify-rwx-fix-3b0bd3e51244
>
> --
> Sincerely yours,
> Mike.
>