[PATCH bpf-next v3 0/3] bpf: Preserve pointer state for commuted arithmetic

From: Yiyang Chen

Date: Wed Jul 22 2026 - 01:29:13 EST


This series fixes pointer-state propagation for commuted scalar += pointer
arithmetic in the verifier.

Patch 1 keeps the full pointer register state when the pointer operand is
the source of the add, which preserves fields such as the stack frame
number and parent id instead of copying only type and id.

Patch 2 builds on that state propagation and moves the untrusted PTR_TO_MEM
early return after it, so scalar += untrusted_pointer is modeled as
PTR_TO_MEM and remains usable through the probe-read path.

Patch 3 adds verifier selftests for stack frame number preservation,
readonly-untrusted memory access, and dynptr data-slice invalidation.

Changes in v3:
- Preserve the complete pointer register state with verifier-env scratch
storage, addressing Eduard's comment that copying selected fields is
fragile and avoiding a temporary bpf_reg_state on the verifier stack.
- Keep the existing RUN(verifier_basic_stack) dispatch unchanged and add the
stack regression directly to the existing verifier_basic_stack program.
- Keep the original operand direction inside adjust_ptr_min_max_vals() by
saving the scalar operand in env->fake_reg[0].
- Move untrusted PTR_TO_MEM handling after the unified pointer-state copy so
the commuted form remains PTR_TO_MEM before the early return.
- Add readonly-untrusted and dynptr selftest coverage, responding to the
bpf-ci/static review finding that the untrusted pointer case needs a
regression test.
- Clear the original dynptr data-slice register after deriving the commuted
alias so the regression test isolates parent-id propagation.
- Make the readonly-untrusted return value endian-neutral by loading an int.
- Rebase to bpf-next base a23a71823352.

v2: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/cover.1784563950.git.chenyy23@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/cover.1784563939.git.chenyy23@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

Yiyang Chen (3):
bpf: Preserve pointer state for commuted arithmetic
bpf: Propagate untrusted pointer state in commuted arithmetic
selftests/bpf: Cover commuted pointer state propagation

kernel/bpf/verifier.c | 35 +++++++++-------
.../testing/selftests/bpf/progs/dynptr_fail.c | 31 ++++++++++++++
.../bpf/progs/mem_rdonly_untrusted.c | 17 ++++++++
.../bpf/progs/verifier_basic_stack.c | 41 +++++++++++++++++++
4 files changed, 110 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)


base-commit: a23a71823352e2d792dcaae25f1ebb744acbfc0b
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2.34.1