[RFC PATCH bpf-next 3/6] bpf: Optimize string span kfuncs

From: Leon Hwang

Date: Tue Jul 28 2026 - 11:19:09 EST


Share a direct implementation between bpf_strspn() and bpf_strcspn().
Read the source string a word at a time and cache set membership in a
lazily populated 256-bit bitmap, so each required accept or reject byte
is nofault-loaded at most once.

Use the word-at-a-time character finder after discovering a singleton
reject set. This avoids inspecting individual source bytes for common
bpf_strcspn() delimiters.

Keep set loading lazy, retry from the same byte after a word-load fault,
and retain the existing NUL, EFAULT, and E2BIG ordering.

Assisted-by: Codex:gpt-5.6-sol
Signed-off-by: Leon Hwang <leon.hwang@xxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/bpf/helpers.c | 175 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------------
1 file changed, 121 insertions(+), 54 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/bpf/helpers.c b/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
index 406aca61789a..af29acc90245 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/helpers.c
@@ -4126,6 +4126,125 @@ __bpf_kfunc int bpf_strlen(const char *s__ign)
return bpf_strnlen(s__ign, XATTR_SIZE_MAX);
}

+static __always_inline bool
+bpf_str_set_contains(const unsigned long *set_bits, unsigned char c)
+{
+ return set_bits[c / BITS_PER_LONG] & BIT(c % BITS_PER_LONG);
+}
+
+static __always_inline int
+bpf_str_set_lookup(const char *set, unsigned long *set_bits, size_t *set_pos, bool *set_complete,
+ unsigned char *set_first, unsigned char c)
+{
+ unsigned char set_c;
+
+ if (bpf_str_set_contains(set_bits, c))
+ return 1;
+ if (*set_complete)
+ return 0;
+
+ while (*set_pos < XATTR_SIZE_MAX) {
+ __get_kernel_nofault(&set_c, set + *set_pos, unsigned char, err_out);
+ if (set_c == '\0') {
+ *set_complete = true;
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+ if (*set_pos == 0)
+ *set_first = set_c;
+ set_bits[set_c / BITS_PER_LONG] |= BIT(set_c % BITS_PER_LONG);
+ (*set_pos)++;
+ if (set_c == c)
+ return 1;
+ }
+ return -E2BIG;
+
+err_out:
+ return -EFAULT;
+}
+
+static __always_inline int
+bpf_strcspn_single(const char *s, size_t pos, unsigned char reject)
+{
+ int ret;
+
+ ret = bpf_str_find(s + pos, XATTR_SIZE_MAX - pos, reject, false, true);
+ if (ret >= 0)
+ return pos + ret;
+ return ret == -ENOENT ? -E2BIG : ret;
+}
+
+static int __bpf_strspn(const char *s, const char *set, bool reject)
+{
+ unsigned long set_bits[256 / BITS_PER_LONG] = {};
+ size_t pos = 0, word_end, i, set_pos = 0;
+ unsigned char c, set_first = 0, *bytes;
+ bool set_complete = false;
+ unsigned long word;
+ int ret;
+
+ if (!copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(s, 1) ||
+ !copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(set, 1))
+ return -ERANGE;
+
+ guard(pagefault)();
+
+ if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_KMSAN))
+ goto byte_at_a_time;
+
+ while (!IS_ALIGNED((unsigned long)(s + pos), sizeof(word))) {
+ __get_kernel_nofault(&c, s + pos, unsigned char, err_out);
+ if (c == '\0')
+ return pos;
+ ret = bpf_str_set_lookup(set, set_bits, &set_pos, &set_complete, &set_first, c);
+ if (ret < 0)
+ return ret;
+ if (ret == reject)
+ return pos;
+ pos++;
+ if (reject && set_complete && set_pos == 1)
+ return bpf_strcspn_single(s, pos, set_first);
+ }
+
+ word_end = pos + round_down(XATTR_SIZE_MAX - pos, sizeof(word));
+ while (pos < word_end) {
+ __get_kernel_nofault(&word, s + pos, unsigned long, byte_at_a_time);
+ bytes = (unsigned char *)&word;
+ for (i = 0; i < sizeof(word); i++) {
+ c = bytes[i];
+ if (c == '\0')
+ return pos + i;
+ ret = bpf_str_set_lookup(set, set_bits, &set_pos, &set_complete,
+ &set_first, c);
+ if (ret < 0)
+ return ret;
+ if (ret == reject)
+ return pos + i;
+ if (reject && set_complete && set_pos == 1)
+ return bpf_strcspn_single(s, pos + i + 1, set_first);
+ }
+ pos += sizeof(word);
+ }
+
+byte_at_a_time:
+ for (; pos < XATTR_SIZE_MAX; pos++) {
+ __get_kernel_nofault(&c, s + pos, unsigned char, err_out);
+ if (c == '\0')
+ return pos;
+ ret = bpf_str_set_lookup(set, set_bits, &set_pos, &set_complete, &set_first, c);
+ if (ret < 0)
+ return ret;
+ if (ret == reject)
+ return pos;
+ if (reject && set_complete && set_pos == 1)
+ return bpf_strcspn_single(s, pos + 1, set_first);
+ }
+ return -E2BIG;
+
+err_out:
+ return -EFAULT;
+}
+
/**
* bpf_strspn - Calculate the length of the initial substring of @s__ign which
* only contains letters in @accept__ign
@@ -4141,33 +4260,7 @@ __bpf_kfunc int bpf_strlen(const char *s__ign)
*/
__bpf_kfunc int bpf_strspn(const char *s__ign, const char *accept__ign)
{
- char cs, ca;
- int i, j;
-
- if (!copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(s__ign, 1) ||
- !copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(accept__ign, 1)) {
- return -ERANGE;
- }
-
- guard(pagefault)();
- for (i = 0; i < XATTR_SIZE_MAX; i++) {
- __get_kernel_nofault(&cs, s__ign, char, err_out);
- if (cs == '\0')
- return i;
- for (j = 0; j < XATTR_SIZE_MAX; j++) {
- __get_kernel_nofault(&ca, accept__ign + j, char, err_out);
- if (cs == ca || ca == '\0')
- break;
- }
- if (j == XATTR_SIZE_MAX)
- return -E2BIG;
- if (ca == '\0')
- return i;
- s__ign++;
- }
- return -E2BIG;
-err_out:
- return -EFAULT;
+ return __bpf_strspn(s__ign, accept__ign, false);
}

/**
@@ -4185,33 +4278,7 @@ __bpf_kfunc int bpf_strspn(const char *s__ign, const char *accept__ign)
*/
__bpf_kfunc int bpf_strcspn(const char *s__ign, const char *reject__ign)
{
- char cs, cr;
- int i, j;
-
- if (!copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(s__ign, 1) ||
- !copy_from_kernel_nofault_allowed(reject__ign, 1)) {
- return -ERANGE;
- }
-
- guard(pagefault)();
- for (i = 0; i < XATTR_SIZE_MAX; i++) {
- __get_kernel_nofault(&cs, s__ign, char, err_out);
- if (cs == '\0')
- return i;
- for (j = 0; j < XATTR_SIZE_MAX; j++) {
- __get_kernel_nofault(&cr, reject__ign + j, char, err_out);
- if (cs == cr || cr == '\0')
- break;
- }
- if (j == XATTR_SIZE_MAX)
- return -E2BIG;
- if (cr != '\0')
- return i;
- s__ign++;
- }
- return -E2BIG;
-err_out:
- return -EFAULT;
+ return __bpf_strspn(s__ign, reject__ign, true);
}

static int __bpf_strnstr(const char *s1, const char *s2, size_t len,
--
2.55.0