[RFC PATCH 4/9] module: Allocate MOD_INIT_TEXT from the MOD_TEXT ROX allocation

From: Ard Biesheuvel

Date: Sat Aug 22 2026 - 09:55:49 EST


From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@xxxxxxxxxx>

When execmem ROX caches are used for module text and inittext, place
them adjacently in memory, by allocating space for both initially, and
splitting off the space for MOD_INIT_TEXT as needed.

This avoids the corner case on arm64, where .init.text being placed far
from .text results in a lot of complexity wrt indirect branches and PLTs
that we'd prefer to avoid.

Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/module/main.c | 22 ++++++++++++++++----
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/module/main.c b/kernel/module/main.c
index 46dd8d25a605..2d6213496359 100644
--- a/kernel/module/main.c
+++ b/kernel/module/main.c
@@ -1342,7 +1342,7 @@ static int module_memory_alloc(struct module *mod, enum mod_mem_type type)
{
unsigned int size = PAGE_ALIGN(mod->mem[type].size);
enum execmem_type execmem_type;
- void *ptr;
+ void *ptr = NULL;

mod->mem[type].size = size;

@@ -1351,11 +1351,25 @@ static int module_memory_alloc(struct module *mod, enum mod_mem_type type)
else
execmem_type = EXECMEM_MODULE_TEXT;

- ptr = execmem_alloc_rw(execmem_type, size);
+ bool is_rox = execmem_is_rox(execmem_type);
+ if (is_rox) {
+ /*
+ * Special case for MOD_TEXT / MOD_INIT_TEXT: allocate the
+ * latter by splitting off required space from the former
+ * so that they are always placed close together.
+ */
+ if (type == MOD_TEXT)
+ size += PAGE_ALIGN(mod->mem[MOD_INIT_TEXT].size);
+ else if (type == MOD_INIT_TEXT)
+ ptr = execmem_split(mod->mem[MOD_TEXT].base, size);
+ }
+
+ if (!ptr)
+ ptr = execmem_alloc_rw(execmem_type, size);
if (!ptr)
return -ENOMEM;

- mod->mem[type].is_rox = execmem_is_rox(execmem_type);
+ mod->mem[type].is_rox = is_rox;

/*
* The pointer to these blocks of memory are stored on the module
@@ -1368,7 +1382,7 @@ static int module_memory_alloc(struct module *mod, enum mod_mem_type type)
* *do* eventually get freed, but let's just keep things simple
* and avoid *any* false positives.
*/
- if (!mod->mem[type].is_rox)
+ if (!is_rox)
kmemleak_not_leak(ptr);

memset(ptr, 0, size);
--
2.55.0.860.g4b6b3295ed-goog