[PATCH v2] livepatch: Reject livepatches with aliased old_func
From: Harry Hsu
Date: Sun Aug 23 2026 - 02:07:50 EST
Several symbols can share one address:
ffffffff8ed7fef0 t __do_sys_fork
ffffffff8ed7fef0 T __ia32_sys_fork
ffffffff8ed7fef0 T __x64_sys_fork
klp_find_ops() looks the ops up by func->old_func, i.e. by address, so
two klp_funcs of the same livepatch naming two of these symbols resolve
to the same klp_ops and are both pushed onto one ops->func_stack.
This breaks the assumption that a single livepatch contributes at most
one entry to any func_stack. klp_ftrace_handler() picks the entry at
the top of the stack, but when both entries belong to the same livepatch
there is nothing that says which of them should be used in the PATCHED
state, and the UNPATCHED state has to end up at the original function
either way. klp_check_stack_func() cannot tell them apart either: it
asks whether the preceding entry is the original function or another
livepatch's replacement, and an aliased sibling is neither.
Patching two aliases of one function from a single livepatch was never
meaningful, so reject it while the object is being initialized rather
than leave the redirection undefined. Compare the resolved old_func of
each klp_func against the ones already resolved for the same klp_object
and return -EINVAL on a match, naming both symbols so that the offending
pair can be found in the livepatch source.
Fixes: 3c33f5b99d68 ("livepatch: support for repatching a function")
Suggested-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@xxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Harry Hsu <x90613@xxxxxxxxx>
---
v2:
- Drop the klp_check_stack_func() change. As Petr pointed out, using
list_is_last() only made the last entry behave, still checked the
aliased sibling's range for the other entries, and did nothing about
klp_ftrace_handler() being unable to pick between them. Reject the
livepatch in klp_init_object_loaded() instead, as suggested.
- Rewrite the changelog around rejecting the configuration rather than
around the out-of-bounds read that v1 described.
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260812140232.48079-1-x90613@xxxxxxxxx/
kernel/livepatch/core.c | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/kernel/livepatch/core.c b/kernel/livepatch/core.c
index 28d15ba58a26..c35cf08c27c8 100644
--- a/kernel/livepatch/core.c
+++ b/kernel/livepatch/core.c
@@ -866,7 +866,7 @@ static void klp_clear_object_relocs(struct klp_patch *patch,
static int klp_init_object_loaded(struct klp_patch *patch,
struct klp_object *obj)
{
- struct klp_func *func;
+ struct klp_func *func, *prev_func;
int ret;
if (klp_is_module(obj)) {
@@ -888,6 +888,21 @@ static int klp_init_object_loaded(struct klp_patch *patch,
if (ret)
return ret;
+ /*
+ * Aliased symbols share one address, so they would resolve to
+ * the same klp_ops and stack up on a single ops->func_stack,
+ * leaving the redirection ambiguous. Reject the livepatch.
+ */
+ klp_for_each_func(obj, prev_func) {
+ if (prev_func == func)
+ break;
+ if (prev_func->old_func == func->old_func) {
+ pr_err("'%s' and '%s' resolve to the same address, aliased symbols are not supported\n",
+ prev_func->old_name, func->old_name);
+ return -EINVAL;
+ }
+ }
+
ret = kallsyms_lookup_size_offset((unsigned long)func->old_func,
&func->old_size, NULL);
if (!ret) {
--
2.43.0