[PATCH 2/5] perf genelf: Use unaligned-safe accessors for debug entries

From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo

Date: Fri Sep 04 2026 - 10:53:51 EST


From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>

debug_entry records are packed with a variable-length name[] field, so
entries after the first may start at addresses that are not naturally
aligned. jit_process_debug_info(), get_special_opcode() and
emit_lineno_info() read and write the u64 addr and int lineno fields
through struct member access, which is undefined behavior on
strict-alignment architectures.

Use get_unaligned()/put_unaligned() to read and update each field,
matching the layout the jitdump writers (LLVM, JVM agents) emit, which
packs entries without padding.

struct debug_entry.lineno is signed and emit_advance_lineno() takes a
long line delta that relies on sign extension, so the field is read
into an int: reading it into an unsigned int would turn a backward
line jump into a huge forward one and corrupt the line number program.

Reported-by: sashiko-bot <sashiko-bot@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Stephane Eranian <eranian@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/util/genelf_debug.c | 28 +++++++++++++++++-----------
1 file changed, 17 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/perf/util/genelf_debug.c b/tools/perf/util/genelf_debug.c
index 8588b3e35e008396..7d9ef43aa6ac4ab6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/genelf_debug.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/genelf_debug.c
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
*/
#include <linux/compiler.h>
#include <linux/zalloc.h>
+#include <linux/kernel.h>
+#include <linux/unaligned.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <getopt.h>
@@ -303,11 +305,13 @@ static ubyte get_special_opcode(struct debug_entry *ent,
{
unsigned int temp;
unsigned long delta_addr;
+ int lineno = get_unaligned(&ent->lineno);
+ uint64_t addr = get_unaligned(&ent->addr);

/*
* delta from line_base
*/
- temp = (ent->lineno - last_line) - default_debug_line_header.line_base;
+ temp = (lineno - last_line) - default_debug_line_header.line_base;

if (temp >= default_debug_line_header.line_range)
return 0;
@@ -315,7 +319,7 @@ static ubyte get_special_opcode(struct debug_entry *ent,
/*
* delta of addresses
*/
- delta_addr = (ent->addr - last_vma) / default_debug_line_header.minimum_instruction_length;
+ delta_addr = (addr - last_vma) / default_debug_line_header.minimum_instruction_length;

/* This is not sufficient to ensure opcode will be in [0-256] but
* sufficient to ensure when summing with the delta lineno we will
@@ -362,6 +366,8 @@ static void emit_lineno_info(struct buffer_ext *be,
for (i = 0; i < nr_entry; i++, ent = debug_entry_next(ent)) {
int need_copy = 0;
ubyte special_opcode;
+ int lineno = get_unaligned(&ent->lineno);
+ uint64_t addr = get_unaligned(&ent->addr);

/*
* check if filename changed, if so add it
@@ -376,24 +382,24 @@ static void emit_lineno_info(struct buffer_ext *be,

special_opcode = get_special_opcode(ent, last_line, last_vma);
if (special_opcode != 0) {
- last_line = ent->lineno;
- last_vma = ent->addr;
+ last_line = lineno;
+ last_vma = addr;
emit_opcode(be, special_opcode);
} else {
/*
* lines differ, emit line delta
*/
- if (last_line != ent->lineno) {
- emit_advance_lineno(be, ent->lineno - last_line);
- last_line = ent->lineno;
+ if (last_line != lineno) {
+ emit_advance_lineno(be, lineno - last_line);
+ last_line = lineno;
need_copy = 1;
}
/*
* addresses differ, emit address delta
*/
- if (last_vma != ent->addr) {
- emit_advance_pc(be, ent->addr - last_vma);
- last_vma = ent->addr;
+ if (last_vma != addr) {
+ emit_advance_pc(be, addr - last_vma);
+ last_vma = addr;
need_copy = 1;
}
/*
@@ -480,7 +486,7 @@ jit_process_debug_info(uint64_t code_addr,
int i;

for (i = 0; i < nr_debug_entries; i++) {
- ent->addr = ent->addr - code_addr;
+ put_unaligned(get_unaligned(&ent->addr) - code_addr, &ent->addr);
ent = debug_entry_next(ent);
}
add_compilation_unit(di, buffer_ext_size(dl));
--
2.55.0