<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'>
<title>linux-stable.git/arch/x86/kernel/entry_64.S, branch linux-3.3.y</title>
<subtitle>Linux kernel stable tree</subtitle>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/'/>
<entry>
<title>x86: Specify a size for the cmp in the NMI handler</title>
<updated>2012-02-21T00:45:26+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Steven Rostedt</name>
<email>srostedt@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-20T20:29:34+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=a38449ef596b345e13a8f9b7d5cd9fedb8fcf921'/>
<id>a38449ef596b345e13a8f9b7d5cd9fedb8fcf921</id>
<content type='text'>
Linus noticed that the cmp used to check if the code segment is
__KERNEL_CS or not did not specify a size. Perhaps it does not matter
as H. Peter Anvin noted that user space can not set the bottom two
bits of the %cs register. But it's best not to let the assembly choose
and change things between different versions of gas, but instead just
pick the size.

Four bytes are used to compare the saved code segment against
__KERNEL_CS. Perhaps this might mess up Xen, but we can fix that when
the time comes.

Also I noticed that there was another non-specified cmp that checks
the special stack variable if it is 1 or 0. This too probably doesn't
matter what cmp is used, but this patch uses cmpl just to make it non
ambiguous.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/CA+55aFxfAn9MWRgS3O5k2tqN5ys1XrhSFVO5_9ZAoZKDVgNfGA@mail.gmail.com

Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Linus noticed that the cmp used to check if the code segment is
__KERNEL_CS or not did not specify a size. Perhaps it does not matter
as H. Peter Anvin noted that user space can not set the bottom two
bits of the %cs register. But it's best not to let the assembly choose
and change things between different versions of gas, but instead just
pick the size.

Four bytes are used to compare the saved code segment against
__KERNEL_CS. Perhaps this might mess up Xen, but we can fix that when
the time comes.

Also I noticed that there was another non-specified cmp that checks
the special stack variable if it is 1 or 0. This too probably doesn't
matter what cmp is used, but this patch uses cmpl just to make it non
ambiguous.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/CA+55aFxfAn9MWRgS3O5k2tqN5ys1XrhSFVO5_9ZAoZKDVgNfGA@mail.gmail.com

Suggested-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86/nmi: Test saved %cs in NMI to determine nested NMI case</title>
<updated>2012-02-20T08:09:57+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Steven Rostedt</name>
<email>rostedt@goodmis.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-02-19T21:43:37+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=45d5a1683c04be28abdf5c04c27b1417e0374486'/>
<id>45d5a1683c04be28abdf5c04c27b1417e0374486</id>
<content type='text'>
Currently, the NMI handler tests if it is nested by checking the
special variable saved on the stack (set during NMI handling)
and whether the saved stack is the NMI stack as well (to prevent
the race when the variable is set to zero).

But userspace may set their %rsp to any value as long as they do
not derefence it, and it may make it point to the NMI stack,
which will prevent NMIs from triggering while the userspace app
is running. (I tested this, and it is indeed the case)

Add another check to determine nested NMIs by looking at the
saved %cs (code segment register) and making sure that it is the
kernel code segment.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl&gt;
Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: &lt;stable@kernel.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1329687817.1561.27.camel@acer.local.home
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@elte.hu&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Currently, the NMI handler tests if it is nested by checking the
special variable saved on the stack (set during NMI handling)
and whether the saved stack is the NMI stack as well (to prevent
the race when the variable is set to zero).

But userspace may set their %rsp to any value as long as they do
not derefence it, and it may make it point to the NMI stack,
which will prevent NMIs from triggering while the userspace app
is running. (I tested this, and it is indeed the case)

Add another check to determine nested NMIs by looking at the
saved %cs (code segment register) and making sure that it is the
kernel code segment.

Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;a.p.zijlstra@chello.nl&gt;
Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: &lt;stable@kernel.org&gt;
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1329687817.1561.27.camel@acer.local.home
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@elte.hu&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Merge branch 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/audit</title>
<updated>2012-01-18T00:41:31+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-01-18T00:06:51+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=f429ee3b808118591d1f3cdf3c0d0793911a5677'/>
<id>f429ee3b808118591d1f3cdf3c0d0793911a5677</id>
<content type='text'>
* 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/audit: (29 commits)
  audit: no leading space in audit_log_d_path prefix
  audit: treat s_id as an untrusted string
  audit: fix signedness bug in audit_log_execve_info()
  audit: comparison on interprocess fields
  audit: implement all object interfield comparisons
  audit: allow interfield comparison between gid and ogid
  audit: complex interfield comparison helper
  audit: allow interfield comparison in audit rules
  Kernel: Audit Support For The ARM Platform
  audit: do not call audit_getname on error
  audit: only allow tasks to set their loginuid if it is -1
  audit: remove task argument to audit_set_loginuid
  audit: allow audit matching on inode gid
  audit: allow matching on obj_uid
  audit: remove audit_finish_fork as it can't be called
  audit: reject entry,always rules
  audit: inline audit_free to simplify the look of generic code
  audit: drop audit_set_macxattr as it doesn't do anything
  audit: inline checks for not needing to collect aux records
  audit: drop some potentially inadvisable likely notations
  ...

Use evil merge to fix up grammar mistakes in Kconfig file.

Bad speling and horrible grammar (and copious swearing) is to be
expected, but let's keep it to commit messages and comments, rather than
expose it to users in config help texts or printouts.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
* 'for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/viro/audit: (29 commits)
  audit: no leading space in audit_log_d_path prefix
  audit: treat s_id as an untrusted string
  audit: fix signedness bug in audit_log_execve_info()
  audit: comparison on interprocess fields
  audit: implement all object interfield comparisons
  audit: allow interfield comparison between gid and ogid
  audit: complex interfield comparison helper
  audit: allow interfield comparison in audit rules
  Kernel: Audit Support For The ARM Platform
  audit: do not call audit_getname on error
  audit: only allow tasks to set their loginuid if it is -1
  audit: remove task argument to audit_set_loginuid
  audit: allow audit matching on inode gid
  audit: allow matching on obj_uid
  audit: remove audit_finish_fork as it can't be called
  audit: reject entry,always rules
  audit: inline audit_free to simplify the look of generic code
  audit: drop audit_set_macxattr as it doesn't do anything
  audit: inline checks for not needing to collect aux records
  audit: drop some potentially inadvisable likely notations
  ...

Use evil merge to fix up grammar mistakes in Kconfig file.

Bad speling and horrible grammar (and copious swearing) is to be
expected, but let's keep it to commit messages and comments, rather than
expose it to users in config help texts or printouts.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>audit: inline audit_syscall_entry to reduce burden on archs</title>
<updated>2012-01-17T21:16:56+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Paris</name>
<email>eparis@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-01-03T19:23:06+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=b05d8447e7821695bc2fa3359431f7a664232743'/>
<id>b05d8447e7821695bc2fa3359431f7a664232743</id>
<content type='text'>
Every arch calls:

if (unlikely(current-&gt;audit_context))
	audit_syscall_entry()

which requires knowledge about audit (the existance of audit_context) in
the arch code.  Just do it all in static inline in audit.h so that arch's
can remain blissfully ignorant.

Signed-off-by: Eric Paris &lt;eparis@redhat.com&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Every arch calls:

if (unlikely(current-&gt;audit_context))
	audit_syscall_entry()

which requires knowledge about audit (the existance of audit_context) in
the arch code.  Just do it all in static inline in audit.h so that arch's
can remain blissfully ignorant.

Signed-off-by: Eric Paris &lt;eparis@redhat.com&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Audit: push audit success and retcode into arch ptrace.h</title>
<updated>2012-01-17T21:16:56+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Paris</name>
<email>eparis@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2012-01-03T19:23:06+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=d7e7528bcd456f5c36ad4a202ccfb43c5aa98bc4'/>
<id>d7e7528bcd456f5c36ad4a202ccfb43c5aa98bc4</id>
<content type='text'>
The audit system previously expected arches calling to audit_syscall_exit to
supply as arguments if the syscall was a success and what the return code was.
Audit also provides a helper AUDITSC_RESULT which was supposed to simplify things
by converting from negative retcodes to an audit internal magic value stating
success or failure.  This helper was wrong and could indicate that a valid
pointer returned to userspace was a failed syscall.  The fix is to fix the
layering foolishness.  We now pass audit_syscall_exit a struct pt_reg and it
in turns calls back into arch code to collect the return value and to
determine if the syscall was a success or failure.  We also define a generic
is_syscall_success() macro which determines success/failure based on if the
value is &lt; -MAX_ERRNO.  This works for arches like x86 which do not use a
separate mechanism to indicate syscall failure.

We make both the is_syscall_success() and regs_return_value() static inlines
instead of macros.  The reason is because the audit function must take a void*
for the regs.  (uml calls theirs struct uml_pt_regs instead of just struct
pt_regs so audit_syscall_exit can't take a struct pt_regs).  Since the audit
function takes a void* we need to use static inlines to cast it back to the
arch correct structure to dereference it.

The other major change is that on some arches, like ia64, MIPS and ppc, we
change regs_return_value() to give us the negative value on syscall failure.
THE only other user of this macro, kretprobe_example.c, won't notice and it
makes the value signed consistently for the audit functions across all archs.

In arch/sh/kernel/ptrace_64.c I see that we were using regs[9] in the old
audit code as the return value.  But the ptrace_64.h code defined the macro
regs_return_value() as regs[3].  I have no idea which one is correct, but this
patch now uses the regs_return_value() function, so it now uses regs[3].

For powerpc we previously used regs-&gt;result but now use the
regs_return_value() function which uses regs-&gt;gprs[3].  regs-&gt;gprs[3] is
always positive so the regs_return_value(), much like ia64 makes it negative
before calling the audit code when appropriate.

Signed-off-by: Eric Paris &lt;eparis@redhat.com&gt;
Acked-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt; [for x86 portion]
Acked-by: Tony Luck &lt;tony.luck@intel.com&gt; [for ia64]
Acked-by: Richard Weinberger &lt;richard@nod.at&gt; [for uml]
Acked-by: David S. Miller &lt;davem@davemloft.net&gt; [for sparc]
Acked-by: Ralf Baechle &lt;ralf@linux-mips.org&gt; [for mips]
Acked-by: Benjamin Herrenschmidt &lt;benh@kernel.crashing.org&gt; [for ppc]
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
The audit system previously expected arches calling to audit_syscall_exit to
supply as arguments if the syscall was a success and what the return code was.
Audit also provides a helper AUDITSC_RESULT which was supposed to simplify things
by converting from negative retcodes to an audit internal magic value stating
success or failure.  This helper was wrong and could indicate that a valid
pointer returned to userspace was a failed syscall.  The fix is to fix the
layering foolishness.  We now pass audit_syscall_exit a struct pt_reg and it
in turns calls back into arch code to collect the return value and to
determine if the syscall was a success or failure.  We also define a generic
is_syscall_success() macro which determines success/failure based on if the
value is &lt; -MAX_ERRNO.  This works for arches like x86 which do not use a
separate mechanism to indicate syscall failure.

We make both the is_syscall_success() and regs_return_value() static inlines
instead of macros.  The reason is because the audit function must take a void*
for the regs.  (uml calls theirs struct uml_pt_regs instead of just struct
pt_regs so audit_syscall_exit can't take a struct pt_regs).  Since the audit
function takes a void* we need to use static inlines to cast it back to the
arch correct structure to dereference it.

The other major change is that on some arches, like ia64, MIPS and ppc, we
change regs_return_value() to give us the negative value on syscall failure.
THE only other user of this macro, kretprobe_example.c, won't notice and it
makes the value signed consistently for the audit functions across all archs.

In arch/sh/kernel/ptrace_64.c I see that we were using regs[9] in the old
audit code as the return value.  But the ptrace_64.h code defined the macro
regs_return_value() as regs[3].  I have no idea which one is correct, but this
patch now uses the regs_return_value() function, so it now uses regs[3].

For powerpc we previously used regs-&gt;result but now use the
regs_return_value() function which uses regs-&gt;gprs[3].  regs-&gt;gprs[3] is
always positive so the regs_return_value(), much like ia64 makes it negative
before calling the audit code when appropriate.

Signed-off-by: Eric Paris &lt;eparis@redhat.com&gt;
Acked-by: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@zytor.com&gt; [for x86 portion]
Acked-by: Tony Luck &lt;tony.luck@intel.com&gt; [for ia64]
Acked-by: Richard Weinberger &lt;richard@nod.at&gt; [for uml]
Acked-by: David S. Miller &lt;davem@davemloft.net&gt; [for sparc]
Acked-by: Ralf Baechle &lt;ralf@linux-mips.org&gt; [for mips]
Acked-by: Benjamin Herrenschmidt &lt;benh@kernel.crashing.org&gt; [for ppc]
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Merge branch 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip</title>
<updated>2012-01-15T19:26:35+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2012-01-15T19:26:35+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=83c2f912b43c3a7babbb6cb7ae2a5276c1ed2a3e'/>
<id>83c2f912b43c3a7babbb6cb7ae2a5276c1ed2a3e</id>
<content type='text'>
* 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (39 commits)
  perf tools: Fix compile error on x86_64 Ubuntu
  perf report: Fix --stdio output alignment when --showcpuutilization used
  perf annotate: Get rid of field_sep check
  perf annotate: Fix usage string
  perf kmem: Fix a memory leak
  perf kmem: Add missing closedir() calls
  perf top: Add error message for EMFILE
  perf test: Change type of '-v' option to INCR
  perf script: Add missing closedir() calls
  tracing: Fix compile error when static ftrace is enabled
  recordmcount: Fix handling of elf64 big-endian objects.
  perf tools: Add const.h to MANIFEST to make perf-tar-src-pkg work again
  perf tools: Add support for guest/host-only profiling
  perf kvm: Do guest-only counting by default
  perf top: Don't update total_period on process_sample
  perf hists: Stop using 'self' for struct hist_entry
  perf hists: Rename total_session to total_period
  x86: Add counter when debug stack is used with interrupts enabled
  x86: Allow NMIs to hit breakpoints in i386
  x86: Keep current stack in NMI breakpoints
  ...
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
* 'perf-core-for-linus' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/tip/tip: (39 commits)
  perf tools: Fix compile error on x86_64 Ubuntu
  perf report: Fix --stdio output alignment when --showcpuutilization used
  perf annotate: Get rid of field_sep check
  perf annotate: Fix usage string
  perf kmem: Fix a memory leak
  perf kmem: Add missing closedir() calls
  perf top: Add error message for EMFILE
  perf test: Change type of '-v' option to INCR
  perf script: Add missing closedir() calls
  tracing: Fix compile error when static ftrace is enabled
  recordmcount: Fix handling of elf64 big-endian objects.
  perf tools: Add const.h to MANIFEST to make perf-tar-src-pkg work again
  perf tools: Add support for guest/host-only profiling
  perf kvm: Do guest-only counting by default
  perf top: Don't update total_period on process_sample
  perf hists: Stop using 'self' for struct hist_entry
  perf hists: Rename total_session to total_period
  x86: Add counter when debug stack is used with interrupts enabled
  x86: Allow NMIs to hit breakpoints in i386
  x86: Keep current stack in NMI breakpoints
  ...
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86: Add workaround to NMI iret woes</title>
<updated>2011-12-21T20:38:54+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Steven Rostedt</name>
<email>srostedt@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2011-12-08T17:36:23+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=3f3c8b8c4b2a34776c3470142a7c8baafcda6eb0'/>
<id>3f3c8b8c4b2a34776c3470142a7c8baafcda6eb0</id>
<content type='text'>
In x86, when an NMI goes off, the CPU goes into an NMI context that
prevents other NMIs to trigger on that CPU. If an NMI is suppose to
trigger, it has to wait till the previous NMI leaves NMI context.
At that time, the next NMI can trigger (note, only one more NMI will
trigger, as only one can be latched at a time).

The way x86 gets out of NMI context is by calling iret. The problem
with this is that this causes problems if the NMI handle either
triggers an exception, or a breakpoint. Both the exception and the
breakpoint handlers will finish with an iret. If this happens while
in NMI context, the CPU will leave NMI context and a new NMI may come
in. As NMI handlers are not made to be re-entrant, this can cause
havoc with the system, not to mention, the nested NMI will write
all over the previous NMI's stack.

Linus Torvalds proposed the following workaround to this problem:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2010/7/14/264

"In fact, I wonder if we couldn't just do a software NMI disable
instead? Hav ea per-cpu variable (in the _core_ percpu areas that get
allocated statically) that points to the NMI stack frame, and just
make the NMI code itself do something like

 NMI entry:
 - load percpu NMI stack frame pointer
 - if non-zero we know we're nested, and should ignore this NMI:
    - we're returning to kernel mode, so return immediately by using
"popf/ret", which also keeps NMI's disabled in the hardware until the
"real" NMI iret happens.
    - before the popf/iret, use the NMI stack pointer to make the NMI
return stack be invalid and cause a fault
  - set the NMI stack pointer to the current stack pointer

 NMI exit (not the above "immediate exit because we nested"):
   clear the percpu NMI stack pointer
   Just do the iret.

Now, the thing is, now the "iret" is atomic. If we had a nested NMI,
we'll take a fault, and that re-does our "delayed" NMI - and NMI's
will stay masked.

And if we didn't have a nested NMI, that iret will now unmask NMI's,
and everything is happy."

I first tried to follow this advice but as I started implementing this
code, a few gotchas showed up.

One, is accessing per-cpu variables in the NMI handler.

The problem is that per-cpu variables use the %gs register to get the
variable for the given CPU. But as the NMI may happen in userspace,
we must first perform a SWAPGS to get to it. The NMI handler already
does this later in the code, but its too late as we have saved off
all the registers and we don't want to do that for a disabled NMI.

Peter Zijlstra suggested to keep all variables on the stack. This
simplifies things greatly and it has the added benefit of cache locality.

Two, faulting on the iret.

I really wanted to make this work, but it was becoming very hacky, and
I never got it to be stable. The iret already had a fault handler for
userspace faulting with bad segment registers, and getting NMI to trigger
a fault and detect it was very tricky. But for strange reasons, the system
would usually take a double fault and crash. I never figured out why
and decided to go with a simple "jmp" approach. The new approach I took
also simplified things.

Finally, the last problem with Linus's approach was to have the nested
NMI handler do a ret instead of an iret to give the first NMI NMI-context
again.

The problem is that ret is much more limited than an iret. I couldn't figure
out how to get the stack back where it belonged. I could have copied the
current stack, pushed the return onto it, but my fear here is that there
may be some place that writes data below the stack pointer. I know that
is not something code should depend on, but I don't want to chance it.
I may add this feature later, but for now, an NMI handler that loses NMI
context will not get it back.

Here's what is done:

When an NMI comes in, the HW pushes the interrupt stack frame onto the
per cpu NMI stack that is selected by the IST.

A special location on the NMI stack holds a variable that is set when
the first NMI handler runs. If this variable is set then we know that
this is a nested NMI and we process the nested NMI code.

There is still a race when this variable is cleared and an NMI comes
in just before the first NMI does the return. For this case, if the
variable is cleared, we also check if the interrupted stack is the
NMI stack. If it is, then we process the nested NMI code.

Why the two tests and not just test the interrupted stack?

If the first NMI hits a breakpoint and loses NMI context, and then it
hits another breakpoint and while processing that breakpoint we get a
nested NMI. When processing a breakpoint, the stack changes to the
breakpoint stack. If another NMI comes in here we can't rely on the
interrupted stack to be the NMI stack.

If the variable is not set and the interrupted task's stack is not the
NMI stack, then we know this is the first NMI and we can process things
normally. But in order to do so, we need to do a few things first.

1) Set the stack variable that tells us that we are in an NMI handler

2) Make two copies of the interrupt stack frame.
   One copy is used to return on iret
   The other is used to restore the first one if we have a nested NMI.

This is what the stack will look like:

	  +-------------------------+
	  | original SS             |
	  | original Return RSP     |
	  | original RFLAGS         |
	  | original CS             |
	  | original RIP            |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | temp storage for rdx    |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | NMI executing variable  |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | Saved SS                |
	  | Saved Return RSP        |
	  | Saved RFLAGS            |
	  | Saved CS                |
	  | Saved RIP               |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | copied SS               |
	  | copied Return RSP       |
	  | copied RFLAGS           |
	  | copied CS               |
	  | copied RIP              |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | pt_regs                 |
	  +-------------------------+

The original stack frame contains what the HW put in when we entered
the NMI.

We store %rdx as a temp variable to use. Both the original HW stack
frame and this %rdx storage will be clobbered by nested NMIs so we
can not rely on them later in the first NMI handler.

The next item is the special stack variable that is set when we execute
the rest of the NMI handler.

Then we have two copies of the interrupt stack. The second copy is
modified by any nested NMIs to let the first NMI know that we triggered
a second NMI (latched) and that we should repeat the NMI handler.

If the first NMI hits an exception or breakpoint that takes it out of
NMI context, if a second NMI comes in before the first one finishes,
it will update the copied interrupt stack to point to a fix up location
to trigger another NMI.

When the first NMI calls iret, it will instead jump to the fix up
location. This fix up location will copy the saved interrupt stack back
to the copy and execute the nmi handler again.

Note, the nested NMI knows enough to check if it preempted a previous
NMI handler while it is in the fixup location. If it has, it will not
modify the copied interrupt stack and will just leave as if nothing
happened. As the NMI handle is about to execute again, there's no reason
to latch now.

To test all this, I forced the NMI handler to call iret and take itself
out of NMI context. I also added assemble code to write to the serial to
make sure that it hits the nested path as well as the fix up path.
Everything seems to be working fine.

Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;peterz@infradead.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Thomas Gleixner &lt;tglx@linutronix.de&gt;
Cc: Paul Turner &lt;pjt@google.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers &lt;mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
In x86, when an NMI goes off, the CPU goes into an NMI context that
prevents other NMIs to trigger on that CPU. If an NMI is suppose to
trigger, it has to wait till the previous NMI leaves NMI context.
At that time, the next NMI can trigger (note, only one more NMI will
trigger, as only one can be latched at a time).

The way x86 gets out of NMI context is by calling iret. The problem
with this is that this causes problems if the NMI handle either
triggers an exception, or a breakpoint. Both the exception and the
breakpoint handlers will finish with an iret. If this happens while
in NMI context, the CPU will leave NMI context and a new NMI may come
in. As NMI handlers are not made to be re-entrant, this can cause
havoc with the system, not to mention, the nested NMI will write
all over the previous NMI's stack.

Linus Torvalds proposed the following workaround to this problem:

https://lkml.org/lkml/2010/7/14/264

"In fact, I wonder if we couldn't just do a software NMI disable
instead? Hav ea per-cpu variable (in the _core_ percpu areas that get
allocated statically) that points to the NMI stack frame, and just
make the NMI code itself do something like

 NMI entry:
 - load percpu NMI stack frame pointer
 - if non-zero we know we're nested, and should ignore this NMI:
    - we're returning to kernel mode, so return immediately by using
"popf/ret", which also keeps NMI's disabled in the hardware until the
"real" NMI iret happens.
    - before the popf/iret, use the NMI stack pointer to make the NMI
return stack be invalid and cause a fault
  - set the NMI stack pointer to the current stack pointer

 NMI exit (not the above "immediate exit because we nested"):
   clear the percpu NMI stack pointer
   Just do the iret.

Now, the thing is, now the "iret" is atomic. If we had a nested NMI,
we'll take a fault, and that re-does our "delayed" NMI - and NMI's
will stay masked.

And if we didn't have a nested NMI, that iret will now unmask NMI's,
and everything is happy."

I first tried to follow this advice but as I started implementing this
code, a few gotchas showed up.

One, is accessing per-cpu variables in the NMI handler.

The problem is that per-cpu variables use the %gs register to get the
variable for the given CPU. But as the NMI may happen in userspace,
we must first perform a SWAPGS to get to it. The NMI handler already
does this later in the code, but its too late as we have saved off
all the registers and we don't want to do that for a disabled NMI.

Peter Zijlstra suggested to keep all variables on the stack. This
simplifies things greatly and it has the added benefit of cache locality.

Two, faulting on the iret.

I really wanted to make this work, but it was becoming very hacky, and
I never got it to be stable. The iret already had a fault handler for
userspace faulting with bad segment registers, and getting NMI to trigger
a fault and detect it was very tricky. But for strange reasons, the system
would usually take a double fault and crash. I never figured out why
and decided to go with a simple "jmp" approach. The new approach I took
also simplified things.

Finally, the last problem with Linus's approach was to have the nested
NMI handler do a ret instead of an iret to give the first NMI NMI-context
again.

The problem is that ret is much more limited than an iret. I couldn't figure
out how to get the stack back where it belonged. I could have copied the
current stack, pushed the return onto it, but my fear here is that there
may be some place that writes data below the stack pointer. I know that
is not something code should depend on, but I don't want to chance it.
I may add this feature later, but for now, an NMI handler that loses NMI
context will not get it back.

Here's what is done:

When an NMI comes in, the HW pushes the interrupt stack frame onto the
per cpu NMI stack that is selected by the IST.

A special location on the NMI stack holds a variable that is set when
the first NMI handler runs. If this variable is set then we know that
this is a nested NMI and we process the nested NMI code.

There is still a race when this variable is cleared and an NMI comes
in just before the first NMI does the return. For this case, if the
variable is cleared, we also check if the interrupted stack is the
NMI stack. If it is, then we process the nested NMI code.

Why the two tests and not just test the interrupted stack?

If the first NMI hits a breakpoint and loses NMI context, and then it
hits another breakpoint and while processing that breakpoint we get a
nested NMI. When processing a breakpoint, the stack changes to the
breakpoint stack. If another NMI comes in here we can't rely on the
interrupted stack to be the NMI stack.

If the variable is not set and the interrupted task's stack is not the
NMI stack, then we know this is the first NMI and we can process things
normally. But in order to do so, we need to do a few things first.

1) Set the stack variable that tells us that we are in an NMI handler

2) Make two copies of the interrupt stack frame.
   One copy is used to return on iret
   The other is used to restore the first one if we have a nested NMI.

This is what the stack will look like:

	  +-------------------------+
	  | original SS             |
	  | original Return RSP     |
	  | original RFLAGS         |
	  | original CS             |
	  | original RIP            |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | temp storage for rdx    |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | NMI executing variable  |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | Saved SS                |
	  | Saved Return RSP        |
	  | Saved RFLAGS            |
	  | Saved CS                |
	  | Saved RIP               |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | copied SS               |
	  | copied Return RSP       |
	  | copied RFLAGS           |
	  | copied CS               |
	  | copied RIP              |
	  +-------------------------+
	  | pt_regs                 |
	  +-------------------------+

The original stack frame contains what the HW put in when we entered
the NMI.

We store %rdx as a temp variable to use. Both the original HW stack
frame and this %rdx storage will be clobbered by nested NMIs so we
can not rely on them later in the first NMI handler.

The next item is the special stack variable that is set when we execute
the rest of the NMI handler.

Then we have two copies of the interrupt stack. The second copy is
modified by any nested NMIs to let the first NMI know that we triggered
a second NMI (latched) and that we should repeat the NMI handler.

If the first NMI hits an exception or breakpoint that takes it out of
NMI context, if a second NMI comes in before the first one finishes,
it will update the copied interrupt stack to point to a fix up location
to trigger another NMI.

When the first NMI calls iret, it will instead jump to the fix up
location. This fix up location will copy the saved interrupt stack back
to the copy and execute the nmi handler again.

Note, the nested NMI knows enough to check if it preempted a previous
NMI handler while it is in the fixup location. If it has, it will not
modify the copied interrupt stack and will just leave as if nothing
happened. As the NMI handle is about to execute again, there's no reason
to latch now.

To test all this, I forced the NMI handler to call iret and take itself
out of NMI context. I also added assemble code to write to the serial to
make sure that it hits the nested path as well as the fix up path.
Everything seems to be working fine.

Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;peterz@infradead.org&gt;
Cc: H. Peter Anvin &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Thomas Gleixner &lt;tglx@linutronix.de&gt;
Cc: Paul Turner &lt;pjt@google.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Mathieu Desnoyers &lt;mathieu.desnoyers@efficios.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86: Document the NMI handler about not using paranoid_exit</title>
<updated>2011-12-21T20:38:53+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Steven Rostedt</name>
<email>srostedt@redhat.com</email>
</author>
<published>2011-12-08T17:32:27+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=1fd466efc88c48f50e5ee29f4dbb4e210a889172'/>
<id>1fd466efc88c48f50e5ee29f4dbb4e210a889172</id>
<content type='text'>
Linus cleaned up the NMI handler but it still needs some comments to
explain why it uses save_paranoid but not paranoid_exit. Just to keep
others from adding that in the future, document why it's not used.

Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: Andi Kleen &lt;andi@firstfloor.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Linus cleaned up the NMI handler but it still needs some comments to
explain why it uses save_paranoid but not paranoid_exit. Just to keep
others from adding that in the future, document why it's not used.

Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Cc: Andi Kleen &lt;andi@firstfloor.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86: Do not schedule while still in NMI context</title>
<updated>2011-12-21T20:38:52+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Linus Torvalds</name>
<email>torvalds@linux-foundation.org</email>
</author>
<published>2011-11-29T20:44:55+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=549c89b98c4530b278dde1a3f68ce5ebbb1e6304'/>
<id>549c89b98c4530b278dde1a3f68ce5ebbb1e6304</id>
<content type='text'>
The NMI handler uses the paranoid_exit routine that checks the
NEED_RESCHED flag, and if it is set and the return is for userspace,
then interrupts are enabled, the stack is swapped to the thread's stack,
and schedule is called. The problem with this is that we are still in an
NMI context until an iret is executed. This means that any new NMIs are
now starved until an interrupt or exception occurs and does the iret.

As NMIs can not be masked and can interrupt any location, they are
treated as a special case. NEED_RESCHED should not be set in an NMI
handler. The interruption by the NMI should not disturb the work flow
for scheduling. Any IPI sent to a processor after sending the
NEED_RESCHED would have to wait for the NMI anyway, and after the IPI
finishes the schedule would be called as required.

There is no reason to do anything special leaving an NMI. Remove the
call to paranoid_exit and do a simple return. This not only fixes the
bug of starved NMIs, but it also cleans up the code.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/CA+55aFzgM55hXTs4griX5e9=v_O+=ue+7Rj0PTD=M7hFYpyULQ@mail.gmail.com

Acked-by: Andi Kleen &lt;ak@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@redhat.com&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;peterz@infradead.org&gt;
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Thomas Gleixner &lt;tglx@linutronix.de&gt;
Cc: Paul Turner &lt;pjt@google.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
The NMI handler uses the paranoid_exit routine that checks the
NEED_RESCHED flag, and if it is set and the return is for userspace,
then interrupts are enabled, the stack is swapped to the thread's stack,
and schedule is called. The problem with this is that we are still in an
NMI context until an iret is executed. This means that any new NMIs are
now starved until an interrupt or exception occurs and does the iret.

As NMIs can not be masked and can interrupt any location, they are
treated as a special case. NEED_RESCHED should not be set in an NMI
handler. The interruption by the NMI should not disturb the work flow
for scheduling. Any IPI sent to a processor after sending the
NEED_RESCHED would have to wait for the NMI anyway, and after the IPI
finishes the schedule would be called as required.

There is no reason to do anything special leaving an NMI. Remove the
call to paranoid_exit and do a simple return. This not only fixes the
bug of starved NMIs, but it also cleans up the code.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/CA+55aFzgM55hXTs4griX5e9=v_O+=ue+7Rj0PTD=M7hFYpyULQ@mail.gmail.com

Acked-by: Andi Kleen &lt;ak@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@redhat.com&gt;
Cc: Peter Zijlstra &lt;peterz@infradead.org&gt;
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" &lt;hpa@linux.intel.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Thomas Gleixner &lt;tglx@linutronix.de&gt;
Cc: Paul Turner &lt;pjt@google.com&gt;
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt &lt;rostedt@goodmis.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>x86: Fix rflags in FAKE_STACK_FRAME</title>
<updated>2011-12-06T09:02:38+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Seiichi Ikarashi</name>
<email>s.ikarashi@jp.fujitsu.com</email>
</author>
<published>2011-12-06T08:58:14+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux-stable.git/commit/?id=1cf8343f55525c09c88da0a494a96e1b034f84e2'/>
<id>1cf8343f55525c09c88da0a494a96e1b034f84e2</id>
<content type='text'>
The x86_64 kernel pushes the fake kernel stack in
arch/x86/kernel/entry_64.S:FAKE_STACK_FRAME, and
rflags register in it does not conform to the specification.

Although Intel's manual[1] says bit 1 of it shall be set to 1,
this bit is cleared to 0 on pushing the fake stack.

[1] Intel(R) 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual
    Vol.1 3-21 Figure 3-8. EFLAGS Register

If it is not on purpose, it is better to be fixed, because
it can lead some tools misunderstanding the stack frame. For example,
"crash" utility[2] actually detects it and warns you like
below:

       RIP: ffffffff8005dfa2  RSP: ffff8104ce0c7f58  RFLAGS: 00000200
       [...]

       bt: WARNING: possibly bogus exception frame

Signed-off-by: Seiichi Ikarashi &lt;s.ikarashi@jp.fujitsu.com&gt;
Tested-by: Masayoshi MIZUMA &lt;m.mizuma@jp.fujitsu.com&gt;
Cc: Jan Beulich &lt;JBeulich@suse.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@elte.hu&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
The x86_64 kernel pushes the fake kernel stack in
arch/x86/kernel/entry_64.S:FAKE_STACK_FRAME, and
rflags register in it does not conform to the specification.

Although Intel's manual[1] says bit 1 of it shall be set to 1,
this bit is cleared to 0 on pushing the fake stack.

[1] Intel(R) 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual
    Vol.1 3-21 Figure 3-8. EFLAGS Register

If it is not on purpose, it is better to be fixed, because
it can lead some tools misunderstanding the stack frame. For example,
"crash" utility[2] actually detects it and warns you like
below:

       RIP: ffffffff8005dfa2  RSP: ffff8104ce0c7f58  RFLAGS: 00000200
       [...]

       bt: WARNING: possibly bogus exception frame

Signed-off-by: Seiichi Ikarashi &lt;s.ikarashi@jp.fujitsu.com&gt;
Tested-by: Masayoshi MIZUMA &lt;m.mizuma@jp.fujitsu.com&gt;
Cc: Jan Beulich &lt;JBeulich@suse.com&gt;
Cc: Frederic Weisbecker &lt;fweisbec@gmail.com&gt;
Cc: Linus Torvalds &lt;torvalds@linux-foundation.org&gt;
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar &lt;mingo@elte.hu&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
</feed>
