<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'>
<title>linux.git/kernel/bpf/Makefile, branch v7.1-rc2</title>
<subtitle>Linux kernel source tree</subtitle>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/'/>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Move BTF checking logic into check_btf.c</title>
<updated>2026-04-12T19:37:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-12T15:29:35+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=99a832a2b5b8a8ecc1a2bdd64017892caf4aa096'/>
<id>99a832a2b5b8a8ecc1a2bdd64017892caf4aa096</id>
<content type='text'>
BTF validation logic is independent from the main verifier.
Move it into check_btf.c

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-7-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
BTF validation logic is independent from the main verifier.
Move it into check_btf.c

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-7-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Move backtracking logic to backtrack.c</title>
<updated>2026-04-12T19:36:58+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-12T15:29:34+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=ed0b9710bd2efbe663d89728cd9c680c31c6a4e3'/>
<id>ed0b9710bd2efbe663d89728cd9c680c31c6a4e3</id>
<content type='text'>
Move precision propagation and backtracking logic to backtrack.c
to reduce verifier.c size.

No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-6-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Move precision propagation and backtracking logic to backtrack.c
to reduce verifier.c size.

No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-6-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Move state equivalence logic to states.c</title>
<updated>2026-04-12T19:36:52+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-12T15:29:33+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=c82834a5a11f743f2926107d8f8150e80742b814'/>
<id>c82834a5a11f743f2926107d8f8150e80742b814</id>
<content type='text'>
verifier.c is huge. Move is_state_visited() to states.c,
so that all state equivalence logic is in one file.

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-5-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
verifier.c is huge. Move is_state_visited() to states.c,
so that all state equivalence logic is in one file.

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-5-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Move check_cfg() into cfg.c</title>
<updated>2026-04-12T19:36:45+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-12T15:29:32+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=f8a8faceab9953ed074cd4125b31cc6a562237d8'/>
<id>f8a8faceab9953ed074cd4125b31cc6a562237d8</id>
<content type='text'>
verifier.c is huge. Move check_cfg(), compute_postorder(),
compute_scc() into cfg.c

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-4-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
verifier.c is huge. Move check_cfg(), compute_postorder(),
compute_scc() into cfg.c

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-4-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Move fixup/post-processing logic from verifier.c into fixups.c</title>
<updated>2026-04-12T19:35:54+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-12T15:29:30+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=449f08fa59dda5da40317b6976604b877c4ecd63'/>
<id>449f08fa59dda5da40317b6976604b877c4ecd63</id>
<content type='text'>
verifier.c is huge. Split fixup/post-processing logic that runs after
the verifier accepted the program into fixups.c.

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-2-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
verifier.c is huge. Split fixup/post-processing logic that runs after
the verifier accepted the program into fixups.c.

Mechanical move. No functional changes.

Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Acked-by: Daniel Borkmann &lt;daniel@iogearbox.net&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260412152936.54262-2-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: Add bpf_compute_const_regs() and bpf_prune_dead_branches() passes</title>
<updated>2026-04-03T15:34:36+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Alexei Starovoitov</name>
<email>ast@kernel.org</email>
</author>
<published>2026-04-03T02:44:19+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=f1606dd0ac49230f5a5fa1a279210fdf0249c20f'/>
<id>f1606dd0ac49230f5a5fa1a279210fdf0249c20f</id>
<content type='text'>
Add two passes before the main verifier pass:

bpf_compute_const_regs() is a forward dataflow analysis that tracks
register values in R0-R9 across the program using fixed-point
iteration in reverse postorder. Each register is tracked with
a six-state lattice:

  UNVISITED -&gt; CONST(val) / MAP_PTR(map_index) /
               MAP_VALUE(map_index, offset) / SUBPROG(num) -&gt; UNKNOWN

At merge points, if two paths produce the same state and value for
a register, it stays; otherwise it becomes UNKNOWN.

The analysis handles:
 - MOV, ADD, SUB, AND with immediate or register operands
 - LD_IMM64 for plain constants, map FDs, map values, and subprogs
 - LDX from read-only maps: constant-folds the load by reading the
   map value directly via bpf_map_direct_read()

Results that fit in 32 bits are stored per-instruction in
insn_aux_data and bitmasks.

bpf_prune_dead_branches() uses the computed constants to evaluate
conditional branches. When both operands of a conditional jump are
known constants, the branch outcome is determined statically and the
instruction is rewritten to an unconditional jump.
The CFG postorder is then recomputed to reflect new control flow.
This eliminates dead edges so that subsequent liveness analysis
doesn't propagate through dead code.

Also add runtime sanity check to validate that precomputed
constants match the verifier's tracked state.

Acked-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260403024422.87231-5-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Add two passes before the main verifier pass:

bpf_compute_const_regs() is a forward dataflow analysis that tracks
register values in R0-R9 across the program using fixed-point
iteration in reverse postorder. Each register is tracked with
a six-state lattice:

  UNVISITED -&gt; CONST(val) / MAP_PTR(map_index) /
               MAP_VALUE(map_index, offset) / SUBPROG(num) -&gt; UNKNOWN

At merge points, if two paths produce the same state and value for
a register, it stays; otherwise it becomes UNKNOWN.

The analysis handles:
 - MOV, ADD, SUB, AND with immediate or register operands
 - LD_IMM64 for plain constants, map FDs, map values, and subprogs
 - LDX from read-only maps: constant-folds the load by reading the
   map value directly via bpf_map_direct_read()

Results that fit in 32 bits are stored per-instruction in
insn_aux_data and bitmasks.

bpf_prune_dead_branches() uses the computed constants to evaluate
conditional branches. When both operands of a conditional jump are
known constants, the branch outcome is determined statically and the
instruction is rewritten to an unconditional jump.
The CFG postorder is then recomputed to reflect new control flow.
This eliminates dead edges so that subsequent liveness analysis
doesn't propagate through dead code.

Also add runtime sanity check to validate that precomputed
constants match the verifier's tracked state.

Acked-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260403024422.87231-5-alexei.starovoitov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: annotate file argument as __nullable in bpf_lsm_mmap_file</title>
<updated>2025-12-21T18:56:33+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Matt Bobrowski</name>
<email>mattbobrowski@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2025-12-16T13:29:59+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=94e948b7e684c0465bb3faca8fafee5caf421b84'/>
<id>94e948b7e684c0465bb3faca8fafee5caf421b84</id>
<content type='text'>
As reported in [0], anonymous memory mappings are not backed by a
struct file instance. Consequently, the struct file pointer passed to
the security_mmap_file() LSM hook is NULL in such cases.

The BPF verifier is currently unaware of this, allowing BPF LSM
programs to dereference this struct file pointer without needing to
perform an explicit NULL check. This leads to potential NULL pointer
dereference and a kernel crash.

Add a strong override for bpf_lsm_mmap_file() which annotates the
struct file pointer parameter with the __nullable suffix. This
explicitly informs the BPF verifier that this pointer (PTR_MAYBE_NULL)
can be NULL, forcing BPF LSM programs to perform a check on it before
dereferencing it.

[0] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/5e460d3c.4c3e9.19adde547d8.Coremail.kaiyanm@hust.edu.cn/

Reported-by: Kaiyan Mei &lt;M202472210@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Reported-by: Yinhao Hu &lt;dddddd@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Reviewed-by: Dongliang Mu &lt;dzm91@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/5e460d3c.4c3e9.19adde547d8.Coremail.kaiyanm@hust.edu.cn/
Signed-off-by: Matt Bobrowski &lt;mattbobrowski@google.com&gt;
Acked-by: Song Liu &lt;song@kernel.org&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251216133000.3690723-1-mattbobrowski@google.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
As reported in [0], anonymous memory mappings are not backed by a
struct file instance. Consequently, the struct file pointer passed to
the security_mmap_file() LSM hook is NULL in such cases.

The BPF verifier is currently unaware of this, allowing BPF LSM
programs to dereference this struct file pointer without needing to
perform an explicit NULL check. This leads to potential NULL pointer
dereference and a kernel crash.

Add a strong override for bpf_lsm_mmap_file() which annotates the
struct file pointer parameter with the __nullable suffix. This
explicitly informs the BPF verifier that this pointer (PTR_MAYBE_NULL)
can be NULL, forcing BPF LSM programs to perform a check on it before
dereferencing it.

[0] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/5e460d3c.4c3e9.19adde547d8.Coremail.kaiyanm@hust.edu.cn/

Reported-by: Kaiyan Mei &lt;M202472210@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Reported-by: Yinhao Hu &lt;dddddd@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Reviewed-by: Dongliang Mu &lt;dzm91@hust.edu.cn&gt;
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/5e460d3c.4c3e9.19adde547d8.Coremail.kaiyanm@hust.edu.cn/
Signed-off-by: Matt Bobrowski &lt;mattbobrowski@google.com&gt;
Acked-by: Song Liu &lt;song@kernel.org&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251216133000.3690723-1-mattbobrowski@google.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf, x86: add new map type: instructions array</title>
<updated>2025-11-06T01:31:25+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Anton Protopopov</name>
<email>a.s.protopopov@gmail.com</email>
</author>
<published>2025-11-05T09:03:59+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=b4ce5923e780d6896d4aaf19de5a27652b8bf1ea'/>
<id>b4ce5923e780d6896d4aaf19de5a27652b8bf1ea</id>
<content type='text'>
On bpf(BPF_PROG_LOAD) syscall user-supplied BPF programs are
translated by the verifier into "xlated" BPF programs. During this
process the original instructions offsets might be adjusted and/or
individual instructions might be replaced by new sets of instructions,
or deleted.

Add a new BPF map type which is aimed to keep track of how, for a
given program, the original instructions were relocated during the
verification. Also, besides keeping track of the original -&gt; xlated
mapping, make x86 JIT to build the xlated -&gt; jitted mapping for every
instruction listed in an instruction array. This is required for every
future application of instruction arrays: static keys, indirect jumps
and indirect calls.

A map of the BPF_MAP_TYPE_INSN_ARRAY type must be created with a u32
keys and value of size 8. The values have different semantics for
userspace and for BPF space. For userspace a value consists of two
u32 values – xlated and jitted offsets. For BPF side the value is
a real pointer to a jitted instruction.

On map creation/initialization, before loading the program, each
element of the map should be initialized to point to an instruction
offset within the program. Before the program load such maps should
be made frozen. After the program verification xlated and jitted
offsets can be read via the bpf(2) syscall.

If a tracked instruction is removed by the verifier, then the xlated
offset is set to (u32)-1 which is considered to be too big for a valid
BPF program offset.

One such a map can, obviously, be used to track one and only one BPF
program.  If the verification process was unsuccessful, then the same
map can be re-used to verify the program with a different log level.
However, if the program was loaded fine, then such a map, being
frozen in any case, can't be reused by other programs even after the
program release.

Example. Consider the following original and xlated programs:

    Original prog:                      Xlated prog:

     0:  r1 = 0x0                        0: r1 = 0
     1:  *(u32 *)(r10 - 0x4) = r1        1: *(u32 *)(r10 -4) = r1
     2:  r2 = r10                        2: r2 = r10
     3:  r2 += -0x4                      3: r2 += -4
     4:  r1 = 0x0 ll                     4: r1 = map[id:88]
     6:  call 0x1                        6: r1 += 272
                                         7: r0 = *(u32 *)(r2 +0)
                                         8: if r0 &gt;= 0x1 goto pc+3
                                         9: r0 &lt;&lt;= 3
                                        10: r0 += r1
                                        11: goto pc+1
                                        12: r0 = 0
     7:  r6 = r0                        13: r6 = r0
     8:  if r6 == 0x0 goto +0x2         14: if r6 == 0x0 goto pc+4
     9:  call 0x76                      15: r0 = 0xffffffff8d2079c0
                                        17: r0 = *(u64 *)(r0 +0)
    10:  *(u64 *)(r6 + 0x0) = r0        18: *(u64 *)(r6 +0) = r0
    11:  r0 = 0x0                       19: r0 = 0x0
    12:  exit                           20: exit

An instruction array map, containing, e.g., instructions [0,4,7,12]
will be translated by the verifier to [0,4,13,20]. A map with
index 5 (the middle of 16-byte instruction) or indexes greater than 12
(outside the program boundaries) would be rejected.

The functionality provided by this patch will be extended in consequent
patches to implement BPF Static Keys, indirect jumps, and indirect calls.

Signed-off-by: Anton Protopopov &lt;a.s.protopopov@gmail.com&gt;
Reviewed-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251105090410.1250500-2-a.s.protopopov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
On bpf(BPF_PROG_LOAD) syscall user-supplied BPF programs are
translated by the verifier into "xlated" BPF programs. During this
process the original instructions offsets might be adjusted and/or
individual instructions might be replaced by new sets of instructions,
or deleted.

Add a new BPF map type which is aimed to keep track of how, for a
given program, the original instructions were relocated during the
verification. Also, besides keeping track of the original -&gt; xlated
mapping, make x86 JIT to build the xlated -&gt; jitted mapping for every
instruction listed in an instruction array. This is required for every
future application of instruction arrays: static keys, indirect jumps
and indirect calls.

A map of the BPF_MAP_TYPE_INSN_ARRAY type must be created with a u32
keys and value of size 8. The values have different semantics for
userspace and for BPF space. For userspace a value consists of two
u32 values – xlated and jitted offsets. For BPF side the value is
a real pointer to a jitted instruction.

On map creation/initialization, before loading the program, each
element of the map should be initialized to point to an instruction
offset within the program. Before the program load such maps should
be made frozen. After the program verification xlated and jitted
offsets can be read via the bpf(2) syscall.

If a tracked instruction is removed by the verifier, then the xlated
offset is set to (u32)-1 which is considered to be too big for a valid
BPF program offset.

One such a map can, obviously, be used to track one and only one BPF
program.  If the verification process was unsuccessful, then the same
map can be re-used to verify the program with a different log level.
However, if the program was loaded fine, then such a map, being
frozen in any case, can't be reused by other programs even after the
program release.

Example. Consider the following original and xlated programs:

    Original prog:                      Xlated prog:

     0:  r1 = 0x0                        0: r1 = 0
     1:  *(u32 *)(r10 - 0x4) = r1        1: *(u32 *)(r10 -4) = r1
     2:  r2 = r10                        2: r2 = r10
     3:  r2 += -0x4                      3: r2 += -4
     4:  r1 = 0x0 ll                     4: r1 = map[id:88]
     6:  call 0x1                        6: r1 += 272
                                         7: r0 = *(u32 *)(r2 +0)
                                         8: if r0 &gt;= 0x1 goto pc+3
                                         9: r0 &lt;&lt;= 3
                                        10: r0 += r1
                                        11: goto pc+1
                                        12: r0 = 0
     7:  r6 = r0                        13: r6 = r0
     8:  if r6 == 0x0 goto +0x2         14: if r6 == 0x0 goto pc+4
     9:  call 0x76                      15: r0 = 0xffffffff8d2079c0
                                        17: r0 = *(u64 *)(r0 +0)
    10:  *(u64 *)(r6 + 0x0) = r0        18: *(u64 *)(r6 +0) = r0
    11:  r0 = 0x0                       19: r0 = 0x0
    12:  exit                           20: exit

An instruction array map, containing, e.g., instructions [0,4,7,12]
will be translated by the verifier to [0,4,13,20]. A map with
index 5 (the middle of 16-byte instruction) or indexes greater than 12
(outside the program boundaries) would be rejected.

The functionality provided by this patch will be extended in consequent
patches to implement BPF Static Keys, indirect jumps, and indirect calls.

Signed-off-by: Anton Protopopov &lt;a.s.protopopov@gmail.com&gt;
Reviewed-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251105090410.1250500-2-a.s.protopopov@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>bpf: callchain sensitive stack liveness tracking using CFG</title>
<updated>2025-09-19T16:27:23+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eduard Zingerman</name>
<email>eddyz87@gmail.com</email>
</author>
<published>2025-09-19T02:18:39+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=b3698c356ad92bcdb9920655bc9df02a2a8946f9'/>
<id>b3698c356ad92bcdb9920655bc9df02a2a8946f9</id>
<content type='text'>
This commit adds a flow-sensitive, context-sensitive, path-insensitive
data flow analysis for live stack slots:
- flow-sensitive: uses program control flow graph to compute data flow
  values;
- context-sensitive: collects data flow values for each possible call
  chain in a program;
- path-insensitive: does not distinguish between separate control flow
  graph paths reaching the same instruction.

Compared to the current path-sensitive analysis, this approach trades
some precision for not having to enumerate every path in the program.
This gives a theoretical capability to run the analysis before main
verification pass. See cover letter for motivation.

The basic idea is as follows:
- Data flow values indicate stack slots that might be read and stack
  slots that are definitely written.
- Data flow values are collected for each
  (call chain, instruction number) combination in the program.
- Within a subprogram, data flow values are propagated using control
  flow graph.
- Data flow values are transferred from entry instructions of callee
  subprograms to call sites in caller subprograms.

In other words, a tree of all possible call chains is constructed.
Each node of this tree represents a subprogram. Read and write marks
are collected for each instruction of each node. Live stack slots are
first computed for lower level nodes. Then, information about outer
stack slots that might be read or are definitely written by a
subprogram is propagated one level up, to the corresponding call
instructions of the upper nodes. Procedure repeats until root node is
processed.

In the absence of value range analysis, stack read/write marks are
collected during main verification pass, and data flow computation is
triggered each time verifier.c:states_equal() needs to query the
information.

Implementation details are documented in kernel/bpf/liveness.c.
Quantitative data about verification performance changes and memory
consumption is in the cover letter.

Signed-off-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250918-callchain-sensitive-liveness-v3-6-c3cd27bacc60@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
This commit adds a flow-sensitive, context-sensitive, path-insensitive
data flow analysis for live stack slots:
- flow-sensitive: uses program control flow graph to compute data flow
  values;
- context-sensitive: collects data flow values for each possible call
  chain in a program;
- path-insensitive: does not distinguish between separate control flow
  graph paths reaching the same instruction.

Compared to the current path-sensitive analysis, this approach trades
some precision for not having to enumerate every path in the program.
This gives a theoretical capability to run the analysis before main
verification pass. See cover letter for motivation.

The basic idea is as follows:
- Data flow values indicate stack slots that might be read and stack
  slots that are definitely written.
- Data flow values are collected for each
  (call chain, instruction number) combination in the program.
- Within a subprogram, data flow values are propagated using control
  flow graph.
- Data flow values are transferred from entry instructions of callee
  subprograms to call sites in caller subprograms.

In other words, a tree of all possible call chains is constructed.
Each node of this tree represents a subprogram. Read and write marks
are collected for each instruction of each node. Live stack slots are
first computed for lower level nodes. Then, information about outer
stack slots that might be read or are definitely written by a
subprogram is propagated one level up, to the corresponding call
instructions of the upper nodes. Procedure repeats until root node is
processed.

In the absence of value range analysis, stack read/write marks are
collected during main verification pass, and data flow computation is
triggered each time verifier.c:states_equal() needs to query the
information.

Implementation details are documented in kernel/bpf/liveness.c.
Quantitative data about verification performance changes and memory
consumption is in the cover letter.

Signed-off-by: Eduard Zingerman &lt;eddyz87@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250918-callchain-sensitive-liveness-v3-6-c3cd27bacc60@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>rqspinlock: Choose trylock fallback for NMI waiters</title>
<updated>2025-09-09T22:10:28+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi</name>
<email>memxor@gmail.com</email>
</author>
<published>2025-09-09T18:49:59+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.tavy.me/linux.git/commit/?id=0d80e7f951be1bdd08d328fd87694be0d6e8aaa8'/>
<id>0d80e7f951be1bdd08d328fd87694be0d6e8aaa8</id>
<content type='text'>
Currently, out of all 3 types of waiters in the rqspinlock slow path
(i.e., pending bit waiter, wait queue head waiter, and wait queue
non-head waiter), only the pending bit waiter and wait queue head
waiters apply deadlock checks and a timeout on their waiting loop. The
assumption here was that the wait queue head's forward progress would be
sufficient to identify cases where the lock owner or pending bit waiter
is stuck, and non-head waiters relying on the head waiter would prove to
be sufficient for their own forward progress.

However, the head waiter itself can be preempted by a non-head waiter
for the same lock (AA) or a different lock (ABBA) in a manner that
impedes its forward progress. In such a case, non-head waiters not
performing deadlock and timeout checks becomes insufficient, and the
system can enter a state of lockup.

This is typically not a concern with non-NMI lock acquisitions, as lock
holders which in run in different contexts (IRQ, non-IRQ) use "irqsave"
variants of the lock APIs, which naturally excludes such lock holders
from preempting one another on the same CPU.

It might seem likely that a similar case may occur for rqspinlock when
programs are attached to contention tracepoints (begin, end), however,
these tracepoints either precede the enqueue into the wait queue, or
succeed it, therefore cannot be used to preempt a head waiter's waiting
loop.

We must still be careful against nested kprobe and fentry programs that
may attach to the middle of the head's waiting loop to stall forward
progress and invoke another rqspinlock acquisition that proceeds as a
non-head waiter. To this end, drop CC_FLAGS_FTRACE from the rqspinlock.o
object file.

For now, this issue is resolved by falling back to a repeated trylock on
the lock word from NMI context, while performing the deadlock checks to
break out early in case forward progress is impossible, and use the
timeout as a final fallback.

A more involved fix to terminate the queue when such a condition occurs
will be made as a follow up. A selftest to stress this aspect of nested
NMI/non-NMI locking attempts will be added in a subsequent patch to the
bpf-next tree when this fix lands and trees are synchronized.

Reported-by: Josef Bacik &lt;josef@toxicpanda.com&gt;
Fixes: 164c246571e9 ("rqspinlock: Protect waiters in queue from stalls")
Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250909184959.3509085-1-memxor@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;

</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Currently, out of all 3 types of waiters in the rqspinlock slow path
(i.e., pending bit waiter, wait queue head waiter, and wait queue
non-head waiter), only the pending bit waiter and wait queue head
waiters apply deadlock checks and a timeout on their waiting loop. The
assumption here was that the wait queue head's forward progress would be
sufficient to identify cases where the lock owner or pending bit waiter
is stuck, and non-head waiters relying on the head waiter would prove to
be sufficient for their own forward progress.

However, the head waiter itself can be preempted by a non-head waiter
for the same lock (AA) or a different lock (ABBA) in a manner that
impedes its forward progress. In such a case, non-head waiters not
performing deadlock and timeout checks becomes insufficient, and the
system can enter a state of lockup.

This is typically not a concern with non-NMI lock acquisitions, as lock
holders which in run in different contexts (IRQ, non-IRQ) use "irqsave"
variants of the lock APIs, which naturally excludes such lock holders
from preempting one another on the same CPU.

It might seem likely that a similar case may occur for rqspinlock when
programs are attached to contention tracepoints (begin, end), however,
these tracepoints either precede the enqueue into the wait queue, or
succeed it, therefore cannot be used to preempt a head waiter's waiting
loop.

We must still be careful against nested kprobe and fentry programs that
may attach to the middle of the head's waiting loop to stall forward
progress and invoke another rqspinlock acquisition that proceeds as a
non-head waiter. To this end, drop CC_FLAGS_FTRACE from the rqspinlock.o
object file.

For now, this issue is resolved by falling back to a repeated trylock on
the lock word from NMI context, while performing the deadlock checks to
break out early in case forward progress is impossible, and use the
timeout as a final fallback.

A more involved fix to terminate the queue when such a condition occurs
will be made as a follow up. A selftest to stress this aspect of nested
NMI/non-NMI locking attempts will be added in a subsequent patch to the
bpf-next tree when this fix lands and trees are synchronized.

Reported-by: Josef Bacik &lt;josef@toxicpanda.com&gt;
Fixes: 164c246571e9 ("rqspinlock: Protect waiters in queue from stalls")
Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi &lt;memxor@gmail.com&gt;
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250909184959.3509085-1-memxor@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov &lt;ast@kernel.org&gt;

</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
</feed>
