bpf: relax zero fixed offset constraint on KF_TRUSTED_ARGS/KF_RCU
Currently, BPF kfuncs which accept trusted pointer arguments i.e. those flagged as KF_TRUSTED_ARGS, KF_RCU, or KF_RELEASE, all require an original/unmodified trusted pointer argument to be supplied to them. By original/unmodified, it means that the backing register holding the trusted pointer argument that is to be supplied to the BPF kfunc must have its fixed offset set to zero, or else the BPF verifier will outright reject the BPF program load. However, this zero fixed offset constraint that is currently enforced by the BPF verifier onto BPF kfuncs specifically flagged to accept KF_TRUSTED_ARGS or KF_RCU trusted pointer arguments is rather unnecessary, and can limit their usability in practice. Specifically, it completely eliminates the possibility of constructing a derived trusted pointer from an original trusted pointer. To put it simply, a derived pointer is a pointer which points to one of the nested member fields of the object being pointed to by the original trusted pointer. This patch relaxes the zero fixed offset constraint that is enforced upon BPF kfuncs which specifically accept KF_TRUSTED_ARGS, or KF_RCU arguments. Although, the zero fixed offset constraint technically also applies to BPF kfuncs accepting KF_RELEASE arguments, relaxing this constraint for such BPF kfuncs has subtle and unwanted side-effects. This was discovered by experimenting a little further with an initial version of this patch series [0]. The primary issue with relaxing the zero fixed offset constraint on BPF kfuncs accepting KF_RELEASE arguments is that it'd would open up the opportunity for BPF programs to supply both trusted pointers and derived trusted pointers to them. For KF_RELEASE BPF kfuncs specifically, this could be problematic as resources associated with the backing pointer could be released by the backing BPF kfunc and cause instabilities for the rest of the kernel. With this new fixed offset semantic in-place for BPF kfuncs accepting KF_TRUSTED_ARGS and KF_RCU arguments, we now have more flexibility when it comes to the BPF kfuncs that we're able to introduce moving forward. Early discussions covering the possibility of relaxing the zero fixed offset constraint can be found using the link below. This will provide more context on where all this has stemmed from [1]. Notably, pre-existing tests have been updated such that they provide coverage for the updated zero fixed offset functionality. Specifically, the nested offset test was converted from a negative to positive test as it was already designed to assert zero fixed offset semantics of a KF_TRUSTED_ARGS BPF kfunc. [0] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/ZnA9ndnXKtHOuYMe@google.com/ [1] https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/ZhkbrM55MKQ0KeIV@google.com/Signed-off-by: Matt Bobrowski <mattbobrowski@google.com> Acked-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240709210939.1544011-1-mattbobrowski@google.comSigned-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Showing
Please register or sign in to comment