linux-toradex.git/include/linux/livepatch.h, branch v5.1-rc4

livepatch: Add atomic replace

2019-01-11T19:51:24+00:00

Sometimes we would like to revert a particular fix. Currently, this
is not easy because we want to keep all other fixes active and we
could revert only the last applied patch.

One solution would be to apply new patch that implemented all
the reverted functions like in the original code. It would work
as expected but there will be unnecessary redirections. In addition,
it would also require knowing which functions need to be reverted at
build time.

Another problem is when there are many patches that touch the same
functions. There might be dependencies between patches that are
not enforced on the kernel side. Also it might be pretty hard to
actually prepare the patch and ensure compatibility with the other
patches.

Atomic replace && cumulative patches:

A better solution would be to create cumulative patch and say that
it replaces all older ones.

This patch adds a new "replace" flag to struct klp_patch. When it is
enabled, a set of 'nop' klp_func will be dynamically created for all
functions that are already being patched but that will no longer be
modified by the new patch. They are used as a new target during
the patch transition.

The idea is to handle Nops' structures like the static ones. When
the dynamic structures are allocated, we initialize all values that
are normally statically defined.

The only exception is "new_func" in struct klp_func. It has to point
to the original function and the address is known only when the object
(module) is loaded. Note that we really need to set it. The address is
used, for example, in klp_check_stack_func().

Nevertheless we still need to distinguish the dynamically allocated
structures in some operations. For this, we add "nop" flag into
struct klp_func and "dynamic" flag into struct klp_object. They
need special handling in the following situations:

  + The structures are added into the lists of objects and functions
    immediately. In fact, the lists were created for this purpose.

  + The address of the original function is known only when the patched
    object (module) is loaded. Therefore it is copied later in
    klp_init_object_loaded().

  + The ftrace handler must not set PC to func->new_func. It would cause
    infinite loop because the address points back to the beginning of
    the original function.

  + The various free() functions must free the structure itself.

Note that other ways to detect the dynamic structures are not considered
safe. For example, even the statically defined struct klp_object might
include empty funcs array. It might be there just to run some callbacks.

Also note that the safe iterator must be used in the free() functions.
Otherwise already freed structures might get accessed.

Special callbacks handling:

The callbacks from the replaced patches are _not_ called by intention.
It would be pretty hard to define a reasonable semantic and implement it.

It might even be counter-productive. The new patch is cumulative. It is
supposed to include most of the changes from older patches. In most cases,
it will not want to call pre_unpatch() post_unpatch() callbacks from
the replaced patches. It would disable/break things for no good reasons.
Also it should be easier to handle various scenarios in a single script
in the new patch than think about interactions caused by running many
scripts from older patches. Not to say that the old scripts even would
not expect to be called in this situation.

Removing replaced patches:

One nice effect of the cumulative patches is that the code from the
older patches is no longer used. Therefore the replaced patches can
be removed. It has several advantages:

  + Nops' structs will no longer be necessary and might be removed.
    This would save memory, restore performance (no ftrace handler),
    allow clear view on what is really patched.

  + Disabling the patch will cause using the original code everywhere.
    Therefore the livepatch callbacks could handle only one scenario.
    Note that the complication is already complex enough when the patch
    gets enabled. It is currently solved by calling callbacks only from
    the new cumulative patch.

  + The state is clean in both the sysfs interface and lsmod. The modules
    with the replaced livepatches might even get removed from the system.

Some people actually expected this behavior from the beginning. After all
a cumulative patch is supposed to "completely" replace an existing one.
It is like when a new version of an application replaces an older one.

This patch does the first step. It removes the replaced patches from
the list of patches. It is safe. The consistency model ensures that
they are no longer used. By other words, each process works only with
the structures from klp_transition_patch.

The removal is done by a special function. It combines actions done by
__disable_patch() and klp_complete_transition(). But it is a fast
track without all the transaction-related stuff.

Signed-off-by: Jason Baron 
[pmladek@suse.com: Split, reuse existing code, simplified]
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf 
Cc: Jessica Yu 
Cc: Jiri Kosina 
Cc: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Use lists to manage patches, objects and functions

2019-01-11T19:51:24+00:00

Currently klp_patch contains a pointer to a statically allocated array of
struct klp_object and struct klp_objects contains a pointer to a statically
allocated array of klp_func. In order to allow for the dynamic allocation
of objects and functions, link klp_patch, klp_object, and klp_func together
via linked lists. This allows us to more easily allocate new objects and
functions, while having the iterator be a simple linked list walk.

The static structures are added to the lists early. It allows to add
the dynamically allocated objects before klp_init_object() and
klp_init_func() calls. Therefore it reduces the further changes
to the code.

This patch does not change the existing behavior.

Signed-off-by: Jason Baron 
[pmladek@suse.com: Initialize lists before init calls]
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Joe Lawrence 
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf 
Cc: Jiri Kosina 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Simplify API by removing registration step

2019-01-11T19:51:24+00:00

The possibility to re-enable a registered patch was useful for immediate
patches where the livepatch module had to stay until the system reboot.
The improved consistency model allows to achieve the same result by
unloading and loading the livepatch module again.

Also we are going to add a feature called atomic replace. It will allow
to create a patch that would replace all already registered patches.
The aim is to handle dependent patches more securely. It will obsolete
the stack of patches that helped to handle the dependencies so far.
Then it might be unclear when a cumulative patch re-enabling is safe.

It would be complicated to support the many modes. Instead we could
actually make the API and code easier to understand.

Therefore, remove the two step public API. All the checks and init calls
are moved from klp_register_patch() to klp_enabled_patch(). Also the patch
is automatically freed, including the sysfs interface when the transition
to the disabled state is completed.

As a result, there is never a disabled patch on the top of the stack.
Therefore we do not need to check the stack in __klp_enable_patch().
And we could simplify the check in __klp_disable_patch().

Also the API and logic is much easier. It is enough to call
klp_enable_patch() in module_init() call. The patch can be disabled
by writing '0' into /sys/kernel/livepatch//enabled. Then the module
can be removed once the transition finishes and sysfs interface is freed.

The only problem is how to free the structures and kobjects safely.
The operation is triggered from the sysfs interface. We could not put
the related kobject from there because it would cause lock inversion
between klp_mutex and kernfs locks, see kn->count lockdep map.

Therefore, offload the free task to a workqueue. It is perfectly fine:

  + The patch can no longer be used in the livepatch operations.

  + The module could not be removed until the free operation finishes
    and module_put() is called.

  + The operation is asynchronous already when the first
    klp_try_complete_transition() fails and another call
    is queued with a delay.

Suggested-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Don't block the removal of patches loaded after a forced transition

2019-01-11T19:51:24+00:00

module_put() is currently never called in klp_complete_transition() when
klp_force is set. As a result, we might keep the reference count even when
klp_enable_patch() fails and klp_cancel_transition() is called.

This might give the impression that a module might get blocked in some
strange init state. Fortunately, it is not the case. The reference count
is ignored when mod->init fails and erroneous modules are always removed.

Anyway, this might be confusing. Instead, this patch moves
the global klp_forced flag into struct klp_patch. As a result,
we block only modules that might still be in use after a forced
transition. Newly loaded livepatches might be eventually completely
removed later.

It is not a big deal. But the code is at least consistent with
the reality.

Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Joe Lawrence 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Consolidate klp_free functions

2019-01-11T19:51:23+00:00

The code for freeing livepatch structures is a bit scattered and tricky:

  + direct calls to klp_free_*_limited() and kobject_put() are
    used to release partially initialized objects

  + klp_free_patch() removes the patch from the public list
    and releases all objects except for patch->kobj

  + object_put(&patch->kobj) and the related wait_for_completion()
    are called directly outside klp_mutex; this code is duplicated;

Now, we are going to remove the registration stage to simplify the API
and the code. This would require handling more situations in
klp_enable_patch() error paths.

More importantly, we are going to add a feature called atomic replace.
It will need to dynamically create func and object structures. We will
want to reuse the existing init() and free() functions. This would
create even more error path scenarios.

This patch implements more straightforward free functions:

  + checks kobj_added flag instead of @limit[*]

  + initializes patch->list early so that the check for empty list
    always works

  + The action(s) that has to be done outside klp_mutex are done
    in separate klp_free_patch_finish() function. It waits only
    when patch->kobj was really released via the _start() part.

The patch does not change the existing behavior.

[*] We need our own flag to track that the kobject was successfully
    added to the hierarchy.  Note that kobj.state_initialized only
    indicates that kobject has been initialized, not whether is has
    been added (and needs to be removed on cleanup).

Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf 
Cc: Miroslav Benes 
Cc: Jessica Yu 
Cc: Jiri Kosina 
Cc: Jason Baron 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Change unsigned long old_addr -> void *old_func in struct klp_func

2019-01-11T19:51:23+00:00

The address of the to be patched function and new function is stored
in struct klp_func as:

	void *new_func;
	unsigned long old_addr;

The different naming scheme and type are derived from the way
the addresses are set. @old_addr is assigned at runtime using
kallsyms-based search. @new_func is statically initialized,
for example:

  static struct klp_func funcs[] = {
	{
		.old_name = "cmdline_proc_show",
		.new_func = livepatch_cmdline_proc_show,
	}, { }
  };

This patch changes unsigned long old_addr -> void *old_func. It removes
some confusion when these address are later used in the code. It is
motivated by a followup patch that adds special NOP struct klp_func
where we want to assign func->new_func = func->old_addr respectively
func->new_func = func->old_func.

This patch does not modify the existing behavior.

Suggested-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Joe Lawrence 
Acked-by: Alice Ferrazzi 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Allow to call a custom callback when freeing shadow variables

2018-04-17T11:42:48+00:00

We might need to do some actions before the shadow variable is freed.
For example, we might need to remove it from a list or free some data
that it points to.

This is already possible now. The user can get the shadow variable
by klp_shadow_get(), do the necessary actions, and then call
klp_shadow_free().

This patch allows to do it a more elegant way. The user could implement
the needed actions in a callback that is passed to klp_shadow_free()
as a parameter. The callback usually does reverse operations to
the constructor callback that can be called by klp_shadow_*alloc().

It is especially useful for klp_shadow_free_all(). There we need to do
these extra actions for each found shadow variable with the given ID.

Note that the memory used by the shadow variable itself is still released
later by rcu callback. It is needed to protect internal structures that
keep all shadow variables. But the destructor is called immediately.
The shadow variable must not be access anyway after klp_shadow_free()
is called. The user is responsible to protect this any suitable way.

Be aware that the destructor is called under klp_shadow_lock. It is
the same as for the contructor in klp_shadow_alloc().

Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Initialize shadow variables safely by a custom callback

2018-04-17T11:42:48+00:00

The existing API allows to pass a sample data to initialize the shadow
data. It works well when the data are position independent. But it fails
miserably when we need to set a pointer to the shadow structure itself.

Unfortunately, we might need to initialize the pointer surprisingly
often because of struct list_head. It is even worse because the list
might be hidden in other common structures, for example, struct mutex,
struct wait_queue_head.

For example, this was needed to fix races in ALSA sequencer. It required
to add mutex into struct snd_seq_client. See commit b3defb791b26ea06
("ALSA: seq: Make ioctls race-free") and commit d15d662e89fc667b9
("ALSA: seq: Fix racy pool initializations")

This patch makes the API more safe. A custom constructor function and data
are passed to klp_shadow_*alloc() functions instead of the sample data.

Note that ctor_data are no longer a template for shadow->data. It might
point to any data that might be necessary when the constructor is called.

Also note that the constructor is called under klp_shadow_lock. It is
an internal spin_lock that synchronizes alloc() vs. get() operations,
see klp_shadow_get_or_alloc(). On one hand, this adds a risk of ABBA
deadlocks. On the other hand, it allows to do some operations safely.
For example, we could add the new structure into an existing list.
This must be done only once when the structure is allocated.

Reported-by: Nicolai Stange 
Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: Remove immediate feature

2018-01-11T09:58:03+00:00

Immediate flag has been used to disable per-task consistency and patch
all tasks immediately. It could be useful if the patch doesn't change any
function or data semantics.

However, it causes problems on its own. The consistency problem is
currently broken with respect to immediate patches.

func            a
patches         1i
                2i
                3

When the patch 3 is applied, only 2i function is checked (by stack
checking facility). There might be a task sleeping in 1i though. Such
task is migrated to 3, because we do not check 1i in
klp_check_stack_func() at all.

Coming atomic replace feature would be easier to implement and more
reliable without immediate.

Thus, remove immediate feature completely and save us from the problems.

Note that force feature has the similar problem. However it is
considered as a last resort. If used, administrator should not apply any
new live patches and should plan for reboot into an updated kernel.

The architectures would now need to provide HAVE_RELIABLE_STACKTRACE to
fully support livepatch.

Signed-off-by: Miroslav Benes 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina

livepatch: add (un)patch callbacks

2017-10-19T08:08:56+00:00

Provide livepatch modules a klp_object (un)patching notification
mechanism.  Pre and post-(un)patch callbacks allow livepatch modules to
setup or synchronize changes that would be difficult to support in only
patched-or-unpatched code contexts.

Callbacks can be registered for target module or vmlinux klp_objects,
but each implementation is klp_object specific.

  - Pre-(un)patch callbacks run before any (un)patching transition
    starts.

  - Post-(un)patch callbacks run once an object has been (un)patched and
    the klp_patch fully transitioned to its target state.

Example use cases include modification of global data and registration
of newly available services/handlers.

See Documentation/livepatch/callbacks.txt for details and
samples/livepatch/ for examples.

Signed-off-by: Joe Lawrence 
Acked-by: Josh Poimboeuf 
Acked-by: Miroslav Benes 
Signed-off-by: Jiri Kosina