[PATCH 0/6] arm64: make kexec_file able to load zboot image

Pingfan Liu kernelfans at gmail.com
Wed Mar 22 20:40:58 PDT 2023


Hi Dave,

Thanks for your suggestion. Please see the comment inlined.

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 11:44:52AM +0800, Dave Young wrote:
> On Fri, 10 Mar 2023 at 12:18, Pingfan Liu <kernelfans at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Mar 07, 2023 at 04:08:55PM +0800, Pingfan Liu wrote:
> > > Hi Ard,
> > >
> > > Thanks for sharing your idea. Please see the comment.
> > >
> > > On Mon, Mar 06, 2023 at 09:08:03AM +0100, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> > > > (cc Mark)
> > > >
> > > > Hello Pingfan,
> > > >
> > > > Thanks for working on this.
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, 6 Mar 2023 at 04:03, Pingfan Liu <kernelfans at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > After introducing zboot image, kexec_file can not load and jump to the
> > > > > new style image. Hence it demands a method to load the new kernel.
> > > > >
> > > > > The crux of the problem lies in when and how to decompress the Image.gz.
> > > > > There are three possible courses to take: -1. in user space, but hard to
> > > > > achieve due to the signature verification inside the kernel.
> > > >
> > > > That depends. The EFI zboot image encapsulates another PE/COFF image,
> > > > which could be signed as well.
> > > >
> > > > So there are at least three other options here:
> > > > - sign the encapsulated image with the same key as the zboot image
> > > > - sign the encapsulated image with a key that is only valid for kexec boot
> > > > - sign the encapsulated image with an ephemeral key that is only valid
> > > > for a kexec'ing an image that was produced by the same kernel build
> > > >
> > > > >  -2. at the
> > > > > boot time, let the efi_zboot_entry() handles it, which means a simulated
> > > > > EFI service should be provided to that entry, especially about how to be
> > > > > aware of the memory layout.
> > > >
> > > > This is actually an idea I intend to explore: with the EFI runtime
> > > > services regions mapped 1:1, it wouldn't be too hard to implement a
> > > > minimal environment that can run the zboot image under the previous
> > >
> > > The idea of the minimal environment lools amazing. After digging
> > > more deeply into it, I think it means to implement most of the function
> > > members in efi_boot_services, besides that, some UEFI protocols due to
> > > the reference of efi_call_proto(). So a clear boundary between zboot and
> > > its dependent EFI service is demanded before the work.
> > >
> >
> > Looking deeper into it. This approach may be splitted into the following
> > chunks:
> > -1. Estimation the memory demanded by the decompression of zboot, which
> > roughly includes the size of Image, the size of the emulated service and
> > the stack used by zboot. Finally we need a kexec_add_buffer() for this
> > range.
> >
> > -2. The emulated EFI services and some initial data such as the physical
> > address of dtb, the usable memory start address and size should be set
> > by kexec_purgatory_get_set_symbol()
> >
> > -3. Set up an identity mapping of the usable memory by zboot, prepare
> > stack and turn on MMU at the last point just before 'br efi_zboot_entry'
> > in relocate_kernel.S, which means relocate_kernel.S should support two
> > kinds of payload.
> >
> > -4. For efi_zboot_entry(), if jumping from kexec, limit its requirement
> > to only a few boot services: e.g. allocate_pages, allocate_pool. So the
> > emulated services can be deduced.
> 
> Hi Pingfan,
> 
> I'm not sure how hard it will be although Ard thinks it could be
> doable.  If it is not easy I suspect it is not worth the effort.
> 

Yes, it is a little hard comparing to the original patch. But I am also
trying in that direction.

> For your current series,  my suggestion is you can try to move the
> major code in the generic code path in kernel/kexec_file.c and keep
> the arch code minimum so that in the future other arches can avoid
> redundant code.
> 

OK. I will do it.

> Otherwise a fallback solution could be using the same key to sign both
> the zboot image and the internal kernel image like below:
> 1. sign the kernel with the same key twice (kernel image and zboot
> image) in distro kernel
> 2. introduce a kconfig in mainline to sign the kernel image with an
> ephemeral key same to kernel modules.  Distro can disable the config
> option. (in this way kexec can only load the same kernel, it is not
> useful if people want to load older/newer kernels)
> 3. patch kexec-tools to decompress the zboot image and load the kernel image
> 

Yes, this is also a doable way. I will try it if more votes for it.

Thanks,

	Pingfan
> >
> > > > kernel up to the point where it call ExitBootServices(), after which
> > > > kexec() would take over.
> > > >
> > >
> > > IIUC, after kexec switches to efi_zboot_entry(), it will not return,
> > > right?
> > >
> >
> > I have this assumption because letting the control path switch between
> > kernel and non-kernel code is not a good idea.
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Pingfan
> >
> > > > >  -3. in kernel space, during the file load
> > > > > of the zboot image. At that point, the kernel masters the whole memory
> > > > > information, and easily allocates a suitable memory for the decompressed
> > > > > kernel image. (I think this is similar to what grub does today).
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > GRUB just calls LoadImage(), and the decompression code runs in the EFI context.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Ah, thanks for the correcting. I had made an wrong assumption of grub
> > > based on [1], from which, I thought that grub is the case "For
> > > compatibility with non-EFI loaders, the payload can be decompressed and
> > > executed by the loader as well, provided that the loader implements the
> > > decompression algorithm and that non-EFI boot is supported by the
> > > encapsulated image"
> > >
> > >
> > > [1]: https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-6.1-Generic-EFI-Zboot
> > >
> > >
> > > Eager to find a solution to kexec a zboot image. Hope it will come soon.
> > >
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > >       Pingfan
> > > > > The core of this series is [5/6].  [3,6/6] handles the config option.
> > > > > The assumption of [3/6] is kexec_file_load is independent of zboot,
> > > > > especially it can load kernel images compressed with different
> > > > > compression method.  [6/6] is if EFI_ZBOOT, the corresponding
> > > > > decompression method should be included.
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > Cc: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas at arm.com>
> > > > > Cc: Will Deacon <will at kernel.org>
> > > > > Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm at linux-foundation.org>
> > > > > Cc: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb at kernel.org>
> > > > > Cc: kexec at lists.infradead.org
> > > > > To: linux-arm-kernel at lists.infradead.org
> > > > > To: linux-kernel at vger.kernel.org
> > > > >
> > > > > Pingfan Liu (6):
> > > > >   arm64: kexec: Rename kexec_image.c to kexec_raw_image.c
> > > > >   lib/decompress: Introduce decompress_method_by_name()
> > > > >   arm64: Kconfig: Pick decompressing method for kexec file load
> > > > >   lib/decompress: Keep decompress routines based on selection
> > > > >   arm64: kexec: Introduce zboot image loader
> > > > >   init/Kconfig: Select decompressing method if compressing kernel
> > > > >
> > > > >  arch/arm64/Kconfig                            |  59 ++++++
> > > > >  arch/arm64/include/asm/kexec.h                |   4 +-
> > > > >  arch/arm64/kernel/Makefile                    |   2 +-
> > > > >  .../{kexec_image.c => kexec_raw_image.c}      |   2 +-
> > > > >  arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_zboot_image.c         | 186 ++++++++++++++++++
> > > > >  arch/arm64/kernel/machine_kexec.c             |   1 +
> > > > >  arch/arm64/kernel/machine_kexec_file.c        |   3 +-
> > > > >  include/linux/decompress/generic.h            |   2 +
> > > > >  include/linux/decompress/mm.h                 |   9 +-
> > > > >  include/linux/zboot.h                         |  26 +++
> > > > >  init/Kconfig                                  |   7 +
> > > > >  lib/Kconfig                                   |   3 +
> > > > >  lib/decompress.c                              |  17 +-
> > > > >  13 files changed, 314 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> > > > >  rename arch/arm64/kernel/{kexec_image.c => kexec_raw_image.c} (98%)
> > > > >  create mode 100644 arch/arm64/kernel/kexec_zboot_image.c
> > > > >  create mode 100644 include/linux/zboot.h
> > > > >
> > > > > --
> > > > > 2.31.1
> > > > >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > kexec mailing list
> > kexec at lists.infradead.org
> > http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/kexec
> >
> 



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