[PATCH v2] arm64/cpufeature: annotate arm64_use_ng_mappings with ro_after_init to prevent wrong idmap generation

Catalin Marinas catalin.marinas at arm.com
Tue May 6 03:49:54 PDT 2025


On Tue, May 06, 2025 at 11:47:44AM +0100, Yeoreum Yun wrote:
> > On 06/05/2025 10:41, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
> > > On Tue, 6 May 2025 at 10:16, Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts at arm.com> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> On 06/05/2025 09:09, Yeoreum Yun wrote:
> > >>> Hi Catalin,
> > >>>
> > >>>> On Sat, May 03, 2025 at 09:23:27PM +0100, Yeoreum Yun wrote:
> > >>>>> Hi Catalin,
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>>> On Sat, May 03, 2025 at 11:16:12AM +0100, Catalin Marinas wrote:
> > >>>>>>> On Fri, 02 May 2025 19:04:12 +0100, Yeoreum Yun wrote:
> > >>>>>>>> create_init_idmap() could be called before .bss section initialization
> > >>>>>>>> which is done in early_map_kernel().
> > >>>>>>>> Therefore, data/test_prot could be set incorrectly by PTE_MAYBE_NG macro.
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> PTE_MAYBE_NG macro set NG bit according to value of "arm64_use_ng_mappings".
> > >>>>>>>> and this variable places in .bss section.
> > >>>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>>> [...]
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> Applied to arm64 (for-next/fixes), with some slight tweaking of the
> > >>>>>>> comment, thanks!
> > >>>>>>>
> > >>>>>>> [1/1] arm64/cpufeature: annotate arm64_use_ng_mappings with ro_after_init to prevent wrong idmap generation
> > >>>>>>>       https://git.kernel.org/arm64/c/12657bcd1835
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> I'm going to drop this for now. The kernel compiled with a clang 19.1.5
> > >>>>>> version I have around (Debian sid) fails to boot, gets stuck early on:
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> $ clang --version
> > >>>>>> Debian clang version 19.1.5 (1)
> > >>>>>> Target: aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
> > >>>>>> Thread model: posix
> > >>>>>> InstalledDir: /usr/lib/llvm-19/bin
> > >>>>>>
> > >>>>>> I didn't have time to investigate, disassemble etc. I'll have a look
> > >>>>>> next week.
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> Just for your information.
> > >>>>> When I see the debian package, clang 19.1.5-1 doesn't supply anymore:
> > >>>>>  - https://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/main/l/llvm-toolchain-19/
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> and the default version for sid is below:
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> $ clang-19 --version
> > >>>>> Debian clang version 19.1.7 (3)
> > >>>>> Target: aarch64-unknown-linux-gnu
> > >>>>> Thread model: posix
> > >>>>> InstalledDir: /usr/lib/llvm-19/bin
> > >>>>>
> > >>>>> When I tested with above version with arm64-linux's for-next/fixes
> > >>>>> including this patch. it works well.
> > >>>>
> > >>>> It doesn't seem to be toolchain related. It fails with gcc as well from
> > >>>> Debian stable but you'd need some older CPU (even if emulated, e.g.
> > >>>> qemu). It fails with Cortex-A72 (guest on Raspberry Pi 4) but not
> > >>>> Neoverse-N2. Also changing the annotation from __ro_after_init to
> > >>>> __read_mostly also works.
> > >>
> > >> I think this is likely because __ro_after_init is also "ro before init" - i.e.
> > >> if you try to write to it in the PI code an exception is generated due to it
> > >> being mapped RO. Looks like early_map_kernel() is writiing to it.
> > >>
> > >
> > > Indeed.
> > >
> > >> I've noticed a similar problem in the past and it would be nice to fix it so
> > >> that PI code maps __ro_after_init RW.
> > >>
> > >
> > > The issue is that the store occurs via the ID map, which only consists
> > > of one R-X and one RW- section. I'm not convinced that it's worth the
> > > hassle to relax this.
> > >
> > > If moving the variable to .data works, then let's just do that.
> >
> > Yeah, fair enough.
> 
> Thanks.
> I've success to reproduce. and after check, Sending with this fix.

No need to resend, I modified it locally. Thanks.

-- 
Catalin



More information about the linux-arm-kernel mailing list