[PATCH] mm/mseal: fix mseal documentation for 32-bit kernels
Leon Hwang
leon.hwang at linux.dev
Thu Jul 2 19:25:07 PDT 2026
mseal.o is built only for 64-bit kernels, so 32-bit kernels fall back
to sys_ni_syscall() and return -ENOSYS rather than -EPERM.
Document the -EINTR return from mmap_write_lock_killable(), fix the
CONFIG_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS typo, and describe system mappings in
terms of VM_SEALED_SYSMAP.
Signed-off-by: Leon Hwang <leon.hwang at linux.dev>
---
Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst | 18 ++++++++++--------
init/Kconfig | 2 +-
mm/mseal.c | 4 ++--
3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst
index ea9b11a0bd89..1f1cf206670c 100644
--- a/Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst
@@ -50,8 +50,10 @@ mseal syscall signature
* The start address (``addr``) is not allocated.
* The end address (``addr`` + ``len``) is not allocated.
* A gap (unallocated memory) between start and end address.
- - **-EPERM**:
- * sealing is supported only on 64-bit CPUs, 32-bit is not supported.
+ - **-EINTR**:
+ * Interrupted while waiting for the mmap write lock.
+ - **-ENOSYS**:
+ * The kernel does not implement ``mseal()``.
**Note about error return**:
- For above error cases, users can expect the given memory range is
@@ -62,7 +64,8 @@ mseal syscall signature
memory range could happen. However, those cases should be rare.
**Architecture support**:
- mseal only works on 64-bit CPUs, not 32-bit CPUs.
+ mseal is built only for 64-bit kernels. 32-bit kernels return
+ ``-ENOSYS``.
**Idempotent**:
users can call mseal multiple times. mseal on an already sealed memory
@@ -131,20 +134,19 @@ Use cases
- Chrome browser: protect some security sensitive data structures.
- System mappings:
- The system mappings are created by the kernel and includes vdso, vvar,
+ The system mappings are created by the kernel and include vdso, vvar,
vvar_vclock, vectors (arm compat-mode), sigpage (arm compat-mode), uprobes.
Those system mappings are readonly only or execute only, memory sealing can
- protect them from ever changing to writable or unmmap/remapped as different
+ protect them from ever changing to writable or unmapped/remapped as different
attributes. This is useful to mitigate memory corruption issues where a
corrupted pointer is passed to a memory management system.
If supported by an architecture (CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS),
- the CONFIG_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS seals all system mappings of this
- architecture.
+ CONFIG_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS seals mappings marked with VM_SEALED_SYSMAP.
The following architectures currently support this feature: x86-64, arm64,
- loongarch and s390.
+ loongarch, riscv, and s390.
WARNING: This feature breaks programs which rely on relocating
or unmapping system mappings. Known broken software at the time
diff --git a/init/Kconfig b/init/Kconfig
index 5230d4879b1c..12bb39f637b1 100644
--- a/init/Kconfig
+++ b/init/Kconfig
@@ -2112,7 +2112,7 @@ config ARCH_SUPPORTS_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS
from a kernel perspective.
After the architecture enables this, a distribution can set
- CONFIG_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPING to manage access to the feature.
+ CONFIG_MSEAL_SYSTEM_MAPPINGS to manage access to the feature.
For complete descriptions of memory sealing, please see
Documentation/userspace-api/mseal.rst
diff --git a/mm/mseal.c b/mm/mseal.c
index 9781647483d1..0464c7b94ab9 100644
--- a/mm/mseal.c
+++ b/mm/mseal.c
@@ -132,8 +132,8 @@ static int mseal_apply(struct mm_struct *mm,
* addr is not a valid address (not allocated).
* end (start + len) is not a valid address.
* a gap (unallocated memory) between start and end.
- * -EPERM:
- * - In 32 bit architecture, sealing is not supported.
+ * -EINTR:
+ * interrupted while waiting for the mmap write lock.
* Note:
* user can call mseal(2) multiple times, adding a seal on an
* already sealed memory is a no-action (no error).
--
2.54.0
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