[PATCH 0/4 POC] Allow executing code and syscalls in another address space

[Andrei Vagin]

We already have process_vm_readv and process_vm_writev to read and write
to a process memory faster than we can do this with ptrace. And now it
is time for process_vm_exec that allows executing code in an address
space of another process. We can do this with ptrace but it is much
slower.

= Use-cases =

Here are two known use-cases. The first one is “application kernel”
sandboxes like User-mode Linux and gVisor. In this case, we have a
process that runs the sandbox kernel and a set of stub processes that
are used to manage guest address spaces. Guest code is executed in the
context of stub processes but all system calls are intercepted and
handled in the sandbox kernel. Right now, these sort of sandboxes use
PTRACE_SYSEMU to trap system calls, but the process_vm_exec can
significantly speed them up.

Another use-case is CRIU (Checkpoint/Restore in User-space). Several
process properties can be received only from the process itself. Right
now, we use a parasite code that is injected into the process. We do
this with ptrace but it is slow, unsafe, and tricky. process_vm_exec can
simplify the process of injecting a parasite code and it will allow
pre-dump memory without stopping processes. The pre-dump here is when we
enable a memory tracker and dump the memory while a process is continue
running. On each interaction we dump memory that has been changed from
the previous iteration. In the final step, we will stop processes and
dump their full state. Right now the most effective way to dump process
memory is to create a set of pipes and splice memory into these pipes
from the parasite code. With process_vm_exec, we will be able to call
vmsplice directly. It means that we will not need to stop a process to
inject the parasite code.

= How it works =

process_vm_exec has two modes:

* Execute code in an address space of a target process and stop on any
  signal or system call.

* Execute a system call in an address space of a target process.

int process_vm_exec(pid_t pid, struct sigcontext uctx,
		    unsigned long flags, siginfo_t siginfo,
		    sigset_t  *sigmask, size_t sizemask)

PID - target process identification. We can consider to use pidfd
instead of PID here.

sigcontext contains a process state with what the process will be
resumed after switching the address space and then when a process will
be stopped, its sate will be saved back to sigcontext.

siginfo is information about a signal that has interrupted the process.
If a process is interrupted by a system call, signfo will contain a
synthetic siginfo of the SIGSYS signal.

sigmask is a set of signals that process_vm_exec returns via signfo.

# How fast is it

In the fourth patch, you can find two benchmarks that execute a function
that calls system calls in a loop. ptrace_vm_exe uses ptrace to trap
system calls, proces_vm_exec uses the process_vm_exec syscall to do the
same thing.

ptrace_vm_exec:   1446 ns/syscall
ptrocess_vm_exec:  289 ns/syscall

PS: This version is just a prototype. Its goal is to collect the initial
feedback, to discuss the interfaces, and maybe to get some advice on
implementation..

Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm at linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto at kernel.org>
Cc: Anton Ivanov <anton.ivanov at cambridgegreys.com>
Cc: Christian Brauner <christian.brauner at ubuntu.com>
Cc: Dmitry Safonov <0x7f454c46 at gmail.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo at redhat.com>
Cc: Jeff Dike <jdike at addtoit.com>
Cc: Mike Rapoport <rppt at linux.ibm.com>
Cc: Michael Kerrisk (man-pages) <mtk.manpages at gmail.com>
Cc: Oleg Nesterov <oleg at redhat.com>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz at infradead.org>
Cc: Richard Weinberger <richard at nod.at>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx at linutronix.de>

Andrei Vagin (4):
  signal: add a helper to restore a process state from sigcontex
  arch/x86: implement the process_vm_exec syscall
  arch/x86: allow to execute syscalls via process_vm_exec
  selftests: add tests for process_vm_exec

 arch/Kconfig                                  |  15 ++
 arch/x86/Kconfig                              |   1 +
 arch/x86/entry/common.c                       |  19 +++
 arch/x86/entry/syscalls/syscall_64.tbl        |   1 +
 arch/x86/include/asm/sigcontext.h             |   2 +
 arch/x86/kernel/Makefile                      |   1 +
 arch/x86/kernel/process_vm_exec.c             | 160 ++++++++++++++++++
 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c                      | 125 ++++++++++----
 include/linux/entry-common.h                  |   2 +
 include/linux/process_vm_exec.h               |  17 ++
 include/linux/sched.h                         |   7 +
 include/linux/syscalls.h                      |   6 +
 include/uapi/asm-generic/unistd.h             |   4 +-
 include/uapi/linux/process_vm_exec.h          |   8 +
 kernel/entry/common.c                         |   2 +-
 kernel/fork.c                                 |   9 +
 kernel/sys_ni.c                               |   2 +
 .../selftests/process_vm_exec/Makefile        |   7 +
 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/log.h |  26 +++
 .../process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec.c         | 105 ++++++++++++
 .../process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec_fault.c   | 111 ++++++++++++
 .../process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec_syscall.c |  81 +++++++++
 .../process_vm_exec/ptrace_vm_exec.c          | 111 ++++++++++++
 23 files changed, 785 insertions(+), 37 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 arch/x86/kernel/process_vm_exec.c
 create mode 100644 include/linux/process_vm_exec.h
 create mode 100644 include/uapi/linux/process_vm_exec.h
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/Makefile
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/log.h
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec.c
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec_fault.c
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/process_vm_exec_syscall.c
 create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/process_vm_exec/ptrace_vm_exec.c

-- 
2.29.2