[PATCH v2 15/21] ARM: linker script: create separate PT_LOAD segments for text, rodata, and data

Sascha Hauer s.hauer at pengutronix.de
Tue Jan 6 04:53:18 PST 2026


Fix the linker scripts to generate three distinct PT_LOAD segments with
correct permissions instead of combining .rodata with .data.

Before this fix, the linker auto-generated only two PT_LOAD segments:
1. Text segment (PF_R|PF_X)
2. Data segment (PF_R|PF_W) - containing .rodata, .data, .bss, etc.

This caused .rodata to be mapped with write permissions when
pbl_mmu_setup_from_elf() set up MMU permissions based on ELF segments,
defeating the W^X protection that commit d9ccb0cf14 intended to provide.

With explicit PHDRS directives, we now generate three segments:
1. text segment (PF_R|PF_X): .text and related code sections
2. rodata segment (PF_R): .rodata and unwind tables
3. data segment (PF_R|PF_W): .data, .bss, and related sections

This ensures pbl_mmu_setup_from_elf() correctly maps .rodata as
read-only (MAP_CACHED_RO) instead of read-write (MAP_CACHED).

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply at anthropic.com>
Signed-off-by: Sascha Hauer <s.hauer at pengutronix.de>
---
 arch/arm/include/asm/barebox.lds.h |  2 +-
 arch/arm/lib32/barebox.lds.S       | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++------------
 arch/arm/lib64/barebox.lds.S       | 29 +++++++++++++++++++----------
 arch/riscv/lib/barebox.lds.S       |  1 +
 4 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 23 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/arm/include/asm/barebox.lds.h b/arch/arm/include/asm/barebox.lds.h
index 72aabe155b5c9e8b9159c7da6c6f0fa1f7b93375..7d1811645762a2ce1f58b7d86bed188a93fdb711 100644
--- a/arch/arm/include/asm/barebox.lds.h
+++ b/arch/arm/include/asm/barebox.lds.h
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 
 #define BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TABLE					\
 	.rel_dyn_start : { *(.__rel_dyn_start) }			\
-	.BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TYPE.dyn : { *(.BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TYPE*) }	\
+	.BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TYPE.dyn : { *(.BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TYPE*) } \
 	.rel_dyn_end : { *(.__rel_dyn_end) }				\
 	.__dynsym_start :  { *(.__dynsym_start) }			\
 	.dynsym : { *(.dynsym) }					\
diff --git a/arch/arm/lib32/barebox.lds.S b/arch/arm/lib32/barebox.lds.S
index 17e0970ba4989e5213ed38ea5ff87bdf5bfa2740..e84118ee2f43b07bd82fcd9936398847d0a3b42f 100644
--- a/arch/arm/lib32/barebox.lds.S
+++ b/arch/arm/lib32/barebox.lds.S
@@ -7,14 +7,23 @@
 OUTPUT_FORMAT(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_FORMAT)
 OUTPUT_ARCH(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_ARCH)
 ENTRY(start)
+
+PHDRS
+{
+	text PT_LOAD FLAGS(5);     /* PF_R | PF_X */
+	rodata PT_LOAD FLAGS(4);   /* PF_R */
+	data PT_LOAD FLAGS(6);     /* PF_R | PF_W */
+	dynamic PT_DYNAMIC FLAGS(6); /* PF_R | PF_W */
+}
+
 SECTIONS
 {
 	. = 0x0;
-	.image_start : { *(.__image_start) }
+	.image_start : { *(.__image_start) } :text
 
 	. = ALIGN(4);
 
-	._text : { *(._text) }
+	._text : { *(._text) } :text
 	.text      :
 	{
 		_stext = .;
@@ -31,7 +40,7 @@ SECTIONS
 		KEEP(*(.text_inplace_exceptions*))
 		__inplace_exceptions_stop = .;
 		*(.text*)
-	}
+	} :text
 	BAREBOX_BARE_INIT_SIZE
 
 	. = ALIGN(4096);
@@ -39,7 +48,7 @@ SECTIONS
 	.rodata : {
 		*(.rodata*)
 		RO_DATA_SECTION
-	}
+	} :rodata
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_ARM_UNWIND
 	/*
@@ -50,20 +59,21 @@ SECTIONS
 		__start_unwind_idx = .;
 		*(.ARM.exidx*)
 		__stop_unwind_idx = .;
-	}
+	} :rodata
 	.ARM.unwind_tab : {
 		__start_unwind_tab = .;
 		*(.ARM.extab*)
 		__stop_unwind_tab = .;
-	}
+	} :rodata
 #endif
 	. = ALIGN(4096);
 	__end_rodata = .;
 	_etext = .;
 	_sdata = .;
 
-	. = ALIGN(4);
-	.data : { *(.data*) }
+	.data : { *(.data*) } :data
+
+	.dynamic : { *(.dynamic) } :data :dynamic
 
 	. = .;
 
@@ -73,12 +83,12 @@ SECTIONS
 
 	BAREBOX_EFI_RUNTIME
 
-	.image_end : { *(.__image_end) }
+	.image_end : { *(.__image_end) } :data
 
 	. = ALIGN(4);
-	.__bss_start :  { *(.__bss_start) }
-	.bss : { *(.bss*) }
-	.__bss_stop :  { *(.__bss_stop) }
+	.__bss_start :  { *(.__bss_start) } :data
+	.bss : { *(.bss*) } :data
+	.__bss_stop :  { *(.__bss_stop) } :data
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_ARM_SECURE_MONITOR
 	. = ALIGN(16);
diff --git a/arch/arm/lib64/barebox.lds.S b/arch/arm/lib64/barebox.lds.S
index 5ee5fbc3741e1f7644c00f9b37c0903c27704a3e..0278347e78c70318a03eddda77510e38d3e9f026 100644
--- a/arch/arm/lib64/barebox.lds.S
+++ b/arch/arm/lib64/barebox.lds.S
@@ -6,14 +6,23 @@
 OUTPUT_FORMAT(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_FORMAT)
 OUTPUT_ARCH(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_ARCH)
 ENTRY(start)
+
+PHDRS
+{
+	text PT_LOAD FLAGS(5);     /* PF_R | PF_X */
+	rodata PT_LOAD FLAGS(4);   /* PF_R */
+	data PT_LOAD FLAGS(6);     /* PF_R | PF_W */
+	dynamic PT_DYNAMIC FLAGS(6); /* PF_R | PF_W */
+}
+
 SECTIONS
 {
 	. = 0x0;
 
-	.image_start : { *(.__image_start) }
+	.image_start : { *(.__image_start) } :text
 
 	. = ALIGN(4);
-	._text : { *(._text) }
+	._text : { *(._text) } :text
 	.text      :
 	{
 		_stext = .;
@@ -22,7 +31,7 @@ SECTIONS
 		*(.text_bare_init*)
 		__bare_init_end = .;
 		*(.text*)
-	}
+	} :text
 	BAREBOX_BARE_INIT_SIZE
 
 	. = ALIGN(4096);
@@ -30,7 +39,7 @@ SECTIONS
 	.rodata : {
 		*(.rodata*)
 		RO_DATA_SECTION
-	}
+	} :rodata
 
 	. = ALIGN(4096);
 
@@ -38,20 +47,20 @@ SECTIONS
 	_etext = .;
 	_sdata = .;
 
-	.data : { *(.data*) }
+	.data : { *(.data*) } :data
 
-	BAREBOX_RELOCATION_TABLE
+	.dynamic : { *(.dynamic) } :data :dynamic
 
 	_edata = .;
 
 	BAREBOX_EFI_RUNTIME
 
-	.image_end : { *(.__image_end) }
+	.image_end : { *(.__image_end) } :data
 
 	. = ALIGN(4);
-	.__bss_start :  { *(.__bss_start) }
-	.bss : { *(.bss*) }
-	.__bss_stop :  { *(.__bss_stop) }
+	.__bss_start :  { *(.__bss_start) } :data
+	.bss : { *(.bss*) } :data
+	.__bss_stop :  { *(.__bss_stop) } :data
 	_end = .;
 	_barebox_image_size = __bss_start;
 }
diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/barebox.lds.S b/arch/riscv/lib/barebox.lds.S
index 03b3a967193cfee1c67b96632cf972a553e8bec4..38376befe9a82ead2152f8c7fc581eb5bb35fab4 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/lib/barebox.lds.S
+++ b/arch/riscv/lib/barebox.lds.S
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@
 OUTPUT_ARCH(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_ARCH)
 ENTRY(start)
 OUTPUT_FORMAT(BAREBOX_OUTPUT_FORMAT)
+
 SECTIONS
 {
 	. = 0x0;

-- 
2.47.3




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