[PATCH -next V3 1/2] riscv: jump_label: Fixup unaligned arch_static_branch function

[Björn Töpel]

guoren at kernel.org writes:

> From: Andy Chiu <andy.chiu at sifive.com>
>
> Runtime code patching must be done at a naturally aligned address, or we
> may execute on a partial instruction.
>
> We have encountered problems traced back to static jump functions during
> the test. We switched the tracer randomly for every 1~5 seconds on a
> dual-core QEMU setup and found the kernel sucking at a static branch
> where it jumps to itself.
>
> The reason is that the static branch was 2-byte but not 4-byte aligned.
> Then, the kernel would patch the instruction, either J or NOP, with two
> half-word stores if the machine does not have efficient unaligned
> accesses. Thus, moments exist where half of the NOP mixes with the other
> half of the J when transitioning the branch. In our particular case, on
> a little-endian machine, the upper half of the NOP was mixed with the
> lower part of the J when enabling the branch, resulting in a jump that
> jumped to itself. Conversely, it would result in a HINT instruction when
> disabling the branch, but it might not be observable.
>
> ARM64 does not have this problem since all instructions must be 4-byte
> aligned.

Reviewed-by: Björn Töpel <bjorn at kernel.org>

Nice catch! And I guess this is an issue for kprobes as well, no?
I.e. in general replacing 32b insns with an ebreak. This is only valid
for natural aligned 32b insns?

@Guo I don't see the point of doing a series for this, and asking the
maintainers to "pick this patch to stable, and the other for
next". Isn't that just more work for the maintainers/reviewers?


Björn