x86-64: int3 no longer causes SIGTRAP in 2.6.10

From: Juho Snellman
Date: Mon Jan 17 2005 - 20:34:08 EST


2.6.10 changed the behaviour of the int3 instruction on x86-64. It
used to result in a SIGTRAP, now it's a SIGSEGV in both native and
32-bit legacy modes. This was apparently caused by the kprobe port,
specifically this part:

--- a/arch/x86_64/kernel/traps.c 2004-12-24 13:36:17 -08:00
+++ b/arch/x86_64/kernel/traps.c 2004-12-24 13:36:17 -08:00
@@ -862,8 +910,8 @@
set_intr_gate(0,&divide_error);
set_intr_gate_ist(1,&debug,DEBUG_STACK);
set_intr_gate_ist(2,&nmi,NMI_STACK);
- set_system_gate(3,&int3); /* int3-5 can be called from all */
- set_system_gate(4,&overflow);
+ set_intr_gate(3,&int3);
+ set_system_gate(4,&overflow); /* int4-5 can be called from all */

Was effectively disabling int3 a conscious decision, or just an
unintended side-effect? This breaks at least Steel Bank Common Lisp
(x86 and x86-64) and CMU Common Lisp (x86), which use int3 for error
traps and breakpoints.

Simple test case:

% cat foo.c
int main (void) {
asm("int3");
return 0;
}
% gcc -o foo foo.c
% ./foo
zsh: trace trap ./foo
% gcc -m32 -o foo-32 foo.c
% ./foo-32
zsh: trace trap ./foo-32

[ reboot ]

% uname -a
Linux kiki 2.6.10 #2 Sun Dec 26 04:54:05 EET 2004 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64
% ./foo
zsh: segmentation fault ./foo
% ./foo-32
zsh: segmentation fault ./foo-32

--
Juho Snellman
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