Re: [RFC] x86_64: A real proposal for iret-less return to kernel

From: Jiri Kosina
Date: Wed May 21 2014 - 17:59:27 EST


On Wed, 21 May 2014, Borislav Petkov wrote:

> > Why is it a problem if user_mode_vm(regs)? Conversely, why is sending
> > a signal a remotely reasonable thing to do if !user_mode_vm(regs)?
>
> Let me quote Jiri:
>
> (1) task sends signal to itself
> (2) it acquires sighand->siglock so that it's able to queue the signal
> (3) MCE triggers
> (4) it tries to send a signal to the same task
> (5) it tries to acquire sighand->siglock and loops forever

Ah, alright, but due to what mce_severity() does, this can't happen,
because if the current CPU is in the kernel (which is obviously implied by
holding a spinlock), it never proceeds sending the signal, becase
no_way_out gets set and mce_panic() invoked.

--
Jiri Kosina
SUSE Labs
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