Re: [PATCH 30/43] x86/mm/kaiser: Map espfix structures

From: Peter Zijlstra
Date: Fri Nov 24 2017 - 08:47:54 EST


On Fri, Nov 24, 2017 at 10:14:35AM +0100, Ingo Molnar wrote:
> From: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> There is some rather arcane code to help when an IRET returns
> to 16-bit segments. It is referred to as the "espfix" code.
> This consists of a few per-cpu variables:
>
> espfix_stack: tells us where the stack is allocated
> (the bottom)
> espfix_waddr: tells us to where %rsp may be pointed
> (the top)
>
> These are in addition to the stack itself. All three things must
> be mapped for the espfix code to function.
>
> Note: the espfix code runs with a kernel GSBASE, but user
> (shadow) page tables. A switch to the kernel page tables could
> be performed instead of mapping these structures, but mapping
> them is simpler and less likely to break the assembly. To switch
> over to the kernel copy, additional temporary storage would be
> required which is in short supply in this context.

With Andy's patches that should actually be doable, no?