Re: [PATCH v2 1/2] x86/xen: Make the boot CPU idle task reliable

From: Jan Beulich
Date: Thu Mar 19 2020 - 06:01:25 EST


On 19.03.2020 10:56, Miroslav Benes wrote:
> The unwinder reports the boot CPU idle task's stack on XEN PV as
> unreliable, which affects at least live patching. There are two reasons
> for this. First, the task does not follow the x86 convention that its
> stack starts at the offset right below saved pt_regs. It allows the
> unwinder to easily detect the end of the stack and verify it. Second,
> startup_xen() function does not store the return address before jumping
> to xen_start_kernel() which confuses the unwinder.
>
> Amend both issues by moving the starting point of initial stack in
> startup_xen() and storing the return address before the jump, which is
> exactly what call instruction does.
>
> Signed-off-by: Miroslav Benes <mbenes@xxxxxxx>
> ---
> arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S | 8 ++++++--
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S b/arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S
> index 1d0cee3163e4..edc776af0e0a 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S
> +++ b/arch/x86/xen/xen-head.S
> @@ -35,7 +35,11 @@ SYM_CODE_START(startup_xen)
> rep __ASM_SIZE(stos)
>
> mov %_ASM_SI, xen_start_info
> - mov $init_thread_union+THREAD_SIZE, %_ASM_SP
> +#ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
> + mov initial_stack(%rip), %_ASM_SP
> +#else
> + mov pa(initial_stack), %_ASM_SP
> +#endif

If you need to distinguish the two anyway, why not use %rsp and
%esp respectively?

Jan