Re: [PATCH 2/2] selftests/bpf: Add test for bpf_rdtsc

From: Tero Kristo
Date: Tue Jul 04 2023 - 04:55:17 EST



On 04/07/2023 01:00, John Fastabend wrote:
Tero Kristo wrote:
Add selftest for bpf_rdtsc() which reads the TSC (Time Stamp Counter) on
x86_64 architectures. The test reads the TSC from both userspace and the
BPF program, and verifies the TSC values are in incremental order as
expected. The test is automatically skipped on architectures that do not
support the feature.

Signed-off-by: Tero Kristo <tero.kristo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
.../selftests/bpf/prog_tests/test_rdtsc.c | 67 +++++++++++++++++++
.../testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_rdtsc.c | 21 ++++++
2 files changed, 88 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/bpf/prog_tests/test_rdtsc.c
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_rdtsc.c

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/prog_tests/test_rdtsc.c b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/prog_tests/test_rdtsc.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..2b26deb5b35a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/prog_tests/test_rdtsc.c
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+/* Copyright(c) 2023 Intel Corporation */
+
+#include "test_progs.h"
+#include "test_rdtsc.skel.h"
+
+#ifdef __x86_64__
+
+static inline u64 _rdtsc(void)
+{
+ u32 low, high;
+
+ __asm__ __volatile__("rdtscp" : "=a" (low), "=d" (high));
I think its ok but note this could fail if user doesn't have
access to rdtscp and iirc that can be restricted?

It is possible to restrict RDTSC access from userspace by enabling the TSD bit in CR4 register, and it will cause the userspace process to trap with general protection fault.

However, the usage of RDTSC appears to be built-in to C standard libraries (probably some timer routines) and enabling the CR4 TSD makes the system near unusable. Things like sshd + systemd also start generating the same general protection faults if RDTSC is blocked. Also, attempting to run anything at all with the BPF selftest suite causes the same general protection fault; not only the rdtsc test.

I tried this with couple of setups, one system running a minimalistic buildroot and another one running a fedora37 installation and the results were similar.

-Tero


+ return ((u64)high << 32) | low;
+}