linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH -tip v2 3/9] ftrace/x86: Support SAVE

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Date:	Tue, 05 Jun 2012 19:37:50 -0400
From:	Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>
To:	"Frank Ch. Eigler" <fche@...hat.com>
Cc:	Masami Hiramatsu <masami.hiramatsu.pt@...achi.com>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
	Ananth N Mavinakayanahalli <ananth@...ibm.com>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Frederic Weisbecker <fweisbec@...il.com>,
	yrl.pp-manager.tt@...achi.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH -tip v2 3/9] ftrace/x86: Support SAVE_REGS feature on
 i386

On Tue, 2012-06-05 at 17:24 -0400, Frank Ch. Eigler wrote:
> Hi -
> 
> On Tue, Jun 05, 2012 at 04:37:46PM -0400, Steven Rostedt wrote:
> > [...]
> > I'm not sure we really need to restore all the regs. I'll keep this for
> > now, but for an optimization, we can just restore the ones that mcount
> > mcount needs to.
> > 
> > Or do you expect kprobes to change any of theses?
> 
> That would be the way for a kprobe to modify variables/values that
> happen to be in the registers.  In systemtap, for example:
> 
> # stap -g -e 'probe kernel.function("foo") { $bar = 1 }'
> 

And why would we want to allow this?


Modifying variables with probes is another way to lead to disaster. If
the system did not intend for a variable to be a certain value, why let
someone change it?

What real world example leads to external sources modifying internal
core variables? With the obvious exception of rootkits.

-- Steve


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