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Message-ID: <CAKgNAkijYdrEWRwtAmSJF2X7_u0DoXiXsfVmGYnn+X9z1sQpjQ@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2013 01:55:53 +0100
From: "Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)" <mtk.manpages@...il.com>
To: Lucas De Marchi <lucas.demarchi@...fusion.mobi>
Cc: Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au>,
"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, jonathon@...masters.org,
linux-man@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/4] module: add syscall to load module from fd
On Wed, Jan 9, 2013 at 6:29 PM, Lucas De Marchi
<lucas.demarchi@...fusion.mobi> wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 6, 2013 at 4:59 PM, Michael Kerrisk (man-pages)
> <mtk.manpages@...il.com> wrote:
>> Hi Rusty, (and Lucas, and Kees)
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 3, 2013 at 1:12 AM, Rusty Russell <rusty@...tcorp.com.au> wrote:
>>> Michael Kerrisk <mtk.manpages@...il.com> writes:
>>>> Hi Rusty,
>>>
>>> Hi Michael,
>>>
>>>> The description here is rather thin. Could you supply a sentence or
>>>> two for each of MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_MODVERSIONS and
>>>> MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_VERMAGIC that would be suitable for the manual
>>>> page?
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>
>>> There are one or two safety checks built into a module, which are
>>> checked to match the kernel on module load. The first is a "vermagic"
>>> string containing the kernel version number and prominent features (such
>>> as CPU type). If the module was built with CONFIG_MODVERSIONS set, a
>>> version hash is recorded for each symbol the module uses based on the
>>> types it refers to: in this case, the kernel version number within the
>>> "vermagic" string is ignored, as the symbol version hashes are assumed
>>> to be sufficiently reliable.
>>>
>>> Using the MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_VERMAGIC flag indicates that the vermagic
>>> is to be ignored, and the MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_MODVERSIONS flag indicates
>>> that the version hashes are to be ignored. If the kernel is built to
>>> permit such forced loading (ie. CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_LOAD is set) then
>>> loading will continue, otherwise it will fail with ENOEXEC as expected
>>> for malformed modules.
>>>
>>> Hope that is more usable?
>>
>> Yes, that helps. I did some reworking of that text. Hopefully, I did
>> not introduce any errors.
>>
>> Below is the text that is proposed to document finit_module() in the
>> man pages. I'd appreciate any review (Kees, Lucas, Rusty?)
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> finit_module()
>> The finit_module() system call is like init_module(), but reads
>> the module to be loaded from the file descriptor fd. It is
>> useful when the authenticity of a kernel module can be deter‐
>> mined from its location in the file system; in cases where that
>> is possible, the overhead of using cryptographically signed
>> modules to determine the authenticity of a module can be
>> avoided. The param_values argument is as for init_module().
>>
>> The flags argument modifies the operation of finit_module().
>> It is a bit mask value created by ORing together zero or more
>> of the following flags:
>>
>> MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_MODVERSIONS
>> Ignore symbol version hashes.
>>
>> MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_VERMAGIC
>> Ignore kernel version magic.
>>
>> There are some safety checks built into a module to ensure that
>> it matches the kernel against which it is loaded. These checks
>> are recorded when the module is built and verified when the
>> module is loaded. First, the module records a "vermagic"
>> string containing the kernel version number and prominent fea‐
>> tures (such as the CPU type). Second, if the module was built
>> with the CONFIG_MODVERSIONS configuration option enabled, a
>> version hash is recorded for each symbol the module uses. This
>> hash is based on the types of the arguments and return value
>> for the function named by the symbol. In this case, the kernel
>> version number within the "vermagic" string is ignored, as the
>> symbol version hashes are assumed to be sufficiently reliable.
>>
>> Using the MODULE_INIT_IGNORE_VERMAGIC flag indicates that the
>> "vermagic" string is to be ignored, and the MOD‐
>> ULE_INIT_IGNORE_MODVERSIONS flag indicates that the symbol ver‐
>> sion hashes are to be ignored. If the kernel is built to per‐
>> mit forced loading (i.e., configured with CONFIG_MOD‐
>> ULE_FORCE_LOAD), then loading will continue, otherwise it will
>> fail with ENOEXEC as expected for malformed modules.
>> ...
>> ERRORS
>> ...
>> The following errors may additionally occur for finit_module():
>>
>> EBADF The file referred to by fd is not opened for reading.
>>
>> EFBIG The file referred to by fd is too large.
>>
>> EINVAL flags is invalid.
>>
>> ENOEXEC
>> fd does not refer to an open file.
>>
>>
>
>
> Looks good to me.
Thanks for looking it over, Lucas.
Cheers,
Michael
--
Michael Kerrisk
Linux man-pages maintainer; http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/
Author of "The Linux Programming Interface"; http://man7.org/tlpi/
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