Date:   Thu, 17 Aug 2017 12:01:33 -0400
From:   Joe Lawrence <joe.lawrence@...hat.com>
To:     Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>
Cc:     live-patching@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@...hat.com>,
        Jessica Yu <jeyu@...hat.com>, Jiri Kosina <jikos@...nel.org>,
        Miroslav Benes <mbenes@...e.cz>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4] livepatch: introduce shadow variable API

On 08/17/2017 10:05 AM, Petr Mladek wrote:
> On Mon 2017-08-14 16:02:43, Joe Lawrence wrote:
>> Add exported API for livepatch modules:
>>
>>   klp_shadow_get()
>>   klp_shadow_attach()
>>   klp_shadow_get_or_attach()
>>   klp_shadow_update_or_attach()
>>   klp_shadow_detach()
>>   klp_shadow_detach_all()
>>
>> that implement "shadow" variables, which allow callers to associate new
>> shadow fields to existing data structures.  This is intended to be used
>> by livepatch modules seeking to emulate additions to data structure
>> definitions.
>>
>> See Documentation/livepatch/shadow-vars.txt for a summary of the new
>> shadow variable API, including a few common use cases.
>>
>> See samples/livepatch/livepatch-shadow-* for example modules that
>> demonstrate shadow variables.
>>
>> diff --git a/kernel/livepatch/shadow.c b/kernel/livepatch/shadow.c
>> new file mode 100644
>> index 000000000000..0ebd4b635e4f
>> --- /dev/null
>> +++ b/kernel/livepatch/shadow.c
>> +/**
>> + * klp_shadow_match() - verify a shadow variable matches given <obj, id>
>> + * @shadow:	shadow variable to match
>> + * @obj:	pointer to parent object
>> + * @id:		data identifier
>> + *
>> + * Return: true if the shadow variable matches.
>> + *
>> + * Callers should hold the klp_shadow_lock.
>> + */
>> +static inline bool klp_shadow_match(struct klp_shadow *shadow, void *obj,
>> +				unsigned long id)
>> +{
>> +	return shadow->obj == obj && shadow->id == id;
>> +}
> 
> Do we really need this function? It is called only in situations
> where shadow->obj == obj is always true. Especially the use in
> klp_shadow_detach_all() is funny because we pass shadow->obj as
> the shadow parameter.

Personal preference.  Abstracting out all of the routines that operated
on the shadow variables (setting up, comparison) did save some code
lines and centralized these common bits.

>> +
>> +/**
>> + * klp_shadow_get() - retrieve a shadow variable data pointer
>> + * @obj:	pointer to parent object
>> + * @id:		data identifier
>> + *
>> + * Return: the shadow variable data element, NULL on failure.
>> + */
>> +void *klp_shadow_get(void *obj, unsigned long id)
>> +{
>> +	struct klp_shadow *shadow;
>> +
>> +	rcu_read_lock();
>> +
>> +	hash_for_each_possible_rcu(klp_shadow_hash, shadow, node,
>> +				   (unsigned long)obj) {
>> +
>> +		if (klp_shadow_match(shadow, obj, id)) {
>> +			rcu_read_unlock();
>> +			return shadow->data;
>> +		}
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	rcu_read_unlock();
>> +
>> +	return NULL;
>> +}
>> +EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(klp_shadow_get);
>> +
>> +/*
>> + * klp_shadow_set() - initialize a shadow variable
>> + * @shadow:	shadow variable to initialize
>> + * @obj:	pointer to parent object
>> + * @id:		data identifier
>> + * @data:	pointer to data to attach to parent
>> + * @size:	size of attached data
>> + *
>> + * Callers should hold the klp_shadow_lock.
>> + */
>> +static inline void klp_shadow_set(struct klp_shadow *shadow, void *obj,
>> +				  unsigned long id, void *data, size_t size)
>> +{
>> +	shadow->obj = obj;
>> +	shadow->id = id;
>> +
>> +	if (data)
>> +		memcpy(shadow->data, data, size);
>> +}
> 
> The function name suggests that it is a counterpart of
> klp_shadow_get() but it is not. Which is a bit confusing.
I should have called it "setup" or "init", but perhaps that's moot ...

> Hmm, the purpose of this function is to reduce the size of cut&pasted
> code between all that klp_shadow_*attach() variants. But there
> is still too much cut&pasted code. In fact, the base logic of all
> variants is basically the same. The only small difference should be
> how they handle the situation when the variable is already there.

... this is true.  An earlier draft revision that I had discarded
attempted combining all cases.  I had used two extra function arguments,
"update" and "duplicates", to key off for each behavior... it turned
into a complicated, full-screen page of conditional logic, so I threw it
out.

However, I like the way you pulled it off using a jump-to-switch
statement at the bottom of the function...

> OK, there is a locking difference in the update variant but
> it is questionable, see below.
> 
> I would suggest to do something like this:
> 
> static enum klp_shadow_attach_existing_handling {
>      KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_RETURN,
>      KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_WARN,
>      KLP_SHADOW_EXISING_UPDATE,
> };
> 
> void *__klp_shadow_get_or_attach(void *obj, unsigned long id, void *data,
> 		       size_t size, gfp_t gfp_flags,
> 		       enum klp_shadow_attach_existing_handling existing_handling)
> {
> 	struct klp_shadow *new_shadow;
> 	void *shadow_data;
> 	unsigned long flags;
> 
> 	/* Check if the shadow variable if <obj, id> already exists */
> 	shadow_data = klp_shadow_get(obj, id);
> 	if (shadow_data)
> 		goto exists;
> 
> 	/* Allocate a new shadow variable for use inside the lock below */
> 	new_shadow = kzalloc(size + sizeof(*new_shadow), gfp_flags);
> 	if (!new_shadow) {
> 		pr_error("failed to allocate shadow variable <0x%p, %ul>\n",
> 				 obj, id);
> 		return NULL;
> 	}
> 
> 	new_shadow->obj = obj;
> 	new_shadow->id = id;
> 
> 	/* initialize the shadow variable if if data provided */
> 	if (data)
> 		memcpy(new_shadow->data, data, size);
> 
> 	/* Look for <obj, id> again under the lock */
> 	spin_lock_irqsave(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
> 	shadow_data = klp_shadow_get(obj, id);
> 	if (unlikely(shadow_data)) {
> 		/*
> 		 * Shadow variable was found, throw away speculative
> 		 * allocation and update/return the existing one.
> 		 */
> 		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
> 		kfree(new_shadow);
> 		goto exists;
> 	}
> 
> 	/* No <obj, id> found, so attach the newly allocated one */
> 	hash_add_rcu(klp_shadow_hash, &new_shadow->node,
> 		     (unsigned long)new_shadow->obj);
> 	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
> 
> 	return new_shadow->data;
> 
> exists:
> 	switch(existing_handling) {
> 	case KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_RETURN:
> 		break;
> 
> 	case KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_WARN:
> 		WARN(1, "Duplicate shadow variable <%p, %lx>\n", obj, id);
> 		shadow_data = NULL;
> 		break;
> 
> 	case KLP_SHADOW_EXISING_UPDATE:
> 		if (data)
> 			memcpy(shadow_data, data, size);
> 		break;
> 	}
> 	return shadow_data;
> }
> 
> void *klp_shadow_attach(void *obj, unsigned long id, void *data,
> 			size_t size, gfp_t gfp_flags)
> {
> 	return __klp_shadow_get_or_attach(obj, id, data, size,
> 			gfp_flags, KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_RETURN);
> }
> 
> void *klp_shadow_get_or_attach(void *obj, unsigned long id, void *data,
> 			       size_t size, gfp_t gfp_flags)
> {
> 	return __klp_shadow_get_or_attach(obj, id, data, size,
> 			gfp_flags, KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_WARN);
> }
> 
> void *klp_shadow_update_or_attach(void *obj, unsigned long id, void *data,
> 			       size_t size, gfp_t gfp_flags)
> {
> 	return __klp_shadow_get_or_attach(obj, id, data, size,
> 			gfp_flags, KLP_SHADOW_EXISTING_UPDATE);
> }
> 
> Note that the above code is not even compile tested.
> 
> It removes a lot of cut&pasted code and the difference
> is more clear.
>
> It updates the data outside klp_shadow_lock. But it should be fine.
> The lock is there to keep the hast table consistent (avoid
> duplicates). 
>
>              Users are responsible to synchronize the data
> stored in the variables their own way.

^^^ this is probably the best argument to ditch
klp_shadow_update_or_attach().

> 
> Hmm, the more I think about it the more I would suggest to remove
> klp_shadow_update_or_attach() variant. It has very weird logic.
> IMHO, it is not obvious that it must be called under the locks
> that synchronize the shadow data. IMHO, the other two variants
> are much more clear and enough. Or do you have a good real life
> example for it?

>From the API caller's point of view, the intent was: "I want a shadow
variable and it needs to have this current value."

klp_shadow_get_or_attach() doesn't pass back information about the
underlying shadow variable, ie, was an existing one found, or did it
allocate a new one.  In the former case, the data will be stale.

I don't have a real-world example for such use-case, so I'm willing to
drop the routine if it simplifies the code.  I'd be curious to see how
you might solve this situation using klp_shadow_get() and/or
klp_shadow_get_or_attach().

>> +/**
>> + * klp_shadow_add() - add a shadow variable to the hashtable
>> + * @shadow:	shadow variable to add
>> + *
>> + * Callers should hold the klp_shadow_lock.
>> + */
>> +static inline void klp_shadow_add(struct klp_shadow *shadow)
>> +{
>> +	hash_add_rcu(klp_shadow_hash, &shadow->node,
>> +		     (unsigned long)shadow->obj);
>> +}
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * klp_shadow_attach() - allocate and add a new shadow variable
>> + * @obj:	pointer to parent object
>> + * @id:		data identifier
>> + * @data:	pointer to data to attach to parent
>> + * @size:	size of attached data
>> + * @gfp_flags:	GFP mask for allocation
>> + *
>> + * If an existing <obj, id> shadow variable can be found, this routine
>> + * will issue a WARN, exit early and return NULL.
>> + *
>> + * Allocates @size bytes for new shadow variable data using @gfp_flags
>> + * and copies @size bytes from @data into the new shadow variable's own
>> + * data space.  If @data is NULL, @size bytes are still allocated, but
>> + * no copy is performed.  The new shadow variable is then added to the
>> + * global hashtable.
> 
> I would swap the two paragraphs. We should describe the main function
> first and corner cases later.

Okay, that makes sense.

>> + * Return: the shadow variable data element, NULL on duplicate or
>> + * failure.
>> + */
>> +void *klp_shadow_attach(void *obj, unsigned long id, void *data,
>> +			size_t size, gfp_t gfp_flags)
>> +{
>> +	struct klp_shadow *new_shadow;
>> +	void *shadow_data;
>> +	unsigned long flags;
>> +
>> +	/* Take error exit path if <obj, id> already exists */
>> +	if (unlikely(klp_shadow_get(obj, id)))
>> +		goto err_exists;
>> +
>> +	/* Allocate a new shadow variable for use inside the lock below */
>> +	new_shadow = kzalloc(size + sizeof(*new_shadow), gfp_flags);
> 
> We should print an error message when the memory cannot be allocated.
> Otherwise we will return NULL without explanation. It will be
> especially helpful when a caller forgets to check for NULL.

That's a good idea.  Silent failure could be confusing.

>> +	if (!new_shadow)
>> +		goto err;
>> +	klp_shadow_set(new_shadow, obj, id, data, size);
>> +
>> +	/* Look for <obj, id> again under the lock */
>> +	spin_lock_irqsave(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
>> +	shadow_data = klp_shadow_get(obj, id);
>> +	if (unlikely(shadow_data)) {
>> +		/*
>> +		 * Shadow variable was found, throw away speculative
>> +		 * allocation and update/return the existing one.
>> +		 */
>> +		spin_unlock_irqrestore(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
>> +		kfree(new_shadow);
>> +		goto err_exists;
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	/* No <obj, id> found, add the newly allocated one */
>> +	klp_shadow_add(new_shadow);
>> +	spin_unlock_irqrestore(&klp_shadow_lock, flags);
>> +
>> +	return new_shadow->data;
>> +
>> +err_exists:
>> +	WARN(1, "Duplicate shadow variable <%p, %lx>\n", obj, id);
>> +err:
>> +	return NULL;
>> +}
>> +EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(klp_shadow_attach);
>> +
>> +/**
>> + * klp_shadow_get_or_attach() - get existing or attach a new shadow variable
>> + * @obj:	pointer to parent object
>> + * @id:		data identifier
>> + * @data:	pointer to data to attach to parent
>> + * @size:	size of attached data
>> + * @gfp_flags:	GFP mask for allocation
>> + *
>> + * If an existing <obj, id> shadow variable can be found, it will be
>> + * used (but *not* updated) in the return value of this function.
>> + *
>> + * Allocates @size bytes for new shadow variable data using @gfp_flags
>> + * and copies @size bytes from @data into the new shadow variable's own
>> + * data space.  If @data is NULL, @size bytes are still allocated, but
>> + * no copy is performed.  The new shadow variable is then added to the
>> + * global hashtable.
> 
> There is a lot of duplicated text here. 

Copy/pasting -- it was a lot easier to keep the comments in sync with
the code as it was evolving through the revisions, especially with three
variants of the nearly same routine :)

>                                        Also you need to read the first
> paragraph very carefully. Otherwise, you miss that the 2nd paragraph
> is true only in special situation.
> 
> I would make it more clear, something like:
> 
> It returns pointer to the shadow data when they already exist.
> Otherwise, it attaches and new shadow variable like
> klp_shadow_attach().
> 
> It guarantees that only one shadow variable will exists with
> the given @id for the given @obj. Also it guarantees that
> the variable will be initialized by the given @data only when
> it did not exist before.

Good feedback, I'll incorporate something like this for the next version.

>> diff --git a/samples/livepatch/livepatch-shadow-fix1.c b/samples/livepatch/livepatch-shadow-fix1.c
>> new file mode 100644
>> index 000000000000..5acc838463d1
>> --- /dev/null
>> +++ b/samples/livepatch/livepatch-shadow-fix1.c
>> +void livepatch_fix1_dummy_free(struct dummy *d)
>> +{
>> +	void **shadow_leak;
>> +
>> +	/*
>> +	 * Patch: fetch the saved SV_LEAK shadow variable, detach and
>> +	 * free it.  Note: handle cases where this shadow variable does
>> +	 * not exist (ie, dummy structures allocated before this livepatch
>> +	 * was loaded.)
>> +	 */
>> +	shadow_leak = klp_shadow_get(d, SV_LEAK);
>> +	if (shadow_leak) {
>> +		klp_shadow_detach(d, SV_LEAK);
>> +		kfree(*shadow_leak);
> 
> This should get removed. The buffer used for the shadow variable
> is freed by kfree_rcu() called from klp_shadow_detach().
> 
> Same problem is also in the other livepatch.
> 
>> +		pr_info("%s: dummy @ %p, prevented leak @ %p\n",
>> +			 __func__, d, *shadow_leak);
> 
> This might access shadow_leak after it was (double) freed.
> 
>> +	} else {
>> +		pr_info("%s: dummy @ %p leaked!\n", __func__, d);
>> +	}
>> +
>> +	kfree(d);
>> +}

Let me double check these double frees (though I have been running the
tests w/slub_debug poisoning turned on).  At first glance, they look
like another holdover from the shadow-data-is-just-a pointer versions.

> 
> I am sorry for the late review. I had vacation.

No worries, this is a good review!

> I know that this patch already got some acks. Most of my comments
> are about code clean up and tiny bugs that might be fixed later.
> 
> But I would still suggests to re-evaluate the usefulness and
> logic of klp_shadow_update_or_attach(). I think that it was
> the primary reason for the many cut&pasted code. The locking
> logic is weird there. It does too many things at once because
> it also manipulates the existing data. All other functions just
> get pointer to the data and eventually initialize them when
> they did not exist before.

Without a good real-world example, you've convinced me that
klp_shadow_update_or_attach() could be dropped.  I think this will also
simplify the requirements of a shared __klp_shadow_get_or_attach() like
you sketched out earlier.

If Josh and Miroslav don't mind, I'd like to continue churning this
patch with the suggestions that Petr has made.

-- Joe

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