linux-kernel - [PATCH] x86/efistub: Reinstate soft limit for initrd loading

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Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2024 16:05:18 +0100
From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb+git@...gle.com>
To: linux-efi@...r.kernel.org
Cc: x86@...nel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, 
	Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>, Radek Podgorny <radek@...gorny.cz>
Subject: [PATCH] x86/efistub: Reinstate soft limit for initrd loading

From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>

Commit

  8117961d98fb2 ("x86/efi: Disregard setup header of loaded image")

dropped the memcopy of the image's setup header into the boot_params
struct provided to the core kernel, on the basis that EFI boot does not
need it and should rely only on a single protocol to interface with the
boot chain. It is also a prerequisite for being able to increase the
section alignment to 4k, which is needed to enable memory protections
when running in the boot services.

So only the setup_header fields that matter to the core kernel are
populated explicitly, and everything else is ignored. One thing was
overlooked, though: the initrd_addr_max field in the setup_header is not
used by the core kernel, but it is used by the EFI stub itself when it
loads the initrd, where its default value of INT_MAX is used as the soft
limit for memory allocation.

This means that, in the old situation, the initrd was virtually always
loaded in the lower 2G of memory, but now, due to initrd_addr_max being
0x0, the initrd may end up anywhere in memory. This should not be an
issue principle, as most systems can deal with this fine. However, it
does appear to tickle some problems in older UEFI implementations, where
the memory ends up being corrupted, resulting in errors when unpacking
the initramfs.

So set the initrd_addr_max field to INT_MAX like it was before.

Fixes: 8117961d98fb2 ("x86/efi: Disregard setup header of loaded image")
Reported-by: Radek Podgorny <radek@...gorny.cz>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/a99a831a-8ad5-4cb0-bff9-be637311f771@podgorny.cz
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>
---
 drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/x86-stub.c | 1 +
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

diff --git a/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/x86-stub.c b/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/x86-stub.c
index 6a6ffc6707bd..d5a8182cf2e1 100644
--- a/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/x86-stub.c
+++ b/drivers/firmware/efi/libstub/x86-stub.c
@@ -496,6 +496,7 @@ efi_status_t __efiapi efi_pe_entry(efi_handle_t handle,
 	hdr->vid_mode	= 0xffff;

 	hdr->type_of_loader = 0x21;
+	hdr->initrd_addr_max = INT_MAX;

 	/* Convert unicode cmdline to ascii */
 	cmdline_ptr = efi_convert_cmdline(image, &options_size);
-- 
2.44.0.396.g6e790dbe36-goog