linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] riscv: Add sysctl to control discard of vstate during syscall

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <aJe8ZW5LEtBK7Jmj@x1>
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2025 14:23:49 -0700
From: Drew Fustini <fustini@...nel.org>
To: Florian Weimer <fweimer@...hat.com>
Cc: Paul Walmsley <paul.walmsley@...ive.com>,
	Palmer Dabbelt <palmer@...belt.com>,
	Alexandre Ghiti <alex@...ti.fr>,
	Samuel Holland <samuel.holland@...ive.com>,
	Björn Töpel <bjorn@...osinc.com>,
	Andy Chiu <andybnac@...il.com>,
	Conor Dooley <conor.dooley@...rochip.com>,
	linux-riscv@...ts.infradead.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Drew Fustini <dfustini@...storrent.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] riscv: Add sysctl to control discard of vstate during
 syscall

On Sat, Aug 09, 2025 at 10:40:46AM +0200, Florian Weimer wrote:
> * Drew Fustini:
> 
> > From: Drew Fustini <dfustini@...storrent.com>
> >
> > Clobbering the vector registers can significantly increase system call
> > latency for some implementations. To mitigate this performance impact, a
> > sysctl knob is provided that controls whether the vector state is
> > discarded in the syscall path:
> >
> > /proc/sys/abi/riscv_v_vstate_discard
> >
> > Valid values are:
> >
> > 0: Vector state is not always clobbered in all syscalls
> > 1: Mandatory clobbering of vector state in all syscalls
> >
> > The initial state is controlled by CONFIG_RISCV_ISA_V_VSTATE_DISCARD.
> 
> Can this be put into the system call number instead, or make it specific
> to some system calls in other ways?

Do you mean the control the initial state of the sysctl, or not having a
sysctl for discard behavior at all?

> I think C libraries can use this optimization for their system calls
> (after adjusting the assembler clobbers) because the vector state is
> caller-saved in the standard calling convention.  But there is backwards
> compatibility impact for turning this on for the entire process.

The focus I have right now is allowing users to avoid the delay in
syscall entry on implementations where clobbering is slow. Palmer had
mentioned in my v1 [1] that he has 'a patch out for GCC that enables a
system-wide vector ABI, but I don't have time to test/benchmark it so 
it's kind of hard to justify'. It seems like creating a new ABI where
the vector registers are preserved across syscalls could be useful, but
I think it would be best to handle that possiblity later on.

Thanks,
Drew

[1] https://lore.kernel.org/linux-riscv/mhng-E49DDC7D-A330-4626-A122-4146AADDBB33@Palmers-Mini.rwc.dabbelt.com/