linux-kernel - [PATCH] MIPS: Work around LLVM bug when gp is used as global register variable

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>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-ID: <20260118090235.60670-1-me@ziyao.cc>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2026 09:02:35 +0000
From: Yao Zi <me@...ao.cc>
To: Thomas Bogendoerfer <tsbogend@...ha.franken.de>,
	Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>,
	Nick Desaulniers <nick.desaulniers+lkml@...il.com>,
	Bill Wendling <morbo@...gle.com>,
	Justin Stitt <justinstitt@...gle.com>,
	Thomas Weißschuh <thomas.weissschuh@...utronix.de>
Cc: Yao Zi <me@...ao.cc>,
	linux-mips@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	llvm@...ts.linux.dev,
	stable@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] MIPS: Work around LLVM bug when gp is used as global register variable

On MIPS, __current_thread_info is defined as global register variable
locating in $gp, and is simply assigned with new address during kernel
relocation.

This however is broken with LLVM, which always restores $gp if it finds
$gp is clobbered in any form, including when intentionally through a
global register variable. This is against GCC's documentation[1], which
requires a callee-saved register used as global register variable not to
be restored if it's clobbered.

As a result, $gp will continue to point to the unrelocated kernel after
the epilog of relocate_kernel(), leading to an early crash in init_idle,

[    0.000000] CPU 0 Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000000000000000, epc == ffffffff81afada8, ra == ffffffff81afad90
[    0.000000] Oops[#1]:
[    0.000000] CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper Tainted: G        W           6.19.0-rc5-00262-gd3eeb99bbc99-dirty #188 VOLUNTARY
[    0.000000] Tainted: [W]=WARN
[    0.000000] Hardware name: loongson,loongson64v-4core-virtio
[    0.000000] $ 0   : 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000001 0000000000000000
[    0.000000] $ 4   : ffffffff80b80ec0 ffffffff80b53d48 0000000000000000 00000000000f4240
[    0.000000] $ 8   : 0000000000000100 ffffffff81d82f80 ffffffff81d82f80 0000000000000001
[    0.000000] $12   : 0000000000000000 ffffffff81776f58 00000000000005da 0000000000000002
[    0.000000] $16   : ffffffff80b80e40 0000000000000000 ffffffff80b81614 9800000005dfbe80
[    0.000000] $20   : 00000000540000e0 ffffffff81980000 0000000000000000 ffffffff80f81c80
[    0.000000] $24   : 0000000000000a26 ffffffff8114fb90
[    0.000000] $28   : ffffffff80b50000 ffffffff80b53d40 0000000000000000 ffffffff81afad90
[    0.000000] Hi    : 0000000000000000
[    0.000000] Lo    : 0000000000000000
[    0.000000] epc   : ffffffff81afada8 init_idle+0x130/0x270
[    0.000000] ra    : ffffffff81afad90 init_idle+0x118/0x270
[    0.000000] Status: 540000e2	KX SX UX KERNEL EXL
[    0.000000] Cause : 00000008 (ExcCode 02)
[    0.000000] BadVA : 0000000000000000
[    0.000000] PrId  : 00006305 (ICT Loongson-3)
[    0.000000] Process swapper (pid: 0, threadinfo=(____ptrval____), task=(____ptrval____), tls=0000000000000000)
[    0.000000] Stack : 9800000005dfbf00 ffffffff8178e950 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
[    0.000000]         0000000000000000 ffffffff81970000 000000000000003f ffffffff810a6528
[    0.000000]         0000000000000001 9800000005dfbe80 9800000005dfbf00 ffffffff81980000
[    0.000000]         ffffffff810a6450 ffffffff81afb6c0 0000000000000000 ffffffff810a2258
[    0.000000]         ffffffff81d82ec8 ffffffff8198d010 ffffffff81b67e80 ffffffff8197dd98
[    0.000000]         ffffffff81d81c80 ffffffff81930000 0000000000000040 0000000000000000
[    0.000000]         0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
[    0.000000]         0000000000000000 000000000000009e ffffffff9fc01000 0000000000000000
[    0.000000]         0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
[    0.000000]         0000000000000000 ffffffff81ae86dc ffffffff81b3c741 0000000000000002
[    0.000000]         ...
[    0.000000] Call Trace:
[    0.000000] [<ffffffff81afada8>] init_idle+0x130/0x270
[    0.000000] [<ffffffff81afb6c0>] sched_init+0x5c8/0x6c0
[    0.000000] [<ffffffff81ae86dc>] start_kernel+0x27c/0x7a8

This bug has been reported to LLVM[2] and affects version from (at
least) 18 to 21. Let's work around this by using inline assembly to
assign $gp before a fix is widely available.

Cc: stable@...r.kernel.org
Link: https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc-15.2.0/gcc/Global-Register-Variables.html # [1]
Link: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/176546 # [2]
Signed-off-by: Yao Zi <me@...ao.cc>
---
 arch/mips/kernel/relocate.c | 11 +++++++++++
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/mips/kernel/relocate.c b/arch/mips/kernel/relocate.c
index 7f1c136ad850..12aa0bbdd65e 100644
--- a/arch/mips/kernel/relocate.c
+++ b/arch/mips/kernel/relocate.c
@@ -420,7 +420,18 @@ void *__init relocate_kernel(void)
 			goto out;
 
 		/* The current thread is now within the relocated image */
+#ifndef CONFIG_CC_IS_CLANG
 		__current_thread_info = RELOCATED(&init_thread_union);
+#else
+		/*
+		 * LLVM may wrongly restore $gp ($28) in epilog even if it's
+		 * intentionally modified. Work around this by using inline
+		 * assembly to assign $gp. $gp couldn't be listed as output or
+		 * clobber, or LLVM will still restore its original value.
+		 */
+		asm volatile("move $28, %0" : :
+			     "r" (RELOCATED(&init_thread_union)));
+#endif
 
 		/* Return the new kernel's entry point */
 		kernel_entry = RELOCATED(start_kernel);
-- 
2.52.0