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Date:   Tue, 27 Oct 2020 21:08:03 +0100
From:   Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
To:     Arvind Sankar <nivedita@alum.mit.edu>
Cc:     x86@kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] x86/build: Fix vmlinux size check on 64-bit
Message-ID: <20201027200803.GL15580@zn.tnic>
References: <20201005151539.2214095-1-nivedita@alum.mit.edu>
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On Mon, Oct 05, 2020 at 11:15:39AM -0400, Arvind Sankar wrote:
> Commit b4e0409a36f4 ("x86: check vmlinux limits, 64-bit") added a check
> that the size of the 64-bit kernel is less than KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE.
> 
> The check uses (_end - _text), but this is not enough. The initial PMD
> used in startup_64() (level2_kernel_pgt) can only map upto
> KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE from __START_KERNEL_map, not from _text.
> 
> The correct check is the same as for 32-bit, since LOAD_OFFSET is
> defined appropriately for the two architectures. Just check
> (_end - LOAD_OFFSET) against KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE unconditionally.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Arvind Sankar <nivedita@alum.mit.edu>
> ---
>  arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S | 11 ++---------
>  1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
> index bf9e0adb5b7e..b38832821b98 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
> +++ b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
> @@ -454,13 +454,12 @@ SECTIONS
>  	ASSERT(SIZEOF(.rela.dyn) == 0, "Unexpected run-time relocations (.rela) detected!")
>  }
>  
> -#ifdef CONFIG_X86_32
>  /*
>   * The ASSERT() sink to . is intentional, for binutils 2.14 compatibility:
>   */
>  . = ASSERT((_end - LOAD_OFFSET <= KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE),
>  	   "kernel image bigger than KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE");
> -#else
> +#ifdef CONFIG_X86_64
>  /*
>   * Per-cpu symbols which need to be offset from __per_cpu_load
>   * for the boot processor.
> @@ -470,18 +469,12 @@ INIT_PER_CPU(gdt_page);
>  INIT_PER_CPU(fixed_percpu_data);
>  INIT_PER_CPU(irq_stack_backing_store);
>  
> -/*
> - * Build-time check on the image size:
> - */
> -. = ASSERT((_end - _text <= KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE),
> -	   "kernel image bigger than KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE");

So we have this:

SECTIONS
{       
#ifdef CONFIG_X86_32
        . = LOAD_OFFSET + LOAD_PHYSICAL_ADDR;
        phys_startup_32 = ABSOLUTE(startup_32 - LOAD_OFFSET);
#else     
        . = __START_KERNEL;
	^^^^^^^^^^

which sets the location counter to

#define __START_KERNEL          (__START_KERNEL_map + __PHYSICAL_START)

which is 	0xffffffff80000000 + ALIGN(CONFIG_PHYSICAL_START, CONFIG_PHYSICAL_ALIGN)

and that second term after the '+' has effect only when
CONFIG_RELOCATABLE=n and that's not really used on modern kernel configs
as RELOCATABLE is selected by EFI_STUB and RANDOMIZE_BASE depends on at
and and ...

So IOW, in a usual .config we have:

__START_KERNEL_map at 0xffffffff80000000
_text		   at 0xffffffff81000000

So practically and for the majority of configs, the kernel image really
does start at _text and not at __START_KERNEL_map and we map 16Mb which
is 4 PMDs of unused pages. So basically you're correcting that here -
that the number tested against KERNEL_IMAGE_SIZE is 16Mb more.

Yes, no?

Or am I missing some more important aspect and this is more than just a
small correctness fixlet?

Thx.

-- 
Regards/Gruss,
    Boris.

https://people.kernel.org/tglx/notes-about-netiquette