summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/arm64
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/arm64')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/arm64/index.rst1
-rw-r--r--Documentation/arm64/tagged-address-abi.rst156
-rw-r--r--Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst21
3 files changed, 171 insertions, 7 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/arm64/index.rst b/Documentation/arm64/index.rst
index 96b696ba4e6c..5c0c69dc58aa 100644
--- a/Documentation/arm64/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/arm64/index.rst
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ ARM64 Architecture
pointer-authentication
silicon-errata
sve
+ tagged-address-abi
tagged-pointers
.. only:: subproject and html
diff --git a/Documentation/arm64/tagged-address-abi.rst b/Documentation/arm64/tagged-address-abi.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..d4a85d535bf9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/arm64/tagged-address-abi.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,156 @@
+==========================
+AArch64 TAGGED ADDRESS ABI
+==========================
+
+Authors: Vincenzo Frascino <vincenzo.frascino@arm.com>
+ Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
+
+Date: 21 August 2019
+
+This document describes the usage and semantics of the Tagged Address
+ABI on AArch64 Linux.
+
+1. Introduction
+---------------
+
+On AArch64 the ``TCR_EL1.TBI0`` bit is set by default, allowing
+userspace (EL0) to perform memory accesses through 64-bit pointers with
+a non-zero top byte. This document describes the relaxation of the
+syscall ABI that allows userspace to pass certain tagged pointers to
+kernel syscalls.
+
+2. AArch64 Tagged Address ABI
+-----------------------------
+
+From the kernel syscall interface perspective and for the purposes of
+this document, a "valid tagged pointer" is a pointer with a potentially
+non-zero top-byte that references an address in the user process address
+space obtained in one of the following ways:
+
+- ``mmap()`` syscall where either:
+
+ - flags have the ``MAP_ANONYMOUS`` bit set or
+ - the file descriptor refers to a regular file (including those
+ returned by ``memfd_create()``) or ``/dev/zero``
+
+- ``brk()`` syscall (i.e. the heap area between the initial location of
+ the program break at process creation and its current location).
+
+- any memory mapped by the kernel in the address space of the process
+ during creation and with the same restrictions as for ``mmap()`` above
+ (e.g. data, bss, stack).
+
+The AArch64 Tagged Address ABI has two stages of relaxation depending
+how the user addresses are used by the kernel:
+
+1. User addresses not accessed by the kernel but used for address space
+ management (e.g. ``mmap()``, ``mprotect()``, ``madvise()``). The use
+ of valid tagged pointers in this context is always allowed.
+
+2. User addresses accessed by the kernel (e.g. ``write()``). This ABI
+ relaxation is disabled by default and the application thread needs to
+ explicitly enable it via ``prctl()`` as follows:
+
+ - ``PR_SET_TAGGED_ADDR_CTRL``: enable or disable the AArch64 Tagged
+ Address ABI for the calling thread.
+
+ The ``(unsigned int) arg2`` argument is a bit mask describing the
+ control mode used:
+
+ - ``PR_TAGGED_ADDR_ENABLE``: enable AArch64 Tagged Address ABI.
+ Default status is disabled.
+
+ Arguments ``arg3``, ``arg4``, and ``arg5`` must be 0.
+
+ - ``PR_GET_TAGGED_ADDR_CTRL``: get the status of the AArch64 Tagged
+ Address ABI for the calling thread.
+
+ Arguments ``arg2``, ``arg3``, ``arg4``, and ``arg5`` must be 0.
+
+ The ABI properties described above are thread-scoped, inherited on
+ clone() and fork() and cleared on exec().
+
+ Calling ``prctl(PR_SET_TAGGED_ADDR_CTRL, PR_TAGGED_ADDR_ENABLE, 0, 0, 0)``
+ returns ``-EINVAL`` if the AArch64 Tagged Address ABI is globally
+ disabled by ``sysctl abi.tagged_addr_disabled=1``. The default
+ ``sysctl abi.tagged_addr_disabled`` configuration is 0.
+
+When the AArch64 Tagged Address ABI is enabled for a thread, the
+following behaviours are guaranteed:
+
+- All syscalls except the cases mentioned in section 3 can accept any
+ valid tagged pointer.
+
+- The syscall behaviour is undefined for invalid tagged pointers: it may
+ result in an error code being returned, a (fatal) signal being raised,
+ or other modes of failure.
+
+- The syscall behaviour for a valid tagged pointer is the same as for
+ the corresponding untagged pointer.
+
+
+A definition of the meaning of tagged pointers on AArch64 can be found
+in Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst.
+
+3. AArch64 Tagged Address ABI Exceptions
+-----------------------------------------
+
+The following system call parameters must be untagged regardless of the
+ABI relaxation:
+
+- ``prctl()`` other than pointers to user data either passed directly or
+ indirectly as arguments to be accessed by the kernel.
+
+- ``ioctl()`` other than pointers to user data either passed directly or
+ indirectly as arguments to be accessed by the kernel.
+
+- ``shmat()`` and ``shmdt()``.
+
+Any attempt to use non-zero tagged pointers may result in an error code
+being returned, a (fatal) signal being raised, or other modes of
+failure.
+
+4. Example of correct usage
+---------------------------
+.. code-block:: c
+
+ #include <stdlib.h>
+ #include <string.h>
+ #include <unistd.h>
+ #include <sys/mman.h>
+ #include <sys/prctl.h>
+
+ #define PR_SET_TAGGED_ADDR_CTRL 55
+ #define PR_TAGGED_ADDR_ENABLE (1UL << 0)
+
+ #define TAG_SHIFT 56
+
+ int main(void)
+ {
+ int tbi_enabled = 0;
+ unsigned long tag = 0;
+ char *ptr;
+
+ /* check/enable the tagged address ABI */
+ if (!prctl(PR_SET_TAGGED_ADDR_CTRL, PR_TAGGED_ADDR_ENABLE, 0, 0, 0))
+ tbi_enabled = 1;
+
+ /* memory allocation */
+ ptr = mmap(NULL, sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE), PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+ MAP_PRIVATE | MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0);
+ if (ptr == MAP_FAILED)
+ return 1;
+
+ /* set a non-zero tag if the ABI is available */
+ if (tbi_enabled)
+ tag = rand() & 0xff;
+ ptr = (char *)((unsigned long)ptr | (tag << TAG_SHIFT));
+
+ /* memory access to a tagged address */
+ strcpy(ptr, "tagged pointer\n");
+
+ /* syscall with a tagged pointer */
+ write(1, ptr, strlen(ptr));
+
+ return 0;
+ }
diff --git a/Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst b/Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst
index 2acdec3ebbeb..eab4323609b9 100644
--- a/Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst
+++ b/Documentation/arm64/tagged-pointers.rst
@@ -20,7 +20,9 @@ Passing tagged addresses to the kernel
--------------------------------------
All interpretation of userspace memory addresses by the kernel assumes
-an address tag of 0x00.
+an address tag of 0x00, unless the application enables the AArch64
+Tagged Address ABI explicitly
+(Documentation/arm64/tagged-address-abi.rst).
This includes, but is not limited to, addresses found in:
@@ -33,13 +35,15 @@ This includes, but is not limited to, addresses found in:
- the frame pointer (x29) and frame records, e.g. when interpreting
them to generate a backtrace or call graph.
-Using non-zero address tags in any of these locations may result in an
-error code being returned, a (fatal) signal being raised, or other modes
-of failure.
+Using non-zero address tags in any of these locations when the
+userspace application did not enable the AArch64 Tagged Address ABI may
+result in an error code being returned, a (fatal) signal being raised,
+or other modes of failure.
-For these reasons, passing non-zero address tags to the kernel via
-system calls is forbidden, and using a non-zero address tag for sp is
-strongly discouraged.
+For these reasons, when the AArch64 Tagged Address ABI is disabled,
+passing non-zero address tags to the kernel via system calls is
+forbidden, and using a non-zero address tag for sp is strongly
+discouraged.
Programs maintaining a frame pointer and frame records that use non-zero
address tags may suffer impaired or inaccurate debug and profiling
@@ -59,6 +63,9 @@ be preserved.
The architecture prevents the use of a tagged PC, so the upper byte will
be set to a sign-extension of bit 55 on exception return.
+This behaviour is maintained when the AArch64 Tagged Address ABI is
+enabled.
+
Other considerations
--------------------