In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: mips: select CONFIG_WEAK_REORDERING_BEYOND_LLSC from CONFIG_EYEQ On I6500 CPU cores, lld and scd give no ordering guarantees (same as all other instructions)

Overview

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

mips: select CONFIG_WEAK_REORDERING_BEYOND_LLSC from CONFIG_EYEQ

On I6500 CPU cores, lld and scd give no ordering guarantees (same as all other instructions). To respect the assumption that arch_cmpxchg() is fully ordered, we must inject sync instructions above and below our lld/scd loops using the already in place WEAK_REORDERING_BEYOND_LLSC infrastructure.

Otherwise, bad things can happen:

[ 34.054496] CPU 3 Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000000000000000, epc == a80000080838e01c, ra == a80000080838dfc4 [ 34.054559] Oops[#1]: [ 34.069561] CPU: 3 UID: 0 PID: 170 Comm: pipe_race Not tainted 7.2.0-rc6-01553-gb73c35220968-dirty #103 VOLUNTARY [ 34.079932] Hardware name: Mobile EyeQ5 MP5 Evaluation board [ 34.085592] $ 0 : 0000000000000000 0000000000000001 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 [ 34.093616] $ 4 : a800000808ee2618 000000000b7a879d 0000000000001000 0000000000000000 [ 34.101638] $ 8 : 0000000000e3f2c9 0000000000000000 a800000808a2a9f8 0000000000000000 [ 34.109660] $12 : a8000008139ffcd8 ffffffff84080018 a80000080837fae0 7878787878787878 [ 34.117682] $16 : a800000807e82940 0000000000001000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 [ 34.125704] $20 : a800000802920e00 a8000008139ffdf8 a800000802649400 0000000000e3f2c9 [ 34.133726] $24 : 0000000000000006 00000001200406e0 [ 34.141783] $28 : a8000008139fc000 a8000008139ffd10 0000000000e3f2c8 a80000080838dfc4 [ 34.149837] epc : a80000080838e01c anon_pipe_read+0xd4/0x428 [ 34.155697] ra : a80000080838dfc4 anon_pipe_read+0x7c/0x428 [ 34.161549] Status: 140000e3 KX SX UX KERNEL EXL IE [ 34.166551] Cause : 40800408 (ExcCode 02) [ 34.170574] BadVA : 0000000000000000 [ 34.174161] PrId : 0001b028 (MIPS I6500) [ 34.178183] Process pipe_race (pid: 170, threadinfo=000000005ca35720, task=00000000e1013890, tls=000000014ebbb780) [ 34.188568] Stack : a800000802649400 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 a8000008139ffdd0 [ 34.196623] 0000000000000fba a800000808ee0000 0000000000000001 a8000008130c3e80 [ 34.204676] a8000008080d1280 a8000008139ffd58 a8000008139ffd58 1dbd2b22ea1dd500 [ 34.212729] a800000802649400 a800000808ee0000 ffffffffffffffea 0000000000000001 [ 34.220783] 0000000000001000 0000000000000000 00000001200ae518 ffffffffffffffff [ 34.228836] 000000fffbe0e530 a80000080837edf4 000000fffbe0e530 0000000000000000 [ 34.236890] 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 000000014ebb55a0 0000000000001000 [ 34.244943] 0000000000000001 a800000802649400 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 [ 34.252996] 0000000000000000 0000400400000000 0000000000000000 1dbd2b22ea1dd500 [ 34.261049] 00000000140000e3 a800000802649400 a800000802649400 a800000808ee0000 [ 34.269103] ... [ 34.271568] Call Trace: [ 34.274026] [<a80000080838e01c>] anon_pipe_read+0xd4/0x428 [ 34.279533] [<a80000080837edf4>] vfs_read+0x25c/0x318 [ 34.284607] [<a80000080837faac>] ksys_read+0x104/0x138 [ 34.289763] [<a80000080802b9cc>] syscall_common+0x44/0x68 [ 34.295187] [ 34.296689] Code: f84000cf 02209825 de020010 <dc420000> d8400004 02002825 0040f809 02802025 f84000c3 [ 34.306504] [ 34.308099] ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

My initial reproducer was the xdp-tools test suite. A standalone reproducer would be an lld/scd loop that, when the read is reordered by the CPU, triggers a fault. We can achieve this from userspace by stressing an anonymous pipe, which uses a mutex. Program used:

// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
// pipe_race.c - reproducer for MIPS LL/SC reordering vs fs/pipe.c
//
// Two userspace processes on an anonymous pipe:
//   parent  = writer: tight write() loop
//   child   = reader: tight read() loop

#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <assert.h>
#include <errno.h>
#include <sched.h>
#include <signal.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include

---truncated---

Remediation

Refer to the linked advisories for vendor-supplied fixes and affected version ranges.