Re: [Xen-devel] Q:pt_base in COMPAT mode offset by two pages.Was:Re: [PATCH 02/11] xen/x86: Use memblock_reserve for sensitive areas.

From: Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
Date: Wed Aug 22 2012 - 15:05:24 EST


On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 04:59:11PM +0100, Jan Beulich wrote:
> >>> On 21.08.12 at 21:03, Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 21, 2012 at 01:27:32PM -0400, Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk wrote:
> >> On Mon, Aug 20, 2012 at 10:13:05AM -0400, Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk wrote:
> >> > On Fri, Aug 17, 2012 at 06:35:12PM +0100, Stefano Stabellini wrote:
> >> > > On Thu, 16 Aug 2012, Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk wrote:
> >> > > > instead of a big memblock_reserve. This way we can be more
> >> > > > selective in freeing regions (and it also makes it easier
> >> > > > to understand where is what).
> >> > > >
> >> > > > [v1: Move the auto_translate_physmap to proper line]
> >> > > > [v2: Per Stefano suggestion add more comments]
> >> > > > Signed-off-by: Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk <konrad.wilk@xxxxxxxxxx>
> >> > >
> >> > > much better now!
> >> >
> >> > Thought interestingly enough it breaks 32-bit dom0s (and only dom0s).
> >> > Will have a revised patch posted shortly.
> >>
> >> Jan, I thought something odd. Part of this code replaces this:
> >>
> >> memblock_reserve(__pa(xen_start_info->mfn_list),
> >> xen_start_info->pt_base - xen_start_info->mfn_list);
> >>
> >> with a more region-by-region area. What I found out that if I boot this
> >> as 32-bit guest with a 64-bit hypervisor the xen_start_info->pt_base is
> >> actually wrong.
> >>
> >> Specifically this is what bootup says:
> >>
> >> (good working case - 32bit hypervisor with 32-bit dom0):
> >> (XEN) Loaded kernel: c1000000->c1a23000
> >> (XEN) Init. ramdisk: c1a23000->cf730e00
> >> (XEN) Phys-Mach map: cf731000->cf831000
> >> (XEN) Start info: cf831000->cf83147c
> >> (XEN) Page tables: cf832000->cf8b5000
> >> (XEN) Boot stack: cf8b5000->cf8b6000
> >> (XEN) TOTAL: c0000000->cfc00000
> >>
> >> [ 0.000000] PT: cf832000 (f832000)
> >> [ 0.000000] Reserving PT: f832000->f8b5000
> >>
> >> And with a 64-bit hypervisor:
> >>
> >> XEN) VIRTUAL MEMORY ARRANGEMENT:
> >> (XEN) Loaded kernel: 00000000c1000000->00000000c1a23000
> >> (XEN) Init. ramdisk: 00000000c1a23000->00000000cf730e00
> >> (XEN) Phys-Mach map: 00000000cf731000->00000000cf831000
> >> (XEN) Start info: 00000000cf831000->00000000cf8314b4
> >> (XEN) Page tables: 00000000cf832000->00000000cf8b6000
> >> (XEN) Boot stack: 00000000cf8b6000->00000000cf8b7000
> >> (XEN) TOTAL: 00000000c0000000->00000000cfc00000
> >> (XEN) ENTRY ADDRESS: 00000000c16bb22c
> >>
> >> [ 0.000000] PT: cf834000 (f834000)
> >> [ 0.000000] Reserving PT: f834000->f8b8000
> >>
> >> So the pt_base is offset by two pages. And looking at c/s 13257
> >> its not clear to me why this two page offset was added?
>
> Actually, the adjustment turns out to be correct: The page
> tables for a 32-on-64 dom0 get allocated in the order "first L1",
> "first L2", "first L3", so the offset to the page table base is
> indeed 2. When reading xen/include/public/xen.h's comment
> very strictly, this is not a violation (since there nothing is said
> that the first thing in the page table space is pointed to by
> pt_base; I admit that this seems to be implied though, namely
> do I think that it is implied that the page table space is the
> range [pt_base, pt_base + nt_pt_frames), whereas that
> range here indeed is [pt_base - 2, pt_base - 2 + nt_pt_frames),
> which - without a priori knowledge - the kernel would have
> difficulty to figure out).
>
> Below is a debugging patch I used to see the full picture, if you
> want to double check.

Thinking of just sticking this patch then: