Re: çåï[PATCH] perf core: Use KSTK_ESP() instead of pt_regs->sp while output user regs

From: Jan Beulich
Date: Fri Jan 02 2015 - 11:12:07 EST


>>> Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 12/31/14 3:00 AM >>>
>On Tue, Dec 30, 2014 at 3:29 PM, Andy Lutomirski <luto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Given how the x86_64* entry code works, using task_pt_regs from
>> anywhere except explicitly supported contexts (including exceptions
>> that originated in userspace and a small handful of system calls) is
>> asking for trouble. NMI context is especially bad.
>>
>> How important is this feature, and which registers matter? It might
>> be possible to use a dwarf unwinder on the kernel call stack to get
>> most of the regs from most contexts, and it might also be possible to
>> make small changes to the entry code to make it possible to get some
>> of the registers reliably, but it's not currently possible to safely
>> use task_pt_regs *at all* from NMI context unless you've at least
>> blacklisted a handful of origin RIP values that give dangerously bogus
>> results. (Using do_nmi's regs parameter if user_mode_vm(regs) is a
>> different story.)
>
>It's actually worse than just knowing the interrupted kernel RIP. If
>the call chain goes usermode -> IST exception -> NMI, then
>task_pt_regs is entirely uninitialized. Assuming all the CFI
>annotations are correct, the unwinder could still do it from the
>kernel.
>
>Note that, as far as I know, Jan Beulich is the only person who uses
>the unwinder on kernel code. Jan, how do you do this?

Trying to guess what you mean by "this": A stack switch gets expressed by
CFI annotations just like any other frame pointer adjustments. See for example
the CFI_DEF_CFA_REGISTER use in the SAVE_ARGS_IRQ macro.

If that wasn't your question, please be more precise.

Jan

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