linux.git/kernel/trace/trace_probe.h, branch v5.10.258

tracing: Fix race condition in kprobe initialization causing NULL pointer dereference

2025-10-29T13:01:13+00:00

[ Upstream commit 9cf9aa7b0acfde7545c1a1d912576e9bab28dc6f ]

There is a critical race condition in kprobe initialization that can lead to
NULL pointer dereference and kernel crash.

[1135630.084782] Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 0000710a04630000
...
[1135630.260314] pstate: 404003c9 (nZcv DAIF +PAN -UAO)
[1135630.269239] pc : kprobe_perf_func+0x30/0x260
[1135630.277643] lr : kprobe_dispatcher+0x44/0x60
[1135630.286041] sp : ffffaeff4977fa40
[1135630.293441] x29: ffffaeff4977fa40 x28: ffffaf015340e400
[1135630.302837] x27: 0000000000000000 x26: 0000000000000000
[1135630.312257] x25: ffffaf029ed108a8 x24: ffffaf015340e528
[1135630.321705] x23: ffffaeff4977fc50 x22: ffffaeff4977fc50
[1135630.331154] x21: 0000000000000000 x20: ffffaeff4977fc50
[1135630.340586] x19: ffffaf015340e400 x18: 0000000000000000
[1135630.349985] x17: 0000000000000000 x16: 0000000000000000
[1135630.359285] x15: 0000000000000000 x14: 0000000000000000
[1135630.368445] x13: 0000000000000000 x12: 0000000000000000
[1135630.377473] x11: 0000000000000000 x10: 0000000000000000
[1135630.386411] x9 : 0000000000000000 x8 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.395252] x7 : 0000000000000000 x6 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.403963] x5 : 0000000000000000 x4 : 0000000000000000
[1135630.412545] x3 : 0000710a04630000 x2 : 0000000000000006
[1135630.421021] x1 : ffffaeff4977fc50 x0 : 0000710a04630000
[1135630.429410] Call trace:
[1135630.434828]  kprobe_perf_func+0x30/0x260
[1135630.441661]  kprobe_dispatcher+0x44/0x60
[1135630.448396]  aggr_pre_handler+0x70/0xc8
[1135630.454959]  kprobe_breakpoint_handler+0x140/0x1e0
[1135630.462435]  brk_handler+0xbc/0xd8
[1135630.468437]  do_debug_exception+0x84/0x138
[1135630.475074]  el1_dbg+0x18/0x8c
[1135630.480582]  security_file_permission+0x0/0xd0
[1135630.487426]  vfs_write+0x70/0x1c0
[1135630.493059]  ksys_write+0x5c/0xc8
[1135630.498638]  __arm64_sys_write+0x24/0x30
[1135630.504821]  el0_svc_common+0x78/0x130
[1135630.510838]  el0_svc_handler+0x38/0x78
[1135630.516834]  el0_svc+0x8/0x1b0

kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c: 1308
0xffff3df8995039ec :     ldr     x21, [x24,#120]
include/linux/compiler.h: 294
0xffff3df8995039f0 :     ldr     x1, [x21,x0]

kernel/trace/trace_kprobe.c
1308: head = this_cpu_ptr(call->perf_events);
1309: if (hlist_empty(head))
1310: 	return 0;

crash> struct trace_event_call -o
struct trace_event_call {
  ...
  [120] struct hlist_head *perf_events;  //(call->perf_event)
  ...
}

crash> struct trace_event_call ffffaf015340e528
struct trace_event_call {
  ...
  perf_events = 0xffff0ad5fa89f088, //this value is correct, but x21 = 0
  ...
}

Race Condition Analysis:

The race occurs between kprobe activation and perf_events initialization:

  CPU0                                    CPU1
  ====                                    ====
  perf_kprobe_init
    perf_trace_event_init
      tp_event->perf_events = list;(1)
      tp_event->class->reg (2)← KPROBE ACTIVE
                                          Debug exception triggers
                                          ...
                                          kprobe_dispatcher
                                            kprobe_perf_func (tk->tp.flags & TP_FLAG_PROFILE)
                                              head = this_cpu_ptr(call->perf_events)(3)
                                              (perf_events is still NULL)

Problem:
1. CPU0 executes (1) assigning tp_event->perf_events = list
2. CPU0 executes (2) enabling kprobe functionality via class->reg()
3. CPU1 triggers and reaches kprobe_dispatcher
4. CPU1 checks TP_FLAG_PROFILE - condition passes (step 2 completed)
5. CPU1 calls kprobe_perf_func() and crashes at (3) because
   call->perf_events is still NULL

CPU1 sees that kprobe functionality is enabled but does not see that
perf_events has been assigned.

Add pairing read and write memory barriers to guarantee that if CPU1
sees that kprobe functionality is enabled, it must also see that
perf_events has been assigned.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20251001022025.44626-1-chenyuan_fl@163.com/

Fixes: 50d780560785 ("tracing/kprobes: Add probe handler dispatcher to support perf and ftrace concurrent use")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Yuan Chen 
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
[ Dropped ftrace changes + context ]
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin 
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman

tracing/kprobes: Return EADDRNOTAVAIL when func matches several symbols

2024-10-17T13:08:29+00:00

commit b022f0c7e404887a7c5229788fc99eff9f9a80d5 upstream.

When a kprobe is attached to a function that's name is not unique (is
static and shares the name with other functions in the kernel), the
kprobe is attached to the first function it finds. This is a bug as the
function that it is attaching to is not necessarily the one that the
user wants to attach to.

Instead of blindly picking a function to attach to what is ambiguous,
error with EADDRNOTAVAIL to let the user know that this function is not
unique, and that the user must use another unique function with an
address offset to get to the function they want to attach to.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20231020104250.9537-2-flaniel@linux.microsoft.com/

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 413d37d1eb69 ("tracing: Add kprobe-based event tracer")
Suggested-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Francis Laniel 
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20230819101105.b0c104ae4494a7d1f2eea742@kernel.org/
Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman 
[Sherry: 5.10.y added a new kselftest kprobe_non_uniq_symbol.tc by
backporting commit 09bcf9254838 ("selftests/ftrace: Add new test case which
checks non unique symbol"). However, 5.10.y didn't backport this commit which
provides unique symbol check suppport from kernel side. Minor conflicts due to
context change, ignore context change]
Signed-off-by: Sherry Yang 
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

tracing/probe: trace_probe_primary_from_call(): checked list_first_entry

2023-06-09T08:30:16+00:00

commit 81d0fa4cb4fc0e1a49c2b22f92c43d9fe972ebcf upstream.

All callers of trace_probe_primary_from_call() check the return
value to be non NULL. However, the function returns
list_first_entry(&tpe->probes, ...) which can never be NULL.
Additionally, it does not check for the list being possibly empty,
possibly causing a type confusion on empty lists.
Use list_first_entry_or_null() which solves both problems.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-trace-kernel/20230128-list-entry-null-check-v1-1-8bde6a3da2ef@diag.uniroma1.it/

Fixes: 60d53e2c3b75 ("tracing/probe: Split trace_event related data from trace_probe")
Signed-off-by: Pietro Borrello 
Reviewed-by: Steven Rostedt (Google) 
Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
Acked-by: Mukesh Ojha 
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu (Google) 
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman

tracing/probes: Reject events which have the same name of existing one

2021-09-22T10:28:00+00:00

[ Upstream commit 8e242060c6a4947e8ae7d29794af6a581db08841 ]

Since kprobe_events and uprobe_events only check whether the
other same-type probe event has the same name or not, if the
user gives the same name of the existing tracepoint event (or
the other type of probe events), it silently fails to create
the tracefs entry (but registered.) as below.

/sys/kernel/tracing # ls events/task/task_rename
enable   filter   format   hist     id       trigger
/sys/kernel/tracing # echo p:task/task_rename vfs_read >> kprobe_events
[  113.048508] Could not create tracefs 'task_rename' directory
/sys/kernel/tracing # cat kprobe_events
p:task/task_rename vfs_read

To fix this issue, check whether the existing events have the
same name or not in trace_probe_register_event_call(). If exists,
it rejects to register the new event.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/162936876189.187130.17558311387542061930.stgit@devnote2

Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware) 
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin

tracing: Move is_good_name() from trace_probe.h to trace.h

2020-10-15T16:01:13+00:00

is_good_name() is useful for other trace infrastructure, such as
synthetic events, so make it available via trace.h.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/cc6d6a2d7da6957fcbe1e2922e76d18d2bb459b4.1602598160.git.zanussi@kernel.org

Acked-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Tested-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Tom Zanussi 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing/kprobes: Support perf-style return probe

2020-09-22T01:06:03+00:00

Support perf-style return probe ("SYMBOL%return") for kprobe events.
This will allow boot-time tracing user to define a return probe event.

Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/159972813535.428528.4437029657208468954.stgit@devnote2

Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing/probe: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

2020-06-16T04:08:32+00:00

There is a regular need in the kernel to provide a way to declare having a
dynamically sized set of trailing elements in a structure. Kernel code should
always use “flexible array members”[1] for these cases. The older style of
one-element or zero-length arrays should no longer be used[2].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_array_member
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva

tracing/uprobe: Fix to make trace_uprobe_filter alignment safe

2020-01-22T12:09:20+00:00

Commit 99c9a923e97a ("tracing/uprobe: Fix double perf_event
linking on multiprobe uprobe") moved trace_uprobe_filter on
trace_probe_event. However, since it introduced a flexible
data structure with char array and type casting, the
alignment of trace_uprobe_filter can be broken.

This changes the type of the array to trace_uprobe_filter
data strucure to fix it.

Link: http://lore.kernel.org/r/20200120124022.GA14897@hirez.programming.kicks-ass.net
Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/157966340499.5107.10978352478952144902.stgit@devnote2

Fixes: 99c9a923e97a ("tracing/uprobe: Fix double perf_event linking on multiprobe uprobe")
Suggested-by: Peter Zijlstra 
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing/uprobe: Fix double perf_event linking on multiprobe uprobe

2020-01-14T20:57:59+00:00

Fix double perf_event linking to trace_uprobe_filter on
multiple uprobe event by moving trace_uprobe_filter under
trace_probe_event.

In uprobe perf event, trace_uprobe_filter data structure is
managing target mm filters (in perf_event) related to each
uprobe event.

Since commit 60d53e2c3b75 ("tracing/probe: Split trace_event
related data from trace_probe") left the trace_uprobe_filter
data structure in trace_uprobe, if a trace_probe_event has
multiple trace_uprobe (multi-probe event), a perf_event is
added to different trace_uprobe_filter on each trace_uprobe.
This leads a linked list corruption.

To fix this issue, move trace_uprobe_filter to trace_probe_event
and link it once on each event instead of each probe.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/157862073931.1800.3800576241181489174.stgit@devnote2

Cc: Jiri Olsa 
Cc: Peter Zijlstra 
Cc: Ingo Molnar 
Cc: "Naveen N . Rao" 
Cc: Anil S Keshavamurthy 
Cc: "David S . Miller" 
Cc: Namhyung Kim 
Cc: =?utf-8?q?Toke_H=C3=B8iland-J?= =?utf-8?b?w7hyZ2Vuc2Vu?= 
Cc: Jean-Tsung Hsiao 
Cc: Jesper Dangaard Brouer 
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Fixes: 60d53e2c3b75 ("tracing/probe: Split trace_event related data from trace_probe")
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20200108171611.GA8472@kernel.org
Reported-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo 
Tested-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo 
Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)

tracing/probe: Reject exactly same probe event

2019-09-19T15:09:16+00:00

Reject exactly same probe events as existing probes.

Multiprobe allows user to define multiple probes on same
event. If user appends a probe which exactly same definition
(same probe address and same arguments) on existing event,
the event will record same probe information twice.
That can be confusing users, so reject it.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/156879694602.31056.5533024778165036763.stgit@devnote2

Signed-off-by: Masami Hiramatsu 
Signed-off-by: Steven Rostedt (VMware)