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Alexei Starovoitov 449325b52b umh: introduce fork_usermode_blob() helper
Introduce helper:
int fork_usermode_blob(void *data, size_t len, struct umh_info *info);
struct umh_info {
       struct file *pipe_to_umh;
       struct file *pipe_from_umh;
       pid_t pid;
};

that GPLed kernel modules (signed or unsigned) can use it to execute part
of its own data as swappable user mode process.

The kernel will do:
- allocate a unique file in tmpfs
- populate that file with [data, data + len] bytes
- user-mode-helper code will do_execve that file and, before the process
  starts, the kernel will create two unix pipes for bidirectional
  communication between kernel module and umh
- close tmpfs file, effectively deleting it
- the fork_usermode_blob will return zero on success and populate
  'struct umh_info' with two unix pipes and the pid of the user process

As the first step in the development of the bpfilter project
the fork_usermode_blob() helper is introduced to allow user mode code
to be invoked from a kernel module. The idea is that user mode code plus
normal kernel module code are built as part of the kernel build
and installed as traditional kernel module into distro specified location,
such that from a distribution point of view, there is
no difference between regular kernel modules and kernel modules + umh code.
Such modules can be signed, modprobed, rmmod, etc. The use of this new helper
by a kernel module doesn't make it any special from kernel and user space
tooling point of view.

Such approach enables kernel to delegate functionality traditionally done
by the kernel modules into the user space processes (either root or !root) and
reduces security attack surface of the new code. The buggy umh code would crash
the user process, but not the kernel. Another advantage is that umh code
of the kernel module can be debugged and tested out of user space
(e.g. opening the possibility to run clang sanitizers, fuzzers or
user space test suites on the umh code).
In case of the bpfilter project such architecture allows complex control plane
to be done in the user space while bpf based data plane stays in the kernel.

Since umh can crash, can be oom-ed by the kernel, killed by the admin,
the kernel module that uses them (like bpfilter) needs to manage life
time of umh on its own via two unix pipes and the pid of umh.

The exit code of such kernel module should kill the umh it started,
so that rmmod of the kernel module will cleanup the corresponding umh.
Just like if the kernel module does kmalloc() it should kfree() it
in the exit code.

Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
2018-05-23 13:23:39 -04:00
arch Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
block
certs
crypto
Documentation Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
drivers qedi: Add get_generic_tlv_data handler. 2018-05-22 23:29:54 -04:00
firmware
fs umh: introduce fork_usermode_blob() helper 2018-05-23 13:23:39 -04:00
include umh: introduce fork_usermode_blob() helper 2018-05-23 13:23:39 -04:00
init Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
ipc
kernel umh: introduce fork_usermode_blob() helper 2018-05-23 13:23:39 -04:00
lib Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
LICENSES
mm mmap: relax file size limit for regular files 2018-05-19 09:29:11 -07:00
net tcp: do not aggressively quick ack after ECN events 2018-05-22 15:43:15 -04:00
samples Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
scripts Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
security Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
sound ALSA: usb-audio: Use Class Specific EP for UAC3 devices. 2018-05-15 07:29:10 +02:00
tools selftests: fib_tests: Add ipv4 route add append replace tests 2018-05-22 14:44:19 -04:00
usr
virt KVM: arm/arm64: VGIC/ITS save/restore: protect kvm_read_guest() calls 2018-05-15 13:36:53 +02:00
.clang-format
.cocciconfig
.get_maintainer.ignore
.gitattributes
.gitignore
.mailmap
COPYING
CREDITS
Kbuild
Kconfig
MAINTAINERS Merge git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/davem/net 2018-05-21 16:01:54 -04:00
Makefile Linux 4.17-rc6 2018-05-20 15:31:38 -07:00
README

Linux kernel
============

There are several guides for kernel developers and users. These guides can
be rendered in a number of formats, like HTML and PDF. Please read
Documentation/admin-guide/README.rst first.

In order to build the documentation, use ``make htmldocs`` or
``make pdfdocs``.  The formatted documentation can also be read online at:

    https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/

There are various text files in the Documentation/ subdirectory,
several of them using the Restructured Text markup notation.
See Documentation/00-INDEX for a list of what is contained in each file.

Please read the Documentation/process/changes.rst file, as it contains the
requirements for building and running the kernel, and information about
the problems which may result by upgrading your kernel.