Files
linux/tools/include/uapi
KP Singh 3492715683 bpf: Implement signature verification for BPF programs
This patch extends the BPF_PROG_LOAD command by adding three new fields
to `union bpf_attr` in the user-space API:

  - signature: A pointer to the signature blob.
  - signature_size: The size of the signature blob.
  - keyring_id: The serial number of a loaded kernel keyring (e.g.,
    the user or session keyring) containing the trusted public keys.

When a BPF program is loaded with a signature, the kernel:

1.  Retrieves the trusted keyring using the provided `keyring_id`.
2.  Verifies the supplied signature against the BPF program's
    instruction buffer.
3.  If the signature is valid and was generated by a key in the trusted
    keyring, the program load proceeds.
4.  If no signature is provided, the load proceeds as before, allowing
    for backward compatibility. LSMs can chose to restrict unsigned
    programs and implement a security policy.
5.  If signature verification fails for any reason,
    the program is not loaded.

Tested-by: syzbot@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Signed-off-by: KP Singh <kpsingh@kernel.org>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250921160120.9711-2-kpsingh@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
2025-09-22 18:58:03 -07:00
..

Why we want a copy of kernel headers in tools?
==============================================

There used to be no copies, with tools/ code using kernel headers
directly. From time to time tools/perf/ broke due to legitimate kernel
hacking. At some point Linus complained about such direct usage. Then we
adopted the current model.

The way these headers are used in perf are not restricted to just
including them to compile something.

There are sometimes used in scripts that convert defines into string
tables, etc, so some change may break one of these scripts, or new MSRs
may use some different #define pattern, etc.

E.g.:

  $ ls -1 tools/perf/trace/beauty/*.sh | head -5
  tools/perf/trace/beauty/arch_errno_names.sh
  tools/perf/trace/beauty/drm_ioctl.sh
  tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh
  tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsconfig.sh
  tools/perf/trace/beauty/fsmount.sh
  $
  $ tools/perf/trace/beauty/fadvise.sh
  static const char *fadvise_advices[] = {
        [0] = "NORMAL",
        [1] = "RANDOM",
        [2] = "SEQUENTIAL",
        [3] = "WILLNEED",
        [4] = "DONTNEED",
        [5] = "NOREUSE",
  };
  $

The tools/perf/check-headers.sh script, part of the tools/ build
process, points out changes in the original files.

So its important not to touch the copies in tools/ when doing changes in
the original kernel headers, that will be done later, when
check-headers.sh inform about the change to the perf tools hackers.

Another explanation from Ingo Molnar:
It's better than all the alternatives we tried so far:

 - Symbolic links and direct #includes: this was the original approach but
   was pushed back on from the kernel side, when tooling modified the
   headers and broke them accidentally for kernel builds.

 - Duplicate self-defined ABI headers like glibc: double the maintenance
   burden, double the chance for mistakes, plus there's no tech-driven
   notification mechanism to look at new kernel side changes.

What we are doing now is a third option:

 - A software-enforced copy-on-write mechanism of kernel headers to
   tooling, driven by non-fatal warnings on the tooling side build when
   kernel headers get modified:

    Warning: Kernel ABI header differences:
      diff -u tools/include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h include/uapi/drm/i915_drm.h
      diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/fs.h include/uapi/linux/fs.h
      diff -u tools/include/uapi/linux/kvm.h include/uapi/linux/kvm.h
      ...

   The tooling policy is to always pick up the kernel side headers as-is,
   and integate them into the tooling build. The warnings above serve as a
   notification to tooling maintainers that there's changes on the kernel
   side.

We've been using this for many years now, and it might seem hacky, but
works surprisingly well.