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1Linux Socket Filtering aka Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF)
2=======================================================
3
4Introduction
5------------
6
7Linux Socket Filtering (LSF) is derived from the Berkeley Packet Filter.
8Though there are some distinct differences between the BSD and Linux
9Kernel filtering, but when we speak of BPF or LSF in Linux context, we
10mean the very same mechanism of filtering in the Linux kernel.
11
12BPF allows a user-space program to attach a filter onto any socket and
13allow or disallow certain types of data to come through the socket. LSF
14follows exactly the same filter code structure as BSD's BPF, so referring
15to the BSD bpf.4 manpage is very helpful in creating filters.
16
17On Linux, BPF is much simpler than on BSD. One does not have to worry
18about devices or anything like that. You simply create your filter code,
19send it to the kernel via the SO_ATTACH_FILTER option and if your filter
20code passes the kernel check on it, you then immediately begin filtering
21data on that socket.
22
23You can also detach filters from your socket via the SO_DETACH_FILTER
24option. This will probably not be used much since when you close a socket
25that has a filter on it the filter is automagically removed. The other
26less common case may be adding a different filter on the same socket where
27you had another filter that is still running: the kernel takes care of
28removing the old one and placing your new one in its place, assuming your
29filter has passed the checks, otherwise if it fails the old filter will
30remain on that socket.
31
32SO_LOCK_FILTER option allows to lock the filter attached to a socket. Once
33set, a filter cannot be removed or changed. This allows one process to
34setup a socket, attach a filter, lock it then drop privileges and be
35assured that the filter will be kept until the socket is closed.
36
37The biggest user of this construct might be libpcap. Issuing a high-level
38filter command like `tcpdump -i em1 port 22` passes through the libpcap
39internal compiler that generates a structure that can eventually be loaded
40via SO_ATTACH_FILTER to the kernel. `tcpdump -i em1 port 22 -ddd`
41displays what is being placed into this structure.
42
43Although we were only speaking about sockets here, BPF in Linux is used
44in many more places. There's xt_bpf for netfilter, cls_bpf in the kernel
45qdisc layer, SECCOMP-BPF (SECure COMPuting [1]), and lots of other places
46such as team driver, PTP code, etc where BPF is being used.
47
48 [1] Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst
49
50Original BPF paper:
51
52Steven McCanne and Van Jacobson. 1993. The BSD packet filter: a new
53architecture for user-level packet capture. In Proceedings of the
54USENIX Winter 1993 Conference Proceedings on USENIX Winter 1993
55Conference Proceedings (USENIX'93). USENIX Association, Berkeley,
56CA, USA, 2-2. [http://www.tcpdump.org/papers/bpf-usenix93.pdf]
57
58Structure
59---------
60
61User space applications include <linux/filter.h> which contains the
62following relevant structures:
63
64struct sock_filter {	/* Filter block */
65	__u16	code;   /* Actual filter code */
66	__u8	jt;	/* Jump true */
67	__u8	jf;	/* Jump false */
68	__u32	k;      /* Generic multiuse field */
69};
70
71Such a structure is assembled as an array of 4-tuples, that contains
72a code, jt, jf and k value. jt and jf are jump offsets and k a generic
73value to be used for a provided code.
74
75struct sock_fprog {			/* Required for SO_ATTACH_FILTER. */
76	unsigned short		   len;	/* Number of filter blocks */
77	struct sock_filter __user *filter;
78};
79
80For socket filtering, a pointer to this structure (as shown in
81follow-up example) is being passed to the kernel through setsockopt(2).
82
83Example
84-------
85
86#include <sys/socket.h>
87#include <sys/types.h>
88#include <arpa/inet.h>
89#include <linux/if_ether.h>
90/* ... */
91
92/* From the example above: tcpdump -i em1 port 22 -dd */
93struct sock_filter code[] = {
94	{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x0000000c },
95	{ 0x15,  0,  8, 0x000086dd },
96	{ 0x30,  0,  0, 0x00000014 },
97	{ 0x15,  2,  0, 0x00000084 },
98	{ 0x15,  1,  0, 0x00000006 },
99	{ 0x15,  0, 17, 0x00000011 },
100	{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x00000036 },
101	{ 0x15, 14,  0, 0x00000016 },
102	{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x00000038 },
103	{ 0x15, 12, 13, 0x00000016 },
104	{ 0x15,  0, 12, 0x00000800 },
105	{ 0x30,  0,  0, 0x00000017 },
106	{ 0x15,  2,  0, 0x00000084 },
107	{ 0x15,  1,  0, 0x00000006 },
108	{ 0x15,  0,  8, 0x00000011 },
109	{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x00000014 },
110	{ 0x45,  6,  0, 0x00001fff },
111	{ 0xb1,  0,  0, 0x0000000e },
112	{ 0x48,  0,  0, 0x0000000e },
113	{ 0x15,  2,  0, 0x00000016 },
114	{ 0x48,  0,  0, 0x00000010 },
115	{ 0x15,  0,  1, 0x00000016 },
116	{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0x0000ffff },
117	{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0x00000000 },
118};
119
120struct sock_fprog bpf = {
121	.len = ARRAY_SIZE(code),
122	.filter = code,
123};
124
125sock = socket(PF_PACKET, SOCK_RAW, htons(ETH_P_ALL));
126if (sock < 0)
127	/* ... bail out ... */
128
129ret = setsockopt(sock, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ATTACH_FILTER, &bpf, sizeof(bpf));
130if (ret < 0)
131	/* ... bail out ... */
132
133/* ... */
134close(sock);
135
136The above example code attaches a socket filter for a PF_PACKET socket
137in order to let all IPv4/IPv6 packets with port 22 pass. The rest will
138be dropped for this socket.
139
140The setsockopt(2) call to SO_DETACH_FILTER doesn't need any arguments
141and SO_LOCK_FILTER for preventing the filter to be detached, takes an
142integer value with 0 or 1.
143
144Note that socket filters are not restricted to PF_PACKET sockets only,
145but can also be used on other socket families.
146
147Summary of system calls:
148
149 * setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_ATTACH_FILTER, &val, sizeof(val));
150 * setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_DETACH_FILTER, &val, sizeof(val));
151 * setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_SOCKET, SO_LOCK_FILTER,   &val, sizeof(val));
152
153Normally, most use cases for socket filtering on packet sockets will be
154covered by libpcap in high-level syntax, so as an application developer
155you should stick to that. libpcap wraps its own layer around all that.
156
157Unless i) using/linking to libpcap is not an option, ii) the required BPF
158filters use Linux extensions that are not supported by libpcap's compiler,
159iii) a filter might be more complex and not cleanly implementable with
160libpcap's compiler, or iv) particular filter codes should be optimized
161differently than libpcap's internal compiler does; then in such cases
162writing such a filter "by hand" can be of an alternative. For example,
163xt_bpf and cls_bpf users might have requirements that could result in
164more complex filter code, or one that cannot be expressed with libpcap
165(e.g. different return codes for various code paths). Moreover, BPF JIT
166implementors may wish to manually write test cases and thus need low-level
167access to BPF code as well.
168
169BPF engine and instruction set
170------------------------------
171
172Under tools/net/ there's a small helper tool called bpf_asm which can
173be used to write low-level filters for example scenarios mentioned in the
174previous section. Asm-like syntax mentioned here has been implemented in
175bpf_asm and will be used for further explanations (instead of dealing with
176less readable opcodes directly, principles are the same). The syntax is
177closely modelled after Steven McCanne's and Van Jacobson's BPF paper.
178
179The BPF architecture consists of the following basic elements:
180
181  Element          Description
182
183  A                32 bit wide accumulator
184  X                32 bit wide X register
185  M[]              16 x 32 bit wide misc registers aka "scratch memory
186                   store", addressable from 0 to 15
187
188A program, that is translated by bpf_asm into "opcodes" is an array that
189consists of the following elements (as already mentioned):
190
191  op:16, jt:8, jf:8, k:32
192
193The element op is a 16 bit wide opcode that has a particular instruction
194encoded. jt and jf are two 8 bit wide jump targets, one for condition
195"jump if true", the other one "jump if false". Eventually, element k
196contains a miscellaneous argument that can be interpreted in different
197ways depending on the given instruction in op.
198
199The instruction set consists of load, store, branch, alu, miscellaneous
200and return instructions that are also represented in bpf_asm syntax. This
201table lists all bpf_asm instructions available resp. what their underlying
202opcodes as defined in linux/filter.h stand for:
203
204  Instruction      Addressing mode      Description
205
206  ld               1, 2, 3, 4, 10       Load word into A
207  ldi              4                    Load word into A
208  ldh              1, 2                 Load half-word into A
209  ldb              1, 2                 Load byte into A
210  ldx              3, 4, 5, 10          Load word into X
211  ldxi             4                    Load word into X
212  ldxb             5                    Load byte into X
213
214  st               3                    Store A into M[]
215  stx              3                    Store X into M[]
216
217  jmp              6                    Jump to label
218  ja               6                    Jump to label
219  jeq              7, 8                 Jump on A == k
220  jneq             8                    Jump on A != k
221  jne              8                    Jump on A != k
222  jlt              8                    Jump on A <  k
223  jle              8                    Jump on A <= k
224  jgt              7, 8                 Jump on A >  k
225  jge              7, 8                 Jump on A >= k
226  jset             7, 8                 Jump on A &  k
227
228  add              0, 4                 A + <x>
229  sub              0, 4                 A - <x>
230  mul              0, 4                 A * <x>
231  div              0, 4                 A / <x>
232  mod              0, 4                 A % <x>
233  neg                                   !A
234  and              0, 4                 A & <x>
235  or               0, 4                 A | <x>
236  xor              0, 4                 A ^ <x>
237  lsh              0, 4                 A << <x>
238  rsh              0, 4                 A >> <x>
239
240  tax                                   Copy A into X
241  txa                                   Copy X into A
242
243  ret              4, 9                 Return
244
245The next table shows addressing formats from the 2nd column:
246
247  Addressing mode  Syntax               Description
248
249   0               x/%x                 Register X
250   1               [k]                  BHW at byte offset k in the packet
251   2               [x + k]              BHW at the offset X + k in the packet
252   3               M[k]                 Word at offset k in M[]
253   4               #k                   Literal value stored in k
254   5               4*([k]&0xf)          Lower nibble * 4 at byte offset k in the packet
255   6               L                    Jump label L
256   7               #k,Lt,Lf             Jump to Lt if true, otherwise jump to Lf
257   8               #k,Lt                Jump to Lt if predicate is true
258   9               a/%a                 Accumulator A
259  10               extension            BPF extension
260
261The Linux kernel also has a couple of BPF extensions that are used along
262with the class of load instructions by "overloading" the k argument with
263a negative offset + a particular extension offset. The result of such BPF
264extensions are loaded into A.
265
266Possible BPF extensions are shown in the following table:
267
268  Extension                             Description
269
270  len                                   skb->len
271  proto                                 skb->protocol
272  type                                  skb->pkt_type
273  poff                                  Payload start offset
274  ifidx                                 skb->dev->ifindex
275  nla                                   Netlink attribute of type X with offset A
276  nlan                                  Nested Netlink attribute of type X with offset A
277  mark                                  skb->mark
278  queue                                 skb->queue_mapping
279  hatype                                skb->dev->type
280  rxhash                                skb->hash
281  cpu                                   raw_smp_processor_id()
282  vlan_tci                              skb_vlan_tag_get(skb)
283  vlan_avail                            skb_vlan_tag_present(skb)
284  vlan_tpid                             skb->vlan_proto
285  rand                                  prandom_u32()
286
287These extensions can also be prefixed with '#'.
288Examples for low-level BPF:
289
290** ARP packets:
291
292  ldh [12]
293  jne #0x806, drop
294  ret #-1
295  drop: ret #0
296
297** IPv4 TCP packets:
298
299  ldh [12]
300  jne #0x800, drop
301  ldb [23]
302  jneq #6, drop
303  ret #-1
304  drop: ret #0
305
306** (Accelerated) VLAN w/ id 10:
307
308  ld vlan_tci
309  jneq #10, drop
310  ret #-1
311  drop: ret #0
312
313** icmp random packet sampling, 1 in 4
314  ldh [12]
315  jne #0x800, drop
316  ldb [23]
317  jneq #1, drop
318  # get a random uint32 number
319  ld rand
320  mod #4
321  jneq #1, drop
322  ret #-1
323  drop: ret #0
324
325** SECCOMP filter example:
326
327  ld [4]                  /* offsetof(struct seccomp_data, arch) */
328  jne #0xc000003e, bad    /* AUDIT_ARCH_X86_64 */
329  ld [0]                  /* offsetof(struct seccomp_data, nr) */
330  jeq #15, good           /* __NR_rt_sigreturn */
331  jeq #231, good          /* __NR_exit_group */
332  jeq #60, good           /* __NR_exit */
333  jeq #0, good            /* __NR_read */
334  jeq #1, good            /* __NR_write */
335  jeq #5, good            /* __NR_fstat */
336  jeq #9, good            /* __NR_mmap */
337  jeq #14, good           /* __NR_rt_sigprocmask */
338  jeq #13, good           /* __NR_rt_sigaction */
339  jeq #35, good           /* __NR_nanosleep */
340  bad: ret #0             /* SECCOMP_RET_KILL_THREAD */
341  good: ret #0x7fff0000   /* SECCOMP_RET_ALLOW */
342
343The above example code can be placed into a file (here called "foo"), and
344then be passed to the bpf_asm tool for generating opcodes, output that xt_bpf
345and cls_bpf understands and can directly be loaded with. Example with above
346ARP code:
347
348$ ./bpf_asm foo
3494,40 0 0 12,21 0 1 2054,6 0 0 4294967295,6 0 0 0,
350
351In copy and paste C-like output:
352
353$ ./bpf_asm -c foo
354{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x0000000c },
355{ 0x15,  0,  1, 0x00000806 },
356{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0xffffffff },
357{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0000000000 },
358
359In particular, as usage with xt_bpf or cls_bpf can result in more complex BPF
360filters that might not be obvious at first, it's good to test filters before
361attaching to a live system. For that purpose, there's a small tool called
362bpf_dbg under tools/net/ in the kernel source directory. This debugger allows
363for testing BPF filters against given pcap files, single stepping through the
364BPF code on the pcap's packets and to do BPF machine register dumps.
365
366Starting bpf_dbg is trivial and just requires issuing:
367
368# ./bpf_dbg
369
370In case input and output do not equal stdin/stdout, bpf_dbg takes an
371alternative stdin source as a first argument, and an alternative stdout
372sink as a second one, e.g. `./bpf_dbg test_in.txt test_out.txt`.
373
374Other than that, a particular libreadline configuration can be set via
375file "~/.bpf_dbg_init" and the command history is stored in the file
376"~/.bpf_dbg_history".
377
378Interaction in bpf_dbg happens through a shell that also has auto-completion
379support (follow-up example commands starting with '>' denote bpf_dbg shell).
380The usual workflow would be to ...
381
382> load bpf 6,40 0 0 12,21 0 3 2048,48 0 0 23,21 0 1 1,6 0 0 65535,6 0 0 0
383  Loads a BPF filter from standard output of bpf_asm, or transformed via
384  e.g. `tcpdump -iem1 -ddd port 22 | tr '\n' ','`. Note that for JIT
385  debugging (next section), this command creates a temporary socket and
386  loads the BPF code into the kernel. Thus, this will also be useful for
387  JIT developers.
388
389> load pcap foo.pcap
390  Loads standard tcpdump pcap file.
391
392> run [<n>]
393bpf passes:1 fails:9
394  Runs through all packets from a pcap to account how many passes and fails
395  the filter will generate. A limit of packets to traverse can be given.
396
397> disassemble
398l0:	ldh [12]
399l1:	jeq #0x800, l2, l5
400l2:	ldb [23]
401l3:	jeq #0x1, l4, l5
402l4:	ret #0xffff
403l5:	ret #0
404  Prints out BPF code disassembly.
405
406> dump
407/* { op, jt, jf, k }, */
408{ 0x28,  0,  0, 0x0000000c },
409{ 0x15,  0,  3, 0x00000800 },
410{ 0x30,  0,  0, 0x00000017 },
411{ 0x15,  0,  1, 0x00000001 },
412{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0x0000ffff },
413{ 0x06,  0,  0, 0000000000 },
414  Prints out C-style BPF code dump.
415
416> breakpoint 0
417breakpoint at: l0:	ldh [12]
418> breakpoint 1
419breakpoint at: l1:	jeq #0x800, l2, l5
420  ...
421  Sets breakpoints at particular BPF instructions. Issuing a `run` command
422  will walk through the pcap file continuing from the current packet and
423  break when a breakpoint is being hit (another `run` will continue from
424  the currently active breakpoint executing next instructions):
425
426  > run
427  -- register dump --
428  pc:       [0]                       <-- program counter
429  code:     [40] jt[0] jf[0] k[12]    <-- plain BPF code of current instruction
430  curr:     l0:	ldh [12]              <-- disassembly of current instruction
431  A:        [00000000][0]             <-- content of A (hex, decimal)
432  X:        [00000000][0]             <-- content of X (hex, decimal)
433  M[0,15]:  [00000000][0]             <-- folded content of M (hex, decimal)
434  -- packet dump --                   <-- Current packet from pcap (hex)
435  len: 42
436    0: 00 19 cb 55 55 a4 00 14 a4 43 78 69 08 06 00 01
437   16: 08 00 06 04 00 01 00 14 a4 43 78 69 0a 3b 01 26
438   32: 00 00 00 00 00 00 0a 3b 01 01
439  (breakpoint)
440  >
441
442> breakpoint
443breakpoints: 0 1
444  Prints currently set breakpoints.
445
446> step [-<n>, +<n>]
447  Performs single stepping through the BPF program from the current pc
448  offset. Thus, on each step invocation, above register dump is issued.
449  This can go forwards and backwards in time, a plain `step` will break
450  on the next BPF instruction, thus +1. (No `run` needs to be issued here.)
451
452> select <n>
453  Selects a given packet from the pcap file to continue from. Thus, on
454  the next `run` or `step`, the BPF program is being evaluated against
455  the user pre-selected packet. Numbering starts just as in Wireshark
456  with index 1.
457
458> quit
459#
460  Exits bpf_dbg.
461
462JIT compiler
463------------
464
465The Linux kernel has a built-in BPF JIT compiler for x86_64, SPARC, PowerPC,
466ARM, ARM64, MIPS and s390 and can be enabled through CONFIG_BPF_JIT. The JIT
467compiler is transparently invoked for each attached filter from user space
468or for internal kernel users if it has been previously enabled by root:
469
470  echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable
471
472For JIT developers, doing audits etc, each compile run can output the generated
473opcode image into the kernel log via:
474
475  echo 2 > /proc/sys/net/core/bpf_jit_enable
476
477Example output from dmesg:
478
479[ 3389.935842] flen=6 proglen=70 pass=3 image=ffffffffa0069c8f
480[ 3389.935847] JIT code: 00000000: 55 48 89 e5 48 83 ec 60 48 89 5d f8 44 8b 4f 68
481[ 3389.935849] JIT code: 00000010: 44 2b 4f 6c 4c 8b 87 d8 00 00 00 be 0c 00 00 00
482[ 3389.935850] JIT code: 00000020: e8 1d 94 ff e0 3d 00 08 00 00 75 16 be 17 00 00
483[ 3389.935851] JIT code: 00000030: 00 e8 28 94 ff e0 83 f8 01 75 07 b8 ff ff 00 00
484[ 3389.935852] JIT code: 00000040: eb 02 31 c0 c9 c3
485
486In the kernel source tree under tools/net/, there's bpf_jit_disasm for
487generating disassembly out of the kernel log's hexdump:
488
489# ./bpf_jit_disasm
49070 bytes emitted from JIT compiler (pass:3, flen:6)
491ffffffffa0069c8f + <x>:
492   0:	push   %rbp
493   1:	mov    %rsp,%rbp
494   4:	sub    $0x60,%rsp
495   8:	mov    %rbx,-0x8(%rbp)
496   c:	mov    0x68(%rdi),%r9d
497  10:	sub    0x6c(%rdi),%r9d
498  14:	mov    0xd8(%rdi),%r8
499  1b:	mov    $0xc,%esi
500  20:	callq  0xffffffffe0ff9442
501  25:	cmp    $0x800,%eax
502  2a:	jne    0x0000000000000042
503  2c:	mov    $0x17,%esi
504  31:	callq  0xffffffffe0ff945e
505  36:	cmp    $0x1,%eax
506  39:	jne    0x0000000000000042
507  3b:	mov    $0xffff,%eax
508  40:	jmp    0x0000000000000044
509  42:	xor    %eax,%eax
510  44:	leaveq
511  45:	retq
512
513Issuing option `-o` will "annotate" opcodes to resulting assembler
514instructions, which can be very useful for JIT developers:
515
516# ./bpf_jit_disasm -o
51770 bytes emitted from JIT compiler (pass:3, flen:6)
518ffffffffa0069c8f + <x>:
519   0:	push   %rbp
520	55
521   1:	mov    %rsp,%rbp
522	48 89 e5
523   4:	sub    $0x60,%rsp
524	48 83 ec 60
525   8:	mov    %rbx,-0x8(%rbp)
526	48 89 5d f8
527   c:	mov    0x68(%rdi),%r9d
528	44 8b 4f 68
529  10:	sub    0x6c(%rdi),%r9d
530	44 2b 4f 6c
531  14:	mov    0xd8(%rdi),%r8
532	4c 8b 87 d8 00 00 00
533  1b:	mov    $0xc,%esi
534	be 0c 00 00 00
535  20:	callq  0xffffffffe0ff9442
536	e8 1d 94 ff e0
537  25:	cmp    $0x800,%eax
538	3d 00 08 00 00
539  2a:	jne    0x0000000000000042
540	75 16
541  2c:	mov    $0x17,%esi
542	be 17 00 00 00
543  31:	callq  0xffffffffe0ff945e
544	e8 28 94 ff e0
545  36:	cmp    $0x1,%eax
546	83 f8 01
547  39:	jne    0x0000000000000042
548	75 07
549  3b:	mov    $0xffff,%eax
550	b8 ff ff 00 00
551  40:	jmp    0x0000000000000044
552	eb 02
553  42:	xor    %eax,%eax
554	31 c0
555  44:	leaveq
556	c9
557  45:	retq
558	c3
559
560For BPF JIT developers, bpf_jit_disasm, bpf_asm and bpf_dbg provides a useful
561toolchain for developing and testing the kernel's JIT compiler.
562
563BPF kernel internals
564--------------------
565Internally, for the kernel interpreter, a different instruction set
566format with similar underlying principles from BPF described in previous
567paragraphs is being used. However, the instruction set format is modelled
568closer to the underlying architecture to mimic native instruction sets, so
569that a better performance can be achieved (more details later). This new
570ISA is called 'eBPF' or 'internal BPF' interchangeably. (Note: eBPF which
571originates from [e]xtended BPF is not the same as BPF extensions! While
572eBPF is an ISA, BPF extensions date back to classic BPF's 'overloading'
573of BPF_LD | BPF_{B,H,W} | BPF_ABS instruction.)
574
575It is designed to be JITed with one to one mapping, which can also open up
576the possibility for GCC/LLVM compilers to generate optimized eBPF code through
577an eBPF backend that performs almost as fast as natively compiled code.
578
579The new instruction set was originally designed with the possible goal in
580mind to write programs in "restricted C" and compile into eBPF with a optional
581GCC/LLVM backend, so that it can just-in-time map to modern 64-bit CPUs with
582minimal performance overhead over two steps, that is, C -> eBPF -> native code.
583
584Currently, the new format is being used for running user BPF programs, which
585includes seccomp BPF, classic socket filters, cls_bpf traffic classifier,
586team driver's classifier for its load-balancing mode, netfilter's xt_bpf
587extension, PTP dissector/classifier, and much more. They are all internally
588converted by the kernel into the new instruction set representation and run
589in the eBPF interpreter. For in-kernel handlers, this all works transparently
590by using bpf_prog_create() for setting up the filter, resp.
591bpf_prog_destroy() for destroying it. The macro
592BPF_PROG_RUN(filter, ctx) transparently invokes eBPF interpreter or JITed
593code to run the filter. 'filter' is a pointer to struct bpf_prog that we
594got from bpf_prog_create(), and 'ctx' the given context (e.g.
595skb pointer). All constraints and restrictions from bpf_check_classic() apply
596before a conversion to the new layout is being done behind the scenes!
597
598Currently, the classic BPF format is being used for JITing on most 32-bit
599architectures, whereas x86-64, aarch64, s390x, powerpc64, sparc64, arm32 perform
600JIT compilation from eBPF instruction set.
601
602Some core changes of the new internal format:
603
604- Number of registers increase from 2 to 10:
605
606  The old format had two registers A and X, and a hidden frame pointer. The
607  new layout extends this to be 10 internal registers and a read-only frame
608  pointer. Since 64-bit CPUs are passing arguments to functions via registers
609  the number of args from eBPF program to in-kernel function is restricted
610  to 5 and one register is used to accept return value from an in-kernel
611  function. Natively, x86_64 passes first 6 arguments in registers, aarch64/
612  sparcv9/mips64 have 7 - 8 registers for arguments; x86_64 has 6 callee saved
613  registers, and aarch64/sparcv9/mips64 have 11 or more callee saved registers.
614
615  Therefore, eBPF calling convention is defined as:
616
617    * R0	- return value from in-kernel function, and exit value for eBPF program
618    * R1 - R5	- arguments from eBPF program to in-kernel function
619    * R6 - R9	- callee saved registers that in-kernel function will preserve
620    * R10	- read-only frame pointer to access stack
621
622  Thus, all eBPF registers map one to one to HW registers on x86_64, aarch64,
623  etc, and eBPF calling convention maps directly to ABIs used by the kernel on
624  64-bit architectures.
625
626  On 32-bit architectures JIT may map programs that use only 32-bit arithmetic
627  and may let more complex programs to be interpreted.
628
629  R0 - R5 are scratch registers and eBPF program needs spill/fill them if
630  necessary across calls. Note that there is only one eBPF program (== one
631  eBPF main routine) and it cannot call other eBPF functions, it can only
632  call predefined in-kernel functions, though.
633
634- Register width increases from 32-bit to 64-bit:
635
636  Still, the semantics of the original 32-bit ALU operations are preserved
637  via 32-bit subregisters. All eBPF registers are 64-bit with 32-bit lower
638  subregisters that zero-extend into 64-bit if they are being written to.
639  That behavior maps directly to x86_64 and arm64 subregister definition, but
640  makes other JITs more difficult.
641
642  32-bit architectures run 64-bit internal BPF programs via interpreter.
643  Their JITs may convert BPF programs that only use 32-bit subregisters into
644  native instruction set and let the rest being interpreted.
645
646  Operation is 64-bit, because on 64-bit architectures, pointers are also
647  64-bit wide, and we want to pass 64-bit values in/out of kernel functions,
648  so 32-bit eBPF registers would otherwise require to define register-pair
649  ABI, thus, there won't be able to use a direct eBPF register to HW register
650  mapping and JIT would need to do combine/split/move operations for every
651  register in and out of the function, which is complex, bug prone and slow.
652  Another reason is the use of atomic 64-bit counters.
653
654- Conditional jt/jf targets replaced with jt/fall-through:
655
656  While the original design has constructs such as "if (cond) jump_true;
657  else jump_false;", they are being replaced into alternative constructs like
658  "if (cond) jump_true; /* else fall-through */".
659
660- Introduces bpf_call insn and register passing convention for zero overhead
661  calls from/to other kernel functions:
662
663  Before an in-kernel function call, the internal BPF program needs to
664  place function arguments into R1 to R5 registers to satisfy calling
665  convention, then the interpreter will take them from registers and pass
666  to in-kernel function. If R1 - R5 registers are mapped to CPU registers
667  that are used for argument passing on given architecture, the JIT compiler
668  doesn't need to emit extra moves. Function arguments will be in the correct
669  registers and BPF_CALL instruction will be JITed as single 'call' HW
670  instruction. This calling convention was picked to cover common call
671  situations without performance penalty.
672
673  After an in-kernel function call, R1 - R5 are reset to unreadable and R0 has
674  a return value of the function. Since R6 - R9 are callee saved, their state
675  is preserved across the call.
676
677  For example, consider three C functions:
678
679  u64 f1() { return (*_f2)(1); }
680  u64 f2(u64 a) { return f3(a + 1, a); }
681  u64 f3(u64 a, u64 b) { return a - b; }
682
683  GCC can compile f1, f3 into x86_64:
684
685  f1:
686    movl $1, %edi
687    movq _f2(%rip), %rax
688    jmp  *%rax
689  f3:
690    movq %rdi, %rax
691    subq %rsi, %rax
692    ret
693
694  Function f2 in eBPF may look like:
695
696  f2:
697    bpf_mov R2, R1
698    bpf_add R1, 1
699    bpf_call f3
700    bpf_exit
701
702  If f2 is JITed and the pointer stored to '_f2'. The calls f1 -> f2 -> f3 and
703  returns will be seamless. Without JIT, __bpf_prog_run() interpreter needs to
704  be used to call into f2.
705
706  For practical reasons all eBPF programs have only one argument 'ctx' which is
707  already placed into R1 (e.g. on __bpf_prog_run() startup) and the programs
708  can call kernel functions with up to 5 arguments. Calls with 6 or more arguments
709  are currently not supported, but these restrictions can be lifted if necessary
710  in the future.
711
712  On 64-bit architectures all register map to HW registers one to one. For
713  example, x86_64 JIT compiler can map them as ...
714
715    R0 - rax
716    R1 - rdi
717    R2 - rsi
718    R3 - rdx
719    R4 - rcx
720    R5 - r8
721    R6 - rbx
722    R7 - r13
723    R8 - r14
724    R9 - r15
725    R10 - rbp
726
727  ... since x86_64 ABI mandates rdi, rsi, rdx, rcx, r8, r9 for argument passing
728  and rbx, r12 - r15 are callee saved.
729
730  Then the following internal BPF pseudo-program:
731
732    bpf_mov R6, R1 /* save ctx */
733    bpf_mov R2, 2
734    bpf_mov R3, 3
735    bpf_mov R4, 4
736    bpf_mov R5, 5
737    bpf_call foo
738    bpf_mov R7, R0 /* save foo() return value */
739    bpf_mov R1, R6 /* restore ctx for next call */
740    bpf_mov R2, 6
741    bpf_mov R3, 7
742    bpf_mov R4, 8
743    bpf_mov R5, 9
744    bpf_call bar
745    bpf_add R0, R7
746    bpf_exit
747
748  After JIT to x86_64 may look like:
749
750    push %rbp
751    mov %rsp,%rbp
752    sub $0x228,%rsp
753    mov %rbx,-0x228(%rbp)
754    mov %r13,-0x220(%rbp)
755    mov %rdi,%rbx
756    mov $0x2,%esi
757    mov $0x3,%edx
758    mov $0x4,%ecx
759    mov $0x5,%r8d
760    callq foo
761    mov %rax,%r13
762    mov %rbx,%rdi
763    mov $0x2,%esi
764    mov $0x3,%edx
765    mov $0x4,%ecx
766    mov $0x5,%r8d
767    callq bar
768    add %r13,%rax
769    mov -0x228(%rbp),%rbx
770    mov -0x220(%rbp),%r13
771    leaveq
772    retq
773
774  Which is in this example equivalent in C to:
775
776    u64 bpf_filter(u64 ctx)
777    {
778        return foo(ctx, 2, 3, 4, 5) + bar(ctx, 6, 7, 8, 9);
779    }
780
781  In-kernel functions foo() and bar() with prototype: u64 (*)(u64 arg1, u64
782  arg2, u64 arg3, u64 arg4, u64 arg5); will receive arguments in proper
783  registers and place their return value into '%rax' which is R0 in eBPF.
784  Prologue and epilogue are emitted by JIT and are implicit in the
785  interpreter. R0-R5 are scratch registers, so eBPF program needs to preserve
786  them across the calls as defined by calling convention.
787
788  For example the following program is invalid:
789
790    bpf_mov R1, 1
791    bpf_call foo
792    bpf_mov R0, R1
793    bpf_exit
794
795  After the call the registers R1-R5 contain junk values and cannot be read.
796  An in-kernel eBPF verifier is used to validate internal BPF programs.
797
798Also in the new design, eBPF is limited to 4096 insns, which means that any
799program will terminate quickly and will only call a fixed number of kernel
800functions. Original BPF and the new format are two operand instructions,
801which helps to do one-to-one mapping between eBPF insn and x86 insn during JIT.
802
803The input context pointer for invoking the interpreter function is generic,
804its content is defined by a specific use case. For seccomp register R1 points
805to seccomp_data, for converted BPF filters R1 points to a skb.
806
807A program, that is translated internally consists of the following elements:
808
809  op:16, jt:8, jf:8, k:32    ==>    op:8, dst_reg:4, src_reg:4, off:16, imm:32
810
811So far 87 internal BPF instructions were implemented. 8-bit 'op' opcode field
812has room for new instructions. Some of them may use 16/24/32 byte encoding. New
813instructions must be multiple of 8 bytes to preserve backward compatibility.
814
815Internal BPF is a general purpose RISC instruction set. Not every register and
816every instruction are used during translation from original BPF to new format.
817For example, socket filters are not using 'exclusive add' instruction, but
818tracing filters may do to maintain counters of events, for example. Register R9
819is not used by socket filters either, but more complex filters may be running
820out of registers and would have to resort to spill/fill to stack.
821
822Internal BPF can used as generic assembler for last step performance
823optimizations, socket filters and seccomp are using it as assembler. Tracing
824filters may use it as assembler to generate code from kernel. In kernel usage
825may not be bounded by security considerations, since generated internal BPF code
826may be optimizing internal code path and not being exposed to the user space.
827Safety of internal BPF can come from a verifier (TBD). In such use cases as
828described, it may be used as safe instruction set.
829
830Just like the original BPF, the new format runs within a controlled environment,
831is deterministic and the kernel can easily prove that. The safety of the program
832can be determined in two steps: first step does depth-first-search to disallow
833loops and other CFG validation; second step starts from the first insn and
834descends all possible paths. It simulates execution of every insn and observes
835the state change of registers and stack.
836
837eBPF opcode encoding
838--------------------
839
840eBPF is reusing most of the opcode encoding from classic to simplify conversion
841of classic BPF to eBPF. For arithmetic and jump instructions the 8-bit 'code'
842field is divided into three parts:
843
844  +----------------+--------+--------------------+
845  |   4 bits       |  1 bit |   3 bits           |
846  | operation code | source | instruction class  |
847  +----------------+--------+--------------------+
848  (MSB)                                      (LSB)
849
850Three LSB bits store instruction class which is one of:
851
852  Classic BPF classes:    eBPF classes:
853
854  BPF_LD    0x00          BPF_LD    0x00
855  BPF_LDX   0x01          BPF_LDX   0x01
856  BPF_ST    0x02          BPF_ST    0x02
857  BPF_STX   0x03          BPF_STX   0x03
858  BPF_ALU   0x04          BPF_ALU   0x04
859  BPF_JMP   0x05          BPF_JMP   0x05
860  BPF_RET   0x06          [ class 6 unused, for future if needed ]
861  BPF_MISC  0x07          BPF_ALU64 0x07
862
863When BPF_CLASS(code) == BPF_ALU or BPF_JMP, 4th bit encodes source operand ...
864
865  BPF_K     0x00
866  BPF_X     0x08
867
868 * in classic BPF, this means:
869
870  BPF_SRC(code) == BPF_X - use register X as source operand
871  BPF_SRC(code) == BPF_K - use 32-bit immediate as source operand
872
873 * in eBPF, this means:
874
875  BPF_SRC(code) == BPF_X - use 'src_reg' register as source operand
876  BPF_SRC(code) == BPF_K - use 32-bit immediate as source operand
877
878... and four MSB bits store operation code.
879
880If BPF_CLASS(code) == BPF_ALU or BPF_ALU64 [ in eBPF ], BPF_OP(code) is one of:
881
882  BPF_ADD   0x00
883  BPF_SUB   0x10
884  BPF_MUL   0x20
885  BPF_DIV   0x30
886  BPF_OR    0x40
887  BPF_AND   0x50
888  BPF_LSH   0x60
889  BPF_RSH   0x70
890  BPF_NEG   0x80
891  BPF_MOD   0x90
892  BPF_XOR   0xa0
893  BPF_MOV   0xb0  /* eBPF only: mov reg to reg */
894  BPF_ARSH  0xc0  /* eBPF only: sign extending shift right */
895  BPF_END   0xd0  /* eBPF only: endianness conversion */
896
897If BPF_CLASS(code) == BPF_JMP, BPF_OP(code) is one of:
898
899  BPF_JA    0x00
900  BPF_JEQ   0x10
901  BPF_JGT   0x20
902  BPF_JGE   0x30
903  BPF_JSET  0x40
904  BPF_JNE   0x50  /* eBPF only: jump != */
905  BPF_JSGT  0x60  /* eBPF only: signed '>' */
906  BPF_JSGE  0x70  /* eBPF only: signed '>=' */
907  BPF_CALL  0x80  /* eBPF only: function call */
908  BPF_EXIT  0x90  /* eBPF only: function return */
909  BPF_JLT   0xa0  /* eBPF only: unsigned '<' */
910  BPF_JLE   0xb0  /* eBPF only: unsigned '<=' */
911  BPF_JSLT  0xc0  /* eBPF only: signed '<' */
912  BPF_JSLE  0xd0  /* eBPF only: signed '<=' */
913
914So BPF_ADD | BPF_X | BPF_ALU means 32-bit addition in both classic BPF
915and eBPF. There are only two registers in classic BPF, so it means A += X.
916In eBPF it means dst_reg = (u32) dst_reg + (u32) src_reg; similarly,
917BPF_XOR | BPF_K | BPF_ALU means A ^= imm32 in classic BPF and analogous
918src_reg = (u32) src_reg ^ (u32) imm32 in eBPF.
919
920Classic BPF is using BPF_MISC class to represent A = X and X = A moves.
921eBPF is using BPF_MOV | BPF_X | BPF_ALU code instead. Since there are no
922BPF_MISC operations in eBPF, the class 7 is used as BPF_ALU64 to mean
923exactly the same operations as BPF_ALU, but with 64-bit wide operands
924instead. So BPF_ADD | BPF_X | BPF_ALU64 means 64-bit addition, i.e.:
925dst_reg = dst_reg + src_reg
926
927Classic BPF wastes the whole BPF_RET class to represent a single 'ret'
928operation. Classic BPF_RET | BPF_K means copy imm32 into return register
929and perform function exit. eBPF is modeled to match CPU, so BPF_JMP | BPF_EXIT
930in eBPF means function exit only. The eBPF program needs to store return
931value into register R0 before doing a BPF_EXIT. Class 6 in eBPF is currently
932unused and reserved for future use.
933
934For load and store instructions the 8-bit 'code' field is divided as:
935
936  +--------+--------+-------------------+
937  | 3 bits | 2 bits |   3 bits          |
938  |  mode  |  size  | instruction class |
939  +--------+--------+-------------------+
940  (MSB)                             (LSB)
941
942Size modifier is one of ...
943
944  BPF_W   0x00    /* word */
945  BPF_H   0x08    /* half word */
946  BPF_B   0x10    /* byte */
947  BPF_DW  0x18    /* eBPF only, double word */
948
949... which encodes size of load/store operation:
950
951 B  - 1 byte
952 H  - 2 byte
953 W  - 4 byte
954 DW - 8 byte (eBPF only)
955
956Mode modifier is one of:
957
958  BPF_IMM  0x00  /* used for 32-bit mov in classic BPF and 64-bit in eBPF */
959  BPF_ABS  0x20
960  BPF_IND  0x40
961  BPF_MEM  0x60
962  BPF_LEN  0x80  /* classic BPF only, reserved in eBPF */
963  BPF_MSH  0xa0  /* classic BPF only, reserved in eBPF */
964  BPF_XADD 0xc0  /* eBPF only, exclusive add */
965
966eBPF has two non-generic instructions: (BPF_ABS | <size> | BPF_LD) and
967(BPF_IND | <size> | BPF_LD) which are used to access packet data.
968
969They had to be carried over from classic to have strong performance of
970socket filters running in eBPF interpreter. These instructions can only
971be used when interpreter context is a pointer to 'struct sk_buff' and
972have seven implicit operands. Register R6 is an implicit input that must
973contain pointer to sk_buff. Register R0 is an implicit output which contains
974the data fetched from the packet. Registers R1-R5 are scratch registers
975and must not be used to store the data across BPF_ABS | BPF_LD or
976BPF_IND | BPF_LD instructions.
977
978These instructions have implicit program exit condition as well. When
979eBPF program is trying to access the data beyond the packet boundary,
980the interpreter will abort the execution of the program. JIT compilers
981therefore must preserve this property. src_reg and imm32 fields are
982explicit inputs to these instructions.
983
984For example:
985
986  BPF_IND | BPF_W | BPF_LD means:
987
988    R0 = ntohl(*(u32 *) (((struct sk_buff *) R6)->data + src_reg + imm32))
989    and R1 - R5 were scratched.
990
991Unlike classic BPF instruction set, eBPF has generic load/store operations:
992
993BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_STX:  *(size *) (dst_reg + off) = src_reg
994BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_ST:   *(size *) (dst_reg + off) = imm32
995BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_LDX:  dst_reg = *(size *) (src_reg + off)
996BPF_XADD | BPF_W  | BPF_STX: lock xadd *(u32 *)(dst_reg + off16) += src_reg
997BPF_XADD | BPF_DW | BPF_STX: lock xadd *(u64 *)(dst_reg + off16) += src_reg
998
999Where size is one of: BPF_B or BPF_H or BPF_W or BPF_DW. Note that 1 and
10002 byte atomic increments are not supported.
1001
1002eBPF has one 16-byte instruction: BPF_LD | BPF_DW | BPF_IMM which consists
1003of two consecutive 'struct bpf_insn' 8-byte blocks and interpreted as single
1004instruction that loads 64-bit immediate value into a dst_reg.
1005Classic BPF has similar instruction: BPF_LD | BPF_W | BPF_IMM which loads
100632-bit immediate value into a register.
1007
1008eBPF verifier
1009-------------
1010The safety of the eBPF program is determined in two steps.
1011
1012First step does DAG check to disallow loops and other CFG validation.
1013In particular it will detect programs that have unreachable instructions.
1014(though classic BPF checker allows them)
1015
1016Second step starts from the first insn and descends all possible paths.
1017It simulates execution of every insn and observes the state change of
1018registers and stack.
1019
1020At the start of the program the register R1 contains a pointer to context
1021and has type PTR_TO_CTX.
1022If verifier sees an insn that does R2=R1, then R2 has now type
1023PTR_TO_CTX as well and can be used on the right hand side of expression.
1024If R1=PTR_TO_CTX and insn is R2=R1+R1, then R2=SCALAR_VALUE,
1025since addition of two valid pointers makes invalid pointer.
1026(In 'secure' mode verifier will reject any type of pointer arithmetic to make
1027sure that kernel addresses don't leak to unprivileged users)
1028
1029If register was never written to, it's not readable:
1030  bpf_mov R0 = R2
1031  bpf_exit
1032will be rejected, since R2 is unreadable at the start of the program.
1033
1034After kernel function call, R1-R5 are reset to unreadable and
1035R0 has a return type of the function.
1036
1037Since R6-R9 are callee saved, their state is preserved across the call.
1038  bpf_mov R6 = 1
1039  bpf_call foo
1040  bpf_mov R0 = R6
1041  bpf_exit
1042is a correct program. If there was R1 instead of R6, it would have
1043been rejected.
1044
1045load/store instructions are allowed only with registers of valid types, which
1046are PTR_TO_CTX, PTR_TO_MAP, PTR_TO_STACK. They are bounds and alignment checked.
1047For example:
1048 bpf_mov R1 = 1
1049 bpf_mov R2 = 2
1050 bpf_xadd *(u32 *)(R1 + 3) += R2
1051 bpf_exit
1052will be rejected, since R1 doesn't have a valid pointer type at the time of
1053execution of instruction bpf_xadd.
1054
1055At the start R1 type is PTR_TO_CTX (a pointer to generic 'struct bpf_context')
1056A callback is used to customize verifier to restrict eBPF program access to only
1057certain fields within ctx structure with specified size and alignment.
1058
1059For example, the following insn:
1060  bpf_ld R0 = *(u32 *)(R6 + 8)
1061intends to load a word from address R6 + 8 and store it into R0
1062If R6=PTR_TO_CTX, via is_valid_access() callback the verifier will know
1063that offset 8 of size 4 bytes can be accessed for reading, otherwise
1064the verifier will reject the program.
1065If R6=PTR_TO_STACK, then access should be aligned and be within
1066stack bounds, which are [-MAX_BPF_STACK, 0). In this example offset is 8,
1067so it will fail verification, since it's out of bounds.
1068
1069The verifier will allow eBPF program to read data from stack only after
1070it wrote into it.
1071Classic BPF verifier does similar check with M[0-15] memory slots.
1072For example:
1073  bpf_ld R0 = *(u32 *)(R10 - 4)
1074  bpf_exit
1075is invalid program.
1076Though R10 is correct read-only register and has type PTR_TO_STACK
1077and R10 - 4 is within stack bounds, there were no stores into that location.
1078
1079Pointer register spill/fill is tracked as well, since four (R6-R9)
1080callee saved registers may not be enough for some programs.
1081
1082Allowed function calls are customized with bpf_verifier_ops->get_func_proto()
1083The eBPF verifier will check that registers match argument constraints.
1084After the call register R0 will be set to return type of the function.
1085
1086Function calls is a main mechanism to extend functionality of eBPF programs.
1087Socket filters may let programs to call one set of functions, whereas tracing
1088filters may allow completely different set.
1089
1090If a function made accessible to eBPF program, it needs to be thought through
1091from safety point of view. The verifier will guarantee that the function is
1092called with valid arguments.
1093
1094seccomp vs socket filters have different security restrictions for classic BPF.
1095Seccomp solves this by two stage verifier: classic BPF verifier is followed
1096by seccomp verifier. In case of eBPF one configurable verifier is shared for
1097all use cases.
1098
1099See details of eBPF verifier in kernel/bpf/verifier.c
1100
1101Register value tracking
1102-----------------------
1103In order to determine the safety of an eBPF program, the verifier must track
1104the range of possible values in each register and also in each stack slot.
1105This is done with 'struct bpf_reg_state', defined in include/linux/
1106bpf_verifier.h, which unifies tracking of scalar and pointer values.  Each
1107register state has a type, which is either NOT_INIT (the register has not been
1108written to), SCALAR_VALUE (some value which is not usable as a pointer), or a
1109pointer type.  The types of pointers describe their base, as follows:
1110    PTR_TO_CTX          Pointer to bpf_context.
1111    CONST_PTR_TO_MAP    Pointer to struct bpf_map.  "Const" because arithmetic
1112                        on these pointers is forbidden.
1113    PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE    Pointer to the value stored in a map element.
1114    PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE_OR_NULL
1115                        Either a pointer to a map value, or NULL; map accesses
1116                        (see section 'eBPF maps', below) return this type,
1117                        which becomes a PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE when checked != NULL.
1118                        Arithmetic on these pointers is forbidden.
1119    PTR_TO_STACK        Frame pointer.
1120    PTR_TO_PACKET       skb->data.
1121    PTR_TO_PACKET_END   skb->data + headlen; arithmetic forbidden.
1122However, a pointer may be offset from this base (as a result of pointer
1123arithmetic), and this is tracked in two parts: the 'fixed offset' and 'variable
1124offset'.  The former is used when an exactly-known value (e.g. an immediate
1125operand) is added to a pointer, while the latter is used for values which are
1126not exactly known.  The variable offset is also used in SCALAR_VALUEs, to track
1127the range of possible values in the register.
1128The verifier's knowledge about the variable offset consists of:
1129* minimum and maximum values as unsigned
1130* minimum and maximum values as signed
1131* knowledge of the values of individual bits, in the form of a 'tnum': a u64
1132'mask' and a u64 'value'.  1s in the mask represent bits whose value is unknown;
11331s in the value represent bits known to be 1.  Bits known to be 0 have 0 in both
1134mask and value; no bit should ever be 1 in both.  For example, if a byte is read
1135into a register from memory, the register's top 56 bits are known zero, while
1136the low 8 are unknown - which is represented as the tnum (0x0; 0xff).  If we
1137then OR this with 0x40, we get (0x40; 0xcf), then if we add 1 we get (0x0;
11380x1ff), because of potential carries.
1139Besides arithmetic, the register state can also be updated by conditional
1140branches.  For instance, if a SCALAR_VALUE is compared > 8, in the 'true' branch
1141it will have a umin_value (unsigned minimum value) of 9, whereas in the 'false'
1142branch it will have a umax_value of 8.  A signed compare (with BPF_JSGT or
1143BPF_JSGE) would instead update the signed minimum/maximum values.  Information
1144from the signed and unsigned bounds can be combined; for instance if a value is
1145first tested < 8 and then tested s> 4, the verifier will conclude that the value
1146is also > 4 and s< 8, since the bounds prevent crossing the sign boundary.
1147PTR_TO_PACKETs with a variable offset part have an 'id', which is common to all
1148pointers sharing that same variable offset.  This is important for packet range
1149checks: after adding some variable to a packet pointer, if you then copy it to
1150another register and (say) add a constant 4, both registers will share the same
1151'id' but one will have a fixed offset of +4.  Then if it is bounds-checked and
1152found to be less than a PTR_TO_PACKET_END, the other register is now known to
1153have a safe range of at least 4 bytes.  See 'Direct packet access', below, for
1154more on PTR_TO_PACKET ranges.
1155The 'id' field is also used on PTR_TO_MAP_VALUE_OR_NULL, common to all copies of
1156the pointer returned from a map lookup.  This means that when one copy is
1157checked and found to be non-NULL, all copies can become PTR_TO_MAP_VALUEs.
1158As well as range-checking, the tracked information is also used for enforcing
1159alignment of pointer accesses.  For instance, on most systems the packet pointer
1160is 2 bytes after a 4-byte alignment.  If a program adds 14 bytes to that to jump
1161over the Ethernet header, then reads IHL and addes (IHL * 4), the resulting
1162pointer will have a variable offset known to be 4n+2 for some n, so adding the 2
1163bytes (NET_IP_ALIGN) gives a 4-byte alignment and so word-sized accesses through
1164that pointer are safe.
1165
1166Direct packet access
1167--------------------
1168In cls_bpf and act_bpf programs the verifier allows direct access to the packet
1169data via skb->data and skb->data_end pointers.
1170Ex:
11711:  r4 = *(u32 *)(r1 +80)  /* load skb->data_end */
11722:  r3 = *(u32 *)(r1 +76)  /* load skb->data */
11733:  r5 = r3
11744:  r5 += 14
11755:  if r5 > r4 goto pc+16
1176R1=ctx R3=pkt(id=0,off=0,r=14) R4=pkt_end R5=pkt(id=0,off=14,r=14) R10=fp
11776:  r0 = *(u16 *)(r3 +12) /* access 12 and 13 bytes of the packet */
1178
1179this 2byte load from the packet is safe to do, since the program author
1180did check 'if (skb->data + 14 > skb->data_end) goto err' at insn #5 which
1181means that in the fall-through case the register R3 (which points to skb->data)
1182has at least 14 directly accessible bytes. The verifier marks it
1183as R3=pkt(id=0,off=0,r=14).
1184id=0 means that no additional variables were added to the register.
1185off=0 means that no additional constants were added.
1186r=14 is the range of safe access which means that bytes [R3, R3 + 14) are ok.
1187Note that R5 is marked as R5=pkt(id=0,off=14,r=14). It also points
1188to the packet data, but constant 14 was added to the register, so
1189it now points to 'skb->data + 14' and accessible range is [R5, R5 + 14 - 14)
1190which is zero bytes.
1191
1192More complex packet access may look like:
1193 R0=inv1 R1=ctx R3=pkt(id=0,off=0,r=14) R4=pkt_end R5=pkt(id=0,off=14,r=14) R10=fp
1194 6:  r0 = *(u8 *)(r3 +7) /* load 7th byte from the packet */
1195 7:  r4 = *(u8 *)(r3 +12)
1196 8:  r4 *= 14
1197 9:  r3 = *(u32 *)(r1 +76) /* load skb->data */
119810:  r3 += r4
119911:  r2 = r1
120012:  r2 <<= 48
120113:  r2 >>= 48
120214:  r3 += r2
120315:  r2 = r3
120416:  r2 += 8
120517:  r1 = *(u32 *)(r1 +80) /* load skb->data_end */
120618:  if r2 > r1 goto pc+2
1207 R0=inv(id=0,umax_value=255,var_off=(0x0; 0xff)) R1=pkt_end R2=pkt(id=2,off=8,r=8) R3=pkt(id=2,off=0,r=8) R4=inv(id=0,umax_value=3570,var_off=(0x0; 0xfffe)) R5=pkt(id=0,off=14,r=14) R10=fp
120819:  r1 = *(u8 *)(r3 +4)
1209The state of the register R3 is R3=pkt(id=2,off=0,r=8)
1210id=2 means that two 'r3 += rX' instructions were seen, so r3 points to some
1211offset within a packet and since the program author did
1212'if (r3 + 8 > r1) goto err' at insn #18, the safe range is [R3, R3 + 8).
1213The verifier only allows 'add'/'sub' operations on packet registers. Any other
1214operation will set the register state to 'SCALAR_VALUE' and it won't be
1215available for direct packet access.
1216Operation 'r3 += rX' may overflow and become less than original skb->data,
1217therefore the verifier has to prevent that.  So when it sees 'r3 += rX'
1218instruction and rX is more than 16-bit value, any subsequent bounds-check of r3
1219against skb->data_end will not give us 'range' information, so attempts to read
1220through the pointer will give "invalid access to packet" error.
1221Ex. after insn 'r4 = *(u8 *)(r3 +12)' (insn #7 above) the state of r4 is
1222R4=inv(id=0,umax_value=255,var_off=(0x0; 0xff)) which means that upper 56 bits
1223of the register are guaranteed to be zero, and nothing is known about the lower
12248 bits. After insn 'r4 *= 14' the state becomes
1225R4=inv(id=0,umax_value=3570,var_off=(0x0; 0xfffe)), since multiplying an 8-bit
1226value by constant 14 will keep upper 52 bits as zero, also the least significant
1227bit will be zero as 14 is even.  Similarly 'r2 >>= 48' will make
1228R2=inv(id=0,umax_value=65535,var_off=(0x0; 0xffff)), since the shift is not sign
1229extending.  This logic is implemented in adjust_reg_min_max_vals() function,
1230which calls adjust_ptr_min_max_vals() for adding pointer to scalar (or vice
1231versa) and adjust_scalar_min_max_vals() for operations on two scalars.
1232
1233The end result is that bpf program author can access packet directly
1234using normal C code as:
1235  void *data = (void *)(long)skb->data;
1236  void *data_end = (void *)(long)skb->data_end;
1237  struct eth_hdr *eth = data;
1238  struct iphdr *iph = data + sizeof(*eth);
1239  struct udphdr *udp = data + sizeof(*eth) + sizeof(*iph);
1240
1241  if (data + sizeof(*eth) + sizeof(*iph) + sizeof(*udp) > data_end)
1242          return 0;
1243  if (eth->h_proto != htons(ETH_P_IP))
1244          return 0;
1245  if (iph->protocol != IPPROTO_UDP || iph->ihl != 5)
1246          return 0;
1247  if (udp->dest == 53 || udp->source == 9)
1248          ...;
1249which makes such programs easier to write comparing to LD_ABS insn
1250and significantly faster.
1251
1252eBPF maps
1253---------
1254'maps' is a generic storage of different types for sharing data between kernel
1255and userspace.
1256
1257The maps are accessed from user space via BPF syscall, which has commands:
1258- create a map with given type and attributes
1259  map_fd = bpf(BPF_MAP_CREATE, union bpf_attr *attr, u32 size)
1260  using attr->map_type, attr->key_size, attr->value_size, attr->max_entries
1261  returns process-local file descriptor or negative error
1262
1263- lookup key in a given map
1264  err = bpf(BPF_MAP_LOOKUP_ELEM, union bpf_attr *attr, u32 size)
1265  using attr->map_fd, attr->key, attr->value
1266  returns zero and stores found elem into value or negative error
1267
1268- create or update key/value pair in a given map
1269  err = bpf(BPF_MAP_UPDATE_ELEM, union bpf_attr *attr, u32 size)
1270  using attr->map_fd, attr->key, attr->value
1271  returns zero or negative error
1272
1273- find and delete element by key in a given map
1274  err = bpf(BPF_MAP_DELETE_ELEM, union bpf_attr *attr, u32 size)
1275  using attr->map_fd, attr->key
1276
1277- to delete map: close(fd)
1278  Exiting process will delete maps automatically
1279
1280userspace programs use this syscall to create/access maps that eBPF programs
1281are concurrently updating.
1282
1283maps can have different types: hash, array, bloom filter, radix-tree, etc.
1284
1285The map is defined by:
1286  . type
1287  . max number of elements
1288  . key size in bytes
1289  . value size in bytes
1290
1291Pruning
1292-------
1293The verifier does not actually walk all possible paths through the program.  For
1294each new branch to analyse, the verifier looks at all the states it's previously
1295been in when at this instruction.  If any of them contain the current state as a
1296subset, the branch is 'pruned' - that is, the fact that the previous state was
1297accepted implies the current state would be as well.  For instance, if in the
1298previous state, r1 held a packet-pointer, and in the current state, r1 holds a
1299packet-pointer with a range as long or longer and at least as strict an
1300alignment, then r1 is safe.  Similarly, if r2 was NOT_INIT before then it can't
1301have been used by any path from that point, so any value in r2 (including
1302another NOT_INIT) is safe.  The implementation is in the function regsafe().
1303Pruning considers not only the registers but also the stack (and any spilled
1304registers it may hold).  They must all be safe for the branch to be pruned.
1305This is implemented in states_equal().
1306
1307Understanding eBPF verifier messages
1308------------------------------------
1309
1310The following are few examples of invalid eBPF programs and verifier error
1311messages as seen in the log:
1312
1313Program with unreachable instructions:
1314static struct bpf_insn prog[] = {
1315  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1316  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1317};
1318Error:
1319  unreachable insn 1
1320
1321Program that reads uninitialized register:
1322  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_0, BPF_REG_2),
1323  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1324Error:
1325  0: (bf) r0 = r2
1326  R2 !read_ok
1327
1328Program that doesn't initialize R0 before exiting:
1329  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_1),
1330  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1331Error:
1332  0: (bf) r2 = r1
1333  1: (95) exit
1334  R0 !read_ok
1335
1336Program that accesses stack out of bounds:
1337  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_10, 8, 0),
1338  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1339Error:
1340  0: (7a) *(u64 *)(r10 +8) = 0
1341  invalid stack off=8 size=8
1342
1343Program that doesn't initialize stack before passing its address into function:
1344  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_10),
1345  BPF_ALU64_IMM(BPF_ADD, BPF_REG_2, -8),
1346  BPF_LD_MAP_FD(BPF_REG_1, 0),
1347  BPF_RAW_INSN(BPF_JMP | BPF_CALL, 0, 0, 0, BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem),
1348  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1349Error:
1350  0: (bf) r2 = r10
1351  1: (07) r2 += -8
1352  2: (b7) r1 = 0x0
1353  3: (85) call 1
1354  invalid indirect read from stack off -8+0 size 8
1355
1356Program that uses invalid map_fd=0 while calling to map_lookup_elem() function:
1357  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_10, -8, 0),
1358  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_10),
1359  BPF_ALU64_IMM(BPF_ADD, BPF_REG_2, -8),
1360  BPF_LD_MAP_FD(BPF_REG_1, 0),
1361  BPF_RAW_INSN(BPF_JMP | BPF_CALL, 0, 0, 0, BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem),
1362  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1363Error:
1364  0: (7a) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = 0
1365  1: (bf) r2 = r10
1366  2: (07) r2 += -8
1367  3: (b7) r1 = 0x0
1368  4: (85) call 1
1369  fd 0 is not pointing to valid bpf_map
1370
1371Program that doesn't check return value of map_lookup_elem() before accessing
1372map element:
1373  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_10, -8, 0),
1374  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_10),
1375  BPF_ALU64_IMM(BPF_ADD, BPF_REG_2, -8),
1376  BPF_LD_MAP_FD(BPF_REG_1, 0),
1377  BPF_RAW_INSN(BPF_JMP | BPF_CALL, 0, 0, 0, BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem),
1378  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_0, 0, 0),
1379  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1380Error:
1381  0: (7a) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = 0
1382  1: (bf) r2 = r10
1383  2: (07) r2 += -8
1384  3: (b7) r1 = 0x0
1385  4: (85) call 1
1386  5: (7a) *(u64 *)(r0 +0) = 0
1387  R0 invalid mem access 'map_value_or_null'
1388
1389Program that correctly checks map_lookup_elem() returned value for NULL, but
1390accesses the memory with incorrect alignment:
1391  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_10, -8, 0),
1392  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_10),
1393  BPF_ALU64_IMM(BPF_ADD, BPF_REG_2, -8),
1394  BPF_LD_MAP_FD(BPF_REG_1, 0),
1395  BPF_RAW_INSN(BPF_JMP | BPF_CALL, 0, 0, 0, BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem),
1396  BPF_JMP_IMM(BPF_JEQ, BPF_REG_0, 0, 1),
1397  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_0, 4, 0),
1398  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1399Error:
1400  0: (7a) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = 0
1401  1: (bf) r2 = r10
1402  2: (07) r2 += -8
1403  3: (b7) r1 = 1
1404  4: (85) call 1
1405  5: (15) if r0 == 0x0 goto pc+1
1406   R0=map_ptr R10=fp
1407  6: (7a) *(u64 *)(r0 +4) = 0
1408  misaligned access off 4 size 8
1409
1410Program that correctly checks map_lookup_elem() returned value for NULL and
1411accesses memory with correct alignment in one side of 'if' branch, but fails
1412to do so in the other side of 'if' branch:
1413  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_10, -8, 0),
1414  BPF_MOV64_REG(BPF_REG_2, BPF_REG_10),
1415  BPF_ALU64_IMM(BPF_ADD, BPF_REG_2, -8),
1416  BPF_LD_MAP_FD(BPF_REG_1, 0),
1417  BPF_RAW_INSN(BPF_JMP | BPF_CALL, 0, 0, 0, BPF_FUNC_map_lookup_elem),
1418  BPF_JMP_IMM(BPF_JEQ, BPF_REG_0, 0, 2),
1419  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_0, 0, 0),
1420  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1421  BPF_ST_MEM(BPF_DW, BPF_REG_0, 0, 1),
1422  BPF_EXIT_INSN(),
1423Error:
1424  0: (7a) *(u64 *)(r10 -8) = 0
1425  1: (bf) r2 = r10
1426  2: (07) r2 += -8
1427  3: (b7) r1 = 1
1428  4: (85) call 1
1429  5: (15) if r0 == 0x0 goto pc+2
1430   R0=map_ptr R10=fp
1431  6: (7a) *(u64 *)(r0 +0) = 0
1432  7: (95) exit
1433
1434  from 5 to 8: R0=imm0 R10=fp
1435  8: (7a) *(u64 *)(r0 +0) = 1
1436  R0 invalid mem access 'imm'
1437
1438Testing
1439-------
1440
1441Next to the BPF toolchain, the kernel also ships a test module that contains
1442various test cases for classic and internal BPF that can be executed against
1443the BPF interpreter and JIT compiler. It can be found in lib/test_bpf.c and
1444enabled via Kconfig:
1445
1446  CONFIG_TEST_BPF=m
1447
1448After the module has been built and installed, the test suite can be executed
1449via insmod or modprobe against 'test_bpf' module. Results of the test cases
1450including timings in nsec can be found in the kernel log (dmesg).
1451
1452Misc
1453----
1454
1455Also trinity, the Linux syscall fuzzer, has built-in support for BPF and
1456SECCOMP-BPF kernel fuzzing.
1457
1458Written by
1459----------
1460
1461The document was written in the hope that it is found useful and in order
1462to give potential BPF hackers or security auditors a better overview of
1463the underlying architecture.
1464
1465Jay Schulist <jschlst@samba.org>
1466Daniel Borkmann <daniel@iogearbox.net>
1467Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
1468