This patch reverts commit
cb4158ce8e ("bpf: Mark raw_tp arguments with PTR_MAYBE_NULL"). The
patch was well-intended and meant to be as a stop-gap fixing branch
prediction when the pointer may actually be NULL at runtime. Eventually,
it was supposed to be replaced by an automated script or compiler pass
detecting possibly NULL arguments and marking them accordingly.
However, it caused two main issues observed for production programs and
failed to preserve backwards compatibility. First, programs relied on
the verifier not exploring == NULL branch when pointer is not NULL, thus
they started failing with a 'dereference of scalar' error. Next,
allowing raw_tp arguments to be modified surfaced the warning in the
verifier that warns against reg->off when PTR_MAYBE_NULL is set.
More information, context, and discusson on both problems is available
in [0]. Overall, this approach had several shortcomings, and the fixes
would further complicate the verifier's logic, and the entire masking
scheme would have to be removed eventually anyway.
Hence, revert the patch in preparation of a better fix avoiding these
issues to replace this commit.
[0]: https://lore.kernel.org/bpf/20241206161053.809580-1-memxor@gmail.com
Reported-by: Manu Bretelle <chantra@meta.com>
Fixes: cb4158ce8e ("bpf: Mark raw_tp arguments with PTR_MAYBE_NULL")
Signed-off-by: Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi <memxor@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20241213221929.3495062-2-memxor@gmail.com
Signed-off-by: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
c00d738e16