[ipxe-devel] [PATCH 1/1] [efi] Run at TPL_CALLBACK to protect against UEFI timers

Heinrich Schuchardt xypron.glpk at gmx.de
Sat Mar 24 16:24:45 UTC 2018


On 03/24/2018 05:16 PM, Heinrich Schuchardt wrote:
> As noted in the comments, UEFI manages to combines the all of the
> worst aspects of both a polling design (inefficiency and inability to
> sleep until something interesting happens) and of an interrupt-driven
> design (the complexity of code that could be preempted at any time,
> thanks to UEFI timers).
> 
> This causes problems in particular for UEFI USB keyboards: the
> keyboard driver calls UsbAsyncInterruptTransfer() to set up a periodic
> timer which is used to poll the USB bus.  This poll may interrupt a
> critical section within iPXE, typically resulting in list corruption
> and either a hang or reboot.
> 
> Work around this problem by mirroring the BIOS design, in which we run
> with interrupts disabled almost all of the time.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Michael Brown <mcb30 at ipxe.org>

Unfortunately with this patch you broke booting from iSCSI with U-Boot.

Up to now U-Boot was using a timer event running at level TPL_CALLBACK
to poll the network card. Of cause this timer can be changed to run at
TPL_NOTIFY.

But, please, do not raise the TPL level for the iPXE application any
further.

Best regards

Heinrich Schuchardt

> ---
>  src/interface/efi/efi_snp.c   | 12 +++++++++++
>  src/interface/efi/efi_timer.c | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------
>  src/interface/efi/efi_usb.c   | 48 ++-----------------------------------------
>  3 files changed, 49 insertions(+), 52 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/src/interface/efi/efi_snp.c b/src/interface/efi/efi_snp.c
> index 263a25ac..88d999bf 100644
> --- a/src/interface/efi/efi_snp.c
> +++ b/src/interface/efi/efi_snp.c
> @@ -45,6 +45,9 @@ static LIST_HEAD ( efi_snp_devices );
>  /** Network devices are currently claimed for use by iPXE */
>  static int efi_snp_claimed;
>  
> +/** TPL prior to network devices being claimed */
> +static EFI_TPL efi_snp_old_tpl;
> +
>  /* Downgrade user experience if configured to do so
>   *
>   * The default UEFI user experience for network boot is somewhat
> @@ -1895,8 +1898,13 @@ struct efi_snp_device * last_opened_snpdev ( void ) {
>   * @v delta		Claim count change
>   */
>  void efi_snp_add_claim ( int delta ) {
> +	EFI_BOOT_SERVICES *bs = efi_systab->BootServices;
>  	struct efi_snp_device *snpdev;
>  
> +	/* Raise TPL if we are about to claim devices */
> +	if ( ! efi_snp_claimed )
> +		efi_snp_old_tpl = bs->RaiseTPL ( TPL_CALLBACK );
> +
>  	/* Claim SNP devices */
>  	efi_snp_claimed += delta;
>  	assert ( efi_snp_claimed >= 0 );
> @@ -1904,4 +1912,8 @@ void efi_snp_add_claim ( int delta ) {
>  	/* Update SNP mode state for each interface */
>  	list_for_each_entry ( snpdev, &efi_snp_devices, list )
>  		efi_snp_set_state ( snpdev );
> +
> +	/* Restore TPL if we have released devices */
> +	if ( ! efi_snp_claimed )
> +		bs->RestoreTPL ( efi_snp_old_tpl );
>  }
> diff --git a/src/interface/efi/efi_timer.c b/src/interface/efi/efi_timer.c
> index 0ffe2a1a..8fe307ce 100644
> --- a/src/interface/efi/efi_timer.c
> +++ b/src/interface/efi/efi_timer.c
> @@ -76,11 +76,36 @@ static void efi_udelay ( unsigned long usecs ) {
>   * @ret ticks		Current time, in ticks
>   */
>  static unsigned long efi_currticks ( void ) {
> +	EFI_BOOT_SERVICES *bs = efi_systab->BootServices;
>  
> -	/* EFI provides no clean way for device drivers to shut down
> -	 * in preparation for handover to a booted operating system.
> -	 * The platform firmware simply doesn't bother to call the
> -	 * drivers' Stop() methods.  Instead, drivers must register an
> +	/* UEFI manages to ingeniously combine the worst aspects of
> +	 * both polling and interrupt-driven designs.  There is no way
> +	 * to support proper interrupt-driven operation, since there
> +	 * is no way to hook in an interrupt service routine.  A
> +	 * mockery of interrupts is provided by UEFI timers, which
> +	 * trigger at a preset rate and can fire at any time.
> +	 *
> +	 * We therefore have all of the downsides of a polling design
> +	 * (inefficiency and inability to sleep until something
> +	 * interesting happens) combined with all of the downsides of
> +	 * an interrupt-driven design (the complexity of code that
> +	 * could be preempted at any time).
> +	 *
> +	 * The UEFI specification expects us to litter the entire
> +	 * codebase with calls to RaiseTPL() as needed for sections of
> +	 * code that are not reentrant.  Since this doesn't actually
> +	 * gain us any substantive benefits (since even with such
> +	 * calls we would still be suffering from the limitations of a
> +	 * polling design), we instead choose to run at TPL_CALLBACK
> +	 * almost all of the time, dropping to TPL_APPLICATION to
> +	 * allow timer ticks to occur.
> +	 *
> +	 *
> +	 * For added excitement, UEFI provides no clean way for device
> +	 * drivers to shut down in preparation for handover to a
> +	 * booted operating system.  The platform firmware simply
> +	 * doesn't bother to call the drivers' Stop() methods.
> +	 * Instead, all non-trivial drivers must register an
>  	 * EVT_SIGNAL_EXIT_BOOT_SERVICES event to be signalled when
>  	 * ExitBootServices() is called, and clean up without any
>  	 * reference to the EFI driver model.
> @@ -97,10 +122,14 @@ static unsigned long efi_currticks ( void ) {
>  	 * the API lazily assumes that the host system continues to
>  	 * travel through time in the usual direction.  Work around
>  	 * EFI's violation of this assumption by falling back to a
> -	 * simple free-running monotonic counter.
> +	 * simple free-running monotonic counter during shutdown.
>  	 */
> -	if ( efi_shutdown_in_progress )
> +	if ( efi_shutdown_in_progress ) {
>  		efi_jiffies++;
> +	} else {
> +		bs->RestoreTPL ( TPL_APPLICATION );
> +		bs->RaiseTPL ( TPL_CALLBACK );
> +	}
>  
>  	return ( efi_jiffies * ( TICKS_PER_SEC / EFI_JIFFIES_PER_SEC ) );
>  }
> diff --git a/src/interface/efi/efi_usb.c b/src/interface/efi/efi_usb.c
> index db8c3d34..f9c91d09 100644
> --- a/src/interface/efi/efi_usb.c
> +++ b/src/interface/efi/efi_usb.c
> @@ -64,50 +64,6 @@ static const char * efi_usb_direction_name ( EFI_USB_DATA_DIRECTION direction ){
>   ******************************************************************************
>   */
>  
> -/**
> - * Poll USB bus
> - *
> - * @v usbdev		EFI USB device
> - */
> -static void efi_usb_poll ( struct efi_usb_device *usbdev ) {
> -	EFI_BOOT_SERVICES *bs = efi_systab->BootServices;
> -	struct usb_bus *bus = usbdev->usb->port->hub->bus;
> -	EFI_TPL tpl;
> -
> -	/* UEFI manages to ingeniously combine the worst aspects of
> -	 * both polling and interrupt-driven designs.  There is no way
> -	 * to support proper interrupt-driven operation, since there
> -	 * is no way to hook in an interrupt service routine.  A
> -	 * mockery of interrupts is provided by UEFI timers, which
> -	 * trigger at a preset rate and can fire at any time.
> -	 *
> -	 * We therefore have all of the downsides of a polling design
> -	 * (inefficiency and inability to sleep until something
> -	 * interesting happens) combined with all of the downsides of
> -	 * an interrupt-driven design (the complexity of code that
> -	 * could be preempted at any time).
> -	 *
> -	 * The UEFI specification expects us to litter the entire
> -	 * codebase with calls to RaiseTPL() as needed for sections of
> -	 * code that are not reentrant.  Since this doesn't actually
> -	 * gain us any substantive benefits (since even with such
> -	 * calls we would still be suffering from the limitations of a
> -	 * polling design), we instead choose to wrap only calls to
> -	 * usb_poll().  This should be sufficient for most practical
> -	 * purposes.
> -	 *
> -	 * A "proper" solution would involve rearchitecting the whole
> -	 * codebase to support interrupt-driven operation.
> -	 */
> -	tpl = bs->RaiseTPL ( TPL_NOTIFY );
> -
> -	/* Poll bus */
> -	usb_poll ( bus );
> -
> -	/* Restore task priority level */
> -	bs->RestoreTPL ( tpl );
> -}
> -
>  /**
>   * Poll USB bus (from endpoint event timer)
>   *
> @@ -216,7 +172,7 @@ static int efi_usb_open ( struct efi_usb_interface *usbintf,
>  
>  	/* Create event */
>  	if ( ( efirc = bs->CreateEvent ( ( EVT_TIMER | EVT_NOTIFY_SIGNAL ),
> -					 TPL_NOTIFY, efi_usb_timer, usbep,
> +					 TPL_CALLBACK, efi_usb_timer, usbep,
>  					 &usbep->event ) ) != 0 ) {
>  		rc = -EEFI ( efirc );
>  		DBGC ( usbdev, "USBDEV %s %s could not create event: %s\n",
> @@ -363,7 +319,7 @@ static int efi_usb_sync_transfer ( struct efi_usb_interface *usbintf,
>  	for ( i = 0 ; ( ( timeout == 0 ) || ( i < timeout ) ) ; i++ ) {
>  
>  		/* Poll bus */
> -		efi_usb_poll ( usbdev );
> +		usb_poll ( usbdev->usb->port->hub->bus );
>  
>  		/* Check for completion */
>  		if ( usbep->rc != -EINPROGRESS ) {
> 




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