C: read filp->private_data of filepointer in kernel module - c

I'am wondering if it is possible to read the private_data of a filepointer?
Or is it really "private"?!
I am in a kernel module!
struct file *intercepted_fp;
intercepted_fp = filp_open("/dev/snd/pcmC0D0p_bak", O_RDWR, (S_IRWXU | S_IRWXG | S_IRWXO));
if (intercepted_fp == NULL) {
LOGI("Cannot open intercepted device!");
return -ENODEV;
}
mm_segment_t old_fs = get_fs();
set_fs(get_ds());
LOGI("private data: %p", intercepted_fp->private_data); // -> prints "private data: ffffffff"
LOGI("buffer: %d", ((struct snd_pcm_file*) intercepted_fp->private_data)->substream->runtime->buffer_size); // -> Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address ffffffff
set_fs(old_fs);

Of course you can. It is just a field in struct file.
It is intended to pass around data known only to a particular device driver from a file system interface.

The private_data pointer is a useful resource for preserving state information by the module across system calls. The open system call sets this pointer to NULL before calling the open method for the driver. The kernel module code needs to allocate the memory and free it.
So the memory is allocated in kernel space - not so accessible from user space, but easily accessible from kernel space. You can access it, but changing it can disturb functioning of the driver. You can find more about private_data pointer here(archive) in a great book Linux Device Drivers, 3rd Edition(archive).

Related

How do I use dma_alloc_attr() with DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING?

I want to use DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING for memory allocation. According to the kernel documentation, I have to use dma_mmap_attrs(), but it requires struct vm_area_struct as one of its argument. How can I use it?
dma_addr_t phys;
void *virt;
void *tmp_virt;
struct vm_area_struct *vma;
pr_debug("pmap: cma: request to alloc %s for size 0x%08x\n",
info->name, info->size);
if(strcmp(info->name,"video") == 0)
{
pr_debug("video allocation.....\n");
tmp_virt = dma_alloc_attrs(pmap_device, info->size, &phys, GFP_KERNEL,
DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING | DMA_ATTR_FORCE_CONTIGUOUS);
virt = dma_mmap_attrs(pmap_device, vma, tmp_virt, &phys, info->size,
DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING | DMA_ATTR_FORCE_CONTIGUOUS);
}
I am requesting memory allocation using the ioctl call from user space, and then a kernel panic occurs with a system reboot.
How do I use DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING for user space allocation using ioctl?
In my sample driver code I am declaring struct vm_area_struct *vma. Is that correct?
if you used DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING in dma_alloc_attr(), it means that you dont want virtual mapping for the allocated area. DMA_ATTR_NO_KERNEL_MAPPING only used again to mapped with user space memory, no direct api to mapped it with kernel space memory.
if user space want to mapped it virtually, below are the options.
Use dma_mmap_attr() in driver you have to used .map = map_user_space_function()
and then use dma_mmap_attr() in that function, it will mapped to user space virtual memory.
Use get_vm_area() in driver and use dma_mmap_attr() in which used the vm_area return by get_vm_area().

Access /dev/mem from Linux kernel module

I'm working on Raspberry PI (Linux rpi 3.12.28+) and I have the following C code that I can use to manipulate GPIO ports:
// IO Acces
struct bcm2835_peripheral {
unsigned long addr_p;
int mem_fd; // memory file descriptor
void *map;
volatile unsigned int *addr;
};
struct bcm2835_peripheral gpio = {0x40000000};
// Exposes the physical address defined in the passed structure using mmap on /dev/mem
int map_peripheral(struct bcm2835_peripheral *p)
{
// Open /dev/mem
if ((p->mem_fd = open("/dev/mem", O_RDWR | O_SYNC) ) < 0) {
return -1;
}
p->map = mmap(
NULL,
BLOCK_SIZE,
PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
MAP_SHARED,
p->mem_fd, // File descriptor to physical memory virtual file '/dev/mem'
p->addr_p // Address in physical map that we want this memory block to expose
);
if (p->map == MAP_FAILED) {
return -1;
}
p->addr = (volatile unsigned int *)p->map;
return 0;
}
Above code works fine for normal programs (user space). But I need to create a Linux kernel module that will do the same. The problem is that compiler doesn't recognize methods like open() or mmap(). What is an appropriate approach to convert this code to the kernel module (driver)? Are these functions available for kernel programming or should I do that in a different way? I've seen methods like syscall_open(), filp_open(), sys_mmap2() but I'm confused. I will appreciate any help.
You don't have system calls (open, close, read, write, etc..) in kernel space, instead, you'd have to use the internal interfaces provided by the modules, but seems that is not your case.
Considering you are accessing /dev/mem I suppose you are trying to read the physical memory of the RaspberyPi. From kernel space you can access it directly since there's no memory protection, but, you'd have to use phys_to_virt function to translate the addresses.
It is true that there is no need to access /dev/mem in kernel modules. Accessing memory directly using phys_to_virt is a solution to manipulate memory, but it will not work on Raspberry PI if the goal is to manipulate GPIO ports.
The solution is to access hardware registers. I have found excellent tutorial here:
Creating a Basic LED Driver for Raspberry Pi

delayed write from userspace to kernel space using framebuffer node

I have implemented a linux kernel driver which uses deferred IO mechanism to track the changes in framebuffer node.
static struct fb_deferred_io fb_defio = {
.delay = HZ/2,
.deferred_io = fb_dpy_deferred_io,
};
Per say the registered framebuffer node is /dev/graphics/fb1.
The sample application code to access this node is:
fbfd = open("/dev/graphics/fb1", O_RDWR);
if (!fbfd) {
printf("error\n");
exit(0);
}
screensize = 540*960*4;
/* Map the device to memory */
fbp = (unsigned char *)mmap(0, screensize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE, MAP_SHARED,
fbfd, 0);
if ((int)fbp == -1) {
printf("Error: failed to start framebuffer device to memory.");
}
int grey = 0x1;
for(cnt = 0; cnt < screensize; cnt++)
*(fbp + cnt) = grey<<4|grey;
This would fill up entire fb1 node with 1's.
The issue now is at the kernel driver when i try to read the entire buffer I find data mismatch at different locations.
The buffer in kernel is mapped as:
par->buffer = dma_alloc_coherent(dev, roundup((dpyw*dpyh*BPP/8), PAGE_SIZE),(dma_addr_t *) &DmaPhysBuf, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!par->buffer) {
printk(KERN_WARNING "probe: dma_alloc_coherent failed.\n");
goto err_vfree;
}
and finally the buffer is registered through register_framebuffer function.
On reading the source buffer I find that at random locations the data is not been written instead the old data is reflected.
For example:
At buffer location 3964 i was expecting 11111111 but i found FF00FF00.
On running the same application program with value of grey changed to 22222222
At buffer location 3964 i was expecting 22222222 but i found 11111111
It looks like there is some delayed write in the buffer. Is there any solution to this effect, because of partially wrong data my image is getting corrupted.
Please let me know if any more information is required.
Note: Looks like an issue of mapped buffer being cacheable or not. Its a lazy write to copy the data from cache to ram. Need to make sure that the data is copied properly but how still no idea.. :-(
"Deferred io" means that frame buffer memory is not really mapped to a display device. Rather, it's an ordinary memory area shared between user process and kernel driver. Thus it needs to be "synced" for kernel to actually do anything about it:
msync(fbp, screensize, MS_SYNC);
Calling fsync(fbfd) may also work.
You may also try calling ioctl(fbfd, FBIO_WAITFORVSYNC, 0) if your driver supports it. The call will make your application wait until vsync happens and the frame buffer data was definitely transferred to the device.
I was having a similar issue where I was having random artifacts displaying on the screen. Originally, the framebuffer driver was not using dma at all.
I tried the suggestion of using msync(), which improved the situation (artifacts happened less frequently), but it did not completely solve the issue.
After doing some research I came to the conclusion that I need to use dma memory because it is not cached. There is still the issue with mmap because it is mapping the kernel memory to userspace. However, I found that there is already a function in the kernel to handle this.
So, my solution was in my framebuffer driver, set the mmap function:
static int my_fb_mmap(struct fb_info *info, struct vm_area_struct *vma)
{
return dma_mmap_coherent(info->dev, vma, info->screen_base,
info->fix.smem_start, info->fix.smem_len);
}
static struct fb_ops my_fb_ops = {
...
.fb_mmap = my_fb_mmap,
};
And then in the probe function:
struct fb_info *info;
struct my_fb_par *par;
dma_addr_t dma_addr;
char *buf
info = framebuffer_alloc(sizeof(struct my_fb_par), &my_parent->dev);
...
buf = dma_alloc_coherent(info->dev, MY_FB_SIZE, dma_addr, GFP_KERNEL);
...
info->screen_base = buf;
info->fbops = &my_fb_ops;
info->fix = my_fb_fix;
info->fix.smem_start = dma_addr;
info->fix.smem_len = MY_FB_SIZE;
...
par = info->par
...
par->buffer = buf;
Obviously, I've left out the error checking and unwinding, but hopefully I have touched on all of the important parts.
Note: Comments in the kernel source say that dmac_flush_range() is for private use only.
Well eventually i found a better way to solve the issue. The data written through app at mmaped device node is first written in cache which is later written in RAM through delayed write policy. In order to make sure that the data is flushed properly we need to call the flush function in kernel. I used
dmac_flush_range((void *)pSrc, (void *)pSrc + bufSize);
to flush the data completely so that the kernel receives a clean data.

Linux is not allowing me to access a fixed region of memory

I have some data stored in a FLASH memory that I need to access with C pointers to be able to make a non-Linux graphics driver work (I think this requirement is DMA related, not sure). Calling read works, but I don't want to have intermediate RAM buffers between the FLASH and the non-Linux driver.
However, just creating a pointer and storing the address that I want on it is making Linux emit an exception about invalid access on me.
void *ptr = 0xdeadbeef;
int a = *ptr; // invalid access!
What am I missing here? And could someone point me to a material to make this concepts clear for me?
I'm reading about mmap but I'm not sure that this is what I need.
The problem you have is that linux runs your program in a virtual address space. So every address you use directly in the code (like 0xdeadbeef) is a virtual address that gets translated by the memory management unit into a physical address which is not necessarily the same as your virtual address. This allows easy separation of multiple independent processes and other stuff like paging, etc.
The problem is now, that in your case no physical address is mapped to the virtual address 0xdeadbeef causing the kernel to abort execution.
The call mmap you already found asks the kernel to assign a specific file (from a specific offset) to a virtual address of your process. Note that the returning address of mmap could be a completely different address. So don't make any assumptions about the virtual address you get.
Therefore there are examples with mmap and /dev/mem out there where the offset for the memory device is the physical address. After the kernel was able to assign the file from the offset you gave to a virtual address of your process you can access the memory area asif it were a direct access.
After you don't need the area anymore don't forget to munmap the area. Otherwise you'll cause something similar to a memory leak.
One problem with the /dev/mem method is that the user running the process needs access to this device. This could introduce a security issue (e.g. Samsung recently introduced such a security hole in their hand held devices)
A more secure way is the way described in a article i found (The Userspace I/O HOWTO) as you still have control about the memory areas accessable by the user's process.
You need to access the memory differently. Basically you need to open /dev/mem and use mmap(). (as you suggested). Simple example:
int openMem(unsigned int address, unsigned int size)
{
int mmapFD;
int page_size;
unsigned int page_start_address;
/* Minimum page size for the mmapped region. */
mask = size - 1;
/* Get the page size. */
page_size = (int) sysconf(_SC_PAGE_SIZE);
/* We have to map shared memory to beginning of memory page so adjust
* memory address accordingly. */
page_start_address = address - (address % page_size);
/* Open the file that will be mapped. */
if((mmapFD = open("/dev/mem", (O_RDWR | O_SYNC))) == -1)
{
printf("Opening shared memory device failed\n");
return -1;
}
mmap_base_address = mmap(0, size, (PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE), MAP_SHARED, mmapFD, (off_t)page_start_address & ~mask);
if(mmap_base_address == MAP_FAILED)
{
printf("Mapping memory failed\n");
return -1;
}
return 0;
}
unsigned int *getAddress(unsigned int address)
{
unsigned int log_address;
log_address = (int)((off_t)mmap_base_address + ((off_t)address & mask));
return (unsigned int*)log_address;
}
...
result = openMem(address, 0x10000);
if (result < 0)
return result;
target_address = getValue(address);
*(unsigned int*)target_address = value;
This would set "value" to "address".
You need to call ioremap - something like:
void *myaddr = ioremap(0xdeadbeef, size);
where size is the size of your memory region. You probably want to use a page-aligned address for the first argument, e.g. 0xdeadb000 - but I expect your actual device isn't at "0xdeadbeef" anyways.
Edit: The call to ioremap must be done from a driver!

How to get a specific memory address using C

For my bachelor thesis i want to visualize the data remanence of memory and how it persists after rebooting a system.
I had the simple idea to mmap a picture to memory, shut down my computer, wait x seconds, boot the computer and see if the picture is still there.
int mmap_lena(void)
{
FILE *fd = NULL;
size_t lena_size;
void *addr = NULL;
fd = fopen("lena.png", "r");
fseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
lena_size = ftell(fd);
addr = mmap((void *) 0x12345678, (size_t) lena_size, (int) PROT_READ, (int) MAP_SHARED, (int) fileno(fd), (off_t) 0);
fprintf(stdout, "Addr = %p\n", addr);
munmap((void *) addr, (size_t) lena_size);
fclose(fd);
fclose(fd_log);
return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}
I ommitted checking return values for clarities sake.
So after the mmap i tried to somehow get the address, but i usually end up with a segmentation fault as to my understanding the memory is protected by my operating system.
int fetch_lena(void)
{
FILE *fd = NULL;
FILE *fd_out = NULL;
size_t lenna_size;
FILE *addr = (FILE *) 0x12346000;
fd = fopen("lena.png", "r");
fd_out = fopen("lena_out.png", "rw");
fseek(fd, 0, SEEK_END);
lenna_size = ftell(fd);
// Segfault
fwrite((FILE *) addr, (size_t) 1, (size_t) lenna_size, (FILE *) fd_out);
fclose(fd);
fclose(fd_out);
return 0;
}
Please also note that i hard coded the adresses in this example, so whenever you run mmap_lena the value i use in fetch_lena could be wrong as the operating system takes the first parameter to mmap only as a hint (on my system it always defaults to 0x12346000 somehow).
If there is any trivial coding error i am sorry as my C skills have not fully developed.
I would like to now if there is any way to get to the data i want without implementing any malloc hooks or memory allocator hacks.
Thanks in advance,
David
One issue you have is that you are getting back a virtual address, not the physical address where the memory resides. Next time you boot, the mapping probably won't be the same.
This can definitly be done within a kernel module in Linux, but I don't think there is any sort of API in userspace you can use.
If you have permission ( and I assume you could be root on this machine if you are rebooting it ), then you can peek at /dev/mem to see the actual phyiscal layout. Maybe you should try sampling values, reboot, and see how many of those values persisted.
There is a similar project where a cold boot attack is demonstrated. The source code is available, maybe you can get some inspiration there.
However, AFAIR they read out the memory without loading an OS first and therefore do not have to mess with the OSs memory protection. Maybe you should try this too to avoid memory being overwritten or cleared by the OS after boot.
(Also check the video on the site, it's pretty impressive ;)
In the question Direct Memory Access in Linux we worked out most of the fundamentals needed to accomplish this. Note, mmap() is not the answer to this for exactly the reasons that were stated by others .. you need a real address, not virtual, which you can only get inside the kernel (or by writing a driver to relay one to userspace).
The simplest method would be to write a character device driver that can be read or written to, with an ioctl to give you a valid start or ending address. Again, if you want pointers on the memory management functions to use in the kernel, see the question that I've linked to .. most of it was worked out in the comments in the first (and accepted) answer.
Your test code looks odd
FILE *addr = (FILE *) 0x12346000;
fwrite((FILE *) fd_out, (size_t) 1,
(size_t) lenna_size, (FILE *) addr);
You can't just cast an integer to a FILE pointer and expect to get something sane.
Did you also switch the first and last argument to fwrite ? The last argument is supposed to be the FILE* to write to.
You probably want as little OS as possible for this purpose; the more software you load, the more chances of overwriting something you want to examine.
DOS might be a good bet; it uses < 640k of memory. If you don't load HIMEM and instead write your own (assembly required) routine to jump into pmode, copy a block of high memory into low memory, then jump back into real mode, you could write a mostly-real-mode program which can dump out the physical ram (minus however much the BIOS, DOS and your app use). It could dump it to a flash disc or something.
Of course the real problem may be that the BIOS clears the memory during POST.
I'm not familiar with Linux, but you'll likely need to write a device driver. Device drivers must have some way to convert virtual memory addresses to physical memory addresses for DMA purposes (DMA controllers only deal with physical memory addresses). You should be able to use those interfaces to deal directly with physical memory.
I don't say it's the lowest effort, but for completeness sake,
You can Compile a MMU-less Linux Kernel
And then you can have a blast as all addresses are real.
Note 1: You might still get errors if you access few hardware/bios mapped address spaces.
Note 2: You don't access memory using files in this case, you just assign an address to a pointer and read it's content.
int* pStart = (int*)0x600000;
int* pEnd = (int*)0x800000;
for(int* p = pStart; p < pEnd; ++p)
{
// do what you want with *p
}

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