On Mon, Sep 7, 2015 at 12:30 PM, Maciej W. Rozycki <ma...@linux-mips.org> wrote: > On Mon, 7 Sep 2015, Andy Lutomirski wrote: > >> > These are all implementation-specific details, including the INT1 >> > instruction, which is why I am not at all surprised that they are omitted >> > from architecture manuals. >> >> That bit is BS, though. The INT1 instruction, executed in user mode >> (CPL3) with no hardware debugger attached, will enter the kernel >> through a gate at vector 1, *even if that gate has DPL == 0*. >> >> If there's an instruction that bypasses hardware protection >> mechanisms, then Intel should document it rather than relying on OS >> writers to know enough folklore to get it right. >> >> Heck, SDM Volume 3 6.12.1.1 says "The processor checks the DPL of the >> interrupt or trap gate only if an exception or interrupt is generated >> with an INT n, INT 3, or INTO instruction." It does not say "the >> processor does not check the DPL of the interrupt or trap gate if the >> exception or interrupt is generated with the undocumented ICEBP >> instruction." > > It does not have to be mentioned, because it's implied by how the #DB > exception is propagated: regardless of its origin it never checks the DPL. > And user-mode software may well use POPF at any time to set the TF bit in > the flags register to the same effect, so the OS needs to be prepared for > a #DB exception it hasn't scheduled itself anyway.
Not really. int $1 checks DPL. Setting TF results in saved TF set and the corresponding bit in DR6 set as well. Triggering a #DB using the debug registers requires active OS help. So operating systems need to handle a #DB without no indicated cause without spewing warnings or crashing, and there is no indication whatsoever in the SDM or APM that this is the case. --Andy -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majord...@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/