With latest llvm compiler, running test_progs will have the following verifier failure for test_sysctl_loop1.o: libbpf: load bpf program failed: Permission denied libbpf: -- BEGIN DUMP LOG --- libbpf: invalid indirect read from stack var_off (0x0; 0xff)+196 size 7 ... libbpf: -- END LOG -- libbpf: failed to load program 'cgroup/sysctl' libbpf: failed to load object 'test_sysctl_loop1.o' The related bytecodes look below: 0000000000000308 LBB0_8: 97: r4 = r10 98: r4 += -288 99: r4 += r7 100: w8 &= 255 101: r1 = r10 102: r1 += -488 103: r1 += r8 104: r2 = 7 105: r3 = 0 106: call 106 107: w1 = w0 108: w1 += -1 109: if w1 > 6 goto -24 <LBB0_5> 110: w0 += w8 111: r7 += 8 112: w8 = w0 113: if r7 != 224 goto -17 <LBB0_8> and source code: for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(tcp_mem); ++i) { ret = bpf_strtoul(value + off, MAX_ULONG_STR_LEN, 0, tcp_mem + i); if (ret <= 0 || ret > MAX_ULONG_STR_LEN) return 0; off += ret & MAX_ULONG_STR_LEN; } Current verifier is not able to conclude register w8 at insn 110 has a range of 1 to 7, which caused later verifier complaint. Let us workaound this issue until we found a compiler and/or verifier solution. The workaround in this patch is to make variable 'ret' volatile, which will force a reload and then '&' operation to ensure better value range. With this patch, I got: #3/17 test_sysctl_loop1.o:OK Signed-off-by: Yonghong Song <yhs@xxxxxx> --- tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_sysctl_loop1.c | 5 ++++- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_sysctl_loop1.c b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_sysctl_loop1.c index 608a06871572..d22e438198cf 100644 --- a/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_sysctl_loop1.c +++ b/tools/testing/selftests/bpf/progs/test_sysctl_loop1.c @@ -44,7 +44,10 @@ int sysctl_tcp_mem(struct bpf_sysctl *ctx) unsigned long tcp_mem[TCP_MEM_LOOPS] = {}; char value[MAX_VALUE_STR_LEN]; unsigned char i, off = 0; - int ret; + /* a workaround to prevent compiler from generating + * codes verifier cannot handle yet. + */ + volatile int ret; if (ctx->write) return 0; -- 2.17.1