On Wed, Sep 07, 2022 at 07:40:55PM -0700, Vincent Li wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 7, 2022 at 7:35 PM Vincent Li <vincent.mc.li@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > I see some verifier log examples with error like:
> >
> > R4 invalid mem access 'inv'
> >
> > It looks like invalid mem access errors occur in two places below,
> > does it make sense to make the error message slightly different so for
> > new eBPF programmers like me to tell the first invalid mem access is
> > maybe the memory is NULL? and the second invalid mem access is because
> > the register type does not match any valid memory pointer? or this
> > won't help identifying problems and don't bother ?
> >
> > 4772 } else if (base_type(reg->type) == PTR_TO_MEM) {
> > 4773 bool rdonly_mem = type_is_rdonly_mem(reg->type);
> > 4774
> > 4775 if (type_may_be_null(reg->type)) {
> > 4776 verbose(env, "R%d invalid mem access
> > '%s'\n", regno,
> > 4777 reg_type_str(env, reg->type));
While the error you're seeing is coming from the bottom case (more on that
below), I agree hinting the user that a null check is missing may be
helpful.
> > 4778 return -EACCES;
> > 4779 }
> >
> > and
> >
> > 4924 } else {
> > 4925 verbose(env, "R%d invalid mem access '%s'\n", regno,
> > 4926 reg_type_str(env, reg->type));
> > 4927 return -EACCES;
> > 4928 }
>
> sorry I should read the code more carefully, I guess the "inv" already
> says it is invalid memory access, not NULL, right?
The "inv" actually means that the type of R4 is scalar. IIUC "inv" stands
for invariant, which is a term used in static analysis.
Since v5.18 (commit 7df5072cc05f "bpf: Small BPF verifier log improvements")
the verifier will say "scalar" instead.
