Question

i’m trying to navigate the page tables for a process in linux. In a kernel module i realized the following function:

static struct page *walk_page_table(unsigned long addr)
{
    pgd_t *pgd;
    pte_t *ptep, pte;
    pud_t *pud;
    pmd_t *pmd;

    struct page *page = NULL;
    struct mm_struct *mm = current->mm;

    pgd = pgd_offset(mm, addr);
    if (pgd_none(*pgd) || pgd_bad(*pgd))
        goto out;
    printk(KERN_NOTICE "Valid pgd");

    pud = pud_offset(pgd, addr);
    if (pud_none(*pud) || pud_bad(*pud))
        goto out;
    printk(KERN_NOTICE "Valid pud");

    pmd = pmd_offset(pud, addr);
    if (pmd_none(*pmd) || pmd_bad(*pmd))
        goto out;
    printk(KERN_NOTICE "Valid pmd");

    ptep = pte_offset_map(pmd, addr);
    if (!ptep)
        goto out;
    pte = *ptep;

    page = pte_page(pte);
    if (page)
        printk(KERN_INFO "page frame struct is @ %p", page);

 out:
    return page;
}

This function is called from the ioctl and addr is a virtual address in process address space:

static int my_ioctl(struct inode *inode, struct file *filp, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long addr)
{
   struct page *page = walk_page_table(addr);
   ...
   return 0;
}

The strange thing is that calling ioctl in a user space process, this segfaults…but it seems that the way i’m looking for the page table entry is correct because with dmesg i obtain for example for each ioctl call:

[ 1721.437104] Valid pgd
[ 1721.437108] Valid pud
[ 1721.437108] Valid pmd
[ 1721.437110] page frame struct is @ c17d9b80

So why the process can’t complete correcly the `ioctl’ call? Maybe i have to lock something before navigating the page tables?

I’m working with kernel 2.6.35-22 and three levels page tables.

Thank you all!

Answer 1

pte_unmap(ptep); 

is missing just before the label out. Try to change the code in this way:

    ...
    page = pte_page(pte);
    if (page)
        printk(KERN_INFO "page frame struct is @ %p", page);

    pte_unmap(ptep); 

out: