docs: new file pseudo_syscalls.md

Add a brief description about pseudo-syscalls and how to create new
ones.
This commit is contained in:
Ricardo Cañuelo 2020-06-10 12:16:04 +02:00 committed by Dmitry Vyukov
parent 8648bd1f6d
commit 79bb873bd7

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# Syzkaller pseudo-syscalls
Besides regular system calls, a [syscall
description](syscall_descriptions.md) file can also contain
pseudo-syscalls. These are C functions defined in the syzkaller
executor. When a syzkaller program uses a pseudo-syscall, the executor
will generate the pseudo-syscall function code in the resulting C program.
This allows a test program to have specific code blocks to perform
certain actions, they may also be used as more test-friendly wrappers
for primitive syscalls.
## How to add a pseudo-syscall to the executor
First, think about the scope of the pseudo-syscall and which systems and
subsystems it will be related to. The executor includes a fixed set of C
header files containing the code of the pseudo-syscalls. Check if the
new one can fit in one of the existing files before creating a new
one. These header files are defined in [gen.go](../pkg/csource/gen.go):
executorFilenames := []string{
"common_linux.h",
"common_akaros.h",
"common_bsd.h",
"common_fuchsia.h",
"common_windows.h",
"common_test.h",
"common_kvm_amd64.h",
"common_kvm_arm64.h",
"common_usb_linux.h",
"common_usb_netbsd.h",
"common_usb.h",
"android/android_seccomp.h",
"kvm.h",
"kvm.S.h",
}
For instance, if our new pseudo-syscall is Linux-specific, then
[common_linux.h](../executor/common_linux.h) would be the place to put it.
The actual pseudo-syscall function may look something like this:
#if SYZ_EXECUTOR || __NR_syz_mycall
/* Add all the necessary #include and #define headers */
static volatile long syz_mycall(volatile long a0, volatile long a1)
{
/* Function body */
}
#endif
Make sure that all the function requirements are met and that it can
be compiled. Note that the function name must start with "syz_". It may
also take a different number of arguments.
Now, to handle the pseudo-syscall properly we have to update the
`isSupportedSyzkall` in
[syscalls_linux.go](../pkg/host/syscalls_linux.go) and add a particular
case for this syscall, enabling it when necessary. If we want to enable
it unconditionally we can simply make `isSupportedSyzkall` return `true,
""` for it:
func isSupportedSyzkall(sandbox string, c *prog.Syscall) (bool, string) {
switch c.CallName {
...
case "syz_mycall":
return true, ""
Finally, run `make generate`. Now you can use it in a syscall
description file as if it was a regular system call:
syz_mycall(arg0 pid, arg1 const[0])