Documentation/fault-injection/provoke-crashes.rst

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Documentation/fault-injection/provoke-crashes.rst
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.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0

============================================================
Provoking crashes with Linux Kernel Dump Test Module (LKDTM)
============================================================

The lkdtm module provides an interface to disrupt (and usually crash)
the kernel at predefined code locations to evaluate the reliability of
the kernel's exception handling and to test crash dumps obtained using
different dumping solutions. The module uses KPROBEs to instrument the
trigger location, but can also trigger the kernel directly without KPROBE
support via debugfs.

You can select the location of the trigger ("crash point name") and the
type of action ("crash point type") either through module arguments when
inserting the module, or through the debugfs interface.

Usage::

	insmod lkdtm.ko [recur_count={>0}] cpoint_name=<> cpoint_type=<>
			[cpoint_count={>0}]

recur_count
	Recursion level for the stack overflow test. By default this is
	dynamically calculated based on kernel configuration, with the
	goal of being just large enough to exhaust the kernel stack. The
	value can be seen at `/sys/module/lkdtm/parameters/recur_count`.

cpoint_name
	Where in the kernel to trigger the action. It can be
	one of INT_HARDWARE_ENTRY, INT_HW_IRQ_EN, INT_TASKLET_ENTRY,
	FS_SUBMIT_BH, MEM_SWAPOUT, TIMERADD, SCSI_QUEUE_RQ, or DIRECT.

cpoint_type
	Indicates the action to be taken on hitting the crash point.
	These are numerous, and best queried directly from debugfs. Some
	of the common ones are PANIC, BUG, EXCEPTION, LOOP, and OVERFLOW.
	See the contents of `/sys/kernel/debug/provoke-crash/DIRECT` for
	a complete list.

cpoint_count
	Indicates the number of times the crash point is to be hit
	before triggering the action. The default is 10 (except for
	DIRECT, which always fires immediately).

You can also induce failures by mounting debugfs and writing the type to
<debugfs>/provoke-crash/<crashpoint>. E.g.::

  mount -t debugfs debugfs /sys/kernel/debug
  echo EXCEPTION > /sys/kernel/debug/provoke-crash/INT_HARDWARE_ENTRY

The special file `DIRECT` will induce the action directly without KPROBE
instrumentation. This mode is the only one available when the module is
built for a kernel without KPROBEs support::

  # Instead of having a BUG kill your shell, have it kill "cat":
  cat <(echo WRITE_RO) >/sys/kernel/debug/provoke-crash/DIRECT

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Implementation Notes