How to determine if code is running in signal-handler context?

Question

I just found out that someone is calling - from a signal handler - a definitely not async-signal-safe function that I wrote.

So, now I'm curious: how to circumvent this situation from happening again? I'd like to be able to easily determine if my code is running in signal handler context (language is C, but wouldn't the solution apply to any language?):

int myfunc( void ) {
    if( in_signal_handler_context() ) { return(-1) }
    // rest of function goes here
    return( 0 );
}

This is under Linux. Hope this isn't an easy answer, or else I'll feel like an idiot.

Answer 1

Apparently, newer Linux/x86 (probably since some 2.6.x kernel) calls signal handlers from the vdso. You could use this fact to inflict the following horrible hack upon the unsuspecting world:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <signal.h>

#include <unistd.h>

uintmax_t vdso_start = 0;
uintmax_t vdso_end = 0;             /* actually, next byte */

int check_stack_for_vdso(uint32_t *esp, size_t len)
{
    size_t i;

    for (i = 0; i < len; i++, esp++)
            if (*esp >= vdso_start && *esp < vdso_end)
                    return 1;

    return 0;
}

void handler(int signo)
{
    uint32_t *esp;

    __asm__ __volatile__ ("mov %%esp, %0" : "=r"(esp));
    /* XXX only for demonstration, don't call printf from a signal handler */
    printf("handler: check_stack_for_vdso() = %d\n", check_stack_for_vdso(esp, 20));
}

void parse_maps()
{
    FILE *maps;
    char buf[256];
    char path[7];
    uintmax_t start, end, offset, inode;
    char r, w, x, p;
    unsigned major, minor;

    maps = fopen("/proc/self/maps", "rt");
    if (maps == NULL)
            return;

    while (!feof(maps) && !ferror(maps)) {
            if (fgets(buf, 256, maps) != NULL) {
                    if (sscanf(buf, "%jx-%jx %c%c%c%c %jx %u:%u %ju %6s",
                                    &start, &end, &r, &w, &x, &p, &offset,
                                    &major, &minor, &inode, path) == 11) {
                            if (!strcmp(path, "[vdso]")) {
                                    vdso_start = start;
                                    vdso_end = end;
                                    break;
                            }
                    }
            }
    }

    fclose(maps);

    printf("[vdso] at %jx-%jx\n", vdso_start, vdso_end);
}

int main()
{
    struct sigaction sa;
    uint32_t *esp;

    parse_maps();
    memset(&sa, 0, sizeof(struct sigaction));
    sa.sa_handler = handler;
    sa.sa_flags = SA_RESTART;

    if (sigaction(SIGUSR1, &sa, NULL) < 0) {
            perror("sigaction");
            exit(1);
    }

    __asm__ __volatile__ ("mov %%esp, %0" : "=r"(esp));
    printf("before kill: check_stack_for_vdso() = %d\n", check_stack_for_vdso(esp, 20));

    kill(getpid(), SIGUSR1);

    __asm__ __volatile__ ("mov %%esp, %0" : "=r"(esp));
    printf("after kill: check_stack_for_vdso() = %d\n", check_stack_for_vdso(esp, 20));

    return 0;
}

SCNR.

Answer 2

If we can assume your application doesn't manually block signals using sigprocmask() or pthread_sigmask(), then this is pretty simple: get your current thread ID (tid). Open /proc/tid/status and get the values for SigBlk and SigCgt. AND those two values. If the result of that AND is non-zero, then that thread is currently running from inside a signal handler. I've tested this myself and it works.