Mastering Linux Kernel Development

The issue of stack overflow

Unlike user mode, the kernel mode stack lives in directly mapped memory. When a process invokes a kernel service, which may internally be deeply nested, chances are that it may overrun into immediate memory range. The worst part of it is the kernel will be oblivious to such occurrences. Kernel programmers usually engage various debug options to track stack usage and detect overruns, but these methods are not handy to prevent stack breaches on production systems. Conventional protection through the use of guard pages is also ruled out here (as it wastes an actual memory page).

Kernel programmers tend to follow coding standards--minimizing the use of local data, avoiding recursion, and avoiding deep nesting among ...