1 eBPF Instruction Set Specification, v1.0

This document specifies version 1.0 of the eBPF instruction set.

1.1 Documentation conventions

For brevity, this document uses the type notion "u64", "u32", etc. to mean an unsigned integer whose width is the specified number of bits, and "s32", etc. to mean a signed integer of the specified number of bits.

1.2 Registers and calling convention

eBPF has 10 general purpose registers and a read-only frame pointer register, all of which are 64-bits wide.

The eBPF calling convention is defined as:

  • R0: return value from function calls, and exit value for eBPF programs

  • R1 - R5: arguments for function calls

  • R6 - R9: callee saved registers that function calls will preserve

  • R10: read-only frame pointer to access stack

R0 - R5 are scratch registers and eBPF programs needs to spill/fill them if necessary across calls.

1.3 Instruction encoding

eBPF has two instruction encodings:

  • the basic instruction encoding, which uses 64 bits to encode an instruction

  • the wide instruction encoding, which appends a second 64-bit immediate (i.e., constant) value after the basic instruction for a total of 128 bits.

The fields conforming an encoded basic instruction are stored in the following order:

opcode:8 src_reg:4 dst_reg:4 offset:16 imm:32 // In little-endian BPF.
opcode:8 dst_reg:4 src_reg:4 offset:16 imm:32 // In big-endian BPF.
imm

signed integer immediate value

offset

signed integer offset used with pointer arithmetic

src_reg

the source register number (0-10), except where otherwise specified (64-bit immediate instructions reuse this field for other purposes)

dst_reg

destination register number (0-10)

opcode

operation to perform

Note that the contents of multi-byte fields ('imm' and 'offset') are stored using big-endian byte ordering in big-endian BPF and little-endian byte ordering in little-endian BPF.

For example:

opcode                  offset imm          assembly
       src_reg dst_reg
07     0       1        00 00  44 33 22 11  r1 += 0x11223344 // little
       dst_reg src_reg
07     1       0        00 00  11 22 33 44  r1 += 0x11223344 // big

Note that most instructions do not use all of the fields. Unused fields shall be cleared to zero.

As discussed below in 64-bit immediate instructions, a 64-bit immediate instruction uses a 64-bit immediate value that is constructed as follows. The 64 bits following the basic instruction contain a pseudo instruction using the same format but with opcode, dst_reg, src_reg, and offset all set to zero, and imm containing the high 32 bits of the immediate value.

This is depicted in the following figure:

      basic_instruction
.-----------------------------.
|                             |
code:8 regs:8 offset:16 imm:32 unused:32 imm:32
                               |              |
                               '--------------'
                              pseudo instruction

Thus the 64-bit immediate value is constructed as follows:

imm64 = (next_imm << 32) | imm

where 'next_imm' refers to the imm value of the pseudo instruction following the basic instruction. The unused bytes in the pseudo instruction are reserved and shall be cleared to zero.

1.3.1 Instruction classes

The three LSB bits of the 'opcode' field store the instruction class:

class

value

description

reference

BPF_LD

0x00

non-standard load operations

Load and store instructions

BPF_LDX

0x01

load into register operations

Load and store instructions

BPF_ST

0x02

store from immediate operations

Load and store instructions

BPF_STX

0x03

store from register operations

Load and store instructions

BPF_ALU

0x04

32-bit arithmetic operations

Arithmetic and jump instructions

BPF_JMP

0x05

64-bit jump operations

Arithmetic and jump instructions

BPF_JMP32

0x06

32-bit jump operations

Arithmetic and jump instructions

BPF_ALU64

0x07

64-bit arithmetic operations

Arithmetic and jump instructions

1.4 Arithmetic and jump instructions

For arithmetic and jump instructions (BPF_ALU, BPF_ALU64, BPF_JMP and BPF_JMP32), the 8-bit 'opcode' field is divided into three parts:

4 bits (MSB)

1 bit

3 bits (LSB)

code

source

instruction class

code

the operation code, whose meaning varies by instruction class

source

the source operand location, which unless otherwise specified is one of:

source

value

description

BPF_K

0x00

use 32-bit 'imm' value as source operand

BPF_X

0x08

use 'src_reg' register value as source operand

instruction class

the instruction class (see Instruction classes)

1.4.1 Arithmetic instructions

BPF_ALU uses 32-bit wide operands while BPF_ALU64 uses 64-bit wide operands for otherwise identical operations. The 'code' field encodes the operation as below, where 'src' and 'dst' refer to the values of the source and destination registers, respectively.

code

value

description

BPF_ADD

0x00

dst += src

BPF_SUB

0x10

dst -= src

BPF_MUL

0x20

dst *= src

BPF_DIV

0x30

dst = (src != 0) ? (dst / src) : 0

BPF_OR

0x40

dst |= src

BPF_AND

0x50

dst &= src

BPF_LSH

0x60

dst <<= src

BPF_RSH

0x70

dst >>= src

BPF_NEG

0x80

dst = ~src

BPF_MOD

0x90

dst = (src != 0) ? (dst % src) : dst

BPF_XOR

0xa0

dst ^= src

BPF_MOV

0xb0

dst = src

BPF_ARSH

0xc0

sign extending shift right

BPF_END

0xd0

byte swap operations (see Byte swap instructions below)

Underflow and overflow are allowed during arithmetic operations, meaning the 64-bit or 32-bit value will wrap. If eBPF program execution would result in division by zero, the destination register is instead set to zero. If execution would result in modulo by zero, for BPF_ALU64 the value of the destination register is unchanged whereas for BPF_ALU the upper 32 bits of the destination register are zeroed.

BPF_ADD | BPF_X | BPF_ALU means:

dst = (u32) ((u32) dst + (u32) src)

where '(u32)' indicates that the upper 32 bits are zeroed.

BPF_ADD | BPF_X | BPF_ALU64 means:

dst = dst + src

BPF_XOR | BPF_K | BPF_ALU means:

dst = (u32) dst ^ (u32) imm32

BPF_XOR | BPF_K | BPF_ALU64 means:

dst = dst ^ imm32

Also note that the division and modulo operations are unsigned. Thus, for BPF_ALU, 'imm' is first interpreted as an unsigned 32-bit value, whereas for BPF_ALU64, 'imm' is first sign extended to 64 bits and the result interpreted as an unsigned 64-bit value. There are no instructions for signed division or modulo.

1.4.1.1 Byte swap instructions

The byte swap instructions use an instruction class of BPF_ALU and a 4-bit 'code' field of BPF_END.

The byte swap instructions operate on the destination register only and do not use a separate source register or immediate value.

The 1-bit source operand field in the opcode is used to select what byte order the operation convert from or to:

source

value

description

BPF_TO_LE

0x00

convert between host byte order and little endian

BPF_TO_BE

0x08

convert between host byte order and big endian

The 'imm' field encodes the width of the swap operations. The following widths are supported: 16, 32 and 64.

Examples:

BPF_ALU | BPF_TO_LE | BPF_END with imm = 16 means:

dst = htole16(dst)

BPF_ALU | BPF_TO_BE | BPF_END with imm = 64 means:

dst = htobe64(dst)

1.4.2 Jump instructions

BPF_JMP32 uses 32-bit wide operands while BPF_JMP uses 64-bit wide operands for otherwise identical operations. The 'code' field encodes the operation as below:

code

value

src

description

notes

BPF_JA

0x0

0x0

PC += offset

BPF_JMP only

BPF_JEQ

0x1

any

PC += offset if dst == src

BPF_JGT

0x2

any

PC += offset if dst > src

unsigned

BPF_JGE

0x3

any

PC += offset if dst >= src

unsigned

BPF_JSET

0x4

any

PC += offset if dst & src

BPF_JNE

0x5

any

PC += offset if dst != src

BPF_JSGT

0x6

any

PC += offset if dst > src

signed

BPF_JSGE

0x7

any

PC += offset if dst >= src

signed

BPF_CALL

0x8

0x0

call helper function by address

see Helper functions

BPF_CALL

0x8

0x1

call PC += offset

see Program-local functions

BPF_CALL

0x8

0x2

call helper function by BTF ID

see Helper functions

BPF_EXIT

0x9

0x0

return

BPF_JMP only

BPF_JLT

0xa

any

PC += offset if dst < src

unsigned

BPF_JLE

0xb

any

PC += offset if dst <= src

unsigned

BPF_JSLT

0xc

any

PC += offset if dst < src

signed

BPF_JSLE

0xd

any

PC += offset if dst <= src

signed

The eBPF program needs to store the return value into register R0 before doing a BPF_EXIT.

Example:

BPF_JSGE | BPF_X | BPF_JMP32 (0x7e) means:

if (s32)dst s>= (s32)src goto +offset

where 's>=' indicates a signed '>=' comparison.

1.4.2.1 Helper functions

Helper functions are a concept whereby BPF programs can call into a set of function calls exposed by the underlying platform.

Historically, each helper function was identified by an address encoded in the imm field. The available helper functions may differ for each program type, but address values are unique across all program types.

Platforms that support the BPF Type Format (BTF) support identifying a helper function by a BTF ID encoded in the imm field, where the BTF ID identifies the helper name and type.

1.4.2.2 Program-local functions

Program-local functions are functions exposed by the same BPF program as the caller, and are referenced by offset from the call instruction, similar to BPF_JA. A BPF_EXIT within the program-local function will return to the caller.

1.5 Load and store instructions

For load and store instructions (BPF_LD, BPF_LDX, BPF_ST, and BPF_STX), the 8-bit 'opcode' field is divided as:

3 bits (MSB)

2 bits

3 bits (LSB)

mode

size

instruction class

The mode modifier is one of:

mode modifier

value

description

reference

BPF_IMM

0x00

64-bit immediate instructions

64-bit immediate instructions

BPF_ABS

0x20

legacy BPF packet access (absolute)

Legacy BPF Packet access instructions

BPF_IND

0x40

legacy BPF packet access (indirect)

Legacy BPF Packet access instructions

BPF_MEM

0x60

regular load and store operations

Regular load and store operations

BPF_ATOMIC

0xc0

atomic operations

Atomic operations

The size modifier is one of:

size modifier

value

description

BPF_W

0x00

word (4 bytes)

BPF_H

0x08

half word (2 bytes)

BPF_B

0x10

byte

BPF_DW

0x18

double word (8 bytes)

1.5.1 Regular load and store operations

The BPF_MEM mode modifier is used to encode regular load and store instructions that transfer data between a register and memory.

BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_STX means:

*(size *) (dst + offset) = src

BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_ST means:

*(size *) (dst + offset) = imm32

BPF_MEM | <size> | BPF_LDX means:

dst = *(size *) (src + offset)

Where size is one of: BPF_B, BPF_H, BPF_W, or BPF_DW.

1.5.2 Atomic operations

Atomic operations are operations that operate on memory and can not be interrupted or corrupted by other access to the same memory region by other eBPF programs or means outside of this specification.

All atomic operations supported by eBPF are encoded as store operations that use the BPF_ATOMIC mode modifier as follows:

  • BPF_ATOMIC | BPF_W | BPF_STX for 32-bit operations

  • BPF_ATOMIC | BPF_DW | BPF_STX for 64-bit operations

  • 8-bit and 16-bit wide atomic operations are not supported.

The 'imm' field is used to encode the actual atomic operation. Simple atomic operation use a subset of the values defined to encode arithmetic operations in the 'imm' field to encode the atomic operation:

imm

value

description

BPF_ADD

0x00

atomic add

BPF_OR

0x40

atomic or

BPF_AND

0x50

atomic and

BPF_XOR

0xa0

atomic xor

BPF_ATOMIC | BPF_W  | BPF_STX with 'imm' = BPF_ADD means:

*(u32 *)(dst + offset) += src

BPF_ATOMIC | BPF_DW | BPF_STX with 'imm' = BPF ADD means:

*(u64 *)(dst + offset) += src

In addition to the simple atomic operations, there also is a modifier and two complex atomic operations:

imm

value

description

BPF_FETCH

0x01

modifier: return old value

BPF_XCHG

0xe0 | BPF_FETCH

atomic exchange

BPF_CMPXCHG

0xf0 | BPF_FETCH

atomic compare and exchange

The BPF_FETCH modifier is optional for simple atomic operations, and always set for the complex atomic operations. If the BPF_FETCH flag is set, then the operation also overwrites src with the value that was in memory before it was modified.

The BPF_XCHG operation atomically exchanges src with the value addressed by dst + offset.

The BPF_CMPXCHG operation atomically compares the value addressed by dst + offset with R0. If they match, the value addressed by dst + offset is replaced with src. In either case, the value that was at dst + offset before the operation is zero-extended and loaded back to R0.

1.5.3 64-bit immediate instructions

Instructions with the BPF_IMM 'mode' modifier use the wide instruction encoding defined in Instruction encoding, and use the 'src' field of the basic instruction to hold an opcode subtype.

The following table defines a set of BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD instructions with opcode subtypes in the 'src' field, using new terms such as "map" defined further below:

opcode construction

opcode

src

pseudocode

imm type

dst type

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x0

dst = imm64

integer

integer

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x1

dst = map_by_fd(imm)

map fd

map

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x2

dst = map_val(map_by_fd(imm)) + next_imm

map fd

data pointer

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x3

dst = var_addr(imm)

variable id

data pointer

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x4

dst = code_addr(imm)

integer

code pointer

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x5

dst = map_by_idx(imm)

map index

map

BPF_IMM | BPF_DW | BPF_LD

0x18

0x6

dst = map_val(map_by_idx(imm)) + next_imm

map index

data pointer

where

  • map_by_fd(imm) means to convert a 32-bit file descriptor into an address of a map (see Maps)

  • map_by_idx(imm) means to convert a 32-bit index into an address of a map

  • map_val(map) gets the address of the first value in a given map

  • var_addr(imm) gets the address of a platform variable (see Platform Variables) with a given id

  • code_addr(imm) gets the address of the instruction at a specified relative offset in number of (64-bit) instructions

  • the 'imm type' can be used by disassemblers for display

  • the 'dst type' can be used for verification and JIT compilation purposes

1.5.3.1 Maps

Maps are shared memory regions accessible by eBPF programs on some platforms. A map can have various semantics as defined in a separate document, and may or may not have a single contiguous memory region, but the 'map_val(map)' is currently only defined for maps that do have a single contiguous memory region.

Each map can have a file descriptor (fd) if supported by the platform, where 'map_by_fd(imm)' means to get the map with the specified file descriptor. Each BPF program can also be defined to use a set of maps associated with the program at load time, and 'map_by_idx(imm)' means to get the map with the given index in the set associated with the BPF program containing the instruction.

1.5.3.2 Platform Variables

Platform variables are memory regions, identified by integer ids, exposed by the runtime and accessible by BPF programs on some platforms. The 'var_addr(imm)' operation means to get the address of the memory region identified by the given id.

1.5.4 Legacy BPF Packet access instructions

eBPF previously introduced special instructions for access to packet data that were carried over from classic BPF. However, these instructions are deprecated and should no longer be used.