rust-raspberrypi-OS-tutorials/11_exceptions_part1_groundwork

Tutorial 11 - Exceptions Part 1: Groundwork

tl;dr

• We lay the groundwork for all the architectural CPU exceptions.
• For now, only print an elaborate system state through a panic! call, and halt execution
• This will help finding bugs during development and runtime.
• For demo purposes, MMU page faults are used to demonstrate (i) returning from an exception and (ii) the default panic! behavior.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Exception Types
• Exception entry
  • Exception Vectors
• Handler Code and Offsets
• Rust and Assembly Implementation
  • Context Save and Restore
  • Exception Vector Table
  • Implementing handlers
• Causing an Exception - Testing the Code
• Test it
• Diff to previous

Introduction

Now that we are executing in EL1, and have activated the MMU, time is due for implementing CPU exceptions. For now, we only set up a scaffold with very basic functionality that will help us to find bugs along the way. A follow-up Interrupt tutorial later will continue the work we start here.

Please note that this tutorial is specific to the AArch64 architecture. It does not contain any generic exception handling code yet.

Exception Types

In AArch64, it is differentiated between four types of exceptions. These are:

• Synchronous
  • For example, a data abort (e.g. page fault) or a system call. They happen in direct consequence of executing a certain CPU instruction, hence synchronously.
• Interrupt Request (IRQ)
  • For example, an external device, like a timer, is asserting a physical interrupt line. IRQs happen asynchronously.
• Fast Interrupt Request (FIQ)
  • These are basically interrupts that take priority over normal IRQs and have some more traits that make them suitable to implement super-fast processing. However, this is out of scope for this tutorial. For the sake of keeping these tutorials compact and concise, we will more or less ignore FIQs and only implement a dummy handler that would halt the CPU core.
• System Error (SError)
  • Like IRQs, SErrors happen asynchronously and are technically more or less the same. They are intended to signal rather fatal errors in the system, e.g. if a transaction times out on the SoC interconnect. They are very implementation specific and it is up to the SoC vendor to decide which events are delivered as SErrors instead of normal IRQs.

Exception entry

I recommend to read pages D1-5355 of the ARMv8 Architecture Reference Manual to understand the mechanisms of taking an exception.

Here's an excerpt of important features for this tutorial:

• Exception entry moves the processor to the same or a higher Exception Level, but never to a lower EL.
• The program status is saved in the SPSR_ELx register at the target EL.
• The preferred return address is saved in the ELR_ELx register.
  • "Preferred" here means that ELR_ELx may hold the instruction address of the instructions that caused the exception (synchronous case) or the first instruction that did not complete due to an asynchronous exception. Details in pages D1-5357 of the ARMv8 Architecture Reference Manual.
• All kinds of exceptions are turned off upon taking an exception, so that by default, exception handlers can not get interrupted themselves.
• Taking an exception will select the dedicated stack pointer of the target EL.
  • For example, if an exception in EL0 is taken, the Stack Pointer Select register SPSel will switch from 0 to 1, meaning that SP_EL1 will be used by the exception vector code unless you explicitly change it back to SP_EL0.

Exception Vectors

AArch64 has a total of 16 exception vectors. There is one for each of the four kinds that were introduced already, and additionally, it is taken into account where the exception was taken from and what the circumstances were.

Here is a copy of the decision table as shown in pages D1-5358 of the ARMv8 Architecture Reference Manual:

Exception taken from	Offset for exception type
	Synchronous	IRQ or vIRQ	FIQ or vFIQ	SError or vSError
Current Exception level with SP_EL0.	0x000	0x080	0x100	0x180
Current Exception level with SP_ELx, x>0.	0x200	0x280	0x300	0x380
Lower Exception level, where the implemented level immediately lower than the target level is using AArch64.	0x400	0x480	0x500	0x580
Lower Exception level, where the implemented level immediately lower than the target level is using AArch32.	0x600	0x680	0x700	0x780

Since our kernel runs in EL1, using SP_EL1, if we'd cause a synchronous exception, the exception vector at offset 0x200 would be executed. But what does that even mean?

Handler Code and Offsets

In many architectures, Operating Systems register their exception handlers (aka vectors) by compiling an architecturally defined data structure that stores function pointers to the different handlers. This can be as simple as an ordinary array of function pointers. The base address of this data structure is then stored into a special purpose register so that the CPU can branch to the respective handler function upon taking an exception. The classic x86_64 architecture follows this principle, for example.

In AArch64, it is a bit different. Here, we have the special purpose register as well, called VBAR_EL1: Vector Base Address Register.

However, it does not store the base address of an array of function pointers, but the base address of a memory location that contains code for the 16 handlers, one handler back-to-back after the other. Each handler can take a maximum space of 0x80 bytes, aka 128 bytes. That's why the table above shows offsets: To indicate at which offset a certain handler starts.

Of course, you are not obliged to cram all your handler code into only 128 bytes. You are free to branch off to any other functions at any time. Actually, that is needed in most cases anyways, because the context-saving code alone would take up most of the available space (you'll learn what context saving is shortly).

Additionally, there is a requirement that the Vector Base Address is aligned to 0x800 aka 2048 bytes.

Rust and Assembly Implementation

The implementation uses a mix of Rust and Assembly code.

Context Save and Restore

Exception vectors, just like any other code, use a bunch of commonly shared processor resources. Most of all, the set of General Purpose Registers (GPRs) that each core in AArch64 provides (x0-x30).

In order to not taint these registers when executing exception vector code, it is general practice to save these shared resources in memory (the stack, to be precise) as the very first action. This is commonly described as saving the context. Exception vector code can then use the shared resources in its own code without bothering, and as a last action before returning from exception handling code, restore the context, so that the processor can continue where it left off before taking the exception.

Context save and restore is one of the few places in system software where there is no way around some hand-crafted assembly. Introducing exception.s:

/// Call the function provided by parameter `\handler` after saving the exception context. Provide
/// the context as the first parameter to '\handler'.
.macro CALL_WITH_CONTEXT handler
__vector_\handler:
	// Make room on the stack for the exception context.
	sub	sp,  sp,  #16 * 17

	// Store all general purpose registers on the stack.
	stp	x0,  x1,  [sp, #16 * 0]
	stp	x2,  x3,  [sp, #16 * 1]
	stp	x4,  x5,  [sp, #16 * 2]
	stp	x6,  x7,  [sp, #16 * 3]
	stp	x8,  x9,  [sp, #16 * 4]
	stp	x10, x11, [sp, #16 * 5]
	stp	x12, x13, [sp, #16 * 6]
	stp	x14, x15, [sp, #16 * 7]
	stp	x16, x17, [sp, #16 * 8]
	stp	x18, x19, [sp, #16 * 9]
	stp	x20, x21, [sp, #16 * 10]
	stp	x22, x23, [sp, #16 * 11]
	stp	x24, x25, [sp, #16 * 12]
	stp	x26, x27, [sp, #16 * 13]
	stp	x28, x29, [sp, #16 * 14]

	// Add the exception link register (ELR_EL1), saved program status (SPSR_EL1) and exception
	// syndrome register (ESR_EL1).
	mrs	x1,  ELR_EL1
	mrs	x2,  SPSR_EL1
	mrs	x3,  ESR_EL1

	stp	lr,  x1,  [sp, #16 * 15]
	stp	x2,  x3,  [sp, #16 * 16]

	// x0 is the first argument for the function called through `\handler`.
	mov	x0,  sp

	// Call `\handler`.
	bl	\handler

	// After returning from exception handling code, replay the saved context and return via
	// `eret`.
	b	__exception_restore_context

.size	__vector_\handler, . - __vector_\handler
.type	__vector_\handler, function
.endm

First, a macro for saving the context is defined. It eventually jumps to follow-up handler code, and finally restores the context. In advance, we reserve space on the stack for the context. That is, the 30 GPRs, the link register, the exception link register (holding the preferred return address), the saved program status and the exception syndrome register. Afterwards, we store those registers, save the current stack address in x0 and branch off to follow-up handler-code, whose function name is supplied as an argument to the macro (\handler).

The handler code will be written in Rust, but use the platform's C ABI. This way, we can define a function signature that has a pointer to the context-data on the stack as its first argument, and know that this argument is expected to be in the x0 register. We need to use the C ABI here because Rust has no stable convention (yet).

Exception Vector Table

Next, we craft the exception vector table:

// Align by 2^11 bytes, as demanded by ARMv8-A. Same as ALIGN(2048) in an ld script.
.align 11

// Export a symbol for the Rust code to use.
__exception_vector_start:

// Current exception level with SP_EL0.
//
// .org sets the offset relative to section start.
//
// # Safety
//
// - It must be ensured that `CALL_WITH_CONTEXT` <= 0x80 bytes.
.org 0x000
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_synchronous
.org 0x080
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_irq
.org 0x100
	FIQ_SUSPEND
.org 0x180
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_serror

// Current exception level with SP_ELx, x > 0.
.org 0x200
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_synchronous
.org 0x280
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_irq
.org 0x300
	FIQ_SUSPEND
.org 0x380
	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_serror

[...]

Note how each vector starts at the required offset from the section start using the .org directive. Each macro call introduces an explicit handler function name, which is implemented in Rust in exception.rs.

Implementing handlers

The file exception.rs first defines a struct of the exception context that is stored on the stack by the assembly code:

/// The exception context as it is stored on the stack on exception entry.
#[repr(C)]
struct ExceptionContext {
    /// General Purpose Registers.
    gpr: [u64; 30],

    /// The link register, aka x30.
    lr: u64,

    /// Exception link register. The program counter at the time the exception happened.
    elr_el1: u64,

    /// Saved program status.
    spsr_el1: SpsrEL1,

    // Exception syndrome register.
    esr_el1: EsrEL1,
}

The handlers take a struct ExceptionContext argument. Since we do not plan to implement handlers for each exception yet, a default handler is provided:

/// Prints verbose information about the exception and then panics.
fn default_exception_handler(exc: &ExceptionContext) {
    panic!(
        "CPU Exception!\n\n\
        {}",
        exc
    );
}

The actual handlers referenced from the assembly can now branch to it for the time being, e.g.:

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn current_elx_irq(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
    default_exception_handler(e);
}

Causing an Exception - Testing the Code

We want to see two cases in action:

1. How taking, handling and returning from an exception works.
2. How the panic! print for unhandled exceptions looks like.

So after setting up exceptions in main.rs by calling

exception::handling_init();

we cause a data abort exception by reading from memory address 8 GiB:

// Cause an exception by accessing a virtual address for which no translation was set up. This
// code accesses the address 8 GiB, which is outside the mapped address space.
//
// For demo purposes, the exception handler will catch the faulting 8 GiB address and allow
// execution to continue.
info!("");
info!("Trying to read from address 8 GiB...");
let mut big_addr: u64 = 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
unsafe { core::ptr::read_volatile(big_addr as *mut u64) };

This triggers our exception code, because we try to read from a virtual address for which no mapping has been installed. Remember, we only mapped up to 4 GiB of address space in the previous tutorial.

To survive this exception, the respective handler has a special demo case:

#[no_mangle]
extern "C" fn current_elx_synchronous(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
    if e.fault_address_valid() {
        let far_el1 = FAR_EL1.get();

        // This catches the demo case for this tutorial. If the fault address happens to be 8 GiB,
        // advance the exception link register for one instruction, so that execution can continue.
        if far_el1 == 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 {
            e.elr_el1 += 4;

            return;
        }
    }

    default_exception_handler(e);
}

It checks if the faulting address equals 8 GiB, and if so, advances the copy of the ELR by 4, which makes it point to the next instruction after the instruction that caused the exception. When this handler returns, execution continues in the assembly macro we introduced before. The macro has only one more line left: b __exception_restore_context, which jumps to an assembly function that plays back our saved context before finally executing eret to return from the exception.

This will kick us back into main.rs. But we also want to see the panic! print.

Therefore, a second read is done, this time from address 9 GiB. A case which the handler will not catch, eventually triggering the panic! call from the default handler.

Test it

$ make chainboot
[...]
Minipush 1.0

[MP] ⏳ Waiting for /dev/ttyUSB0
[MP] ✅ Serial connected
[MP] 🔌 Please power the target now

 __  __ _      _ _                 _
|  \/  (_)_ _ (_) |   ___  __ _ __| |
| |\/| | | ' \| | |__/ _ \/ _` / _` |
|_|  |_|_|_||_|_|____\___/\__,_\__,_|

           Raspberry Pi 3

[ML] Requesting binary
[MP] ⏩ Pushing 64 KiB =========================================🦀 100% 0 KiB/s Time: 00:00:00
[ML] Loaded! Executing the payload now

[    0.798323] mingo version 0.11.0
[    0.798530] Booting on: Raspberry Pi 3
[    0.798985] MMU online. Special regions:
[    0.799462]       0x00080000 - 0x0008ffff |  64 KiB | C   RO PX  | Kernel code and RO data
[    0.800480]       0x3f000000 - 0x4000ffff |  17 MiB | Dev RW PXN | Device MMIO
[    0.801369] Current privilege level: EL1
[    0.801845] Exception handling state:
[    0.802290]       Debug:  Masked
[    0.802680]       SError: Masked
[    0.803069]       IRQ:    Masked
[    0.803459]       FIQ:    Masked
[    0.803849] Architectural timer resolution: 52 ns
[    0.804423] Drivers loaded:
[    0.804759]       1. BCM PL011 UART
[    0.805182]       2. BCM GPIO
[    0.805539] Timer test, spinning for 1 second
[    1.806070]
[    1.806074] Trying to read from address 8 GiB...
[    1.806624] ************************************************
[    1.807316] Whoa! We recovered from a synchronous exception!
[    1.808009] ************************************************
[    1.808703]
[    1.808876] Let's try again
[    1.809212] Trying to read from address 9 GiB...
[    1.809776] Kernel panic!

Panic location:
      File 'src/_arch/aarch64/exception.rs', line 58, column 5

CPU Exception!

ESR_EL1: 0x96000004
      Exception Class         (EC) : 0x25 - Data Abort, current EL
      Instr Specific Syndrome (ISS): 0x4
FAR_EL1: 0x0000000240000000
SPSR_EL1: 0x600003c5
      Flags:
            Negative (N): Not set
            Zero     (Z): Set
            Carry    (C): Set
            Overflow (V): Not set
      Exception handling state:
            Debug  (D): Masked
            SError (A): Masked
            IRQ    (I): Masked
            FIQ    (F): Masked
      Illegal Execution State (IL): Not set
ELR_EL1: 0x00000000000845f8

General purpose register:
      x0 : 0x0000000000000000         x1 : 0x0000000000086187
      x2 : 0x0000000000000027         x3 : 0x0000000000081280
      x4 : 0x0000000000000006         x5 : 0x1e27329c00000000
      x6 : 0x0000000000000000         x7 : 0xd3d18908028f0243
      x8 : 0x0000000240000000         x9 : 0x0000000000086187
      x10: 0x0000000000000443         x11: 0x000000003f201000
      x12: 0x0000000000000019         x13: 0x00000000ffffd8f0
      x14: 0x000000000000147b         x15: 0x00000000ffffff9c
      x16: 0x000000000007fd38         x17: 0x0000000005f5e0ff
      x18: 0x00000000000c58fc         x19: 0x0000000000090008
      x20: 0x0000000000085fc0         x21: 0x000000003b9aca00
      x22: 0x0000000000082238         x23: 0x00000000000813d4
      x24: 0x0000000010624dd3         x25: 0xffffffffc4653600
      x26: 0x0000000000086988         x27: 0x0000000000086080
      x28: 0x0000000000085f10         x29: 0x0000000000085c00
      lr : 0x00000000000845ec

Diff to previous

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/Cargo.toml 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/Cargo.toml
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/Cargo.toml
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mingo"
-version = "0.10.0"
+version = "0.11.0"
 authors = ["Andre Richter <andre.o.richter@gmail.com>"]
 edition = "2021"


diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.rs 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.rs
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.rs
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.rs
@@ -11,8 +11,263 @@
 //!
 //! crate::exception::arch_exception

-use aarch64_cpu::registers::*;
-use tock_registers::interfaces::Readable;
+use aarch64_cpu::{asm::barrier, registers::*};
+use core::{arch::global_asm, cell::UnsafeCell, fmt};
+use tock_registers::{
+    interfaces::{Readable, Writeable},
+    registers::InMemoryRegister,
+};
+
+// Assembly counterpart to this file.
+global_asm!(include_str!("exception.s"));
+
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Private Definitions
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Wrapper structs for memory copies of registers.
+#[repr(transparent)]
+struct SpsrEL1(InMemoryRegister<u64, SPSR_EL1::Register>);
+struct EsrEL1(InMemoryRegister<u64, ESR_EL1::Register>);
+
+/// The exception context as it is stored on the stack on exception entry.
+#[repr(C)]
+struct ExceptionContext {
+    /// General Purpose Registers.
+    gpr: [u64; 30],
+
+    /// The link register, aka x30.
+    lr: u64,
+
+    /// Exception link register. The program counter at the time the exception happened.
+    elr_el1: u64,
+
+    /// Saved program status.
+    spsr_el1: SpsrEL1,
+
+    /// Exception syndrome register.
+    esr_el1: EsrEL1,
+}
+
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Private Code
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Prints verbose information about the exception and then panics.
+fn default_exception_handler(exc: &ExceptionContext) {
+    panic!(
+        "CPU Exception!\n\n\
+        {}",
+        exc
+    );
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Current, EL0
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_el0_synchronous(_e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    panic!("Should not be here. Use of SP_EL0 in EL1 is not supported.")
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_el0_irq(_e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    panic!("Should not be here. Use of SP_EL0 in EL1 is not supported.")
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_el0_serror(_e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    panic!("Should not be here. Use of SP_EL0 in EL1 is not supported.")
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Current, ELx
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_elx_synchronous(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    if e.fault_address_valid() {
+        let far_el1 = FAR_EL1.get();
+
+        // This catches the demo case for this tutorial. If the fault address happens to be 8 GiB,
+        // advance the exception link register for one instruction, so that execution can continue.
+        if far_el1 == 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024 {
+            e.elr_el1 += 4;
+
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_elx_irq(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn current_elx_serror(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Lower, AArch64
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch64_synchronous(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch64_irq(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch64_serror(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Lower, AArch32
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch32_synchronous(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch32_irq(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+#[no_mangle]
+extern "C" fn lower_aarch32_serror(e: &mut ExceptionContext) {
+    default_exception_handler(e);
+}
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Misc
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Human readable SPSR_EL1.
+#[rustfmt::skip]
+impl fmt::Display for SpsrEL1 {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        // Raw value.
+        writeln!(f, "SPSR_EL1: {:#010x}", self.0.get())?;
+
+        let to_flag_str = |x| -> _ {
+            if x { "Set" } else { "Not set" }
+         };
+
+        writeln!(f, "      Flags:")?;
+        writeln!(f, "            Negative (N): {}", to_flag_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::N)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            Zero     (Z): {}", to_flag_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::Z)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            Carry    (C): {}", to_flag_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::C)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            Overflow (V): {}", to_flag_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::V)))?;
+
+        let to_mask_str = |x| -> _ {
+            if x { "Masked" } else { "Unmasked" }
+        };
+
+        writeln!(f, "      Exception handling state:")?;
+        writeln!(f, "            Debug  (D): {}", to_mask_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::D)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            SError (A): {}", to_mask_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::A)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            IRQ    (I): {}", to_mask_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::I)))?;
+        writeln!(f, "            FIQ    (F): {}", to_mask_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::F)))?;
+
+        write!(f, "      Illegal Execution State (IL): {}",
+            to_flag_str(self.0.is_set(SPSR_EL1::IL))
+        )
+    }
+}
+
+impl EsrEL1 {
+    #[inline(always)]
+    fn exception_class(&self) -> Option<ESR_EL1::EC::Value> {
+        self.0.read_as_enum(ESR_EL1::EC)
+    }
+}
+
+/// Human readable ESR_EL1.
+#[rustfmt::skip]
+impl fmt::Display for EsrEL1 {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        // Raw print of whole register.
+        writeln!(f, "ESR_EL1: {:#010x}", self.0.get())?;
+
+        // Raw print of exception class.
+        write!(f, "      Exception Class         (EC) : {:#x}", self.0.read(ESR_EL1::EC))?;
+
+        // Exception class.
+        let ec_translation = match self.exception_class() {
+            Some(ESR_EL1::EC::Value::DataAbortCurrentEL) => "Data Abort, current EL",
+            _ => "N/A",
+        };
+        writeln!(f, " - {}", ec_translation)?;
+
+        // Raw print of instruction specific syndrome.
+        write!(f, "      Instr Specific Syndrome (ISS): {:#x}", self.0.read(ESR_EL1::ISS))
+    }
+}
+
+impl ExceptionContext {
+    #[inline(always)]
+    fn exception_class(&self) -> Option<ESR_EL1::EC::Value> {
+        self.esr_el1.exception_class()
+    }
+
+    #[inline(always)]
+    fn fault_address_valid(&self) -> bool {
+        use ESR_EL1::EC::Value::*;
+
+        match self.exception_class() {
+            None => false,
+            Some(ec) => matches!(
+                ec,
+                InstrAbortLowerEL
+                    | InstrAbortCurrentEL
+                    | PCAlignmentFault
+                    | DataAbortLowerEL
+                    | DataAbortCurrentEL
+                    | WatchpointLowerEL
+                    | WatchpointCurrentEL
+            ),
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+/// Human readable print of the exception context.
+impl fmt::Display for ExceptionContext {
+    fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
+        writeln!(f, "{}", self.esr_el1)?;
+
+        if self.fault_address_valid() {
+            writeln!(f, "FAR_EL1: {:#018x}", FAR_EL1.get() as usize)?;
+        }
+
+        writeln!(f, "{}", self.spsr_el1)?;
+        writeln!(f, "ELR_EL1: {:#018x}", self.elr_el1)?;
+        writeln!(f)?;
+        writeln!(f, "General purpose register:")?;
+
+        #[rustfmt::skip]
+        let alternating = |x| -> _ {
+            if x modulo 2 == 0 { "   " } else { "\n" }
+        };
+
+        // Print two registers per line.
+        for (i, reg) in self.gpr.iter().enumerate() {
+            write!(f, "      x{: <2}: {: >#018x}{}", i, reg, alternating(i))?;
+        }
+        write!(f, "      lr : {:#018x}", self.lr)
+    }
+}

 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Public Code
@@ -29,3 +284,23 @@
         _ => (PrivilegeLevel::Unknown, "Unknown"),
     }
 }
+
+/// Init exception handling by setting the exception vector base address register.
+///
+/// # Safety
+///
+/// - Changes the HW state of the executing core.
+/// - The vector table and the symbol `__exception_vector_table_start` from the linker script must
+///   adhere to the alignment and size constraints demanded by the ARMv8-A Architecture Reference
+///   Manual.
+pub unsafe fn handling_init() {
+    // Provided by exception.S.
+    extern "Rust" {
+        static __exception_vector_start: UnsafeCell<()>;
+    }
+
+    VBAR_EL1.set(__exception_vector_start.get() as u64);
+
+    // Force VBAR update to complete before next instruction.
+    barrier::isb(barrier::SY);
+}

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.s 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.s
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.s
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/_arch/aarch64/exception.s
@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT OR Apache-2.0
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2018-2023 Andre Richter <andre.o.richter@gmail.com>
+
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Definitions
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/// Call the function provided by parameter `\handler` after saving the exception context. Provide
+/// the context as the first parameter to '\handler'.
+.macro CALL_WITH_CONTEXT handler
+__vector_\handler:
+	// Make room on the stack for the exception context.
+	sub	sp,  sp,  #16 * 17
+
+	// Store all general purpose registers on the stack.
+	stp	x0,  x1,  [sp, #16 * 0]
+	stp	x2,  x3,  [sp, #16 * 1]
+	stp	x4,  x5,  [sp, #16 * 2]
+	stp	x6,  x7,  [sp, #16 * 3]
+	stp	x8,  x9,  [sp, #16 * 4]
+	stp	x10, x11, [sp, #16 * 5]
+	stp	x12, x13, [sp, #16 * 6]
+	stp	x14, x15, [sp, #16 * 7]
+	stp	x16, x17, [sp, #16 * 8]
+	stp	x18, x19, [sp, #16 * 9]
+	stp	x20, x21, [sp, #16 * 10]
+	stp	x22, x23, [sp, #16 * 11]
+	stp	x24, x25, [sp, #16 * 12]
+	stp	x26, x27, [sp, #16 * 13]
+	stp	x28, x29, [sp, #16 * 14]
+
+	// Add the exception link register (ELR_EL1), saved program status (SPSR_EL1) and exception
+	// syndrome register (ESR_EL1).
+	mrs	x1,  ELR_EL1
+	mrs	x2,  SPSR_EL1
+	mrs	x3,  ESR_EL1
+
+	stp	lr,  x1,  [sp, #16 * 15]
+	stp	x2,  x3,  [sp, #16 * 16]
+
+	// x0 is the first argument for the function called through `\handler`.
+	mov	x0,  sp
+
+	// Call `\handler`.
+	bl	\handler
+
+	// After returning from exception handling code, replay the saved context and return via
+	// `eret`.
+	b	__exception_restore_context
+
+.size	__vector_\handler, . - __vector_\handler
+.type	__vector_\handler, function
+.endm
+
+.macro FIQ_SUSPEND
+1:	wfe
+	b	1b
+.endm
+
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// Private Code
+//--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+.section .text
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// The exception vector table.
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+// Align by 2^11 bytes, as demanded by ARMv8-A. Same as ALIGN(2048) in an ld script.
+.align 11
+
+// Export a symbol for the Rust code to use.
+__exception_vector_start:
+
+// Current exception level with SP_EL0.
+//
+// .org sets the offset relative to section start.
+//
+// # Safety
+//
+// - It must be ensured that `CALL_WITH_CONTEXT` <= 0x80 bytes.
+.org 0x000
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_synchronous
+.org 0x080
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_irq
+.org 0x100
+	FIQ_SUSPEND
+.org 0x180
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_el0_serror
+
+// Current exception level with SP_ELx, x > 0.
+.org 0x200
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_synchronous
+.org 0x280
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_irq
+.org 0x300
+	FIQ_SUSPEND
+.org 0x380
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT current_elx_serror
+
+// Lower exception level, AArch64
+.org 0x400
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch64_synchronous
+.org 0x480
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch64_irq
+.org 0x500
+	FIQ_SUSPEND
+.org 0x580
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch64_serror
+
+// Lower exception level, AArch32
+.org 0x600
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch32_synchronous
+.org 0x680
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch32_irq
+.org 0x700
+	FIQ_SUSPEND
+.org 0x780
+	CALL_WITH_CONTEXT lower_aarch32_serror
+.org 0x800
+
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// fn __exception_restore_context()
+//------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+__exception_restore_context:
+	ldr	w19,      [sp, #16 * 16]
+	ldp	lr,  x20, [sp, #16 * 15]
+
+	msr	SPSR_EL1, x19
+	msr	ELR_EL1,  x20
+
+	ldp	x0,  x1,  [sp, #16 * 0]
+	ldp	x2,  x3,  [sp, #16 * 1]
+	ldp	x4,  x5,  [sp, #16 * 2]
+	ldp	x6,  x7,  [sp, #16 * 3]
+	ldp	x8,  x9,  [sp, #16 * 4]
+	ldp	x10, x11, [sp, #16 * 5]
+	ldp	x12, x13, [sp, #16 * 6]
+	ldp	x14, x15, [sp, #16 * 7]
+	ldp	x16, x17, [sp, #16 * 8]
+	ldp	x18, x19, [sp, #16 * 9]
+	ldp	x20, x21, [sp, #16 * 10]
+	ldp	x22, x23, [sp, #16 * 11]
+	ldp	x24, x25, [sp, #16 * 12]
+	ldp	x26, x27, [sp, #16 * 13]
+	ldp	x28, x29, [sp, #16 * 14]
+
+	add	sp,  sp,  #16 * 17
+
+	eret
+
+.size	__exception_restore_context, . - __exception_restore_context
+.type	__exception_restore_context, function

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/bsp/raspberrypi/memory/mmu.rs 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/bsp/raspberrypi/memory/mmu.rs
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/bsp/raspberrypi/memory/mmu.rs
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/bsp/raspberrypi/memory/mmu.rs
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
 /// The kernel's address space defined by this BSP.
 pub type KernelAddrSpace = AddressSpace<{ memory_map::END_INCLUSIVE + 1 }>;

-const NUM_MEM_RANGES: usize = 3;
+const NUM_MEM_RANGES: usize = 2;

 /// The virtual memory layout.
 ///
@@ -35,16 +35,6 @@
             },
         },
         TranslationDescriptor {
-            name: "Remapped Device MMIO",
-            virtual_range: remapped_mmio_range_inclusive,
-            physical_range_translation: Translation::Offset(memory_map::mmio::START + 0x20_0000),
-            attribute_fields: AttributeFields {
-                mem_attributes: MemAttributes::Device,
-                acc_perms: AccessPermissions::ReadWrite,
-                execute_never: true,
-            },
-        },
-        TranslationDescriptor {
             name: "Device MMIO",
             virtual_range: mmio_range_inclusive,
             physical_range_translation: Translation::Identity,
@@ -67,11 +57,6 @@
     RangeInclusive::new(super::code_start(), super::code_end_exclusive() - 1)
 }

-fn remapped_mmio_range_inclusive() -> RangeInclusive<usize> {
-    // The last 64 KiB slot in the first 512 MiB
-    RangeInclusive::new(0x1FFF_0000, 0x1FFF_FFFF)
-}
-
 fn mmio_range_inclusive() -> RangeInclusive<usize> {
     RangeInclusive::new(memory_map::mmio::START, memory_map::mmio::END_INCLUSIVE)
 }

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/bsp.rs 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/bsp.rs
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/bsp.rs
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/bsp.rs
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@

 //! Conditional reexporting of Board Support Packages.

-pub mod device_driver;
+mod device_driver;

 #[cfg(any(feature = "bsp_rpi3", feature = "bsp_rpi4"))]
 mod raspberrypi;

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/exception.rs 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/exception.rs
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/exception.rs
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/exception.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Architectural Public Reexports
 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-pub use arch_exception::current_privilege_level;
+pub use arch_exception::{current_privilege_level, handling_init};

 //--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Public Definitions

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/main.rs 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/main.rs
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/src/main.rs
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/src/main.rs
@@ -144,6 +144,8 @@
 unsafe fn kernel_init() -> ! {
     use memory::mmu::interface::MMU;

+    exception::handling_init();
+
     if let Err(string) = memory::mmu::mmu().enable_mmu_and_caching() {
         panic!("MMU: {}", string);
     }
@@ -163,7 +165,7 @@

 /// The main function running after the early init.
 fn kernel_main() -> ! {
-    use console::{console, interface::Write};
+    use console::console;
     use core::time::Duration;

     info!(
@@ -193,13 +195,28 @@
     info!("Timer test, spinning for 1 second");
     time::time_manager().spin_for(Duration::from_secs(1));

-    let remapped_uart = unsafe { bsp::device_driver::PL011Uart::new(0x1FFF_1000) };
-    writeln!(
-        remapped_uart,
-        "[     !!!    ] Writing through the remapped UART at 0x1FFF_1000"
-    )
-    .unwrap();
+    // Cause an exception by accessing a virtual address for which no translation was set up. This
+    // code accesses the address 8 GiB, which is outside the mapped address space.
+    //
+    // For demo purposes, the exception handler will catch the faulting 8 GiB address and allow
+    // execution to continue.
+    info!("");
+    info!("Trying to read from address 8 GiB...");
+    let mut big_addr: u64 = 8 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
+    unsafe { core::ptr::read_volatile(big_addr as *mut u64) };
+
+    info!("************************************************");
+    info!("Whoa! We recovered from a synchronous exception!");
+    info!("************************************************");
+    info!("");
+    info!("Let's try again");
+
+    // Now use address 9 GiB. The exception handler won't forgive us this time.
+    info!("Trying to read from address 9 GiB...");
+    big_addr = 9 * 1024 * 1024 * 1024;
+    unsafe { core::ptr::read_volatile(big_addr as *mut u64) };

+    // Will never reach here in this tutorial.
     info!("Echoing input now");

     // Discard any spurious received characters before going into echo mode.

diff -uNr 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/tests/boot_test_string.rb 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/tests/boot_test_string.rb
--- 10_virtual_mem_part1_identity_mapping/tests/boot_test_string.rb
+++ 11_exceptions_part1_groundwork/tests/boot_test_string.rb
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true

-EXPECTED_PRINT = 'Echoing input now'
+EXPECTED_PRINT = 'lr : 0x'