Explain how CET works and the noshstk/noibt kernel parameters. Signed-off-by: Yu-cheng Yu <yu-cheng.yu@xxxxxxxxx> --- Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt | 6 + Documentation/x86/intel_cet.txt | 161 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 167 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/x86/intel_cet.txt diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt index f2040d46f095..c9a94bec1519 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt @@ -2649,6 +2649,12 @@ noexec=on: enable non-executable mappings (default) noexec=off: disable non-executable mappings + noibt [X86-64] Disable indirect branch tracking for user-mode + applications + + noshstk [X86-64] Disable shadow stack support for user-mode + applications + nosmap [X86] Disable SMAP (Supervisor Mode Access Prevention) even if it is supported by processor. diff --git a/Documentation/x86/intel_cet.txt b/Documentation/x86/intel_cet.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..1b902a6c49f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/x86/intel_cet.txt @@ -0,0 +1,161 @@ +----------------------------------------- +Control Flow Enforcement Technology (CET) +----------------------------------------- + +[1] Overview + +Control Flow Enforcement Technology (CET) provides protection against +return/jump-oriented programing (ROP) attacks. It can be implemented to +protect both the kernel and applications. In the first phase, only the +user-mode protection is implemented for the 64-bit kernel. Thirty-two bit +applications are supported under the compatibility mode. + +CET includes shadow stack (SHSTK) and indirect branch tracking (IBT) and +they are enabled from two kernel configuration options: + + INTEL_X86_SHADOW_STACK_USER, and + INTEL_X86_BRANCH_TRACKING_USER. + +There are two command-line options for disabling CET features: + + noshstk - disables shadow stack, and + noibt - disables indirect branch tracking. + +At run time, /proc/cpuinfo shows the availability of SHSTK and IBT. + +[2] Application Enabling + +The design of CET user-mode interface provides maximum overall coverage +and compatibility with existing applications. + +To verify the CET capability of an application, use the following command +and look for SHSTK/IBT in the NT_GNU_PROPERTY_TYPE_0 field: + + readelf -n <application> + +CET features are opt-in by each application. To build a CET-capable +application, the following tools are needed: Binutils v2.30, GCC v8.1, +and GLIBC v2.29 (or later). + +If an application has CET capabilities, is statically linked, and the +kernel supports CET, it will run with CET enabled. If an application +needs any shared libraries, the loader checks all dependencies and enables +CET only when all requirements are met. Once an application starts with +CET enabled, the protection cannot be turned off until the next exec(). + +[3] CET system calls + +The following arch_prctl() system calls are added for CET: + +(3a) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_STATUS, unsigned long *addr) + + Return CET feature status. + + The parameter 'addr' is a pointer to a user buffer. + On returning to the caller, the kernel fills the following + information: + + *addr = SHSTK/IBT status + *(addr + 1) = SHSTK/IBT default setting on exec() + *(addr + 2) = default SHSTK size on exec() + +(3b) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_DISABLE, unsigned long features) + + Disable SHSTK and/or IBT specified in 'features'. Return -EPERM + if CET is locked out. + +(3c) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_LOCK) + + Lock out CET features; disable turning off of SHSTK/IBT. + +(3d) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_EXEC, unsigned long *addr) + + Control how CET features should be enabled upon exec() a new + image. + + The parameter 'addr' is a pointer to a user buffer. + + *addr = a bitmap indicating which features are being changed + *(addr + 1) = how CET should be enabled upon exec(). + 0: Check ELF header + 1: Always disable + 2: Always enable + *(addr + 2) = default SHSTK size on exec() + +(3e) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_ALLOC_SHSTK, unsigned long *addr) + + Allocate a new SHSTK. + + The parameter 'addr' is a pointer to a user buffer and indicates + the desired SHSTK size to allocate. On returning to the caller + the buffer contains the address of the new SHSTK. + +(3f) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_PUSH_SHSTK, unsigned long *addr) + + Push a value onto the SHSTK. + + The parameter 'addr' is a pointer to a user buffer. + + *addr = the SHSTK pointer + *(addr + 1) = the value to push (a function return address) + +Note: ARCH_CET_ALLOC_SHSTK and ARCH_CET_PUSH_SHSTK are intended for + the implementation of GLIBC getcontext(), setcontext(), + makecontext(), and swapcontext(). + +(3g) arch_prctl(ARCH_CET_LEGACY_BITMAP, unsigned long *addr) + + If the current task does not have a legacy bitmap, setup one. + Return bitmap information as the following: + + *addr = bitmap base address + *(addr + 1) = bitmap size + +[4] The implementation of the SHSTK + +A task's SHSTK is allocated from memory to a fixed size that can +support 32 KB nested function calls; that is 256 KB for a 64-bit +application and 128 KB for a 32-bit application. The system admin +can change the size with the CET command line utility. + +The main program and its signal handlers use the same shadow stack. + +The SHSTK's vma has VM_SHSTK flag set; its PTEs are required to be +read-only and dirty. When a SHSTK PTE is not present, RO, and dirty, +a SHSTK access triggers a page fault with an additional SHSTK bit set +in the page fault error code. + +When a task forks a child, its SHSTK PTEs are copied and both the +parent's and the child's SHSTK PTEs are cleared of the dirty bit. +Upon the next SHSTK access, the resulting SHSTK page fault is handled +by page copy/re-use. + +When a pthread child is created, a separate SHSTK is created for the +child. + +[5] The management of read-only & dirty PTEs for SHSTK + +A RO and dirty PTE exists in the following cases: + +(5a) A page is modified and then shared with a fork()'ed child; +(5b) access_remote_vm with (FOLL_WRITE | FOLL_FORCE) on a RO page; +(5c) A SHSTK page. + +The processor does not read the dirty bit for (5a) and (5b), but +checks the dirty bit for (5c). To prevent accidental use of non- +SHSTK memory as SHSTK, we introduce the use of a spare bit of the +64-bit PTE as _PAGE_BIT_DIRTY_SW and exchange it with the dirty +bit for (5a) and (5b). This results to the following possible +PTE settings: + +Modified PTE: (R/W + DIRTY_HW) +Modified and shared PTE: (R/O + DIRTY_SW) +R/O PTE was (FOLL_FORCE | FOLL_WRITE): (R/O + DIRTY_SW) +SHSTK stack PTE: (R/O + DIRTY_HW) +Shared SHSTK PTE: (R/O + DIRTY_SW) + +[6] The implementation of IBT + +The kernel provides IBT support in mmap() of the legacy code bit map. +However, the management of the bitmap is done in the GLIBC or the +application. -- 2.15.1 -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-doc" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
