[PATCH v6 00/11] arm64: mmu: avoid W+X mappings and re-enable PTE_CONT for kernel

Ard Biesheuvel ard.biesheuvel at linaro.org
Thu Mar 9 12:51:58 PST 2017


Having memory that is writable and executable at the same time is a
security hazard, and so we tend to avoid those when we can. However,
at boot time, we keep .text mapped writable during the entire init
phase, and the init region itself is mapped rwx as well.

Let's improve the situation by:
- making the alternatives patching use the linear mapping
- splitting the init region into separate text and data regions

This removes all RWX mappings except the really early one created
in head.S (which we could perhaps fix in the future as well). Due to
these changes, it is also possible to make another attempt at re-enabling
the use of contiguous mappings at the PMD and PTE levels.

Changes since v5:
- add patch to remove pointless mapping/unmapping of translation table pages
  when the higher level table entry pointing to it is created
- fix unitialized flags var in #9
- allow contiguous ranges for mappings created via create_pgd_mapping (ie., EFI)
- refactor pud/pmd/pte recursion logic so we don't iterate over pmds and ptes
  at two separate levels concurrently (ie., cont and non-cont)
- use macros rather than static inlines for pmd_/pte_cont_addr_end()
- add Mark's R-b to #6 - #9

Changes since v4:
- the PTE_CONT patch has now spawned four more preparatory patches that clean
  up some of the page table creation code before reintroducing the contiguous
  attribute management
- add Mark's R-b to #4 and #5

Changes since v3:
- use linear alias only when patching the core kernel, and not for modules
- add patch to reintroduce the use of PTE_CONT for kernel mappings, except
  for regions that are remapped read-only later on (i.e, .rodata and the
  linear alias of .text+.rodata)

Changes since v2:
  - ensure that text mappings remain writable under rodata=off
  - rename create_mapping_late() to update_mapping_prot()
  - clarify commit log of #2
  - add acks

Ard Biesheuvel (11):
  arm: kvm: move kvm_vgic_global_state out of .text section
  arm64: mmu: move TLB maintenance from callers to create_mapping_late()
  arm64: alternatives: apply boot time fixups via the linear mapping
  arm64: mmu: map .text as read-only from the outset
  arm64: mmu: apply strict permissions to .init.text and .init.data
  arm64/mmu: align alloc_init_pte prototype with pmd/pud versions
  arm64/mmu: ignore debug_pagealloc for kernel segments
  arm64/mmu: add contiguous bit to sanity bug check
  arm64/mmu: replace 'page_mappings_only' parameter with flags argument
  arm64/mm: remove pointless map/unmap sequences when creating page
    tables
  arm64: mm: set the contiguous bit for kernel mappings where
    appropriate

 arch/arm64/include/asm/mmu.h      |   1 +
 arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h  |  10 +
 arch/arm64/include/asm/sections.h |   2 +
 arch/arm64/kernel/alternative.c   |  11 +-
 arch/arm64/kernel/smp.c           |   1 +
 arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S   |  25 +-
 arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c               | 246 ++++++++++++++------
 virt/kvm/arm/vgic/vgic.c          |   4 +-
 8 files changed, 208 insertions(+), 92 deletions(-)

-- 
2.7.4




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