[PATCH RFC v7 11/24] mm: kpkeys: Introduce kpkeys_hardened_pgtables feature
Kevin Brodsky
kevin.brodsky at arm.com
Tue May 5 09:06:00 PDT 2026
kpkeys_hardened_pgtables is a hardening feature based on kpkeys. It
aims to prevent the corruption of page tables by: 1. mapping all
page table pages, both kernel and user, with a privileged pkey
(KPKEYS_PKEY_PGTABLES), and 2. granting write access to that pkey
only when running at in a privileged kpkeys context
(KPKEYS_CTX_PGTABLES). This patch introduces basic infrastructure;
the implementation of both aspects will follow.
The feature is exposed as CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES; it
requires explicit architecture opt-in by selecting
ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES, since much of the page table
handling is arch-specific.
Because this feature relies on kpkeys being available and enabled,
and modifies attributes of the linear map, it must be inactive on
boot. kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_init() enables it by toggling a
static key; this function must be called by supported architectures
in mem_init(), before any call to pagetable_alloc() is made.
Supported architectures must also provide
arch_supports_kpkeys_early() in <asm/kpkeys.h>. This will be used
during early boot to detect whether kpkeys_hardened_pgtables is
going to be enabled (e.g. to decide how to allocate early page
tables).
Signed-off-by: Kevin Brodsky <kevin.brodsky at arm.com>
---
include/asm-generic/kpkeys.h | 4 ++++
include/linux/kpkeys.h | 40 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
mm/Kconfig | 3 +++
mm/Makefile | 1 +
mm/kpkeys_hardened_pgtables.c | 16 ++++++++++++++++
security/Kconfig.hardening | 12 ++++++++++++
6 files changed, 75 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
diff --git a/include/asm-generic/kpkeys.h b/include/asm-generic/kpkeys.h
index ab819f157d6a..cec92334a9f3 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/kpkeys.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/kpkeys.h
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
#ifndef __ASM_GENERIC_KPKEYS_H
#define __ASM_GENERIC_KPKEYS_H
+#ifndef KPKEYS_PKEY_PGTABLES
+#define KPKEYS_PKEY_PGTABLES 1
+#endif
+
#ifndef KPKEYS_PKEY_DEFAULT
#define KPKEYS_PKEY_DEFAULT 0
#endif
diff --git a/include/linux/kpkeys.h b/include/linux/kpkeys.h
index cb2d22758391..1ed0299ad5ac 100644
--- a/include/linux/kpkeys.h
+++ b/include/linux/kpkeys.h
@@ -4,11 +4,13 @@
#include <linux/bug.h>
#include <linux/cleanup.h>
+#include <linux/jump_label.h>
#define KPKEYS_CTX_DEFAULT 0
+#define KPKEYS_CTX_PGTABLES 1
#define KPKEYS_CTX_MIN KPKEYS_CTX_DEFAULT
-#define KPKEYS_CTX_MAX KPKEYS_CTX_DEFAULT
+#define KPKEYS_CTX_MAX KPKEYS_CTX_PGTABLES
#define __KPKEYS_GUARD(name, set_context, restore_pkey_reg, set_arg, ...) \
__DEFINE_CLASS_IS_CONDITIONAL(name, false); \
@@ -115,4 +117,40 @@ static inline bool kpkeys_enabled(void)
#endif /* CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS */
+#ifdef CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES
+
+DECLARE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_key);
+
+static inline bool kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled(void)
+{
+ return static_branch_unlikely(&kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_key);
+}
+
+static inline bool kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_early_enabled(void)
+{
+ return arch_supports_kpkeys_early();
+}
+
+/*
+ * Should be called from mem_init(): as soon as the buddy allocator becomes
+ * available and before any call to pagetable_alloc().
+ */
+void kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_init(void);
+
+#else /* CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES */
+
+static inline bool kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_enabled(void)
+{
+ return false;
+}
+
+static inline bool kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_early_enabled(void)
+{
+ return false;
+}
+
+static inline void kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_init(void) {}
+
+#endif /* CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES */
+
#endif /* _LINUX_KPKEYS_H */
diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index 819fb0d7b7bd..dbba6b878d5a 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -1244,6 +1244,9 @@ config ARCH_HAS_PKEYS
bool
config ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS
bool
+# ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS must be selected when selecting this option
+config ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES
+ bool
config ARCH_USES_PG_ARCH_2
bool
diff --git a/mm/Makefile b/mm/Makefile
index 8ad2ab08244e..7603e6051afa 100644
--- a/mm/Makefile
+++ b/mm/Makefile
@@ -150,3 +150,4 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_SHRINKER_DEBUG) += shrinker_debug.o
obj-$(CONFIG_EXECMEM) += execmem.o
obj-$(CONFIG_TMPFS_QUOTA) += shmem_quota.o
obj-$(CONFIG_LAZY_MMU_MODE_KUNIT_TEST) += tests/lazy_mmu_mode_kunit.o
+obj-$(CONFIG_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES) += kpkeys_hardened_pgtables.o
diff --git a/mm/kpkeys_hardened_pgtables.c b/mm/kpkeys_hardened_pgtables.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..763f267bbfe4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mm/kpkeys_hardened_pgtables.c
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-only
+#include <linux/kpkeys.h>
+#include <linux/mm.h>
+
+#include <kunit/visibility.h>
+
+__ro_after_init DEFINE_STATIC_KEY_FALSE(kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_key);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_IF_KUNIT(kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_key);
+
+void __init kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_init(void)
+{
+ if (!kpkeys_enabled())
+ return;
+
+ static_branch_enable(&kpkeys_hardened_pgtables_key);
+}
diff --git a/security/Kconfig.hardening b/security/Kconfig.hardening
index 86f8768c63d4..fdaf977d4626 100644
--- a/security/Kconfig.hardening
+++ b/security/Kconfig.hardening
@@ -275,6 +275,18 @@ config BUG_ON_DATA_CORRUPTION
If unsure, say N.
+config KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES
+ bool "Harden page tables using kernel pkeys"
+ depends on ARCH_HAS_KPKEYS_HARDENED_PGTABLES
+ help
+ This option makes all page tables mostly read-only by
+ allocating them with a non-default protection key (pkey) and
+ only enabling write access to that pkey in routines that are
+ expected to write to page table entries.
+
+ This option has no effect if the system does not support
+ kernel pkeys.
+
endmenu
config CC_HAS_RANDSTRUCT
--
2.51.2
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