[PATCH 11/11] riscv: Kconfig & Makefile for riscv kernel control flow integrity

Deepak Gupta debug at rivosinc.com
Thu Jul 24 16:37:04 PDT 2025


Defines `CONFIG_RISCV_KERNEL_CFI` and selects SHADOW_CALL_STACK
and ARCH_HAS_KERNEL_SHADOW_STACK both so that zicfiss can be wired up.

Makefile checks if CONFIG_RISCV_KERNEL_CFI is enabled, then light
up zicfiss and zicfilp compiler flags. CONFIG_RISCV_KERNEL_CFI is
dependent on CONFIG_RISCV_USER_CFI. There is no reason for user to
not select support for user cfi while enabling for kernel.

compat vdso don't need fcf-protection (toolchain lacks support).

Signed-off-by: Deepak Gupta <debug at rivosinc.com>
---
 arch/riscv/Kconfig                     | 37 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-
 arch/riscv/Makefile                    |  8 ++++++++
 arch/riscv/kernel/compat_vdso/Makefile |  2 +-
 arch/riscv/kernel/vdso/Makefile        |  2 +-
 4 files changed, 46 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/arch/riscv/Kconfig b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
index 385c3d93e378..305ba5787f74 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Kconfig
+++ b/arch/riscv/Kconfig
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@ config GCC_SUPPORTS_DYNAMIC_FTRACE
 	depends on CC_HAS_MIN_FUNCTION_ALIGNMENT || !RISCV_ISA_C
 
 config HAVE_SHADOW_CALL_STACK
-	def_bool $(cc-option,-fsanitize=shadow-call-stack)
+	def_bool $(cc-option,-fsanitize=shadow-call-stack) || $(cc-option,-mabi=lp64 -march=rv64ima_zicfilp_zicfiss)
 	# https://github.com/riscv-non-isa/riscv-elf-psabi-doc/commit/a484e843e6eeb51f0cb7b8819e50da6d2444d769
 	depends on $(ld-option,--no-relax-gp)
 
@@ -864,6 +864,16 @@ config RISCV_ISA_ZICBOP
 
 	  If you don't know what to do here, say Y.
 
+config TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZICFILP
+	bool
+	default y
+	depends on 64BIT && $(cc-option,-mabi=lp64 -march=rv64ima_zicfilp)
+
+config TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZICFISS
+	bool
+	default y
+	depends on 64BIT && $(cc-option,-mabi=lp64 -march=rv64ima_zicfiss)
+
 config TOOLCHAIN_NEEDS_EXPLICIT_ZICSR_ZIFENCEI
 	def_bool y
 	# https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commit;h=aed44286efa8ae8717a77d94b51ac3614e2ca6dc
@@ -1182,6 +1192,31 @@ config RISCV_USER_CFI
 	  space does not get protection "for free".
 	  default n.
 
+config RISCV_KERNEL_CFI
+	def_bool n
+	bool "hw assisted riscv kernel control flow integrity (kcfi)"
+	depends on 64BIT && $(cc-option,-mabi=lp64 -march=rv64ima_zicfilp_zicfiss)
+	depends on RISCV_USER_CFI
+	select ARCH_SUPPORTS_SHADOW_CALL_STACK
+	select SHADOW_CALL_STACK
+	select ARCH_HAS_KERNEL_SHADOW_STACK
+	help
+	  Provides CPU assisted control flow integrity to for riscv kernel.
+	  Control flow integrity is provided by implementing shadow stack for
+	  backward edge and indirect branch tracking for forward edge. Shadow
+	  stack protection is a hardware feature that detects function return
+	  address corruption. This helps mitigate ROP attacks. RISCV_KERNEL_CFI
+	  selects CONFIG_SHADOW_CALL_STACK which uses software based shadow
+	  stack but is unprotected against stray writes. Selecting RISCV_KERNEL_CFI
+	  will select CONFIG_DYNAMIC_SCS and will enable hardware assisted shadow
+	  stack protection against stray writes.
+	  Indirect branch tracking enforces that all indirect branches must land
+	  on a landing pad instruction else CPU will fault. This enables forward
+	  control flow (call/jmp) protection in kernel and restricts all indirect
+	  call or jump in kernel to a landing pad instruction which mostly likely
+	  will be start of the function.
+	  default n
+
 endmenu # "Kernel features"
 
 menu "Boot options"
diff --git a/arch/riscv/Makefile b/arch/riscv/Makefile
index 7128df832b28..6ef30a3d2bc4 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/Makefile
@@ -61,8 +61,10 @@ else ifeq ($(CONFIG_LTO_CLANG),y)
 endif
 
 ifeq ($(CONFIG_SHADOW_CALL_STACK),y)
+ifndef CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_KERNEL_SHADOW_STACK
 	KBUILD_LDFLAGS += --no-relax-gp
 endif
+endif
 
 # ISA string setting
 riscv-march-$(CONFIG_ARCH_RV32I)	:= rv32ima
@@ -91,6 +93,12 @@ riscv-march-$(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZABHA) := $(riscv-march-y)_zabha
 KBUILD_BASE_ISA = -march=$(shell echo $(riscv-march-y) | sed -E 's/(rv32ima|rv64ima)fd([^v_]*)v?/\1\2/')
 export KBUILD_BASE_ISA
 
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_RISCV_KERNEL_CFI),y)
+riscv-march-$(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZICFILP) := $(riscv-march-y)_zicfilp
+riscv-march-$(CONFIG_TOOLCHAIN_HAS_ZICFISS) := $(riscv-march-y)_zicfiss
+KBUILD_CFLAGS += -fcf-protection=full
+KBUILD_AFLAGS += -fcf-protection=full
+endif
 # Remove F,D,V from isa string for all. Keep extensions between "fd" and "v" by
 # matching non-v and non-multi-letter extensions out with the filter ([^v_]*)
 KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(KBUILD_BASE_ISA)
diff --git a/arch/riscv/kernel/compat_vdso/Makefile b/arch/riscv/kernel/compat_vdso/Makefile
index 24e37d1ef7ec..552131bc34d7 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/kernel/compat_vdso/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/kernel/compat_vdso/Makefile
@@ -69,4 +69,4 @@ quiet_cmd_compat_vdsold = VDSOLD  $@
 
 # actual build commands
 quiet_cmd_compat_vdsoas = VDSOAS  $@
-      cmd_compat_vdsoas = $(COMPAT_CC) $(a_flags) $(COMPAT_CC_FLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+      cmd_compat_vdsoas = $(COMPAT_CC) $(filter-out -fcf-protection=full, $(a_flags)) $(COMPAT_CC_FLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
diff --git a/arch/riscv/kernel/vdso/Makefile b/arch/riscv/kernel/vdso/Makefile
index 2b528d82fa7d..7b1446b63ebc 100644
--- a/arch/riscv/kernel/vdso/Makefile
+++ b/arch/riscv/kernel/vdso/Makefile
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ ifdef CONFIG_VDSO_GETRANDOM
 vdso-syms += getrandom
 endif
 
-ifdef CONFIG_RISCV_USER_CFI
+ifneq ($(CONFIG_RISCV_USER_CFI), $(CONFIG_RISCV_KERNEL_CFI))
 CFI_MARCH = _zicfilp_zicfiss
 CFI_FULL = -fcf-protection=full
 endif

-- 
2.43.0




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