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-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/gather_data_sampling.rst109
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst1
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst21
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt43
-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst39
5 files changed, 174 insertions, 39 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/gather_data_sampling.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/gather_data_sampling.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..264bfa937f7d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/gather_data_sampling.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,109 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+GDS - Gather Data Sampling
+==========================
+
+Gather Data Sampling is a hardware vulnerability which allows unprivileged
+speculative access to data which was previously stored in vector registers.
+
+Problem
+-------
+When a gather instruction performs loads from memory, different data elements
+are merged into the destination vector register. However, when a gather
+instruction that is transiently executed encounters a fault, stale data from
+architectural or internal vector registers may get transiently forwarded to the
+destination vector register instead. This will allow a malicious attacker to
+infer stale data using typical side channel techniques like cache timing
+attacks. GDS is a purely sampling-based attack.
+
+The attacker uses gather instructions to infer the stale vector register data.
+The victim does not need to do anything special other than use the vector
+registers. The victim does not need to use gather instructions to be
+vulnerable.
+
+Because the buffers are shared between Hyper-Threads cross Hyper-Thread attacks
+are possible.
+
+Attack scenarios
+----------------
+Without mitigation, GDS can infer stale data across virtually all
+permission boundaries:
+
+ Non-enclaves can infer SGX enclave data
+ Userspace can infer kernel data
+ Guests can infer data from hosts
+ Guest can infer guest from other guests
+ Users can infer data from other users
+
+Because of this, it is important to ensure that the mitigation stays enabled in
+lower-privilege contexts like guests and when running outside SGX enclaves.
+
+The hardware enforces the mitigation for SGX. Likewise, VMMs should ensure
+that guests are not allowed to disable the GDS mitigation. If a host erred and
+allowed this, a guest could theoretically disable GDS mitigation, mount an
+attack, and re-enable it.
+
+Mitigation mechanism
+--------------------
+This issue is mitigated in microcode. The microcode defines the following new
+bits:
+
+ ================================ === ============================
+ IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES[GDS_CTRL] R/O Enumerates GDS vulnerability
+ and mitigation support.
+ IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES[GDS_NO] R/O Processor is not vulnerable.
+ IA32_MCU_OPT_CTRL[GDS_MITG_DIS] R/W Disables the mitigation
+ 0 by default.
+ IA32_MCU_OPT_CTRL[GDS_MITG_LOCK] R/W Locks GDS_MITG_DIS=0. Writes
+ to GDS_MITG_DIS are ignored
+ Can't be cleared once set.
+ ================================ === ============================
+
+GDS can also be mitigated on systems that don't have updated microcode by
+disabling AVX. This can be done by setting gather_data_sampling="force" or
+"clearcpuid=avx" on the kernel command-line.
+
+If used, these options will disable AVX use by turning off XSAVE YMM support.
+However, the processor will still enumerate AVX support. Userspace that
+does not follow proper AVX enumeration to check both AVX *and* XSAVE YMM
+support will break.
+
+Mitigation control on the kernel command line
+---------------------------------------------
+The mitigation can be disabled by setting "gather_data_sampling=off" or
+"mitigations=off" on the kernel command line. Not specifying either will default
+to the mitigation being enabled. Specifying "gather_data_sampling=force" will
+use the microcode mitigation when available or disable AVX on affected systems
+where the microcode hasn't been updated to include the mitigation.
+
+GDS System Information
+------------------------
+The kernel provides vulnerability status information through sysfs. For
+GDS this can be accessed by the following sysfs file:
+
+/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/gather_data_sampling
+
+The possible values contained in this file are:
+
+ ============================== =============================================
+ Not affected Processor not vulnerable.
+ Vulnerable Processor vulnerable and mitigation disabled.
+ Vulnerable: No microcode Processor vulnerable and microcode is missing
+ mitigation.
+ Mitigation: AVX disabled,
+ no microcode Processor is vulnerable and microcode is missing
+ mitigation. AVX disabled as mitigation.
+ Mitigation: Microcode Processor is vulnerable and mitigation is in
+ effect.
+ Mitigation: Microcode (locked) Processor is vulnerable and mitigation is in
+ effect and cannot be disabled.
+ Unknown: Dependent on
+ hypervisor status Running on a virtual guest processor that is
+ affected but with no way to know if host
+ processor is mitigated or vulnerable.
+ ============================== =============================================
+
+GDS Default mitigation
+----------------------
+The updated microcode will enable the mitigation by default. The kernel's
+default action is to leave the mitigation enabled.
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
index 2adec1e6520a..245468b0f2be 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run time.
multihit.rst
special-register-buffer-data-sampling.rst
processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
+ gather_data_sampling.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
index 7e061ed449aa..0fba3758d0da 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
@@ -479,8 +479,16 @@ Spectre variant 2
On Intel Skylake-era systems the mitigation covers most, but not all,
cases. See :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` for more details.
- On CPUs with hardware mitigation for Spectre variant 2 (e.g. Enhanced
- IBRS on x86), retpoline is automatically disabled at run time.
+ On CPUs with hardware mitigation for Spectre variant 2 (e.g. IBRS
+ or enhanced IBRS on x86), retpoline is automatically disabled at run time.
+
+ Systems which support enhanced IBRS (eIBRS) enable IBRS protection once at
+ boot, by setting the IBRS bit, and they're automatically protected against
+ Spectre v2 variant attacks, including cross-thread branch target injections
+ on SMT systems (STIBP). In other words, eIBRS enables STIBP too.
+
+ Legacy IBRS systems clear the IBRS bit on exit to userspace and
+ therefore explicitly enable STIBP for that
The retpoline mitigation is turned on by default on vulnerable
CPUs. It can be forced on or off by the administrator
@@ -504,9 +512,12 @@ Spectre variant 2
For Spectre variant 2 mitigation, individual user programs
can be compiled with return trampolines for indirect branches.
This protects them from consuming poisoned entries in the branch
- target buffer left by malicious software. Alternatively, the
- programs can disable their indirect branch speculation via prctl()
- (See :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`).
+ target buffer left by malicious software.
+
+ On legacy IBRS systems, at return to userspace, implicit STIBP is disabled
+ because the kernel clears the IBRS bit. In this case, the userspace programs
+ can disable indirect branch speculation via prctl() (See
+ :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`).
On x86, this will turn on STIBP to guard against attacks from the
sibling thread when the user program is running, and use IBPB to
flush the branch target buffer when switching to/from the program.
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 68f31b666032..84c34f7e8984 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -810,10 +810,6 @@
debugpat [X86] Enable PAT debugging
- decnet.addr= [HW,NET]
- Format: <area>[,<node>]
- See also Documentation/networking/decnet.txt.
-
default_hugepagesz=
[same as hugepagesz=] The size of the default
HugeTLB page size. This is the size represented by
@@ -1294,6 +1290,26 @@
Format: off | on
default: on
+ gather_data_sampling=
+ [X86,INTEL] Control the Gather Data Sampling (GDS)
+ mitigation.
+
+ Gather Data Sampling is a hardware vulnerability which
+ allows unprivileged speculative access to data which was
+ previously stored in vector registers.
+
+ This issue is mitigated by default in updated microcode.
+ The mitigation may have a performance impact but can be
+ disabled. On systems without the microcode mitigation
+ disabling AVX serves as a mitigation.
+
+ force: Disable AVX to mitigate systems without
+ microcode mitigation. No effect if the microcode
+ mitigation is present. Known to cause crashes in
+ userspace with buggy AVX enumeration.
+
+ off: Disable GDS mitigation.
+
gcov_persist= [GCOV] When non-zero (default), profiling data for
kernel modules is saved and remains accessible via
debugfs, even when the module is unloaded/reloaded.
@@ -2559,22 +2575,23 @@
Disable all optional CPU mitigations. This
improves system performance, but it may also
expose users to several CPU vulnerabilities.
- Equivalent to: nopti [X86,PPC]
+ Equivalent to: gather_data_sampling=off [X86]
kpti=0 [ARM64]
- nospectre_v1 [PPC]
+ kvm.nx_huge_pages=off [X86]
+ l1tf=off [X86]
+ mds=off [X86]
+ mmio_stale_data=off [X86]
+ no_entry_flush [PPC]
+ no_uaccess_flush [PPC]
nobp=0 [S390]
+ nopti [X86,PPC]
+ nospectre_v1 [PPC]
nospectre_v1 [X86]
nospectre_v2 [X86,PPC,S390,ARM64]
- spectre_v2_user=off [X86]
spec_store_bypass_disable=off [X86,PPC]
+ spectre_v2_user=off [X86]
ssbd=force-off [ARM64]
- l1tf=off [X86]
- mds=off [X86]
tsx_async_abort=off [X86]
- kvm.nx_huge_pages=off [X86]
- no_entry_flush [PPC]
- no_uaccess_flush [PPC]
- mmio_stale_data=off [X86]
Exceptions:
This does not have any effect on
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst
index 30187d49dc2c..67161e1b0f0b 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/security-bugs.rst
@@ -56,31 +56,28 @@ information submitted to the security list and any followup discussions
of the report are treated confidentially even after the embargo has been
lifted, in perpetuity.
-Coordination
-------------
-
-Fixes for sensitive bugs, such as those that might lead to privilege
-escalations, may need to be coordinated with the private
-<linux-distros@vs.openwall.org> mailing list so that distribution vendors
-are well prepared to issue a fixed kernel upon public disclosure of the
-upstream fix. Distros will need some time to test the proposed patch and
-will generally request at least a few days of embargo, and vendor update
-publication prefers to happen Tuesday through Thursday. When appropriate,
-the security team can assist with this coordination, or the reporter can
-include linux-distros from the start. In this case, remember to prefix
-the email Subject line with "[vs]" as described in the linux-distros wiki:
-<http://oss-security.openwall.org/wiki/mailing-lists/distros#how-to-use-the-lists>
+Coordination with other groups
+------------------------------
+
+The kernel security team strongly recommends that reporters of potential
+security issues NEVER contact the "linux-distros" mailing list until
+AFTER discussing it with the kernel security team. Do not Cc: both
+lists at once. You may contact the linux-distros mailing list after a
+fix has been agreed on and you fully understand the requirements that
+doing so will impose on you and the kernel community.
+
+The different lists have different goals and the linux-distros rules do
+not contribute to actually fixing any potential security problems.
CVE assignment
--------------
-The security team does not normally assign CVEs, nor do we require them
-for reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and
-may delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier
-assigned ahead of public disclosure, they will need to contact the private
-linux-distros list, described above. When such a CVE identifier is known
-before a patch is provided, it is desirable to mention it in the commit
-message if the reporter agrees.
+The security team does not assign CVEs, nor do we require them for
+reports or fixes, as this can needlessly complicate the process and may
+delay the bug handling. If a reporter wishes to have a CVE identifier
+assigned, they should find one by themselves, for example by contacting
+MITRE directly. However under no circumstances will a patch inclusion
+be delayed to wait for a CVE identifier to arrive.
Non-disclosure agreements
-------------------------