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-rw-r--r--Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst79
1 files changed, 57 insertions, 22 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
index e05e581af5cf..0fba3758d0da 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst
@@ -60,8 +60,8 @@ privileged data touched during the speculative execution.
Spectre variant 1 attacks take advantage of speculative execution of
conditional branches, while Spectre variant 2 attacks use speculative
execution of indirect branches to leak privileged memory.
-See :ref:`[1] <spec_ref1>` :ref:`[5] <spec_ref5>` :ref:`[7] <spec_ref7>`
-:ref:`[10] <spec_ref10>` :ref:`[11] <spec_ref11>`.
+See :ref:`[1] <spec_ref1>` :ref:`[5] <spec_ref5>` :ref:`[6] <spec_ref6>`
+:ref:`[7] <spec_ref7>` :ref:`[10] <spec_ref10>` :ref:`[11] <spec_ref11>`.
Spectre variant 1 (Bounds Check Bypass)
---------------------------------------
@@ -131,6 +131,19 @@ steer its indirect branch speculations to gadget code, and measure the
speculative execution's side effects left in level 1 cache to infer the
victim's data.
+Yet another variant 2 attack vector is for the attacker to poison the
+Branch History Buffer (BHB) to speculatively steer an indirect branch
+to a specific Branch Target Buffer (BTB) entry, even if the entry isn't
+associated with the source address of the indirect branch. Specifically,
+the BHB might be shared across privilege levels even in the presence of
+Enhanced IBRS.
+
+Currently the only known real-world BHB attack vector is via
+unprivileged eBPF. Therefore, it's highly recommended to not enable
+unprivileged eBPF, especially when eIBRS is used (without retpolines).
+For a full mitigation against BHB attacks, it's recommended to use
+retpolines (or eIBRS combined with retpolines).
+
Attack scenarios
----------------
@@ -364,13 +377,15 @@ The possible values in this file are:
- Kernel status:
- ==================================== =================================
- 'Not affected' The processor is not vulnerable
- 'Vulnerable' Vulnerable, no mitigation
- 'Mitigation: Full generic retpoline' Software-focused mitigation
- 'Mitigation: Full AMD retpoline' AMD-specific software mitigation
- 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS' Hardware-focused mitigation
- ==================================== =================================
+ ======================================== =================================
+ 'Not affected' The processor is not vulnerable
+ 'Mitigation: None' Vulnerable, no mitigation
+ 'Mitigation: Retpolines' Use Retpoline thunks
+ 'Mitigation: LFENCE' Use LFENCE instructions
+ 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS' Hardware-focused mitigation
+ 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS + Retpolines' Hardware-focused + Retpolines
+ 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS + LFENCE' Hardware-focused + LFENCE
+ ======================================== =================================
- Firmware status: Show if Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS) is
used to protect against Spectre variant 2 attacks when calling firmware (x86 only).
@@ -407,6 +422,14 @@ The possible values in this file are:
'RSB filling' Protection of RSB on context switch enabled
============= ===========================================
+ - EIBRS Post-barrier Return Stack Buffer (PBRSB) protection status:
+
+ =========================== =======================================================
+ 'PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence' CPU is affected and protection of RSB on VMEXIT enabled
+ 'PBRSB-eIBRS: Vulnerable' CPU is vulnerable
+ 'PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected' CPU is not affected by PBRSB
+ =========================== =======================================================
+
Full mitigation might require a microcode update from the CPU
vendor. When the necessary microcode is not available, the kernel will
report vulnerability.
@@ -456,8 +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
@@ -468,7 +499,7 @@ Spectre variant 2
before invoking any firmware code to prevent Spectre variant 2 exploits
using the firmware.
- Using kernel address space randomization (CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_SLAB=y
+ Using kernel address space randomization (CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_BASE=y
and CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM=y in the kernel configuration) makes
attacks on the kernel generally more difficult.
@@ -481,9 +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.
@@ -584,12 +618,13 @@ kernel command line.
Specific mitigations can also be selected manually:
- retpoline
- replace indirect branches
- retpoline,generic
- google's original retpoline
- retpoline,amd
- AMD-specific minimal thunk
+ retpoline auto pick between generic,lfence
+ retpoline,generic Retpolines
+ retpoline,lfence LFENCE; indirect branch
+ retpoline,amd alias for retpoline,lfence
+ eibrs enhanced IBRS
+ eibrs,retpoline enhanced IBRS + Retpolines
+ eibrs,lfence enhanced IBRS + LFENCE
Not specifying this option is equivalent to
spectre_v2=auto.
@@ -730,7 +765,7 @@ AMD white papers:
.. _spec_ref6:
-[6] `Software techniques for managing speculation on AMD processors <https://developer.amd.com/wp-content/resources/90343-B_SoftwareTechniquesforManagingSpeculation_WP_7-18Update_FNL.pdf>`_.
+[6] `Software techniques for managing speculation on AMD processors <https://developer.amd.com/wp-content/resources/Managing-Speculation-on-AMD-Processors.pdf>`_.
ARM white papers: