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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst | 52 |
1 files changed, 42 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst index 32a8893e5617..25a04cda4c2c 100644 --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst @@ -138,11 +138,10 @@ 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). +Previously the only known real-world BHB attack vector was via unprivileged +eBPF. Further research has found attacks that don't require unprivileged eBPF. +For a full mitigation against BHB attacks it is recommended to set BHI_DIS_S or +use the BHB clearing sequence. Attack scenarios ---------------- @@ -430,6 +429,23 @@ The possible values in this file are: 'PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected' CPU is not affected by PBRSB =========================== ======================================================= + - Branch History Injection (BHI) protection status: + +.. list-table:: + + * - BHI: Not affected + - System is not affected + * - BHI: Retpoline + - System is protected by retpoline + * - BHI: BHI_DIS_S + - System is protected by BHI_DIS_S + * - BHI: SW loop, KVM SW loop + - System is protected by software clearing sequence + * - BHI: Vulnerable + - System is vulnerable to BHI + * - BHI: Vulnerable, KVM: SW loop + - System is vulnerable; KVM is protected by software clearing sequence + Full mitigation might require a microcode update from the CPU vendor. When the necessary microcode is not available, the kernel will report vulnerability. @@ -473,8 +489,8 @@ Spectre variant 2 -mindirect-branch=thunk-extern -mindirect-branch-register options. If the kernel is compiled with a Clang compiler, the compiler needs to support -mretpoline-external-thunk option. The kernel config - CONFIG_RETPOLINE needs to be turned on, and the CPU needs to run with - the latest updated microcode. + CONFIG_MITIGATION_RETPOLINE needs to be turned on, and the CPU needs + to run with the latest updated microcode. On Intel Skylake-era systems the mitigation covers most, but not all, cases. See :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` for more details. @@ -484,7 +500,11 @@ Spectre variant 2 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. + some Spectre v2 variant attacks. The BHB can still influence the choice of + indirect branch predictor entry, and although branch predictor entries are + isolated between modes when eIBRS is enabled, the BHB itself is not isolated + between modes. Systems which support BHI_DIS_S will set it to protect against + BHI attacks. On Intel's enhanced IBRS systems, this includes cross-thread branch target injections on SMT systems (STIBP). In other words, Intel eIBRS enables @@ -609,8 +629,8 @@ kernel command line. Selecting 'on' will, and 'auto' may, choose a mitigation method at run time according to the CPU, the available microcode, the setting of the - CONFIG_RETPOLINE configuration option, and the - compiler with which the kernel was built. + CONFIG_MITIGATION_RETPOLINE configuration option, + and the compiler with which the kernel was built. Selecting 'on' will also enable the mitigation against user space to user space task attacks. @@ -638,6 +658,18 @@ kernel command line. spectre_v2=off. Spectre variant 1 mitigations cannot be disabled. + spectre_bhi= + + [X86] Control mitigation of Branch History Injection + (BHI) vulnerability. This setting affects the deployment + of the HW BHI control and the SW BHB clearing sequence. + + on + (default) Enable the HW or SW mitigation as + needed. + off + Disable the mitigation. + For spectre_v2_user see Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt Mitigation selection guide |