linux-kernel - Re: [RFC PATCH 0/9] patchable function pointers for pluggable crypto routines

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Date:   Fri, 5 Oct 2018 19:15:13 +0200
From:   Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel@...aro.org>
To:     "Jason A. Donenfeld" <Jason@...c4.com>
Cc:     Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Eric Biggers <ebiggers@...nel.org>,
        Samuel Neves <sneves@....uc.pt>,
        Andy Lutomirski <luto@...nel.org>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
        Herbert Xu <herbert@...dor.apana.org.au>,
        "David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
        Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@....com>,
        Will Deacon <will.deacon@....com>,
        Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh@...nel.crashing.org>,
        Paul Mackerras <paulus@...ba.org>,
        Michael Ellerman <mpe@...erman.id.au>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...hat.com>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        "Martin K. Petersen" <martin.petersen@...cle.com>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Richard Weinberger <richard@....at>,
        Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
        "open list:HARDWARE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR CORE" 
        <linux-crypto@...r.kernel.org>,
        linux-arm-kernel <linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org>,
        linuxppc-dev <linuxppc-dev@...ts.ozlabs.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/9] patchable function pointers for pluggable crypto routines

On 5 October 2018 at 15:37, Jason A. Donenfeld <Jason@...c4.com> wrote:
...
> Therefore, I think this patch goes in exactly the wrong direction. I
> mean, if you want to introduce dynamic patching as a means for making
> the crypto API's dynamic dispatch stuff not as slow in a post-spectre
> world, sure, go for it; that may very well be a good idea. But
> presenting it as an alternative to Zinc very widely misses the point and
> serves to prolong a series of bad design choices, which are now able to
> be rectified by putting energy into Zinc instead.
>

This series has nothing to do with dynamic dispatch: the call sites
call crypto functions using ordinary function calls (although my
example uses CRC-T10DIF), and these calls are redirected via what is
essentially a PLT entry, so that we can supsersede those routines at
runtime.