linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2] x86/mm: warn on W+x mappings

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Date:	Mon, 12 Oct 2015 18:43:44 +0200
From:	Ard Biesheuvel <ard.biesheuvel@...aro.org>
To:	Matt Fleming <matt@...eblueprint.co.uk>
Cc:	Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>, Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
	Stephen Smalley <sds@...ho.nsa.gov>,
	"x86@...nel.org" <x86@...nel.org>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
	Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
	"H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@...or.com>,
	Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra@...llo.nl>,
	Andy Lutomirski <luto@...nel.org>,
	Denys Vlasenko <dvlasenk@...hat.com>,
	Brian Gerst <brgerst@...il.com>,
	"linux-efi@...r.kernel.org" <linux-efi@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2] x86/mm: warn on W+x mappings

On 12 October 2015 at 17:50, Matt Fleming <matt@...eblueprint.co.uk> wrote:
> On Mon, 12 Oct, at 05:34:53PM, Ard Biesheuvel wrote:
>>
>> On arm64, we only map in all of the UEFI runtime services regions
>> during the time any of these services are being invoked. I think this
>> should be mostly feasible on x86 as well, although it would involve
>> yet another rewrite of the EFI region mapping code, and most likely a
>> long list of quirks for platforms that are not able to deal with it
>> correctly for one reason or the other (but that all come down to: 'if
>> you are not doing it like Windows does it, you must be doing it
>> wrong').
>
> Actually, we use separate page tables for mapping the EFI runtime
> services on x86 right now. These tables are only used when making
> runtime calls, just like on arm64.
>
> So we've got a little bit of isolation right now.
>

Ah ok. I thought that only applied to the duplicate 1:1 mapping, not
to the high mapping.

But that does reduce the attack surface considerably. Combined with
strict w^x once the UEFI 2.5 feature is fully supported, I am a lot
less nervous about RWX EFI runtime regions being used to subvert the
system.

-- 
Ard.
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