Date:   Thu, 11 Mar 2021 18:39:44 -0800
From:   Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
To:     Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>
Cc:     Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>,
        Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>,
        Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>,
        Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>, Jessica Yu <jeyu@...nel.org>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>, Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>,
        bpf@...r.kernel.org, linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-arch@...r.kernel.org, linux-arm-kernel@...ts.infradead.org,
        linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org, linux-pci@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 01/17] add support for Clang CFI

On Thu, Mar 11, 2021 at 04:49:03PM -0800, Sami Tolvanen wrote:
> This change adds support for Clang’s forward-edge Control Flow
> Integrity (CFI) checking. With CONFIG_CFI_CLANG, the compiler
> injects a runtime check before each indirect function call to ensure
> the target is a valid function with the correct static type. This
> restricts possible call targets and makes it more difficult for
> an attacker to exploit bugs that allow the modification of stored
> function pointers. For more details, see:
> 
>   https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ControlFlowIntegrity.html
> 
> Clang requires CONFIG_LTO_CLANG to be enabled with CFI to gain
> visibility to possible call targets. Kernel modules are supported
> with Clang’s cross-DSO CFI mode, which allows checking between
> independently compiled components.
> 
> With CFI enabled, the compiler injects a __cfi_check() function into
> the kernel and each module for validating local call targets. For
> cross-module calls that cannot be validated locally, the compiler
> calls the global __cfi_slowpath_diag() function, which determines
> the target module and calls the correct __cfi_check() function. This
> patch includes a slowpath implementation that uses __module_address()
> to resolve call targets, and with CONFIG_CFI_CLANG_SHADOW enabled, a
> shadow map that speeds up module look-ups by ~3x.
> 
> Clang implements indirect call checking using jump tables and
> offers two methods of generating them. With canonical jump tables,
> the compiler renames each address-taken function to <function>.cfi
> and points the original symbol to a jump table entry, which passes
> __cfi_check() validation. This isn’t compatible with stand-alone
> assembly code, which the compiler doesn’t instrument, and would
> result in indirect calls to assembly code to fail. Therefore, we
> default to using non-canonical jump tables instead, where the compiler
> generates a local jump table entry <function>.cfi_jt for each
> address-taken function, and replaces all references to the function
> with the address of the jump table entry.
> 
> Note that because non-canonical jump table addresses are local
> to each component, they break cross-module function address
> equality. Specifically, the address of a global function will be
> different in each module, as it's replaced with the address of a local
> jump table entry. If this address is passed to a different module,
> it won’t match the address of the same function taken there. This
> may break code that relies on comparing addresses passed from other
> components.
> 
> CFI checking can be disabled in a function with the __nocfi attribute.
> Additionally, CFI can be disabled for an entire compilation unit by
> filtering out CC_FLAGS_CFI.
> 
> By default, CFI failures result in a kernel panic to stop a potential
> exploit. CONFIG_CFI_PERMISSIVE enables a permissive mode, where the
> kernel prints out a rate-limited warning instead, and allows execution
> to continue. This option is helpful for locating type mismatches, but
> should only be enabled during development.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>

Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>

-- 
Kees Cook

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