linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/2] alpha/ptrace: Record and handle the absence of switch

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Message-ID: <87czsla6ea.fsf@disp2133>
Date:   Wed, 16 Jun 2021 15:42:05 -0500
From:   ebiederm@...ssion.com (Eric W. Biederman)
To:     Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:     Michael Schmitz <schmitzmic@...il.com>,
        linux-arch <linux-arch@...r.kernel.org>,
        Jens Axboe <axboe@...nel.dk>, Oleg Nesterov <oleg@...hat.com>,
        Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
        Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        Richard Henderson <rth@...ddle.net>,
        Ivan Kokshaysky <ink@...assic.park.msu.ru>,
        Matt Turner <mattst88@...il.com>,
        alpha <linux-alpha@...r.kernel.org>,
        Geert Uytterhoeven <geert@...ux-m68k.org>,
        linux-m68k <linux-m68k@...ts.linux-m68k.org>,
        Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...nel.org>,
        Ley Foon Tan <ley.foon.tan@...el.com>,
        Tejun Heo <tj@...nel.org>, Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] alpha/ptrace: Record and handle the absence of switch_stack

Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org> writes:

> On Wed, Jun 16, 2021 at 11:32 AM Eric W. Biederman
> <ebiederm@...ssion.com> wrote:
>>
>> Prevent security holes by recording when all of the registers are
>> available so generic code changes do not result in security holes
>> on alpha.
>
> Please no, not this way. ldl/stc is extremely expensive on some alpha cpus.
>
> I really think thatTIF_ALLREGS_SAVED bit isn't worth it, except
> perhaps for debugging.
>
> And even for debugging, I think it would be both easier and cheaper to
> just add a magic word to the entry stack instead.

I think I can do something like that.

Looking at arch/alpha/asm/cache.h it looks like alpha had either 32byte
or 64bit cachelines.  Which makes struct switch_stack a full 10 or 5
cachelines in size.  So pushing something extra might hit an extra
cacheline.

However it looks like struct pt_regs is 16 bytes short of a full cache
line so struct switch_stack isn't going to be cacheline aligned. Adding
an extra 8 bytes of magic number will hopefully be in the noise.

If I can I would like to find something that is cheap enough that I can
always leave on.  Mostly because there is little enough testing that a
bug that allows anyone to stomp the kernel stack has existed for 17 years
without being noticed.

If you want it to be a debug option only I can certainly make that
happen.  I am still going "Eek! Arbitrary stack smash!" in my head.

Eric