linux-kernel - Re: [RFC PATCH 0/7] SVM guest shadow stack support

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Message-ID: <ZCXnYj3GsoB1Kipo@johallen-workstation.lan>
Date:   Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:47:46 -0500
From:   John Allen <john.allen@....com>
To:     "Yang, Weijiang" <weijiang.yang@...el.com>
Cc:     "thomas.lendacky@....com" <thomas.lendacky@....com>,
        "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "kvm@...r.kernel.org" <kvm@...r.kernel.org>,
        "pbonzini@...hat.com" <pbonzini@...hat.com>,
        "x86@...nel.org" <x86@...nel.org>, Borislav Petkov <bp@...en8.de>,
        "Edgecombe, Rick P" <rick.p.edgecombe@...el.com>,
        "Christopherson, Sean" <seanjc@...gle.com>
Subject: Re: [RFC PATCH 0/7] SVM guest shadow stack support

On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 01:37:38PM +0800, Yang, Weijiang wrote:
> 
> On 3/29/2023 8:16 AM, Yang, Weijiang wrote:
> > 
> > On 3/29/2023 1:51 AM, John Allen wrote:
> > > On Wed, Jan 25, 2023 at 01:11:44AM +0000, Edgecombe, Rick P wrote:
> > > > On Wed, 2023-01-25 at 00:55 +0000, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > > > > On Wed, Oct 12, 2022, John Allen wrote:
> > > > > > AMD Zen3 and newer processors support shadow stack, a feature
> > > > > > designed to
> > > > > > protect against ROP (return-oriented programming) attacks in which
> > > > > > an attacker
> > > > > > manipulates return addresses on the call stack in order to execute
> > > > > > arbitrary
> > > > > > code. To prevent this, shadow stacks can be allocated that are only
> > > > > > used by
> > > > > > control transfer and return instructions. When a CALL instruction
> > > > > > is issued, it
> > > > > > writes the return address to both the program stack and the shadow
> > > > > > stack. When
> > > > > > the subsequent RET instruction is issued, it pops the return
> > > > > > address from both
> > > > > > stacks and compares them. If the addresses don't match, a control-
> > > > > > protection
> > > > > > exception is raised.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > Shadow stack and a related feature, Indirect Branch Tracking (IBT),
> > > > > > are
> > > > > > collectively referred to as Control-flow Enforcement Technology
> > > > > > (CET). However,
> > > > > > current AMD processors only support shadow stack and not IBT.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > This series adds support for shadow stack in SVM guests and builds
> > > > > > upon the
> > > > > > support added in the CET guest support patch series [1] and the CET
> > > > > > kernel
> > > > > > patch series [2]. Additional patches are required to support shadow
> > > > > > stack
> > > > > > enabled guests in qemu [3] and glibc [4].
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > [1]: CET guest support patches
> > > > > > 
> > > > https://lore.kernel.org/all/20220616084643.19564-1-weijiang.yang@intel.com/
> > > > 
> > > > > > [2]: Latest CET kernel patches
> > > > > > 
> > > > https://lore.kernel.org/all/20220929222936.14584-1-rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com/
> > > > 
> > > > > That dependency chain makes me sad.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Outside of a very shallow comment on the last patch, I don't plan on
> > > > > reviewing
> > > > > this until the kernel side of things gets out of our way. When that
> > > > > finally
> > > > > does happen, I'll definitely prioritize reviewing and merging this
> > > > > and the KVM
> > > > > Intel series.  I'd love to see this land.
> > > > I think all KVM needs is a few patches from the beginning of the host
> > > > series (the FPU stuff). At one point Weijiang and I had discussed with
> > > > Paolo and x86 folks that those few could go up with the KVM series if
> > > > desired.
> > > Now that the baremetal series has been accepted, how do we want to
> > > proceed? I think I'd like to send a refreshed version based on the
> > > version that was accpeted, but I'd want to wait to base it on a new
> > > version of Weijiang's kvm/vmx series (if one is planned).
> > > 
> > > Weijiang and Rick,
> > > 
> > > Are you planning on sending a new version of the kvm/vmx series?
> > 
> > Hi, Allen,
> > 
> > Yes, I'm working on the new version of kvm/vmx series, will cc you when
> > 
> > send it to community.
> 
> Patch 1/7 did what I wanted to implement to support AMD SHSTK, my next
> version
> 
> will continue refactoring them in vmx scope, then  your series may pick up
> the helper
> 
> and modify accordingly.
> 
> Please note, in my series, I removed check for MSR_IA32_PL{0,1,2}_SSP since
> they're
> 
> not supported right now, but your series supports for the MSRs, so you have
> to change
> 
> the helper a bit to adapt to your patches.

The reason we decided to include the PL{0,1,2}_SSP MSRs is that even
though linux doesn't support supervisor shadow stack, a non-linux guest
OS might support it and could make use of the MSRs. It could be
something the vmx patches might want to account for as well 

Thanks,
John