linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RFC RFT 2/5] fork: Add shadow stack support to clone3()

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Date:   Fri, 27 Oct 2023 16:05:28 +0100
From:   Mark Brown <broonie@...nel.org>
To:     "Szabolcs.Nagy@....com" <Szabolcs.Nagy@....com>
Cc:     Deepak Gupta <debug@...osinc.com>,
        "Edgecombe, Rick P" <rick.p.edgecombe@...el.com>,
        "dietmar.eggemann@....com" <dietmar.eggemann@....com>,
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Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC RFT 2/5] fork: Add shadow stack support to clone3()

On Fri, Oct 27, 2023 at 12:49:59PM +0100, Szabolcs.Nagy@....com wrote:
> The 10/26/2023 13:40, Deepak Gupta wrote:

> > In general, I am assuming such placement requirements emanate because
> > regular stack holds data (local args, etc) as well and thus software may
> > make assumptions about how stack frame is prepared and may worry about
> > layout and such. In case of shadow stack, it can only hold return

> no. the lifetime is the issue: a stack in principle can outlive
> a thread and resumed even after the original thread exited.
> for that to work the shadow stack has to outlive the thread too.

> (or the other way around: a stack can be freed before the thread
> exits, if the thread pivots away from that stack.)

> posix threads etc. don't allow this, but the linux syscall abi
> (clone) does allow it.

> i think it is reasonable to tie the shadow stack lifetime to the
> thread lifetime, but this clearly introduces a limitation on how
> the clone api can be used. such constraint on the userspace
> programming model is normally a bad decision, but given that most
> software (including all posix conforming code) is not affected,
> i think it is acceptable for an opt-in feature like shadow stack.

I tend to agree - software that's doing a lot of stack pivoting could do
something like allocate a small stack with clone3() and then immediately
pivoting away from it so they never actually use the stack that's tied
to the thread.  It's a bit clunky and wasteful but should work.

Since everyone seems OK with dealing with the placement issues by
specifying size only I'm planning on sending a new version that does
that after the merge window, assuming nobody else raises concerns.

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