linux-kernel - Re: [tip: x86/urgent] x86/bugs: Add asm helpers for executing VERW

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Date: Tue, 27 Feb 2024 00:20:03 +0200
From: Nikolay Borisov <nik.borisov@...e.com>
To: Pawan Gupta <pawan.kumar.gupta@...ux.intel.com>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-tip-commits@...r.kernel.org,
 Alyssa Milburn <alyssa.milburn@...el.com>,
 Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@...rix.com>,
 Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
 Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@...ux.intel.com>, x86@...nel.org
Subject: Re: [tip: x86/urgent] x86/bugs: Add asm helpers for executing VERW



On 27.02.24 г. 0:10 ч., Pawan Gupta wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 26, 2024 at 09:17:30AM +0200, Nikolay Borisov wrote:
>>> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
>>> index 262e655..077083e 100644
>>> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
>>> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/nospec-branch.h
>>> @@ -315,6 +315,17 @@
>>>    #endif
>>>    .endm
>>> +/*
>>> + * Macro to execute VERW instruction that mitigate transient data sampling
>>> + * attacks such as MDS. On affected systems a microcode update overloaded VERW
>>> + * instruction to also clear the CPU buffers. VERW clobbers CFLAGS.ZF.
>>> + *
>>> + * Note: Only the memory operand variant of VERW clears the CPU buffers.
>>> + */
>>> +.macro CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS
>>> +	ALTERNATIVE "", __stringify(verw _ASM_RIP(mds_verw_sel)), X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_CPU_BUF
>>
>> Any particular reason why this uses RIP-relative vs an absolute address
>> mode?
> 
> Early versions of the series had the VERW arg pointing to the macro
> itself, that is why relative addressing was used. That got changed in a
> later version with all VERW sites pointing to a single memory location.
> 
>> I know in our private exchange you said there is no significance but
>> for example older kernels have a missing relocation support in alternatives.
>> This of course can be worked around by slightly changing the logic of the
>> macro which means different kernels will have slightly different macros.
> 
> Do you anticipate a problem with that? If yes, I can send a patch to use
> fixed addressing in upstream as well.

I experienced crashes on older kernels before realizing that the 
relocation wasn't resolved correctly by the alternative framework. 
Instead i simply changed the macro to jmp 1f, where the next instruction 
is the verw ( I did send a backport for 5.4) and it works. Recently 
there's been a push to make as much of the kernel assembly as possible 
PIC so having a rip-relative addressing helps. Whether that makes any 
material difference - I cannot say.

Here's my backport version for reference:

https://lore.kernel.org/stable/20240226122237.198921-3-nik.borisov@suse.com/