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author | 2023-02-21 18:24:12 -0800 | |
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committer | 2023-02-21 18:24:12 -0800 | |
commit | 5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2 (patch) | |
tree | cc5c2d0a898769fd59549594fedb3ee6f84e59a0 /Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst | |
download | linux-5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2.tar.gz linux-5b7c4cabbb65f5c469464da6c5f614cbd7f730f2.zip |
Merge tag 'net-next-6.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net-nextgrafted
Pull networking updates from Jakub Kicinski:
"Core:
- Add dedicated kmem_cache for typical/small skb->head, avoid having
to access struct page at kfree time, and improve memory use.
- Introduce sysctl to set default RPS configuration for new netdevs.
- Define Netlink protocol specification format which can be used to
describe messages used by each family and auto-generate parsers.
Add tools for generating kernel data structures and uAPI headers.
- Expose all net/core sysctls inside netns.
- Remove 4s sleep in netpoll if carrier is instantly detected on
boot.
- Add configurable limit of MDB entries per port, and port-vlan.
- Continue populating drop reasons throughout the stack.
- Retire a handful of legacy Qdiscs and classifiers.
Protocols:
- Support IPv4 big TCP (TSO frames larger than 64kB).
- Add IP_LOCAL_PORT_RANGE socket option, to control local port range
on socket by socket basis.
- Track and report in procfs number of MPTCP sockets used.
- Support mixing IPv4 and IPv6 flows in the in-kernel MPTCP path
manager.
- IPv6: don't check net.ipv6.route.max_size and rely on garbage
collection to free memory (similarly to IPv4).
- Support Penultimate Segment Pop (PSP) flavor in SRv6 (RFC8986).
- ICMP: add per-rate limit counters.
- Add support for user scanning requests in ieee802154.
- Remove static WEP support.
- Support minimal Wi-Fi 7 Extremely High Throughput (EHT) rate
reporting.
- WiFi 7 EHT channel puncturing support (client & AP).
BPF:
- Add a rbtree data structure following the "next-gen data structure"
precedent set by recently added linked list, that is, by using
kfunc + kptr instead of adding a new BPF map type.
- Expose XDP hints via kfuncs with initial support for RX hash and
timestamp metadata.
- Add BPF_F_NO_TUNNEL_KEY extension to bpf_skb_set_tunnel_key to
better support decap on GRE tunnel devices not operating in collect
metadata.
- Improve x86 JIT's codegen for PROBE_MEM runtime error checks.
- Remove the need for trace_printk_lock for bpf_trace_printk and
bpf_trace_vprintk helpers.
- Extend libbpf's bpf_tracing.h support for tracing arguments of
kprobes/uprobes and syscall as a special case.
- Significantly reduce the search time for module symbols by
livepatch and BPF.
- Enable cpumasks to be used as kptrs, which is useful for tracing
programs tracking which tasks end up running on which CPUs in
different time intervals.
- Add support for BPF trampoline on s390x and riscv64.
- Add capability to export the XDP features supported by the NIC.
- Add __bpf_kfunc tag for marking kernel functions as kfuncs.
- Add cgroup.memory=nobpf kernel parameter option to disable BPF
memory accounting for container environments.
Netfilter:
- Remove the CLUSTERIP target. It has been marked as obsolete for
years, and we still have WARN splats wrt races of the out-of-band
/proc interface installed by this target.
- Add 'destroy' commands to nf_tables. They are identical to the
existing 'delete' commands, but do not return an error if the
referenced object (set, chain, rule...) did not exist.
Driver API:
- Improve cpumask_local_spread() locality to help NICs set the right
IRQ affinity on AMD platforms.
- Separate C22 and C45 MDIO bus transactions more clearly.
- Introduce new DCB table to control DSCP rewrite on egress.
- Support configuration of Physical Layer Collision Avoidance (PLCA)
Reconciliation Sublayer (RS) (802.3cg-2019). Modern version of
shared medium Ethernet.
- Support for MAC Merge layer (IEEE 802.3-2018 clause 99). Allowing
preemption of low priority frames by high priority frames.
- Add support for controlling MACSec offload using netlink SET.
- Rework devlink instance refcounts to allow registration and
de-registration under the instance lock. Split the code into
multiple files, drop some of the unnecessarily granular locks and
factor out common parts of netlink operation handling.
- Add TX frame aggregation parameters (for USB drivers).
- Add a new attr TCA_EXT_WARN_MSG to report TC (offload) warning
messages with notifications for debug.
- Allow offloading of UDP NEW connections via act_ct.
- Add support for per action HW stats in TC.
- Support hardware miss to TC action (continue processing in SW from
a specific point in the action chain).
- Warn if old Wireless Extension user space interface is used with
modern cfg80211/mac80211 drivers. Do not support Wireless
Extensions for Wi-Fi 7 devices at all. Everyone should switch to
using nl80211 interface instead.
- Improve the CAN bit timing configuration. Use extack to return
error messages directly to user space, update the SJW handling,
including the definition of a new default value that will benefit
CAN-FD controllers, by increasing their oscillator tolerance.
New hardware / drivers:
- Ethernet:
- nVidia BlueField-3 support (control traffic driver)
- Ethernet support for imx93 SoCs
- Motorcomm yt8531 gigabit Ethernet PHY
- onsemi NCN26000 10BASE-T1S PHY (with support for PLCA)
- Microchip LAN8841 PHY (incl. cable diagnostics and PTP)
- Amlogic gxl MDIO mux
- WiFi:
- RealTek RTL8188EU (rtl8xxxu)
- Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 devices (ath12k)
- CAN:
- Renesas R-Car V4H
Drivers:
- Bluetooth:
- Set Per Platform Antenna Gain (PPAG) for Intel controllers.
- Ethernet NICs:
- Intel (1G, igc):
- support TSN / Qbv / packet scheduling features of i226 model
- Intel (100G, ice):
- use GNSS subsystem instead of TTY
- multi-buffer XDP support
- extend support for GPIO pins to E823 devices
- nVidia/Mellanox:
- update the shared buffer configuration on PFC commands
- implement PTP adjphase function for HW offset control
- TC support for Geneve and GRE with VF tunnel offload
- more efficient crypto key management method
- multi-port eswitch support
- Netronome/Corigine:
- add DCB IEEE support
- support IPsec offloading for NFP3800
- Freescale/NXP (enetc):
- support XDP_REDIRECT for XDP non-linear buffers
- improve reconfig, avoid link flap and waiting for idle
- support MAC Merge layer
- Other NICs:
- sfc/ef100: add basic devlink support for ef100
- ionic: rx_push mode operation (writing descriptors via MMIO)
- bnxt: use the auxiliary bus abstraction for RDMA
- r8169: disable ASPM and reset bus in case of tx timeout
- cpsw: support QSGMII mode for J721e CPSW9G
- cpts: support pulse-per-second output
- ngbe: add an mdio bus driver
- usbnet: optimize usbnet_bh() by avoiding unnecessary queuing
- r8152: handle devices with FW with NCM support
- amd-xgbe: support 10Mbps, 2.5GbE speeds and rx-adaptation
- virtio-net: support multi buffer XDP
- virtio/vsock: replace virtio_vsock_pkt with sk_buff
- tsnep: XDP support
- Ethernet high-speed switches:
- nVidia/Mellanox (mlxsw):
- add support for latency TLV (in FW control messages)
- Microchip (sparx5):
- separate explicit and implicit traffic forwarding rules, make
the implicit rules always active
- add support for egress DSCP rewrite
- IS0 VCAP support (Ingress Classification)
- IS2 VCAP filters (protos, L3 addrs, L4 ports, flags, ToS
etc.)
- ES2 VCAP support (Egress Access Control)
- support for Per-Stream Filtering and Policing (802.1Q,
8.6.5.1)
- Ethernet embedded switches:
- Marvell (mv88e6xxx):
- add MAB (port auth) offload support
- enable PTP receive for mv88e6390
- NXP (ocelot):
- support MAC Merge layer
- support for the the vsc7512 internal copper phys
- Microchip:
- lan9303: convert to PHYLINK
- lan966x: support TC flower filter statistics
- lan937x: PTP support for KSZ9563/KSZ8563 and LAN937x
- lan937x: support Credit Based Shaper configuration
- ksz9477: support Energy Efficient Ethernet
- other:
- qca8k: convert to regmap read/write API, use bulk operations
- rswitch: Improve TX timestamp accuracy
- Intel WiFi (iwlwifi):
- EHT (Wi-Fi 7) rate reporting
- STEP equalizer support: transfer some STEP (connection to radio
on platforms with integrated wifi) related parameters from the
BIOS to the firmware.
- Qualcomm 802.11ax WiFi (ath11k):
- IPQ5018 support
- Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) responder role support
- channel 177 support
- MediaTek WiFi (mt76):
- per-PHY LED support
- mt7996: EHT (Wi-Fi 7) support
- Wireless Ethernet Dispatch (WED) reset support
- switch to using page pool allocator
- RealTek WiFi (rtw89):
- support new version of Bluetooth co-existance
- Mobile:
- rmnet: support TX aggregation"
* tag 'net-next-6.3' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/netdev/net-next: (1872 commits)
page_pool: add a comment explaining the fragment counter usage
net: ethtool: fix __ethtool_dev_mm_supported() implementation
ethtool: pse-pd: Fix double word in comments
xsk: add linux/vmalloc.h to xsk.c
sefltests: netdevsim: wait for devlink instance after netns removal
selftest: fib_tests: Always cleanup before exit
net/mlx5e: Align IPsec ASO result memory to be as required by hardware
net/mlx5e: TC, Set CT miss to the specific ct action instance
net/mlx5e: Rename CHAIN_TO_REG to MAPPED_OBJ_TO_REG
net/mlx5: Refactor tc miss handling to a single function
net/mlx5: Kconfig: Make tc offload depend on tc skb extension
net/sched: flower: Support hardware miss to tc action
net/sched: flower: Move filter handle initialization earlier
net/sched: cls_api: Support hardware miss to tc action
net/sched: Rename user cookie and act cookie
sfc: fix builds without CONFIG_RTC_LIB
sfc: clean up some inconsistent indentings
net/mlx4_en: Introduce flexible array to silence overflow warning
net: lan966x: Fix possible deadlock inside PTP
net/ulp: Remove redundant ->clone() test in inet_clone_ulp().
...
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst')
-rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst | 745 |
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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..3fe6511c5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst @@ -0,0 +1,745 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Spectre Side Channels +===================== + +Spectre is a class of side channel attacks that exploit branch prediction +and speculative execution on modern CPUs to read memory, possibly +bypassing access controls. Speculative execution side channel exploits +do not modify memory but attempt to infer privileged data in the memory. + +This document covers Spectre variant 1 and Spectre variant 2. + +Affected processors +------------------- + +Speculative execution side channel methods affect a wide range of modern +high performance processors, since most modern high speed processors +use branch prediction and speculative execution. + +The following CPUs are vulnerable: + + - Intel Core, Atom, Pentium, and Xeon processors + + - AMD Phenom, EPYC, and Zen processors + + - IBM POWER and zSeries processors + + - Higher end ARM processors + + - Apple CPUs + + - Higher end MIPS CPUs + + - Likely most other high performance CPUs. Contact your CPU vendor for details. + +Whether a processor is affected or not can be read out from the Spectre +vulnerability files in sysfs. See :ref:`spectre_sys_info`. + +Related CVEs +------------ + +The following CVE entries describe Spectre variants: + + ============= ======================= ========================== + CVE-2017-5753 Bounds check bypass Spectre variant 1 + CVE-2017-5715 Branch target injection Spectre variant 2 + CVE-2019-1125 Spectre v1 swapgs Spectre variant 1 (swapgs) + ============= ======================= ========================== + +Problem +------- + +CPUs use speculative operations to improve performance. That may leave +traces of memory accesses or computations in the processor's caches, +buffers, and branch predictors. Malicious software may be able to +influence the speculative execution paths, and then use the side effects +of the speculative execution in the CPUs' caches and buffers to infer +privileged data touched during the speculative execution. + +Spectre variant 1 attacks take advantage of speculative execution of +conditional branches, while Spectre variant 2 attacks use speculative +execution of indirect branches to leak privileged memory. +See :ref:`[1] <spec_ref1>` :ref:`[5] <spec_ref5>` :ref:`[6] <spec_ref6>` +:ref:`[7] <spec_ref7>` :ref:`[10] <spec_ref10>` :ref:`[11] <spec_ref11>`. + +Spectre variant 1 (Bounds Check Bypass) +--------------------------------------- + +The bounds check bypass attack :ref:`[2] <spec_ref2>` takes advantage +of speculative execution that bypasses conditional branch instructions +used for memory access bounds check (e.g. checking if the index of an +array results in memory access within a valid range). This results in +memory accesses to invalid memory (with out-of-bound index) that are +done speculatively before validation checks resolve. Such speculative +memory accesses can leave side effects, creating side channels which +leak information to the attacker. + +There are some extensions of Spectre variant 1 attacks for reading data +over the network, see :ref:`[12] <spec_ref12>`. However such attacks +are difficult, low bandwidth, fragile, and are considered low risk. + +Note that, despite "Bounds Check Bypass" name, Spectre variant 1 is not +only about user-controlled array bounds checks. It can affect any +conditional checks. The kernel entry code interrupt, exception, and NMI +handlers all have conditional swapgs checks. Those may be problematic +in the context of Spectre v1, as kernel code can speculatively run with +a user GS. + +Spectre variant 2 (Branch Target Injection) +------------------------------------------- + +The branch target injection attack takes advantage of speculative +execution of indirect branches :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>`. The indirect +branch predictors inside the processor used to guess the target of +indirect branches can be influenced by an attacker, causing gadget code +to be speculatively executed, thus exposing sensitive data touched by +the victim. The side effects left in the CPU's caches during speculative +execution can be measured to infer data values. + +.. _poison_btb: + +In Spectre variant 2 attacks, the attacker can steer speculative indirect +branches in the victim to gadget code by poisoning the branch target +buffer of a CPU used for predicting indirect branch addresses. Such +poisoning could be done by indirect branching into existing code, +with the address offset of the indirect branch under the attacker's +control. Since the branch prediction on impacted hardware does not +fully disambiguate branch address and uses the offset for prediction, +this could cause privileged code's indirect branch to jump to a gadget +code with the same offset. + +The most useful gadgets take an attacker-controlled input parameter (such +as a register value) so that the memory read can be controlled. Gadgets +without input parameters might be possible, but the attacker would have +very little control over what memory can be read, reducing the risk of +the attack revealing useful data. + +One other variant 2 attack vector is for the attacker to poison the +return stack buffer (RSB) :ref:`[13] <spec_ref13>` to cause speculative +subroutine return instruction execution to go to a gadget. An attacker's +imbalanced subroutine call instructions might "poison" entries in the +return stack buffer which are later consumed by a victim's subroutine +return instructions. This attack can be mitigated by flushing the return +stack buffer on context switch, or virtual machine (VM) exit. + +On systems with simultaneous multi-threading (SMT), attacks are possible +from the sibling thread, as level 1 cache and branch target buffer +(BTB) may be shared between hardware threads in a CPU core. A malicious +program running on the sibling thread may influence its peer's BTB to +steer its indirect branch speculations to gadget code, and measure the +speculative execution's side effects left in level 1 cache to infer the +victim's data. + +Yet another variant 2 attack vector is for the attacker to poison the +Branch History Buffer (BHB) to speculatively steer an indirect branch +to a specific Branch Target Buffer (BTB) entry, even if the entry isn't +associated with the source address of the indirect branch. Specifically, +the BHB might be shared across privilege levels even in the presence of +Enhanced IBRS. + +Currently the only known real-world BHB attack vector is via +unprivileged eBPF. Therefore, it's highly recommended to not enable +unprivileged eBPF, especially when eIBRS is used (without retpolines). +For a full mitigation against BHB attacks, it's recommended to use +retpolines (or eIBRS combined with retpolines). + +Attack scenarios +---------------- + +The following list of attack scenarios have been anticipated, but may +not cover all possible attack vectors. + +1. A user process attacking the kernel +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Spectre variant 1 +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + The attacker passes a parameter to the kernel via a register or + via a known address in memory during a syscall. Such parameter may + be used later by the kernel as an index to an array or to derive + a pointer for a Spectre variant 1 attack. The index or pointer + is invalid, but bound checks are bypassed in the code branch taken + for speculative execution. This could cause privileged memory to be + accessed and leaked. + + For kernel code that has been identified where data pointers could + potentially be influenced for Spectre attacks, new "nospec" accessor + macros are used to prevent speculative loading of data. + +Spectre variant 1 (swapgs) +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + An attacker can train the branch predictor to speculatively skip the + swapgs path for an interrupt or exception. If they initialize + the GS register to a user-space value, if the swapgs is speculatively + skipped, subsequent GS-related percpu accesses in the speculation + window will be done with the attacker-controlled GS value. This + could cause privileged memory to be accessed and leaked. + + For example: + + :: + + if (coming from user space) + swapgs + mov %gs:<percpu_offset>, %reg + mov (%reg), %reg1 + + When coming from user space, the CPU can speculatively skip the + swapgs, and then do a speculative percpu load using the user GS + value. So the user can speculatively force a read of any kernel + value. If a gadget exists which uses the percpu value as an address + in another load/store, then the contents of the kernel value may + become visible via an L1 side channel attack. + + A similar attack exists when coming from kernel space. The CPU can + speculatively do the swapgs, causing the user GS to get used for the + rest of the speculative window. + +Spectre variant 2 +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + A spectre variant 2 attacker can :ref:`poison <poison_btb>` the branch + target buffer (BTB) before issuing syscall to launch an attack. + After entering the kernel, the kernel could use the poisoned branch + target buffer on indirect jump and jump to gadget code in speculative + execution. + + If an attacker tries to control the memory addresses leaked during + speculative execution, he would also need to pass a parameter to the + gadget, either through a register or a known address in memory. After + the gadget has executed, he can measure the side effect. + + The kernel can protect itself against consuming poisoned branch + target buffer entries by using return trampolines (also known as + "retpoline") :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` :ref:`[9] <spec_ref9>` for all + indirect branches. Return trampolines trap speculative execution paths + to prevent jumping to gadget code during speculative execution. + x86 CPUs with Enhanced Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation + (Enhanced IBRS) available in hardware should use the feature to + mitigate Spectre variant 2 instead of retpoline. Enhanced IBRS is + more efficient than retpoline. + + There may be gadget code in firmware which could be exploited with + Spectre variant 2 attack by a rogue user process. To mitigate such + attacks on x86, Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS) feature + is turned on before the kernel invokes any firmware code. + +2. A user process attacking another user process +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + A malicious user process can try to attack another user process, + either via a context switch on the same hardware thread, or from the + sibling hyperthread sharing a physical processor core on simultaneous + multi-threading (SMT) system. + + Spectre variant 1 attacks generally require passing parameters + between the processes, which needs a data passing relationship, such + as remote procedure calls (RPC). Those parameters are used in gadget + code to derive invalid data pointers accessing privileged memory in + the attacked process. + + Spectre variant 2 attacks can be launched from a rogue process by + :ref:`poisoning <poison_btb>` the branch target buffer. This can + influence the indirect branch targets for a victim process that either + runs later on the same hardware thread, or running concurrently on + a sibling hardware thread sharing the same physical core. + + A user process can protect itself against Spectre variant 2 attacks + by using the prctl() syscall to disable indirect branch speculation + for itself. An administrator can also cordon off an unsafe process + from polluting the branch target buffer by disabling the process's + indirect branch speculation. This comes with a performance cost + from not using indirect branch speculation and clearing the branch + target buffer. When SMT is enabled on x86, for a process that has + indirect branch speculation disabled, Single Threaded Indirect Branch + Predictors (STIBP) :ref:`[4] <spec_ref4>` are turned on to prevent the + sibling thread from controlling branch target buffer. In addition, + the Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB) is issued to clear the + branch target buffer when context switching to and from such process. + + On x86, the return stack buffer is stuffed on context switch. + This prevents the branch target buffer from being used for branch + prediction when the return stack buffer underflows while switching to + a deeper call stack. Any poisoned entries in the return stack buffer + left by the previous process will also be cleared. + + User programs should use address space randomization to make attacks + more difficult (Set /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1 or 2). + +3. A virtualized guest attacking the host +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + The attack mechanism is similar to how user processes attack the + kernel. The kernel is entered via hyper-calls or other virtualization + exit paths. + + For Spectre variant 1 attacks, rogue guests can pass parameters + (e.g. in registers) via hyper-calls to derive invalid pointers to + speculate into privileged memory after entering the kernel. For places + where such kernel code has been identified, nospec accessor macros + are used to stop speculative memory access. + + For Spectre variant 2 attacks, rogue guests can :ref:`poison + <poison_btb>` the branch target buffer or return stack buffer, causing + the kernel to jump to gadget code in the speculative execution paths. + + To mitigate variant 2, the host kernel can use return trampolines + for indirect branches to bypass the poisoned branch target buffer, + and flushing the return stack buffer on VM exit. This prevents rogue + guests from affecting indirect branching in the host kernel. + + To protect host processes from rogue guests, host processes can have + indirect branch speculation disabled via prctl(). The branch target + buffer is cleared before context switching to such processes. + +4. A virtualized guest attacking other guest +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + A rogue guest may attack another guest to get data accessible by the + other guest. + + Spectre variant 1 attacks are possible if parameters can be passed + between guests. This may be done via mechanisms such as shared memory + or message passing. Such parameters could be used to derive data + pointers to privileged data in guest. The privileged data could be + accessed by gadget code in the victim's speculation paths. + + Spectre variant 2 attacks can be launched from a rogue guest by + :ref:`poisoning <poison_btb>` the branch target buffer or the return + stack buffer. Such poisoned entries could be used to influence + speculation execution paths in the victim guest. + + Linux kernel mitigates attacks to other guests running in the same + CPU hardware thread by flushing the return stack buffer on VM exit, + and clearing the branch target buffer before switching to a new guest. + + If SMT is used, Spectre variant 2 attacks from an untrusted guest + in the sibling hyperthread can be mitigated by the administrator, + by turning off the unsafe guest's indirect branch speculation via + prctl(). A guest can also protect itself by turning on microcode + based mitigations (such as IBPB or STIBP on x86) within the guest. + +.. _spectre_sys_info: + +Spectre system information +-------------------------- + +The Linux kernel provides a sysfs interface to enumerate the current +mitigation status of the system for Spectre: whether the system is +vulnerable, and which mitigations are active. + +The sysfs file showing Spectre variant 1 mitigation status is: + + /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v1 + +The possible values in this file are: + + .. list-table:: + + * - 'Not affected' + - The processor is not vulnerable. + * - 'Vulnerable: __user pointer sanitization and usercopy barriers only; no swapgs barriers' + - The swapgs protections are disabled; otherwise it has + protection in the kernel on a case by case base with explicit + pointer sanitation and usercopy LFENCE barriers. + * - 'Mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization' + - Protection in the kernel on a case by case base with explicit + pointer sanitation, usercopy LFENCE barriers, and swapgs LFENCE + barriers. + +However, the protections are put in place on a case by case basis, +and there is no guarantee that all possible attack vectors for Spectre +variant 1 are covered. + +The spectre_v2 kernel file reports if the kernel has been compiled with +retpoline mitigation or if the CPU has hardware mitigation, and if the +CPU has support for additional process-specific mitigation. + +This file also reports CPU features enabled by microcode to mitigate +attack between user processes: + +1. Indirect Branch Prediction Barrier (IBPB) to add additional + isolation between processes of different users. +2. Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors (STIBP) to add additional + isolation between CPU threads running on the same core. + +These CPU features may impact performance when used and can be enabled +per process on a case-by-case base. + +The sysfs file showing Spectre variant 2 mitigation status is: + + /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v2 + +The possible values in this file are: + + - Kernel status: + + ======================================== ================================= + 'Not affected' The processor is not vulnerable + 'Mitigation: None' Vulnerable, no mitigation + 'Mitigation: Retpolines' Use Retpoline thunks + 'Mitigation: LFENCE' Use LFENCE instructions + 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS' Hardware-focused mitigation + 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS + Retpolines' Hardware-focused + Retpolines + 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS + LFENCE' Hardware-focused + LFENCE + ======================================== ================================= + + - Firmware status: Show if Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation (IBRS) is + used to protect against Spectre variant 2 attacks when calling firmware (x86 only). + + ========== ============================================================= + 'IBRS_FW' Protection against user program attacks when calling firmware + ========== ============================================================= + + - Indirect branch prediction barrier (IBPB) status for protection between + processes of different users. This feature can be controlled through + prctl() per process, or through kernel command line options. This is + an x86 only feature. For more details see below. + + =================== ======================================================== + 'IBPB: disabled' IBPB unused + 'IBPB: always-on' Use IBPB on all tasks + 'IBPB: conditional' Use IBPB on SECCOMP or indirect branch restricted tasks + =================== ======================================================== + + - Single threaded indirect branch prediction (STIBP) status for protection + between different hyper threads. This feature can be controlled through + prctl per process, or through kernel command line options. This is x86 + only feature. For more details see below. + + ==================== ======================================================== + 'STIBP: disabled' STIBP unused + 'STIBP: forced' Use STIBP on all tasks + 'STIBP: conditional' Use STIBP on SECCOMP or indirect branch restricted tasks + ==================== ======================================================== + + - Return stack buffer (RSB) protection status: + + ============= =========================================== + 'RSB filling' Protection of RSB on context switch enabled + ============= =========================================== + + - EIBRS Post-barrier Return Stack Buffer (PBRSB) protection status: + + =========================== ======================================================= + 'PBRSB-eIBRS: SW sequence' CPU is affected and protection of RSB on VMEXIT enabled + 'PBRSB-eIBRS: Vulnerable' CPU is vulnerable + 'PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected' CPU is not affected by PBRSB + =========================== ======================================================= + +Full mitigation might require a microcode update from the CPU +vendor. When the necessary microcode is not available, the kernel will +report vulnerability. + +Turning on mitigation for Spectre variant 1 and Spectre variant 2 +----------------------------------------------------------------- + +1. Kernel mitigation +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + +Spectre variant 1 +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + For the Spectre variant 1, vulnerable kernel code (as determined + by code audit or scanning tools) is annotated on a case by case + basis to use nospec accessor macros for bounds clipping :ref:`[2] + <spec_ref2>` to avoid any usable disclosure gadgets. However, it may + not cover all attack vectors for Spectre variant 1. + + Copy-from-user code has an LFENCE barrier to prevent the access_ok() + check from being mis-speculated. The barrier is done by the + barrier_nospec() macro. + + For the swapgs variant of Spectre variant 1, LFENCE barriers are + added to interrupt, exception and NMI entry where needed. These + barriers are done by the FENCE_SWAPGS_KERNEL_ENTRY and + FENCE_SWAPGS_USER_ENTRY macros. + +Spectre variant 2 +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + + For Spectre variant 2 mitigation, the compiler turns indirect calls or + jumps in the kernel into equivalent return trampolines (retpolines) + :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` :ref:`[9] <spec_ref9>` to go to the target + addresses. Speculative execution paths under retpolines are trapped + in an infinite loop to prevent any speculative execution jumping to + a gadget. + + To turn on retpoline mitigation on a vulnerable CPU, the kernel + needs to be compiled with a gcc compiler that supports the + -mindirect-branch=thunk-extern -mindirect-branch-register options. + If the kernel is compiled with a Clang compiler, the compiler needs + to support -mretpoline-external-thunk option. The kernel config + CONFIG_RETPOLINE needs to be turned on, and the CPU needs to run with + the latest updated microcode. + + On Intel Skylake-era systems the mitigation covers most, but not all, + cases. See :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` for more details. + + On CPUs with hardware mitigation for Spectre variant 2 (e.g. Enhanced + IBRS on x86), retpoline is automatically disabled at run time. + + The retpoline mitigation is turned on by default on vulnerable + CPUs. It can be forced on or off by the administrator + via the kernel command line and sysfs control files. See + :ref:`spectre_mitigation_control_command_line`. + + On x86, indirect branch restricted speculation is turned on by default + before invoking any firmware code to prevent Spectre variant 2 exploits + using the firmware. + + Using kernel address space randomization (CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_BASE=y + and CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM=y in the kernel configuration) makes + attacks on the kernel generally more difficult. + +2. User program mitigation +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + User programs can mitigate Spectre variant 1 using LFENCE or "bounds + clipping". For more details see :ref:`[2] <spec_ref2>`. + + For Spectre variant 2 mitigation, individual user programs + can be compiled with return trampolines for indirect branches. + This protects them from consuming poisoned entries in the branch + target buffer left by malicious software. Alternatively, the + programs can disable their indirect branch speculation via prctl() + (See :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`). + On x86, this will turn on STIBP to guard against attacks from the + sibling thread when the user program is running, and use IBPB to + flush the branch target buffer when switching to/from the program. + + Restricting indirect branch speculation on a user program will + also prevent the program from launching a variant 2 attack + on x86. Administrators can change that behavior via the kernel + command line and sysfs control files. + See :ref:`spectre_mitigation_control_command_line`. + + Programs that disable their indirect branch speculation will have + more overhead and run slower. + + User programs should use address space randomization + (/proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1 or 2) to make attacks more + difficult. + +3. VM mitigation +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + Within the kernel, Spectre variant 1 attacks from rogue guests are + mitigated on a case by case basis in VM exit paths. Vulnerable code + uses nospec accessor macros for "bounds clipping", to avoid any + usable disclosure gadgets. However, this may not cover all variant + 1 attack vectors. + + For Spectre variant 2 attacks from rogue guests to the kernel, the + Linux kernel uses retpoline or Enhanced IBRS to prevent consumption of + poisoned entries in branch target buffer left by rogue guests. It also + flushes the return stack buffer on every VM exit to prevent a return + stack buffer underflow so poisoned branch target buffer could be used, + or attacker guests leaving poisoned entries in the return stack buffer. + + To mitigate guest-to-guest attacks in the same CPU hardware thread, + the branch target buffer is sanitized by flushing before switching + to a new guest on a CPU. + + The above mitigations are turned on by default on vulnerable CPUs. + + To mitigate guest-to-guest attacks from sibling thread when SMT is + in use, an untrusted guest running in the sibling thread can have + its indirect branch speculation disabled by administrator via prctl(). + + The kernel also allows guests to use any microcode based mitigation + they choose to use (such as IBPB or STIBP on x86) to protect themselves. + +.. _spectre_mitigation_control_command_line: + +Mitigation control on the kernel command line +--------------------------------------------- + +Spectre variant 2 mitigation can be disabled or force enabled at the +kernel command line. + + nospectre_v1 + + [X86,PPC] Disable mitigations for Spectre Variant 1 + (bounds check bypass). With this option data leaks are + possible in the system. + + nospectre_v2 + + [X86] Disable all mitigations for the Spectre variant 2 + (indirect branch prediction) vulnerability. System may + allow data leaks with this option, which is equivalent + to spectre_v2=off. + + + spectre_v2= + + [X86] Control mitigation of Spectre variant 2 + (indirect branch speculation) vulnerability. + The default operation protects the kernel from + user space attacks. + + on + unconditionally enable, implies + spectre_v2_user=on + off + unconditionally disable, implies + spectre_v2_user=off + auto + kernel detects whether your CPU model is + vulnerable + + Selecting 'on' will, and 'auto' may, choose a + mitigation method at run time according to the + CPU, the available microcode, the setting of the + CONFIG_RETPOLINE configuration option, and the + compiler with which the kernel was built. + + Selecting 'on' will also enable the mitigation + against user space to user space task attacks. + + Selecting 'off' will disable both the kernel and + the user space protections. + + Specific mitigations can also be selected manually: + + retpoline auto pick between generic,lfence + retpoline,generic Retpolines + retpoline,lfence LFENCE; indirect branch + retpoline,amd alias for retpoline,lfence + eibrs Enhanced/Auto IBRS + eibrs,retpoline Enhanced/Auto IBRS + Retpolines + eibrs,lfence Enhanced/Auto IBRS + LFENCE + ibrs use IBRS to protect kernel + + Not specifying this option is equivalent to + spectre_v2=auto. + + In general the kernel by default selects + reasonable mitigations for the current CPU. To + disable Spectre variant 2 mitigations, boot with + spectre_v2=off. Spectre variant 1 mitigations + cannot be disabled. + +For spectre_v2_user see Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt + +Mitigation selection guide +-------------------------- + +1. Trusted userspace +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + If all userspace applications are from trusted sources and do not + execute externally supplied untrusted code, then the mitigations can + be disabled. + +2. Protect sensitive programs +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + For security-sensitive programs that have secrets (e.g. crypto + keys), protection against Spectre variant 2 can be put in place by + disabling indirect branch speculation when the program is running + (See :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`). + +3. Sandbox untrusted programs +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + Untrusted programs that could be a source of attacks can be cordoned + off by disabling their indirect branch speculation when they are run + (See :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`). + This prevents untrusted programs from polluting the branch target + buffer. This behavior can be changed via the kernel command line + and sysfs control files. See + :ref:`spectre_mitigation_control_command_line`. + +3. High security mode +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + All Spectre variant 2 mitigations can be forced on + at boot time for all programs (See the "on" option in + :ref:`spectre_mitigation_control_command_line`). This will add + overhead as indirect branch speculations for all programs will be + restricted. + + On x86, branch target buffer will be flushed with IBPB when switching + to a new program. STIBP is left on all the time to protect programs + against variant 2 attacks originating from programs running on + sibling threads. + + Alternatively, STIBP can be used only when running programs + whose indirect branch speculation is explicitly disabled, + while IBPB is still used all the time when switching to a new + program to clear the branch target buffer (See "ibpb" option in + :ref:`spectre_mitigation_control_command_line`). This "ibpb" option + has less performance cost than the "on" option, which leaves STIBP + on all the time. + +References on Spectre +--------------------- + +Intel white papers: + +.. _spec_ref1: + +[1] `Intel analysis of speculative execution side channels <https://newsroom.intel.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/01/Intel-Analysis-of-Speculative-Execution-Side-Channels.pdf>`_. + +.. _spec_ref2: + +[2] `Bounds check bypass <https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/software-guidance/bounds-check-bypass>`_. + +.. _spec_ref3: + +[3] `Deep dive: Retpoline: A branch target injection mitigation <https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/insights/deep-dive-retpoline-branch-target-injection-mitigation>`_. + +.. _spec_ref4: + +[4] `Deep Dive: Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors <https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/insights/deep-dive-single-thread-indirect-branch-predictors>`_. + +AMD white papers: + +.. _spec_ref5: + +[5] `AMD64 technology indirect branch control extension <https://developer.amd.com/wp-content/resources/Architecture_Guidelines_Update_Indirect_Branch_Control.pdf>`_. + +.. _spec_ref6: + +[6] `Software techniques for managing speculation on AMD processors <https://developer.amd.com/wp-content/resources/Managing-Speculation-on-AMD-Processors.pdf>`_. + +ARM white papers: + +.. _spec_ref7: + +[7] `Cache speculation side-channels <https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates/speculative-processor-vulnerability/download-the-whitepaper>`_. + +.. _spec_ref8: + +[8] `Cache speculation issues update <https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates/speculative-processor-vulnerability/latest-updates/cache-speculation-issues-update>`_. + +Google white paper: + +.. _spec_ref9: + +[9] `Retpoline: a software construct for preventing branch-target-injection <https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/7625886>`_. + +MIPS white paper: + +.. _spec_ref10: + +[10] `MIPS: response on speculative execution and side channel vulnerabilities <https://www.mips.com/blog/mips-response-on-speculative-execution-and-side-channel-vulnerabilities/>`_. + +Academic papers: + +.. _spec_ref11: + +[11] `Spectre Attacks: Exploiting Speculative Execution <https://spectreattack.com/spectre.pdf>`_. + +.. _spec_ref12: + +[12] `NetSpectre: Read Arbitrary Memory over Network <https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.10535>`_. + +.. _spec_ref13: + +[13] `Spectre Returns! Speculation Attacks using the Return Stack Buffer <https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/woot18/woot18-paper-koruyeh.pdf>`_. |