[PATCH v2 5/5] Documentation: Add L1D flushing Documentation

From: Balbir Singh <sblbir@amazon.com>
To: <tglx@linutronix.de>, <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Cc: <jpoimboe@redhat.com>, <tony.luck@intel.com>,
	<keescook@chromium.org>, <benh@kernel.crashing.org>,
	<x86@kernel.org>, <dave.hansen@intel.com>,
	<thomas.lendacky@amd.com>, <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
	<mingo@kernel.org>, Balbir Singh <sblbir@amazon.com>
Subject: [PATCH v2 5/5] Documentation: Add L1D flushing Documentation
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2020 10:11:03 +1000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20200729001103.6450-6-sblbir@amazon.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20200729001103.6450-1-sblbir@amazon.com>

Add documentation of l1d flushing, explain the need for the
feature and how it can be used.

Signed-off-by: Balbir Singh <sblbir@amazon.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst   |  1 +
 .../admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst         | 70 +++++++++++++++++++
 .../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt         | 17 +++++
 Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst     |  8 +++
 4 files changed, 96 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
index ca4dbdd9016d..21710f8609fe 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
@@ -15,3 +15,4 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run time.
    tsx_async_abort
    multihit.rst
    special-register-buffer-data-sampling.rst
+   l1d_flush.rst
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..adc4ecc72361
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+L1D Flushing
+============
+
+With an increasing number of vulnerabilities being reported around data
+leaks from the Level 1 Data cache (L1D) the kernel provides an opt-in
+mechanism to flush the L1D cache on context switch.
+
+This mechanism can be used to address e.g. CVE-2020-0550. For applications
+the mechanism keeps them safe from vulnerabilities, related to leaks
+(snooping of) from the L1D cache.
+
+
+Related CVEs
+------------
+The following CVEs can be addressed by this
+mechanism
+
+    =============       ========================     ==================
+    CVE-2020-0550       Improper Data Forwarding     OS related aspects
+    =============       ========================     ==================
+
+Usage Guidelines
+----------------
+
+Please see document: :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst` for
+details.
+
+**NOTE**: The feature is disabled by default, applications need to
+specifically opt into the feature to enable it.
+
+Mitigation
+----------
+
+When PR_SET_L1D_FLUSH is enabled for a task a flush of the L1D cache is
+performed when the task is scheduled out and the incoming task belongs to a
+different process and therefore to a different address space.
+
+If the underlying CPU supports L1D flushing in hardware, the hardware
+mechanism is used, software fallback for the mitigation, is not supported.
+
+Mitigation control on the kernel command line
+---------------------------------------------
+
+The kernel command line allows to control the L1D flush mitigations at boot
+time with the option "l1d_flush_out=". The valid arguments for this option are:
+
+  ============  =============================================================
+  off		Disables the prctl interface, applications trying to use
+                the prctl() will fail with an error
+  ============  =============================================================
+
+By default the API is enabled and applications opt-in by by using the prctl
+API.
+
+Limitations
+-----------
+
+The mechanism does not mitigate L1D data leaks between tasks belonging to
+different processes which are concurrently executing on sibling threads of
+a physical CPU core when SMT is enabled on the system.
+
+This can be addressed by controlled placement of processes on physical CPU
+cores or by disabling SMT. See the relevant chapter in the L1TF mitigation
+document: :ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1tf.rst <smt_control>`.
+
+**NOTE** : Checks have been added to ensure that the prctl API associated
+with the opt-in will work only when the task affinity of the task opting
+in, is limited to cores running in non-SMT mode. The same checks are made
+when L1D is flushed.  Changing the affinity after opting in, would result
+in flushes not working on cores that are in non-SMT mode.
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index fb95fad81c79..59ea09095b7c 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -2272,6 +2272,23 @@
 			feature (tagged TLBs) on capable Intel chips.
 			Default is 1 (enabled)
 
+	l1d_flush_out=	[X86,INTEL]
+			Control mitigation for L1D based snooping vulnerability.
+
+			Certain CPUs are vulnerable to an exploit against CPU
+			internal buffers which can forward information to a
+			disclosure gadget under certain conditions.
+
+			In vulnerable processors, the speculatively
+			forwarded data can be used in a cache side channel
+			attack, to access data to which the attacker does
+			not have direct access.
+
+			This parameter controls the mitigation. The
+			options are:
+
+			off        - Unconditionally disable the mitigation
+
 	l1tf=           [X86] Control mitigation of the L1TF vulnerability on
 			      affected CPUs
 
diff --git a/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst b/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst
index 7ddd8f667459..f39744ef8810 100644
--- a/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst
+++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst
@@ -106,3 +106,11 @@ Speculation misfeature controls
    * prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_INDIRECT_BRANCH, PR_SPEC_ENABLE, 0, 0);
    * prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_INDIRECT_BRANCH, PR_SPEC_DISABLE, 0, 0);
    * prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_INDIRECT_BRANCH, PR_SPEC_FORCE_DISABLE, 0, 0);
+
+- PR_SPEC_L1D_FLUSH_OUT: Flush L1D Cache on context switch out of the task
+                        (works only when tasks run on non SMT cores)
+
+  Invocations:
+   * prctl(PR_GET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_L1D_FLUSH_OUT, 0, 0, 0);
+   * prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_L1D_FLUSH_OUT, PR_SPEC_ENABLE, 0, 0);
+   * prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL, PR_SPEC_L1D_FLUSH_OUT, PR_SPEC_DISABLE, 0, 0);
-- 
2.17.1

