All of lore.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
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>, Balbir Singh <sblbir@amazon.com>
Subject: [PATCH v6 6/6] Documentation: Add L1D flushing Documentation
Date: Sun, 10 May 2020 11:48:03 +1000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20200510014803.12190-7-sblbir@amazon.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20200510014803.12190-1-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>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst   |  1 +
 .../admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst         | 40 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 41 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 0795e3c2643f..35633b299d45 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst
@@ -14,3 +14,4 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run time.
    mds
    tsx_async_abort
    multihit.rst
+   l1d_flush
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..7d515b8c29f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/l1d_flush.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+L1D Flushing for the paranoid
+=============================
+
+With an increasing number of vulnerabilities being reported around data
+leaks from L1D, a new user space mechanism to flush the L1D cache on
+context switch is added to the kernel. This should help address
+CVE-2020-0550 and for paranoid applications, keep them safe from any
+yet to be discovered vulnerabilities, related to leaks from the L1D
+cache.
+
+Tasks can opt in to this mechanism by using a prctl (implemented only
+for x86 at the moment).
+
+Related CVES
+------------
+At the present moment, the following CVEs can be addressed by this
+mechanism
+
+    =============       ========================     ==================
+    CVE-2020-0550       Improper Data Forwarding     OS related aspects
+    =============       ========================     ==================
+
+Usage Guidelines
+----------------
+Applications can call ``prctl(2)`` with one of these two arguments
+
+1. PR_SET_L1D_FLUSH - flush the L1D cache on context switch (out)
+2. PR_GET_L1D_FLUSH - get the current state of the L1D cache flush, returns 1
+   if set and 0 if not set.
+
+**NOTE**: The feature is disabled by default, applications to need to specifically
+opt into the feature to enable it.
+
+Mitigation
+----------
+When PR_SET_L1D_FLUSH is enabled for a task, on switching tasks (when
+the address space changes), a flush of the L1D cache is performed for
+the task when it leaves the CPU. If the underlying CPU supports L1D
+flushing in hardware, the hardware mechanism is used, otherwise a software
+fallback, similar to the mechanism used by L1TF is used.
-- 
2.17.1


  parent reply	other threads:[~2020-05-10  1:48 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 26+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2020-05-10  1:47 [PATCH v6 0/6] Optionally flush L1D on context switch Balbir Singh
2020-05-10  1:47 ` [PATCH v6 1/6] arch/x86/kvm: Refactor l1d flush lifecycle management Balbir Singh
2020-05-13 13:35   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14  8:23     ` Singh, Balbir
2020-05-13 13:53   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14  8:25     ` Singh, Balbir
2020-05-22  9:32   ` [tip: x86/mm] x86/kvm: Refactor L1D flush page management tip-bot2 for Balbir Singh
2020-05-10  1:47 ` [PATCH v6 2/6] arch/x86/kvm: Refactor tlbflush and l1d flush Balbir Singh
2020-05-22  9:32   ` [tip: x86/mm] x86/kvm: Refactor L1D flush operations tip-bot2 for Balbir Singh
2020-05-10  1:48 ` [PATCH v6 3/6] arch/x86/mm: Refactor cond_ibpb() to support other use cases Balbir Singh
2020-05-13 14:16   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-22  9:32   ` [tip: x86/mm] x86/mm: " tip-bot2 for Balbir Singh
2020-09-16 13:11   ` [tip: x86/pti] " tip-bot2 for Balbir Singh
2020-05-10  1:48 ` [PATCH v6 4/6] arch/x86/kvm: Refactor L1D flushing Balbir Singh
2020-05-22  9:32   ` [tip: x86/mm] x86/kvm: " tip-bot2 for Balbir Singh
2020-05-10  1:48 ` [PATCH v6 5/6] Optionally flush L1D on context switch Balbir Singh
2020-05-13 15:04   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14  8:23     ` Singh, Balbir
2020-05-13 15:27   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14 21:28     ` Singh, Balbir
2020-05-13 16:16   ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14  7:43     ` Singh, Balbir
2020-05-14 11:33       ` Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-10  1:48 ` Balbir Singh [this message]
2020-05-13 13:33   ` [PATCH v6 6/6] Documentation: Add L1D flushing Documentation Thomas Gleixner
2020-05-14  1:12     ` Singh, Balbir

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20200510014803.12190-7-sblbir@amazon.com \
    --to=sblbir@amazon.com \
    --cc=benh@kernel.crashing.org \
    --cc=dave.hansen@intel.com \
    --cc=jpoimboe@redhat.com \
    --cc=keescook@chromium.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=tglx@linutronix.de \
    --cc=thomas.lendacky@amd.com \
    --cc=tony.luck@intel.com \
    --cc=x86@kernel.org \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body. 
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.