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* [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 0/7] introduce post-init read-only memory
@ 2016-02-17 22:41 Kees Cook
  2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 1/7] asm-generic: consolidate mark_rodata_ro() Kees Cook
                   ` (6 more replies)
  0 siblings, 7 replies; 12+ messages in thread
From: Kees Cook @ 2016-02-17 22:41 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Ingo Molnar
  Cc: Kees Cook, David Brown, Andy Lutomirski, H. Peter Anvin,
	Michael Ellerman, Mathias Krause, Thomas Gleixner, x86,
	Arnd Bergmann, PaX Team, Emese Revfy, kernel-hardening,
	linux-kernel, linux-arch

One of the easiest ways to protect the kernel from attack is to reduce
the internal attack surface exposed when a "write" flaw is available. By
making as much of the kernel read-only as possible, we reduce the
attack surface.

Many things are written to only during __init, and never changed
again. These cannot be made "const" since the compiler will do the wrong
thing (we do actually need to write to them). Instead, move these items
into a memory region that will be made read-only during mark_rodata_ro()
which happens after all kernel __init code has finished.

This introduces __ro_after_init as a way to mark such memory, and uses it
on the x86 and arm vDSO to kill an extant kernel exploitation method. Also
adds a new kernel parameter to help debug future use and adds an lkdtm
test to check the results.

-Kees

v5:
- rebased on linux-next (strtobool in -next, x86 vdso merge fixup)
- added ARM vDSO patch, david.brown
v4:
- adjust documentation for strtobool, andy.shevchenko
v3:
- conslidated mark_rodata_ro()
- make CONFIG_DEBUG_RODATA always enabled on x86, mingo
- enhanced strtobool and potential callers to use "on"/"off"
- use strtobool for rodata= param, gregkh
v2:
- renamed __read_only to __ro_after_init

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 12+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2016-03-08  0:23 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 12+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2016-02-17 22:41 [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 0/7] introduce post-init read-only memory Kees Cook
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 1/7] asm-generic: consolidate mark_rodata_ro() Kees Cook
2016-02-19 14:38   ` [kernel-hardening] " Will Deacon
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 2/7] init: create cmdline param to disable readonly Kees Cook
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 3/7] x86: make CONFIG_DEBUG_RODATA non-optional Kees Cook
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 4/7] introduce post-init read-only memory Kees Cook
2016-03-07 13:00   ` [kernel-hardening] " Christian Borntraeger
2016-03-08  0:16     ` Kees Cook
2016-03-08  0:23       ` Andy Lutomirski
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 5/7] lkdtm: verify that __ro_after_init works correctly Kees Cook
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 6/7] x86, vdso: mark vDSO read-only after init Kees Cook
2016-02-17 22:41 ` [kernel-hardening] [PATCH v5 7/7] ARM: vdso: Mark vDSO code as read-only Kees Cook

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