Re: [PATCH v5 10/39] x86/mm: Introduce _PAGE_COW

[David Hildenbrand <david@redhat.com>]

On 19.01.23 22:22, Rick Edgecombe wrote:
> Some OSes have a greater dependence on software available bits in PTEs than
> Linux. That left the hardware architects looking for a way to represent a
> new memory type (shadow stack) within the existing bits. They chose to
> repurpose a lightly-used state: Write=0,Dirty=1. So in order to support
> shadow stack memory, Linux should avoid creating memory with this PTE bit
> combination unless it intends for it to be shadow stack.
> 
> The reason it's lightly used is that Dirty=1 is normally set by HW
> _before_ a write. A write with a Write=0 PTE would typically only generate
> a fault, not set Dirty=1. Hardware can (rarely) both set Dirty=1 *and*
> generate the fault, resulting in a Write=0,Dirty=1 PTE. Hardware which
> supports shadow stacks will no longer exhibit this oddity.
> 
> So that leaves Write=0,Dirty=1 PTEs created in software. To achieve this,
> in places where Linux normally creates Write=0,Dirty=1, it can use the
> software-defined _PAGE_COW in place of the hardware _PAGE_DIRTY. In other
> words, whenever Linux needs to create Write=0,Dirty=1, it instead creates
> Write=0,Cow=1 except for shadow stack, which is Write=0,Dirty=1.
> Further differentiated by VMA flags, these PTE bit combinations would be
> set as follows for various types of memory:
> 
> (Write=0,Cow=1,Dirty=0):
>   - A modified, copy-on-write (COW) page. Previously when a typical
>     anonymous writable mapping was made COW via fork(), the kernel would
>     mark it Write=0,Dirty=1. Now it will instead use the Cow bit. This
>     happens in copy_present_pte().
>   - A R/O page that has been COW'ed. The user page is in a R/O VMA,
>     and get_user_pages(FOLL_FORCE) needs a writable copy. The page fault
>     handler creates a copy of the page and sets the new copy's PTE as
>     Write=0 and Cow=1.
>   - A shared shadow stack PTE. When a shadow stack page is being shared
>     among processes (this happens at fork()), its PTE is made Dirty=0, so
>     the next shadow stack access causes a fault, and the page is
>     duplicated and Dirty=1 is set again. This is the COW equivalent for
>     shadow stack pages, even though it's copy-on-access rather than
>     copy-on-write.
> 
> (Write=0,Cow=0,Dirty=1):
>   - A shadow stack PTE.
>   - A Cow PTE created when a processor without shadow stack support set
>     Dirty=1.
> 
> There are six bits left available to software in the 64-bit PTE after
> consuming a bit for _PAGE_COW. No space is consumed in 32-bit kernels
> because shadow stacks are not enabled there.
> 
> Implement only the infrastructure for _PAGE_COW. Changes to start
> creating _PAGE_COW PTEs will follow once other pieces are in place.
> 
> Tested-by: Pengfei Xu <pengfei.xu@intel.com>
> Tested-by: John Allen <john.allen@amd.com>
> Co-developed-by: Yu-cheng Yu <yu-cheng.yu@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Yu-cheng Yu <yu-cheng.yu@intel.com>
> Signed-off-by: Rick Edgecombe <rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com>
> ---
> 
> v5:
>   - Fix log, comments and whitespace (Boris)
>   - Remove capitalization on shadow stack (Boris)
> 
> v4:
>   - Teach pte_flags_need_flush() about _PAGE_COW bit
>   - Break apart patch for better bisectability
> 
> v3:
>   - Add comment around _PAGE_TABLE in response to comment
>     from (Andrew Cooper)
>   - Check for PSE in pmd_shstk (Andrew Cooper)
>   - Get to the point quicker in commit log (Andrew Cooper)
>   - Clarify and reorder commit log for why the PTE bit examples have
>     multiple entries. Apply same changes for comment. (peterz)
>   - Fix comment that implied dirty bit for COW was a specific x86 thing
>     (peterz)
>   - Fix swapping of Write/Dirty (PeterZ)
> 
> v2:
>   - Update commit log with comments (Dave Hansen)
>   - Add comments in code to explain pte modification code better (Dave)
>   - Clarify info on the meaning of various Write,Cow,Dirty combinations
> 
>   arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h       | 78 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable_types.h | 59 +++++++++++++++++++--
>   arch/x86/include/asm/tlbflush.h      |  3 +-
>   3 files changed, 134 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
> index b39f16c0d507..6d2f612c04b5 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable.h
> @@ -301,6 +301,44 @@ static inline pte_t pte_clear_flags(pte_t pte, pteval_t clear)
>   	return native_make_pte(v & ~clear);
>   }
>   
> +/*
> + * Normally COW memory can result in Dirty=1,Write=0 PTEs. But in the case
> + * of X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK, the software COW bit is used, since the
> + * Dirty=1,Write=0 will result in the memory being treated as shadow stack
> + * by the HW. So when creating COW memory, a software bit is used
> + * _PAGE_BIT_COW. The following functions pte_mkcow() and pte_clear_cow()
> + * take a PTE marked conventionally COW (Dirty=1) and transition it to the
> + * shadow stack compatible version of COW (Cow=1).
> + */
> +static inline pte_t pte_mkcow(pte_t pte)
> +{
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pte;
> +
> +	pte = pte_clear_flags(pte, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pte_set_flags(pte, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
> +static inline pte_t pte_clear_cow(pte_t pte)
> +{
> +	/*
> +	 * _PAGE_COW is unnecessary on !X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK kernels, since
> +	 * the HW dirty bit can be used without creating shadow stack memory.
> +	 * See the _PAGE_COW definition for more details.
> +	 */
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pte;
> +
> +	/*
> +	 * PTE is getting copied-on-write, so it will be dirtied
> +	 * if writable, or made shadow stack if shadow stack and
> +	 * being copied on access. Set the dirty bit for both
> +	 * cases.
> +	 */
> +	pte = pte_set_flags(pte, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pte_clear_flags(pte, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
>   #ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_USERFAULTFD_WP
>   static inline int pte_uffd_wp(pte_t pte)
>   {
> @@ -413,6 +451,26 @@ static inline pmd_t pmd_clear_flags(pmd_t pmd, pmdval_t clear)
>   	return native_make_pmd(v & ~clear);
>   }
>   
> +/* See comments above pte_mkcow() */
> +static inline pmd_t pmd_mkcow(pmd_t pmd)
> +{
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pmd;
> +
> +	pmd = pmd_clear_flags(pmd, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pmd_set_flags(pmd, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
> +/* See comments above pte_mkcow() */
> +static inline pmd_t pmd_clear_cow(pmd_t pmd)
> +{
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pmd;
> +
> +	pmd = pmd_set_flags(pmd, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pmd_clear_flags(pmd, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
>   #ifdef CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_USERFAULTFD_WP
>   static inline int pmd_uffd_wp(pmd_t pmd)
>   {
> @@ -484,6 +542,26 @@ static inline pud_t pud_clear_flags(pud_t pud, pudval_t clear)
>   	return native_make_pud(v & ~clear);
>   }
>   
> +/* See comments above pte_mkcow() */
> +static inline pud_t pud_mkcow(pud_t pud)
> +{
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pud;
> +
> +	pud = pud_clear_flags(pud, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pud_set_flags(pud, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
> +/* See comments above pte_mkcow() */
> +static inline pud_t pud_clear_cow(pud_t pud)
> +{
> +	if (!cpu_feature_enabled(X86_FEATURE_USER_SHSTK))
> +		return pud;
> +
> +	pud = pud_set_flags(pud, _PAGE_DIRTY);
> +	return pud_clear_flags(pud, _PAGE_COW);
> +}
> +
>   static inline pud_t pud_mkold(pud_t pud)
>   {
>   	return pud_clear_flags(pud, _PAGE_ACCESSED);
> diff --git a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable_types.h b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable_types.h
> index 0646ad00178b..5c3f942865d9 100644
> --- a/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable_types.h
> +++ b/arch/x86/include/asm/pgtable_types.h
> @@ -21,7 +21,8 @@
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_SOFTW2	10	/* " */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_SOFTW3	11	/* " */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_PAT_LARGE	12	/* On 2MB or 1GB pages */
> -#define _PAGE_BIT_SOFTW4	58	/* available for programmer */
> +#define _PAGE_BIT_SOFTW4	57	/* available for programmer */
> +#define _PAGE_BIT_SOFTW5	58	/* available for programmer */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_PKEY_BIT0	59	/* Protection Keys, bit 1/4 */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_PKEY_BIT1	60	/* Protection Keys, bit 2/4 */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_PKEY_BIT2	61	/* Protection Keys, bit 3/4 */
> @@ -34,6 +35,15 @@
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_SOFT_DIRTY	_PAGE_BIT_SOFTW3 /* software dirty tracking */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_DEVMAP	_PAGE_BIT_SOFTW4
>   
> +/*
> + * Indicates a copy-on-write page.
> + */
> +#ifdef CONFIG_X86_USER_SHADOW_STACK
> +#define _PAGE_BIT_COW		_PAGE_BIT_SOFTW5 /* copy-on-write */
> +#else
> +#define _PAGE_BIT_COW		0
> +#endif
> +
>   /* If _PAGE_BIT_PRESENT is clear, we use these: */
>   /* - if the user mapped it with PROT_NONE; pte_present gives true */
>   #define _PAGE_BIT_PROTNONE	_PAGE_BIT_GLOBAL
> @@ -117,6 +127,40 @@
>   #define _PAGE_SOFTW4	(_AT(pteval_t, 0))
>   #endif
>   
> +/*
> + * The hardware requires shadow stack to be read-only and Dirty.
> + * _PAGE_COW is a software-only bit used to separate copy-on-write PTEs
> + * from shadow stack PTEs:

Is that really required?

For anon pages, we have PG_anon_exclusive, that can tell you whether the 
page is "certainly exclusive" (now cow necessary) vs. "maybe shared" 
(cow maybe necessary).

Why isn't that sufficient to make the same decisions here?

-- 
Thanks,

David / dhildenb