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[209.132.180.67]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id z185si8281766pfb.109.2019.07.12.05.40.13; Fri, 12 Jul 2019 05:40:29 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org designates 209.132.180.67 as permitted sender) client-ip=209.132.180.67; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; dkim=pass header.i=@kernel.org header.s=default header.b=Y4z4cEVg; spf=pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org designates 209.132.180.67 as permitted sender) smtp.mailfrom=linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1729056AbfGLM3z (ORCPT + 99 others); Fri, 12 Jul 2019 08:29:55 -0400 Received: from mail.kernel.org ([198.145.29.99]:45020 "EHLO mail.kernel.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1728712AbfGLM3w (ORCPT ); Fri, 12 Jul 2019 08:29:52 -0400 Received: from localhost (83-86-89-107.cable.dynamic.v4.ziggo.nl [83.86.89.107]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by mail.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 0946F2166E; Fri, 12 Jul 2019 12:29:48 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=default; t=1562934589; bh=ggXNCPLuQKwXz+WeFWI/tvGDL4Tmq+ABKvocK5CyV3U=; h=From:To:Cc:Subject:Date:In-Reply-To:References:From; b=Y4z4cEVgRX7bNyDNEJmgp0nxVaPKjD9nKdmMTd3x68J3HUi5V6LG/n2ypJfGuoD75 /W6CwLyfv5BcjIA3fcyauIPK5TkYEDhsxUakhvsKCNFJTk7BEC6y538wkjU7ybxqEi VGn+6p1tfmSG4m838IDTFLE4z+y3VhPEn8L+nv4c= From: Greg Kroah-Hartman To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman , stable@vger.kernel.org, Andi Kleen , Tim Chen , Randy Dunlap , Thomas Gleixner , Jonathan Corbet Subject: [PATCH 5.1 104/138] Documentation: Add section about CPU vulnerabilities for Spectre Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2019 14:19:28 +0200 Message-Id: <20190712121632.754816708@linuxfoundation.org> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.22.0 In-Reply-To: <20190712121628.731888964@linuxfoundation.org> References: <20190712121628.731888964@linuxfoundation.org> User-Agent: quilt/0.66 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org Precedence: bulk List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org From: Tim Chen commit 6e88559470f581741bcd0f2794f9054814ac9740 upstream. Add documentation for Spectre vulnerability and the mitigation mechanisms: - Explain the problem and risks - Document the mitigation mechanisms - Document the command line controls - Document the sysfs files Co-developed-by: Andi Kleen Signed-off-by: Andi Kleen Co-developed-by: Tim Chen Signed-off-by: Tim Chen Reviewed-by: Randy Dunlap Reviewed-by: Thomas Gleixner Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman --- Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst | 1 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst | 697 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst | 2 3 files changed, 700 insertions(+) --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/index.rst @@ -9,5 +9,6 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run .. toctree:: :maxdepth: 1 + spectre l1tf mds --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst @@ -0,0 +1,697 @@ +.. 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 + ============= ======================= ================= + +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] ` :ref:`[5] ` :ref:`[7] ` +:ref:`[10] ` :ref:`[11] `. + +Spectre variant 1 (Bounds Check Bypass) +--------------------------------------- + +The bounds check bypass attack :ref:`[2] ` 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] `. However such attacks +are difficult, low bandwidth, fragile, and are considered low risk. + +Spectre variant 2 (Branch Target Injection) +------------------------------------------- + +The branch target injection attack takes advantage of speculative +execution of indirect branches :ref:`[3] `. 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] ` 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. + +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 +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + 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 2 attacker can :ref:`poison ` 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] ` :ref:`[9] ` 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 ` 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] ` 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 + ` 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 ` 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: + + ======================================= ================================= + 'Mitigation: __user pointer sanitation' Protection in kernel on a case by + case base with explicit pointer + sanitation. + ======================================= ================================= + +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 + 'Vulnerable' Vulnerable, no mitigation + 'Mitigation: Full generic retpoline' Software-focused mitigation + 'Mitigation: Full AMD retpoline' AMD-specific software mitigation + 'Mitigation: Enhanced IBRS' Hardware-focused mitigation + ==================================== ================================= + + - 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 + ============= =========================================== + +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 +^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ + + 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] + ` to avoid any usable disclosure gadgets. However, it may + not cover all attack vectors for Spectre variant 1. + + For Spectre variant 2 mitigation, the compiler turns indirect calls or + jumps in the kernel into equivalent return trampolines (retpolines) + :ref:`[3] ` :ref:`[9] ` 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] ` 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_SLAB=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] `. + + 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 `). + 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. All sand-boxed SECCOMP programs have indirect branch + speculation restricted by default. 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_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 + replace indirect branches + retpoline,generic + google's original retpoline + retpoline,amd + AMD-specific minimal thunk + + Not specifying this option is equivalent to + spectre_v2=auto. + +For user space mitigation: + + spectre_v2_user= + + [X86] Control mitigation of Spectre variant 2 + (indirect branch speculation) vulnerability between + user space tasks + + on + Unconditionally enable mitigations. Is + enforced by spectre_v2=on + + off + Unconditionally disable mitigations. Is + enforced by spectre_v2=off + + prctl + Indirect branch speculation is enabled, + but mitigation can be enabled via prctl + per thread. The mitigation control state + is inherited on fork. + + prctl,ibpb + Like "prctl" above, but only STIBP is + controlled per thread. IBPB is issued + always when switching between different user + space processes. + + seccomp + Same as "prctl" above, but all seccomp + threads will enable the mitigation unless + they explicitly opt out. + + seccomp,ibpb + Like "seccomp" above, but only STIBP is + controlled per thread. IBPB is issued + always when switching between different + user space processes. + + auto + Kernel selects the mitigation depending on + the available CPU features and vulnerability. + + Default mitigation: + If CONFIG_SECCOMP=y then "seccomp", otherwise "prctl" + + Not specifying this option is equivalent to + spectre_v2_user=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. + +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 `). + +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 `). + This prevents untrusted programs from polluting the branch target + buffer. All programs running in SECCOMP sandboxes have indirect + branch speculation restricted by default. 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 `_. + +.. _spec_ref2: + +[2] `Bounds check bypass `_. + +.. _spec_ref3: + +[3] `Deep dive: Retpoline: A branch target injection mitigation `_. + +.. _spec_ref4: + +[4] `Deep Dive: Single Thread Indirect Branch Predictors `_. + +AMD white papers: + +.. _spec_ref5: + +[5] `AMD64 technology indirect branch control extension `_. + +.. _spec_ref6: + +[6] `Software techniques for managing speculation on AMD processors `_. + +ARM white papers: + +.. _spec_ref7: + +[7] `Cache speculation side-channels `_. + +.. _spec_ref8: + +[8] `Cache speculation issues update `_. + +Google white paper: + +.. _spec_ref9: + +[9] `Retpoline: a software construct for preventing branch-target-injection `_. + +MIPS white paper: + +.. _spec_ref10: + +[10] `MIPS: response on speculative execution and side channel vulnerabilities `_. + +Academic papers: + +.. _spec_ref11: + +[11] `Spectre Attacks: Exploiting Speculative Execution `_. + +.. _spec_ref12: + +[12] `NetSpectre: Read Arbitrary Memory over Network `_. + +.. _spec_ref13: + +[13] `Spectre Returns! Speculation Attacks using the Return Stack Buffer `_. --- a/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst +++ b/Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst @@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ If PR_SPEC_PRCTL is set, then the per-ta available. If not set, prctl(PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL) for the speculation misfeature will fail. +.. _set_spec_ctrl: + PR_SET_SPECULATION_CTRL -----------------------