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Date:   Tue, 19 Jul 2022 17:18:34 -0400
From:   Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>
To:     Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@google.com>
Cc:     Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
        Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
        "Dmitry V . Levin" <ldv@altlinux.org>,
        Gleb Fotengauer-Malinovskiy <glebfm@altlinux.org>,
        Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>, Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>,
        Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
        Mel Gorman <mgorman@techsingularity.net>,
        Mike Kravetz <mike.kravetz@oracle.com>,
        Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>, Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com>,
        Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>,
        Suren Baghdasaryan <surenb@google.com>,
        Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>,
        zhangyi <yi.zhang@huawei.com>, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
        linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 2/5] userfaultfd: add /dev/userfaultfd for fine
 grained access control
Message-ID: <YtcfqpmpkVXz/Frl@xz-m1.local>
References: <20220719195628.3415852-1-axelrasmussen@google.com>
 <20220719195628.3415852-3-axelrasmussen@google.com>
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On Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 12:56:25PM -0700, Axel Rasmussen wrote:
> Historically, it has been shown that intercepting kernel faults with
> userfaultfd (thereby forcing the kernel to wait for an arbitrary amount
> of time) can be exploited, or at least can make some kinds of exploits
> easier. So, in 37cd0575b8 "userfaultfd: add UFFD_USER_MODE_ONLY" we
> changed things so, in order for kernel faults to be handled by
> userfaultfd, either the process needs CAP_SYS_PTRACE, or this sysctl
> must be configured so that any unprivileged user can do it.
> 
> In a typical implementation of a hypervisor with live migration (take
> QEMU/KVM as one such example), we do indeed need to be able to handle
> kernel faults. But, both options above are less than ideal:
> 
> - Toggling the sysctl increases attack surface by allowing any
>   unprivileged user to do it.
> 
> - Granting the live migration process CAP_SYS_PTRACE gives it this
>   ability, but *also* the ability to "observe and control the
>   execution of another process [...], and examine and change [its]
>   memory and registers" (from ptrace(2)). This isn't something we need
>   or want to be able to do, so granting this permission violates the
>   "principle of least privilege".
> 
> This is all a long winded way to say: we want a more fine-grained way to
> grant access to userfaultfd, without granting other additional
> permissions at the same time.
> 
> To achieve this, add a /dev/userfaultfd misc device. This device
> provides an alternative to the userfaultfd(2) syscall for the creation
> of new userfaultfds. The idea is, any userfaultfds created this way will
> be able to handle kernel faults, without the caller having any special
> capabilities. Access to this mechanism is instead restricted using e.g.
> standard filesystem permissions.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Axel Rasmussen <axelrasmussen@google.com>

Thanks, this looks much better.

Acked-by: Peter Xu <peterx@redhat.com>

-- 
Peter Xu