[RFC PATCH] cpu/bugs: Disable CPU mitigations at compilation time

From: Breno Leitao
Date: Thu Feb 02 2023 - 13:09:10 EST


Right now it is not possible to disable CPU vulnerabilities mitigations
at build time. Mitigation needs to be disabled passing kernel
parameters, such as 'mitigations=off'.

This patch creates an easy way to disable mitigation during compilation
time (CONFIG_DEFAULT_CPU_MITIGATIONS_OFF), so, insecure kernel users don't
need to deal with kernel parameters when booting insecure kernels.

Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/cpu.c | 5 +++++
security/Kconfig | 11 +++++++++++
2 files changed, 16 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/cpu.c b/kernel/cpu.c
index 6c0a92ca6bb5..497e9a3d3d77 100644
--- a/kernel/cpu.c
+++ b/kernel/cpu.c
@@ -2727,8 +2727,13 @@ enum cpu_mitigations {
CPU_MITIGATIONS_AUTO_NOSMT,
};

+#ifdef CONFIG_DEFAULT_CPU_MITIGATIONS_OFF
+static enum cpu_mitigations cpu_mitigations __ro_after_init =
+ CPU_MITIGATIONS_OFF;
+#else
static enum cpu_mitigations cpu_mitigations __ro_after_init =
CPU_MITIGATIONS_AUTO;
+#endif

static int __init mitigations_parse_cmdline(char *arg)
{
diff --git a/security/Kconfig b/security/Kconfig
index e6db09a779b7..a70427dc6ace 100644
--- a/security/Kconfig
+++ b/security/Kconfig
@@ -258,6 +258,17 @@ config LSM

If unsure, leave this as the default.

+config CONFIG_DEFAULT_CPU_MITIGATIONS_OFF
+ bool "Disable mitigations for CPU vulnerabilities by default"
+ default n
+ help
+ This option disable mitigations for CPU vulnerabilities by default.
+ This improves system performance, but it may also expose users
+ to several CPU vulnerabilities.
+ This has the same effect as passing `mitigations=off` kernel
+ parameter. The mitigations could be enabled back passing the
+ 'mitigations' parameter.
+
source "security/Kconfig.hardening"

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