[PATCH v5 2/3] Replace invocation of weak PRNG

From: david . keisarschm
Date: Sat Apr 15 2023 - 13:37:53 EST


From: David Keisar Schmidt <david.keisarschm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

The Slab allocator randomization inside slab_common.c
uses the prandom_u32 PRNG. That was added to prevent attackers to obtain
information on the heap state.

However, this PRNG turned out to be weak, as noted in commit c51f8f88d705
To fix it, we have changed the invocation of prandom_u32_state to get_random_u32
to ensure the PRNG is strong.

Since a modulo operation is applied right after that,
in the Fisher-Yates shuffle, we used get_random_u32_below, to achieve uniformity.

Signed-off-by: David Keisar Schmidt <david.keisarschm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---

This fifth series changes only the arch/x86/mm/kaslr patch.

Changes since v3:
* edited commit message.

Changes since v2:

* replaced instances of get_random_u32 with get_random_u32_below
in mm/slab_common.c.

mm/slab_common.c | 11 +++--------
1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
index bf4e777cf..361da2191 100644
--- a/mm/slab_common.c
+++ b/mm/slab_common.c
@@ -1146,7 +1146,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kmalloc_large_node);

#ifdef CONFIG_SLAB_FREELIST_RANDOM
/* Randomize a generic freelist */
-static void freelist_randomize(struct rnd_state *state, unsigned int *list,
+static void freelist_randomize(unsigned int *list,
unsigned int count)
{
unsigned int rand;
@@ -1157,8 +1157,7 @@ static void freelist_randomize(struct rnd_state *state, unsigned int *list,

/* Fisher-Yates shuffle */
for (i = count - 1; i > 0; i--) {
- rand = prandom_u32_state(state);
- rand %= (i + 1);
+ rand = get_random_u32_below(i+1);
swap(list[i], list[rand]);
}
}
@@ -1167,7 +1166,6 @@ static void freelist_randomize(struct rnd_state *state, unsigned int *list,
int cache_random_seq_create(struct kmem_cache *cachep, unsigned int count,
gfp_t gfp)
{
- struct rnd_state state;

if (count < 2 || cachep->random_seq)
return 0;
@@ -1176,10 +1174,7 @@ int cache_random_seq_create(struct kmem_cache *cachep, unsigned int count,
if (!cachep->random_seq)
return -ENOMEM;

- /* Get best entropy at this stage of boot */
- prandom_seed_state(&state, get_random_long());
-
- freelist_randomize(&state, cachep->random_seq, count);
+ freelist_randomize(cachep->random_seq, count);
return 0;
}

--
2.37.3