Re: [PATCH 4/4] powerpc/kuap: Make disabling KUAP at boottime optional

From: Nicholas Piggin
Date: Tue Jun 06 2023 - 05:27:21 EST


On Mon Jun 5, 2023 at 9:04 PM AEST, Christophe Leroy wrote:
> It is possible to disable KUAP at boottime with 'nosmap' parameter.
>
> That is implemented with jump_label hence adds a 'nop' in front
> of each open/close of userspace access.
>
> From a security point of view it makes sence to disallow disabling
> KUAP. And on processors like the 8xx where 'nop' is not seamless,
> it saves a few cycles.
>
> So add a CONFIG item to make it optionnal.

I love counting cycles, but a CONFIG option for one nop... I think
you have me beat.

Is that sustainable? What if instead of the static branch you patched in
nops to the lock/unlock asm? AFAIKS there does not look like much (any?)
C code in the kuap enabled branches.

Thanks,
Nick

>
> Signed-off-by: Christophe Leroy <christophe.leroy@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> arch/powerpc/include/asm/kup.h | 2 +-
> arch/powerpc/mm/init-common.c | 3 +++
> arch/powerpc/platforms/Kconfig.cputype | 10 ++++++++++
> 3 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kup.h b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kup.h
> index 74b7f4cee2ed..f3280169aeec 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kup.h
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/include/asm/kup.h
> @@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ extern struct static_key_false disable_kuap_key;
>
> static __always_inline bool kuap_is_disabled(void)
> {
> - return static_branch_unlikely(&disable_kuap_key);
> + return IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PPC_KUAP_BOOTTIME) && static_branch_unlikely(&disable_kuap_key);
> }
> #endif
> #else
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/mm/init-common.c b/arch/powerpc/mm/init-common.c
> index 74e140b1efef..994ee58f0092 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/mm/init-common.c
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/mm/init-common.c
> @@ -48,6 +48,9 @@ early_param("nosmep", parse_nosmep);
>
> static int __init parse_nosmap(char *p)
> {
> + if (!IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_PPC_KUAP_BOOTTIME))
> + return 0;
> +
> disable_kuap = true;
> pr_warn("Disabling Kernel Userspace Access Protection\n");
> return 0;
> diff --git a/arch/powerpc/platforms/Kconfig.cputype b/arch/powerpc/platforms/Kconfig.cputype
> index 45fd975ef521..f75c2d5cd182 100644
> --- a/arch/powerpc/platforms/Kconfig.cputype
> +++ b/arch/powerpc/platforms/Kconfig.cputype
> @@ -502,6 +502,16 @@ config PPC_KUAP
>
> If you're unsure, say Y.
>
> +config PPC_KUAP_BOOTTIME
> + bool "Allow disabling Kernel Userspace Access Protection at boottime"
> + depends on PPC_KUAP
> + default y
> + help
> + Allow the user to disable Kernel Userspace Access Protection (KUAP)
> + at boot time using 'nosmap' kernel parameter.
> +
> + If you're unsure, say Y.
> +
> config PPC_KUAP_DEBUG
> bool "Extra debugging for Kernel Userspace Access Protection"
> depends on PPC_KUAP
> --
> 2.40.1