Linux kernel mirror (for testing) git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git
kernel os linux

prctl: arch-agnostic prctl for shadow stack

Three architectures (x86, aarch64, riscv) have announced support for
shadow stacks with fairly similar functionality. While x86 is using
arch_prctl() to control the functionality neither arm64 nor riscv uses
that interface so this patch adds arch-agnostic prctl() support to
get and set status of shadow stacks and lock the current configuation to
prevent further changes, with support for turning on and off individual
subfeatures so applications can limit their exposure to features that
they do not need. The features are:

- PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE: Tracking and enforcement of shadow stacks,
including allocation of a shadow stack if one is not already
allocated.
- PR_SHADOW_STACK_WRITE: Writes to specific addresses in the shadow
stack.
- PR_SHADOW_STACK_PUSH: Push additional values onto the shadow stack.

These features are expected to be inherited by new threads and cleared
on exec(), unknown features should be rejected for enable but accepted
for locking (in order to allow for future proofing).

This is based on a patch originally written by Deepak Gupta but modified
fairly heavily, support for indirect landing pads is removed, additional
modes added and the locking interface reworked. The set status prctl()
is also reworked to just set flags, if setting/reading the shadow stack
pointer is required this could be a separate prctl.

Reviewed-by: Thiago Jung Bauermann <thiago.bauermann@linaro.org>
Reviewed-by: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>
Acked-by: Yury Khrustalev <yury.khrustalev@arm.com>
Signed-off-by: Mark Brown <broonie@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Deepak Gupta <debug@rivosinc.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20241001-arm64-gcs-v13-4-222b78d87eee@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Catalin Marinas <catalin.marinas@arm.com>

authored by

Mark Brown and committed by
Catalin Marinas
91e102e7 f645e888

+56
+4
include/linux/mm.h
··· 4221 4221 } 4222 4222 #endif /* CONFIG_MEM_ALLOC_PROFILING */ 4223 4223 4224 + int arch_get_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long __user *status); 4225 + int arch_set_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status); 4226 + int arch_lock_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status); 4227 + 4224 4228 #endif /* _LINUX_MM_H */
+22
include/uapi/linux/prctl.h
··· 328 328 # define PR_PPC_DEXCR_CTRL_CLEAR_ONEXEC 0x10 /* Clear the aspect on exec */ 329 329 # define PR_PPC_DEXCR_CTRL_MASK 0x1f 330 330 331 + /* 332 + * Get the current shadow stack configuration for the current thread, 333 + * this will be the value configured via PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS. 334 + */ 335 + #define PR_GET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS 74 336 + 337 + /* 338 + * Set the current shadow stack configuration. Enabling the shadow 339 + * stack will cause a shadow stack to be allocated for the thread. 340 + */ 341 + #define PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS 75 342 + # define PR_SHADOW_STACK_ENABLE (1UL << 0) 343 + # define PR_SHADOW_STACK_WRITE (1UL << 1) 344 + # define PR_SHADOW_STACK_PUSH (1UL << 2) 345 + 346 + /* 347 + * Prevent further changes to the specified shadow stack 348 + * configuration. All bits may be locked via this call, including 349 + * undefined bits. 350 + */ 351 + #define PR_LOCK_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS 76 352 + 331 353 #endif /* _LINUX_PRCTL_H */
+30
kernel/sys.c
··· 2324 2324 return -EINVAL; 2325 2325 } 2326 2326 2327 + int __weak arch_get_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long __user *status) 2328 + { 2329 + return -EINVAL; 2330 + } 2331 + 2332 + int __weak arch_set_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status) 2333 + { 2334 + return -EINVAL; 2335 + } 2336 + 2337 + int __weak arch_lock_shadow_stack_status(struct task_struct *t, unsigned long status) 2338 + { 2339 + return -EINVAL; 2340 + } 2341 + 2327 2342 #define PR_IO_FLUSHER (PF_MEMALLOC_NOIO | PF_LOCAL_THROTTLE) 2328 2343 2329 2344 #ifdef CONFIG_ANON_VMA_NAME ··· 2798 2783 break; 2799 2784 case PR_RISCV_SET_ICACHE_FLUSH_CTX: 2800 2785 error = RISCV_SET_ICACHE_FLUSH_CTX(arg2, arg3); 2786 + break; 2787 + case PR_GET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS: 2788 + if (arg3 || arg4 || arg5) 2789 + return -EINVAL; 2790 + error = arch_get_shadow_stack_status(me, (unsigned long __user *) arg2); 2791 + break; 2792 + case PR_SET_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS: 2793 + if (arg3 || arg4 || arg5) 2794 + return -EINVAL; 2795 + error = arch_set_shadow_stack_status(me, arg2); 2796 + break; 2797 + case PR_LOCK_SHADOW_STACK_STATUS: 2798 + if (arg3 || arg4 || arg5) 2799 + return -EINVAL; 2800 + error = arch_lock_shadow_stack_status(me, arg2); 2801 2801 break; 2802 2802 default: 2803 2803 error = -EINVAL;