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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/srso.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/srso.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..66af95251a3d --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/srso.rst @@ -0,0 +1,242 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Speculative Return Stack Overflow (SRSO) +======================================== + +This is a mitigation for the speculative return stack overflow (SRSO) +vulnerability found on AMD processors. The mechanism is by now the well +known scenario of poisoning CPU functional units - the Branch Target +Buffer (BTB) and Return Address Predictor (RAP) in this case - and then +tricking the elevated privilege domain (the kernel) into leaking +sensitive data. + +AMD CPUs predict RET instructions using a Return Address Predictor (aka +Return Address Stack/Return Stack Buffer). In some cases, a non-architectural +CALL instruction (i.e., an instruction predicted to be a CALL but is +not actually a CALL) can create an entry in the RAP which may be used +to predict the target of a subsequent RET instruction. + +The specific circumstances that lead to this varies by microarchitecture +but the concern is that an attacker can mis-train the CPU BTB to predict +non-architectural CALL instructions in kernel space and use this to +control the speculative target of a subsequent kernel RET, potentially +leading to information disclosure via a speculative side-channel. + +The issue is tracked under CVE-2023-20569. + +Affected processors +------------------- + +AMD Zen, generations 1-4. That is, all families 0x17 and 0x19. Older +processors have not been investigated. + +System information and options +------------------------------ + +First of all, it is required that the latest microcode be loaded for +mitigations to be effective. + +The sysfs file showing SRSO mitigation status is: + + /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spec_rstack_overflow + +The possible values in this file are: + + * 'Not affected': + + The processor is not vulnerable + +* 'Vulnerable': + + The processor is vulnerable and no mitigations have been applied. + + * 'Vulnerable: No microcode': + + The processor is vulnerable, no microcode extending IBPB + functionality to address the vulnerability has been applied. + + * 'Vulnerable: Safe RET, no microcode': + + The "Safe RET" mitigation (see below) has been applied to protect the + kernel, but the IBPB-extending microcode has not been applied. User + space tasks may still be vulnerable. + + * 'Vulnerable: Microcode, no safe RET': + + Extended IBPB functionality microcode patch has been applied. It does + not address User->Kernel and Guest->Host transitions protection but it + does address User->User and VM->VM attack vectors. + + Note that User->User mitigation is controlled by how the IBPB aspect in + the Spectre v2 mitigation is selected: + + * conditional IBPB: + + where each process can select whether it needs an IBPB issued + around it PR_SPEC_DISABLE/_ENABLE etc, see :doc:`spectre` + + * strict: + + i.e., always on - by supplying spectre_v2_user=on on the kernel + command line + + (spec_rstack_overflow=microcode) + + * 'Mitigation: Safe RET': + + Combined microcode/software mitigation. It complements the + extended IBPB microcode patch functionality by addressing + User->Kernel and Guest->Host transitions protection. + + Selected by default or by spec_rstack_overflow=safe-ret + + * 'Mitigation: IBPB': + + Similar protection as "safe RET" above but employs an IBPB barrier on + privilege domain crossings (User->Kernel, Guest->Host). + + (spec_rstack_overflow=ibpb) + + * 'Mitigation: IBPB on VMEXIT': + + Mitigation addressing the cloud provider scenario - the Guest->Host + transitions only. + + (spec_rstack_overflow=ibpb-vmexit) + + * 'Mitigation: Reduced Speculation': + + This mitigation gets automatically enabled when the above one "IBPB on + VMEXIT" has been selected and the CPU supports the BpSpecReduce bit. + + It gets automatically enabled on machines which have the + SRSO_USER_KERNEL_NO=1 CPUID bit. In that case, the code logic is to switch + to the above =ibpb-vmexit mitigation because the user/kernel boundary is + not affected anymore and thus "safe RET" is not needed. + + After enabling the IBPB on VMEXIT mitigation option, the BpSpecReduce bit + is detected (functionality present on all such machines) and that + practically overrides IBPB on VMEXIT as it has a lot less performance + impact and takes care of the guest->host attack vector too. + +In order to exploit vulnerability, an attacker needs to: + + - gain local access on the machine + + - break kASLR + + - find gadgets in the running kernel in order to use them in the exploit + + - potentially create and pin an additional workload on the sibling + thread, depending on the microarchitecture (not necessary on fam 0x19) + + - run the exploit + +Considering the performance implications of each mitigation type, the +default one is 'Mitigation: safe RET' which should take care of most +attack vectors, including the local User->Kernel one. + +As always, the user is advised to keep her/his system up-to-date by +applying software updates regularly. + +The default setting will be reevaluated when needed and especially when +new attack vectors appear. + +As one can surmise, 'Mitigation: safe RET' does come at the cost of some +performance depending on the workload. If one trusts her/his userspace +and does not want to suffer the performance impact, one can always +disable the mitigation with spec_rstack_overflow=off. + +Similarly, 'Mitigation: IBPB' is another full mitigation type employing +an indirect branch prediction barrier after having applied the required +microcode patch for one's system. This mitigation comes also at +a performance cost. + +Mitigation: Safe RET +-------------------- + +The mitigation works by ensuring all RET instructions speculate to +a controlled location, similar to how speculation is controlled in the +retpoline sequence. To accomplish this, the __x86_return_thunk forces +the CPU to mispredict every function return using a 'safe return' +sequence. + +To ensure the safety of this mitigation, the kernel must ensure that the +safe return sequence is itself free from attacker interference. In Zen3 +and Zen4, this is accomplished by creating a BTB alias between the +untraining function srso_alias_untrain_ret() and the safe return +function srso_alias_safe_ret() which results in evicting a potentially +poisoned BTB entry and using that safe one for all function returns. + +In older Zen1 and Zen2, this is accomplished using a reinterpretation +technique similar to Retbleed one: srso_untrain_ret() and +srso_safe_ret(). + +Checking the safe RET mitigation actually works +----------------------------------------------- + +In case one wants to validate whether the SRSO safe RET mitigation works +on a kernel, one could use two performance counters + +* PMC_0xc8 - Count of RET/RET lw retired +* PMC_0xc9 - Count of RET/RET lw retired mispredicted + +and compare the number of RETs retired properly vs those retired +mispredicted, in kernel mode. Another way of specifying those events +is:: + + # perf list ex_ret_near_ret + + List of pre-defined events (to be used in -e or -M): + + core: + ex_ret_near_ret + [Retired Near Returns] + ex_ret_near_ret_mispred + [Retired Near Returns Mispredicted] + +Either the command using the event mnemonics:: + + # perf stat -e ex_ret_near_ret:k -e ex_ret_near_ret_mispred:k sleep 10s + +or using the raw PMC numbers:: + + # perf stat -e cpu/event=0xc8,umask=0/k -e cpu/event=0xc9,umask=0/k sleep 10s + +should give the same amount. I.e., every RET retired should be +mispredicted:: + + [root@brent: ~/kernel/linux/tools/perf> ./perf stat -e cpu/event=0xc8,umask=0/k -e cpu/event=0xc9,umask=0/k sleep 10s + + Performance counter stats for 'sleep 10s': + + 137,167 cpu/event=0xc8,umask=0/k + 137,173 cpu/event=0xc9,umask=0/k + + 10.004110303 seconds time elapsed + + 0.000000000 seconds user + 0.004462000 seconds sys + +vs the case when the mitigation is disabled (spec_rstack_overflow=off) +or not functioning properly, showing usually a lot smaller number of +mispredicted retired RETs vs the overall count of retired RETs during +a workload:: + + [root@brent: ~/kernel/linux/tools/perf> ./perf stat -e cpu/event=0xc8,umask=0/k -e cpu/event=0xc9,umask=0/k sleep 10s + + Performance counter stats for 'sleep 10s': + + 201,627 cpu/event=0xc8,umask=0/k + 4,074 cpu/event=0xc9,umask=0/k + + 10.003267252 seconds time elapsed + + 0.002729000 seconds user + 0.000000000 seconds sys + +Also, there is a selftest which performs the above, go to +tools/testing/selftests/x86/ and do:: + + make srso + ./srso |