[PATCH v2 2/4] mm/page_alloc.c: add config option to sanitize freed pages

From: Anisse Astier
Date: Mon May 04 2015 - 17:18:12 EST


This new config option will sanitize all freed pages. This is a pretty
low-level change useful to track some cases of use-after-free, help
kernel same-page merging in VM environments, and counter a few info
leaks.

Signed-off-by: Anisse Astier <anisse@xxxxxxxxx>
---
mm/Kconfig | 12 ++++++++++++
mm/page_alloc.c | 12 ++++++++++++
2 files changed, 24 insertions(+)

diff --git a/mm/Kconfig b/mm/Kconfig
index 390214d..e9fb3bd 100644
--- a/mm/Kconfig
+++ b/mm/Kconfig
@@ -635,3 +635,15 @@ config MAX_STACK_SIZE_MB
changed to a smaller value in which case that is used.

A sane initial value is 80 MB.
+
+config SANITIZE_FREED_PAGES
+ bool "Sanitize memory pages after free"
+ default n
+ help
+ This option is used to make sure all pages freed are zeroed. This is
+ quite low-level and doesn't handle your slab buffers.
+ It has various applications, from preventing some info leaks to
+ helping kernel same-page merging in virtualised environments.
+ Depending on your workload it will greatly reduce performance.
+
+ If unsure, say N.
diff --git a/mm/page_alloc.c b/mm/page_alloc.c
index 4d5ce6e..c29e3a0 100644
--- a/mm/page_alloc.c
+++ b/mm/page_alloc.c
@@ -795,6 +795,12 @@ static bool free_pages_prepare(struct page *page, unsigned int order)
debug_check_no_obj_freed(page_address(page),
PAGE_SIZE << order);
}
+
+#ifdef CONFIG_SANITIZE_FREED_PAGES
+ for (i = 0; i < (1 << order); i++)
+ clear_highpage(page + i);
+#endif
+
arch_free_page(page, order);
kernel_map_pages(page, 1 << order, 0);

@@ -960,9 +966,15 @@ static int prep_new_page(struct page *page, unsigned int order, gfp_t gfp_flags,
kernel_map_pages(page, 1 << order, 1);
kasan_alloc_pages(page, order);

+#ifndef CONFIG_SANITIZE_FREED_PAGES
+ /* SANITIZE_FREED_PAGES relies implicitly on the fact that pages are
+ * cleared before use, so we don't need gfp zero in the default case
+ * because all pages go through the free_pages_prepare code path when
+ * switching from bootmem to the default allocator */
if (gfp_flags & __GFP_ZERO)
for (i = 0; i < (1 << order); i++)
clear_highpage(page + i);
+#endif

if (order && (gfp_flags & __GFP_COMP))
prep_compound_page(page, order);
--
1.9.3

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