Re: [v6 PATCH 00/21] x86: Enable User-Mode Instruction Prevention

From: Ricardo Neri
Date: Wed Mar 08 2017 - 20:13:26 EST


On Wed, 2017-03-08 at 19:53 +0300, Stas Sergeev wrote:
> 08.03.2017 19:46, Andy Lutomirski ÐÐÑÐÑ:
> >> No no, since I meant prot mode, this is not what I need.
> >> I would never need to disable UMIP as to allow the
> >> prot mode apps to do SLDT. Instead it would be good
> >> to have an ability to provide a replacement for the dummy
> >> emulation that is currently being proposed for kernel.
> >> All is needed for this, is just to deliver a SIGSEGV.
> > That's what I meant. Turning off FIXUP_UMIP would leave UMIP on but
> > turn off the fixup, so you'd get a SIGSEGV indicating #GP (or a vm86
> > GP exit).
> But then I am confused with the word "compat" in
> your "COMPAT_MASK0_X86_UMIP_FIXUP" and
> "sys_adjust_compat_mask(int op, int word, u32 mask);"
>
> Leaving UMIP on and only disabling a fixup doesn't
> sound like a compat option to me. I would expect
> compat to disable it completely.

I guess that the _UMIP_FIXUP part makes it clear that emulation, not
UMIP is disabled, allowing the SIGSEGV be delivered to the user space
program.

Would having a COMPAT_MASK0_X86_UMIP_FIXUP to disable emulation and a
COMPAT_MASK0_X86_UMIP to disable UMIP make sense?

Also, wouldn't having a COMPAT_MASK0_X86_UMIP to disable UMIP defeat its
purpose? Applications could simply use this compat mask to bypass UMIP
and gain access to the instructions it protects.

Thanks and BR,
Ricardo