Re: [regression?] Re: [PATCH v6 06/12] mm/gup: track FOLL_PIN pages

[Jason Gunthorpe]

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 02:12:23PM -0600, Alex Williamson wrote:

> > > Maybe I was just getting lucky before this commit.  For a
> > > VM_PFNMAP, vaddr_get_pfn() only needs pin_user_pages_remote() to return
> > > error and the vma information that we setup in vfio_pci_mmap().  
> > 
> > I've written on this before, vfio should not be passing pages to the
> > iommu that it cannot pin eg it should not touch VM_PFNMAP vma's in the
> > first place.
> > 
> > It is a use-after-free security issue the way it is..
> 
> Where is the user after free?  Here I'm trying to map device mmio space
> through the iommu, which we need to enable p2p when the user owns
> multiple devices.

Yes, I gathered what the intent was..

> The device is owned by the user, bound to vfio-pci, and can't be
> unbound while the user has it open.  The iommu mappings are torn
> down on release.  I guess I don't understand the problem.

For PFNMAP VMAs the lifecycle rule is basically that the PFN inside
the VMA can only be used inside the mmap_sem that read it. Ie you
cannot take a PFN outside the mmap_sem and continue to use it.

This is because the owner of the VMA owns the lifetime of that PFN,
and under the write side of the mmap_sem it can zap the PFN, or close
the VMA. Afterwards the VMA owner knows that there are no active
reference to the PFN in the system and can reclaim the PFN

ie the PFNMAP has no per-page pin counter. All lifetime revolves around
the mmap_sem and the vma.

What vfio does is take the PFN out of the mmap_sem and program it into
the iommu.

So when the VMA owner decides the PFN has no references, it actually
doesn't: vfio continues to access it beyond its permitted lifetime.

HW like mlx5 and GPUs have BAR pages which have security
properties. Once the PFN is returned to the driver the security
context of the PFN can be reset and re-assigned to another
process. Using VFIO a hostile user space can retain access to the BAR
page and upon its reassignment access a security context they were not
permitted to access.

This is why GUP does not return PFNMAP pages and vfio should not carry
a reference outside the mmap_sem. It breaks all the lifetime rules.

Jason