Re: [PATCH v4 04/15] cfi: Add DEFINE_CFI_IMMEDIATE_RETURN_STUB

[Sami Tolvanen]

On Mon, Oct 4, 2021 at 6:50 AM Peter Zijlstra <peterz@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Sep 30, 2021 at 11:05:20AM -0700, Sami Tolvanen wrote:
> > This change introduces the DEFINE_CFI_IMMEDIATE_RETURN_STUB macro,
> > which defines a stub function that immediately returns and when
> > defined in the core kernel, always passes indirect call checking
> > with CONFIG_CFI_CLANG. Note that this macro should only be used when
> > a stub cannot be called using the correct function type.
>
> > diff --git a/include/linux/cfi.h b/include/linux/cfi.h
> > index 879744aaa6e0..19f74af8eac2 100644
> > --- a/include/linux/cfi.h
> > +++ b/include/linux/cfi.h
> > @@ -20,6 +20,17 @@ extern void __cfi_check(uint64_t id, void *ptr, void *diag);
> >  #define __CFI_ADDRESSABLE(fn, __attr) \
> >       const void *__cfi_jt_ ## fn __visible __attr = (void *)&fn
> >
> > +/*
> > + * Defines a stub function that returns immediately, and when defined and
> > + * referenced in the core kernel, always passes CFI checking. This should
> > + * be used only for stubs that cannot be called using the correct function
> > + * pointer type, which should be rare.
> > + */
> > +#define DEFINE_CFI_IMMEDIATE_RETURN_STUB(fn) \
> > +     void fn(void) { return; } \
> > +     const void *__cfi_excl_ ## fn __visible \
> > +             __section(".cfi_excluded_stubs") = (void *)&fn
> > +
> >  #ifdef CONFIG_CFI_CLANG_SHADOW
> >
> >  extern void cfi_module_add(struct module *mod, unsigned long base_addr);
> > @@ -35,6 +46,8 @@ static inline void cfi_module_remove(struct module *mod, unsigned long base_addr
> >  #else /* !CONFIG_CFI_CLANG */
> >
> >  #define __CFI_ADDRESSABLE(fn, __attr)
> > +#define DEFINE_CFI_IMMEDIATE_RETURN_STUB(fn) \
> > +     void fn(void) { return; }
> >
> >  #endif /* CONFIG_CFI_CLANG */
> >
>
> Why DEFINE_CFI_IMMEDIATE_RETURN_STUB() vs __no_cfi attribute that we can
> stick on the relvant functions?

To avoid accidentally creating useful gadgets for attackers. For
example, while excluding an empty stub isn't necessarily ideal,
allowing calls to a function that always returns zero would be worse.

> Because I've got at least one more variant for you :-) See
> kernel/static_call.c:__static_call_return0

Does __static_call_return0 ever get called indirectly on architectures
that support static calls? If it's always patched into a direct call,
the type mismatch isn't an issue.

Sami