[PATCH v2] x86/boot/64: Clear CR4.PGE to disable global 1:1 mappings

From: Ard Biesheuvel
Date: Wed Apr 10 2024 - 11:14:52 EST


From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@xxxxxxxxxx>

The early 64-bit boot code must be entered with a 1:1 mapping of the
bootable image, but it cannot operate without a 1:1 mapping of all the
assets in memory that it accesses, and therefore, it creates such
mappings for all known assets upfront, and additional ones on demand
when a page fault happens on a memory address.

These mappings are created with the global bit G set, as the flags used
to create page table descriptors are based on __PAGE_KERNEL_LARGE_EXEC
defined by the core kernel, even though the context where these mappings
are used is very different.

This means that the TLB maintenance carried out by the decompressor is
not sufficient if it is entered with CR4.PGE enabled, which has been
observed to happen with the stage0 bootloader of project Oak. While this
is a dubious practice if no global mappings are being used to begin
with, the decompressor is clearly at fault here for creating global
mappings and not performing the appropriate TLB maintenance.

Since commit

f97b67a773cd84b ("x86/decompressor: Only call the trampoline when changing paging levels")

CR4 is no longer modified by the decompressor if no change in the number
of paging levels is needed. Before that, CR4 would always be set to a
consistent value with PGE cleared.

So let's reinstate a simplified version of the original logic to put CR4
into a known state, and preserve the PAE, MCE and LA57 bits, none of
which can be modified freely at this point (PAE and LA57 cannot be
changed while running in long mode, and MCE cannot be cleared when
running under some hypervisors)

Cc: Conrad Grobler <grobler@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Kevin Loughlin <kevinloughlin@xxxxxxxxxx>
Fixes: f97b67a773cd84b ("x86/decompressor: Only call the trampoline when ...")
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
v2: Bring back the original logic rather than only clearing PGE. Note
that this means that the load of CR4 cannot be elided since MCE and
LA57 cannot be set unconditionally.

arch/x86/boot/compressed/head_64.S | 5 +++++
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/head_64.S b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/head_64.S
index bf4a10a5794f..d0f2c591f730 100644
--- a/arch/x86/boot/compressed/head_64.S
+++ b/arch/x86/boot/compressed/head_64.S
@@ -398,6 +398,11 @@ SYM_CODE_START(startup_64)
call sev_enable
#endif

+ /* Preserve only the CR4 bits that must be preserved, and clear the rest */
+ movq %cr4, %rax
+ andl $(X86_CR4_PAE | X86_CR4_MCE | X86_CR4_LA57), %eax
+ movq %rax, %cr4
+
/*
* configure_5level_paging() updates the number of paging levels using
* a trampoline in 32-bit addressable memory if the current number does
--
2.44.0.478.gd926399ef9-goog