[PATCH 2/4] kexec: add CRASH_ZEROIZE to wipe secrets before kdump

From: Jan Sebastian Götte

Date: Fri Jul 31 2026 - 12:51:03 EST


When kdump is used to capture system memory after a panic(), any secret
keys currently in RAM end up in the dump. Add an opt-in atomic notifier
chain, crash_zeroize_notifier_list, invoked late into __crash_kexec().
Subsystems holding secrets can register a callback to scrub them.

Callbacks are run after machine_crash_shutdown() has already stopped the
other CPUs and disabled preemption. Callbacks must not wait on locks,
which will never be released.

This is a best-effort, defence-in-depth measure, not a guarantee.
Secrets in flight on the stack, in registers, in DMA buffers, or in
other places in memory are out of scope.

Signed-off-by: Jan Sebastian Götte <linux@xxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/crash_core.h | 5 +++++
kernel/Kconfig.kexec | 8 ++++++++
kernel/crash_core.c | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
3 files changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/crash_core.h b/include/linux/crash_core.h
index bc087124cd78..5c7207c0bba1 100644
--- a/include/linux/crash_core.h
+++ b/include/linux/crash_core.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
#include <linux/linkage.h>
#include <linux/elfcore.h>
#include <linux/elf.h>
+#include <linux/notifier.h>

struct kimage;

@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@ static inline void arch_kexec_protect_crashkres(void) { }
static inline void arch_kexec_unprotect_crashkres(void) { }
#endif

+#ifdef CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE
+extern struct atomic_notifier_head crash_zeroize_notifier_list;
+#endif
+
#ifndef arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event
static inline void arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event(struct kimage *image, void *arg) { }
#endif
diff --git a/kernel/Kconfig.kexec b/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
index 15632358bcf7..92ab0a69c8ec 100644
--- a/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
+++ b/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
@@ -179,4 +179,12 @@ config CRASH_MAX_MEMORY_RANGES
the computation behind the value provided through the
/sys/kernel/crash_elfcorehdr_size attribute.

+config CRASH_ZEROIZE
+ bool "Zeroize secrets on panic"
+ depends on CRASH_DUMP
+ help
+ Wipe secrets (e.g. kernel keyring and memfd_secret pages) on crash or panic.
+
+ If unsure, say N.
+
endmenu
diff --git a/kernel/crash_core.c b/kernel/crash_core.c
index 2b36aa9fade0..d3a7763e2759 100644
--- a/kernel/crash_core.c
+++ b/kernel/crash_core.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
#include <linux/objtool.h>
#include <linux/delay.h>
#include <linux/panic.h>
+#include <linux/timekeeping.h>

#include <asm/page.h>
#include <asm/sections.h>
@@ -33,6 +34,22 @@
/* Per cpu memory for storing cpu states in case of system crash. */
note_buf_t __percpu *crash_notes;

+#ifdef CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE
+ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_HEAD(crash_zeroize_notifier_list);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(crash_zeroize_notifier_list);
+
+static void crash_zeroize(void)
+{
+ ktime_t zeroize_start = ktime_get();
+
+ pr_info("Wiping sensitive secrets...\n");
+ atomic_notifier_call_chain(&crash_zeroize_notifier_list, 0, NULL);
+ pr_info("Done in %lld us\n", ktime_us_delta(ktime_get(), zeroize_start));
+}
+#else
+static inline void crash_zeroize(void) { }
+#endif /* CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE */
+
/* time to wait for possible DMA to finish before starting the kdump kernel
* when a CMA reservation is used
*/
@@ -142,6 +159,7 @@ void __noclone __crash_kexec(struct pt_regs *regs)
crash_save_vmcoreinfo();
machine_crash_shutdown(&fixed_regs);
crash_cma_clear_pending_dma();
+ crash_zeroize();
machine_kexec(kexec_crash_image);
}
kexec_unlock();
--
2.53.0