161 lines
5.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
161 lines
5.5 KiB
ReStructuredText
.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
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Speculative Return Stack Overflow (SRSO)
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========================================
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This is a mitigation for the speculative return stack overflow (SRSO)
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vulnerability found on AMD processors. The mechanism is by now the well
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known scenario of poisoning CPU functional units - the Branch Target
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Buffer (BTB) and Return Address Predictor (RAP) in this case - and then
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tricking the elevated privilege domain (the kernel) into leaking
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sensitive data.
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AMD CPUs predict RET instructions using a Return Address Predictor (aka
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Return Address Stack/Return Stack Buffer). In some cases, a non-architectural
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CALL instruction (i.e., an instruction predicted to be a CALL but is
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not actually a CALL) can create an entry in the RAP which may be used
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to predict the target of a subsequent RET instruction.
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The specific circumstances that lead to this varies by microarchitecture
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but the concern is that an attacker can mis-train the CPU BTB to predict
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non-architectural CALL instructions in kernel space and use this to
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control the speculative target of a subsequent kernel RET, potentially
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leading to information disclosure via a speculative side-channel.
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The issue is tracked under CVE-2023-20569.
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Affected processors
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-------------------
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AMD Zen, generations 1-4. That is, all families 0x17 and 0x19. Older
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processors have not been investigated.
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System information and options
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------------------------------
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First of all, it is required that the latest microcode be loaded for
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mitigations to be effective.
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The sysfs file showing SRSO mitigation status is:
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/sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spec_rstack_overflow
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The possible values in this file are:
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* 'Not affected':
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The processor is not vulnerable
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* 'Vulnerable':
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The processor is vulnerable and no mitigations have been applied.
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* 'Vulnerable: No microcode':
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The processor is vulnerable, no microcode extending IBPB
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functionality to address the vulnerability has been applied.
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* 'Vulnerable: Safe RET, no microcode':
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The "Safe RET" mitigation (see below) has been applied to protect the
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kernel, but the IBPB-extending microcode has not been applied. User
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space tasks may still be vulnerable.
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* 'Vulnerable: Microcode, no safe RET':
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Extended IBPB functionality microcode patch has been applied. It does
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not address User->Kernel and Guest->Host transitions protection but it
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does address User->User and VM->VM attack vectors.
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Note that User->User mitigation is controlled by how the IBPB aspect in
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the Spectre v2 mitigation is selected:
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* conditional IBPB:
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where each process can select whether it needs an IBPB issued
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around it PR_SPEC_DISABLE/_ENABLE etc, see :doc:`spectre`
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* strict:
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i.e., always on - by supplying spectre_v2_user=on on the kernel
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command line
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(spec_rstack_overflow=microcode)
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* 'Mitigation: Safe RET':
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Combined microcode/software mitigation. It complements the
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extended IBPB microcode patch functionality by addressing
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User->Kernel and Guest->Host transitions protection.
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Selected by default or by spec_rstack_overflow=safe-ret
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* 'Mitigation: IBPB':
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Similar protection as "safe RET" above but employs an IBPB barrier on
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privilege domain crossings (User->Kernel, Guest->Host).
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(spec_rstack_overflow=ibpb)
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* 'Mitigation: IBPB on VMEXIT':
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Mitigation addressing the cloud provider scenario - the Guest->Host
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transitions only.
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(spec_rstack_overflow=ibpb-vmexit)
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In order to exploit vulnerability, an attacker needs to:
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- gain local access on the machine
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- break kASLR
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- find gadgets in the running kernel in order to use them in the exploit
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- potentially create and pin an additional workload on the sibling
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thread, depending on the microarchitecture (not necessary on fam 0x19)
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- run the exploit
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Considering the performance implications of each mitigation type, the
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default one is 'Mitigation: safe RET' which should take care of most
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attack vectors, including the local User->Kernel one.
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As always, the user is advised to keep her/his system up-to-date by
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applying software updates regularly.
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The default setting will be reevaluated when needed and especially when
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new attack vectors appear.
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As one can surmise, 'Mitigation: safe RET' does come at the cost of some
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performance depending on the workload. If one trusts her/his userspace
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and does not want to suffer the performance impact, one can always
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disable the mitigation with spec_rstack_overflow=off.
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Similarly, 'Mitigation: IBPB' is another full mitigation type employing
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an indrect branch prediction barrier after having applied the required
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microcode patch for one's system. This mitigation comes also at
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a performance cost.
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Mitigation: Safe RET
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--------------------
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The mitigation works by ensuring all RET instructions speculate to
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a controlled location, similar to how speculation is controlled in the
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retpoline sequence. To accomplish this, the __x86_return_thunk forces
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the CPU to mispredict every function return using a 'safe return'
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sequence.
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To ensure the safety of this mitigation, the kernel must ensure that the
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safe return sequence is itself free from attacker interference. In Zen3
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and Zen4, this is accomplished by creating a BTB alias between the
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untraining function srso_alias_untrain_ret() and the safe return
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function srso_alias_safe_ret() which results in evicting a potentially
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poisoned BTB entry and using that safe one for all function returns.
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In older Zen1 and Zen2, this is accomplished using a reinterpretation
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technique similar to Retbleed one: srso_untrain_ret() and
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srso_safe_ret().
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