From nobody Wed Dec 10 20:13:06 2025 Received: from smtp.kernel.org (aws-us-west-2-korg-mail-1.web.codeaurora.org [10.30.226.201]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by smtp.subspace.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 282382E2DC1; Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:43:45 +0000 (UTC) Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 ARC-Seal: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1762994625; cv=none; b=HpJrOFqP85sJLGMs2KIy/91rmTJglNZiT5cHkz6xZOgtftS7u2091F5Wrp/kgHF+a8m3i6rMLaCGP4vUtpCpQlV4AiNgwGF2sVaAw7dQEWMD0dl5LlwLnHHgI6wTZvhU0Ri8Y/oZOprqVio7GutArM2pNudxZfJHgTpGt4mBiIo= ARC-Message-Signature: i=1; a=rsa-sha256; d=subspace.kernel.org; s=arc-20240116; t=1762994625; c=relaxed/simple; bh=bPL6vxe17/1hYXtbU8DLV1GggN8NhUYMmyQybHsKecI=; h=From:Date:Subject:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Message-Id:References: In-Reply-To:To:Cc; b=a/FASLX8wswbTq1zWsVRZwGPT++PrQ2cW2EPVTL2qXfTsXtDnZuX8t14Cna8v28FnjxH1k1hQyzIXkTs1weRorvuDblALVcOm81FUbAId14axTp8Cnj6tn2JyuMQz3qyyzwhToIoJnFF1va7/mriVJAkKbUyDZItybWUPMDnCLM= ARC-Authentication-Results: i=1; smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b=bXYY0Gtc; arc=none smtp.client-ip=10.30.226.201 Authentication-Results: smtp.subspace.kernel.org; dkim=pass (2048-bit key) header.d=kernel.org header.i=@kernel.org header.b="bXYY0Gtc" Received: by smtp.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 33001C2BCB0; Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:43:44 +0000 (UTC) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/simple; d=kernel.org; s=k20201202; t=1762994624; bh=bPL6vxe17/1hYXtbU8DLV1GggN8NhUYMmyQybHsKecI=; h=From:Date:Subject:References:In-Reply-To:To:Cc:Reply-To:From; b=bXYY0Gtc5m/IgrqvtRhKLkGuY/wa7llxyed0x7yJ/JK6J67dn8RJNzwVbUGRtJbAx d3wfFC48V66GZtTl/AsAJZCaS832Bauea0UFuQfLimeY9yHT6pA90rDceNE16Mu+Yj UXID0ePl+vSRyL6Khh7yjWDIOSwJM0YYAaefAeC3w5Iu50A0Oui89O0PmyojQe8oqb ANe4P79R6lLQ4X6p//vGKAwGzl2CLYDX/5N6OIASA/vCng58EghME3MF+njPhOzEdC BKVyRYeuI1Pmi6gjhF7MT4B+aS2sGLC5w1Swpt09CgvT97suIxFQWdt6/Xa9ksmaUG jcPs/0ERD9beg== Received: from aws-us-west-2-korg-lkml-1.web.codeaurora.org (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by smtp.lore.kernel.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 096F3CD4F34; Thu, 13 Nov 2025 00:43:44 +0000 (UTC) From: Deepak Gupta via B4 Relay Date: Wed, 12 Nov 2025 16:43:24 -0800 Subject: [PATCH v23 26/28] riscv: Documentation for landing pad / indirect branch tracking Precedence: bulk X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org List-Id: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Message-Id: <20251112-v5_user_cfi_series-v23-26-b55691eacf4f@rivosinc.com> References: <20251112-v5_user_cfi_series-v23-0-b55691eacf4f@rivosinc.com> In-Reply-To: <20251112-v5_user_cfi_series-v23-0-b55691eacf4f@rivosinc.com> To: Thomas Gleixner , Ingo Molnar , Borislav Petkov , Dave Hansen , x86@kernel.org, "H. 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Howlett" , Vlastimil Babka , Lorenzo Stoakes , Paul Walmsley , Palmer Dabbelt , Albert Ou , Conor Dooley , Rob Herring , Krzysztof Kozlowski , Arnd Bergmann , Christian Brauner , Peter Zijlstra , Oleg Nesterov , Eric Biederman , Kees Cook , Jonathan Corbet , Shuah Khan , Jann Horn , Conor Dooley , Miguel Ojeda , Alex Gaynor , Boqun Feng , Gary Guo , =?utf-8?q?Bj=C3=B6rn_Roy_Baron?= , Andreas Hindborg , Alice Ryhl , Trevor Gross , Benno Lossin Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-riscv@lists.infradead.org, devicetree@vger.kernel.org, linux-arch@vger.kernel.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org, alistair.francis@wdc.com, richard.henderson@linaro.org, jim.shu@sifive.com, andybnac@gmail.com, kito.cheng@sifive.com, charlie@rivosinc.com, atishp@rivosinc.com, evan@rivosinc.com, cleger@rivosinc.com, alexghiti@rivosinc.com, samitolvanen@google.com, broonie@kernel.org, rick.p.edgecombe@intel.com, rust-for-linux@vger.kernel.org, Zong Li , Deepak Gupta X-Mailer: b4 0.13.0 X-Developer-Signature: v=1; a=ed25519-sha256; t=1762994618; l=6062; i=debug@rivosinc.com; s=20251023; h=from:subject:message-id; bh=7LCUsE6kNUEwcM1QtIZIjQu/BHRL3vY+rwSlBm5MqpY=; b=YGn4JF1PeUciH7tnmNDeYMr93FsrQPGK8IBTWaZhdo8Ww5zDMmLFWThqlfokLf4AjqbWK6m3d tR0itMlTauECBoy3809z75tX6PjdY0Eyok7/8fsnflHGPHBxu5PJTRl X-Developer-Key: i=debug@rivosinc.com; a=ed25519; pk=O37GQv1thBhZToXyQKdecPDhtWVbEDRQ0RIndijvpjk= X-Endpoint-Received: by B4 Relay for debug@rivosinc.com/20251023 with auth_id=553 X-Original-From: Deepak Gupta Reply-To: debug@rivosinc.com From: Deepak Gupta Adding documentation on landing pad aka indirect branch tracking on riscv and kernel interfaces exposed so that user tasks can enable it. Reviewed-by: Zong Li Signed-off-by: Deepak Gupta --- Documentation/arch/riscv/index.rst | 1 + Documentation/arch/riscv/zicfilp.rst | 115 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++= ++++ 2 files changed, 116 insertions(+) diff --git a/Documentation/arch/riscv/index.rst b/Documentation/arch/riscv/= index.rst index eecf347ce849..be7237b69682 100644 --- a/Documentation/arch/riscv/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/arch/riscv/index.rst @@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ RISC-V architecture uabi vector cmodx + zicfilp =20 features =20 diff --git a/Documentation/arch/riscv/zicfilp.rst b/Documentation/arch/risc= v/zicfilp.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..3575c7db2cef --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/arch/riscv/zicfilp.rst @@ -0,0 +1,115 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +:Author: Deepak Gupta +:Date: 12 January 2024 + +=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D +Tracking indirect control transfers on RISC-V Linux +=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D + +This document briefly describes the interface provided to userspace by Lin= ux +to enable indirect branch tracking for user mode applications on RISC-V + +1. Feature Overview +-------------------- + +Memory corruption issues usually result into crashes, however when in hand= s of +an adversary and if used creatively can result into a variety security iss= ues. + +One of those security issues can be code re-use attacks on program where a= dversary +can use corrupt function pointers and chain them together to perform jump = oriented +programming (JOP) or call oriented programming (COP) and thus compromising= control +flow integrity (CFI) of the program. + +Function pointers live in read-write memory and thus are susceptible to co= rruption +and allows an adversary to reach any program counter (PC) in address space= . On +RISC-V zicfilp extension enforces a restriction on such indirect control +transfers: + +- indirect control transfers must land on a landing pad instruction ``lpad= ``. + There are two exception to this rule: + + - rs1 =3D x1 or rs1 =3D x5, i.e. a return from a function and returns are + protected using shadow stack (see zicfiss.rst) + + - rs1 =3D x7. On RISC-V compiler usually does below to reach function + which is beyond the offset possible J-type instruction:: + + auipc x7, + jalr (x7) + + Such form of indirect control transfer are still immutable and don't r= ely + on memory and thus rs1=3Dx7 is exempted from tracking and considered s= oftware + guarded jumps. + +``lpad`` instruction is pseudo of ``auipc rd, `` with ``rd=3Dx0= `` and +is a HINT nop. ``lpad`` instruction must be aligned on 4 byte boundary and +compares 20 bit immediate with x7. If ``imm_20bit`` =3D=3D 0, CPU doesn't = perform +any comparision with ``x7``. If ``imm_20bit`` !=3D 0, then ``imm_20bit`` m= ust +match ``x7`` else CPU will raise ``software check exception`` (``cause=3D1= 8``) +with ``*tval =3D 2``. + +Compiler can generate a hash over function signatures and setup them (trun= cated +to 20bit) in x7 at callsites and function prologues can have ``lpad`` with= same +function hash. This further reduces number of program counters a call site= can +reach. + +2. ELF and psABI +----------------- + +Toolchain sets up :c:macro:`GNU_PROPERTY_RISCV_FEATURE_1_FCFI` for property +:c:macro:`GNU_PROPERTY_RISCV_FEATURE_1_AND` in notes section of the object= file. + +3. Linux enabling +------------------ + +User space programs can have multiple shared objects loaded in its address= space +and it's a difficult task to make sure all the dependencies have been comp= iled +with support of indirect branch. Thus it's left to dynamic loader to enable +indirect branch tracking for the program. + +4. prctl() enabling +-------------------- + +:c:macro:`PR_SET_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS` / :c:macro:`PR_GET_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS= ` / +:c:macro:`PR_LOCK_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS` are three prctls added to manage ind= irect +branch tracking. prctls are arch agnostic and returns -EINVAL on other arc= hes. + +* prctl(PR_SET_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS, unsigned long arg) + +If arg1 is :c:macro:`PR_INDIR_BR_LP_ENABLE` and if CPU supports ``zicfilp`` +then kernel will enable indirect branch tracking for the task. Dynamic loa= der +can issue this :c:macro:`prctl` once it has determined that all the objects +loaded in address space support indirect branch tracking. Additionally if = there +is a `dlopen` to an object which wasn't compiled with ``zicfilp``, dynamic +loader can issue this prctl with arg1 set to 0 (i.e. +:c:macro:`PR_INDIR_BR_LP_ENABLE` being clear) + +* prctl(PR_GET_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS, unsigned long * arg) + +Returns current status of indirect branch tracking. If enabled it'll return +:c:macro:`PR_INDIR_BR_LP_ENABLE` + +* prctl(PR_LOCK_INDIR_BR_LP_STATUS, unsigned long arg) + +Locks current status of indirect branch tracking on the task. User space m= ay +want to run with strict security posture and wouldn't want loading of obje= cts +without ``zicfilp`` support in it and thus would want to disallow disablin= g of +indirect branch tracking. In that case user space can use this prctl to lo= ck +current settings. + +5. violations related to indirect branch tracking +-------------------------------------------------- + +Pertaining to indirect branch tracking, CPU raises software check exceptio= n in +following conditions: + +- missing ``lpad`` after indirect call / jmp +- ``lpad`` not on 4 byte boundary +- ``imm_20bit`` embedded in ``lpad`` instruction doesn't match with ``x7`` + +In all 3 cases, ``*tval =3D 2`` is captured and software check exception is +raised (``cause=3D18``) + +Linux kernel will treat this as :c:macro:`SIGSEGV` with code =3D +:c:macro:`SEGV_CPERR` and follow normal course of signal delivery. --=20 2.43.0