When page-table entries are set, the compiler might optimize their
assignment by using multiple instructions to set the PTE. This might
turn into a security hazard if the user somehow manages to use the
interim PTE. L1TF does not make our lives easier, making even an interim
non-present PTE a security hazard.
Using WRITE_ONCE() to set PTEs and friends should prevent this potential
security hazard.
I skimmed the differences in the binary with and without this patch. The
differences are (obviously) greater when CONFIG_PARAVIRT=n as more
code optimizations are possible. For better and worse, the impact on the
binary with this patch is pretty small. Skimming the code did not cause
anything to jump out as a security hazard, but it seems that at least
move_soft_dirty_pte() caused set_pte_at() to use multiple writes.
Signed-off-by: Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com>
Signed-off-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Acked-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Andi Kleen <ak@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Josh Poimboeuf <jpoimboe@redhat.com>
Cc: Michal Hocko <mhocko@suse.com>
Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vbabka@suse.cz>
Cc: Sean Christopherson <sean.j.christopherson@intel.com>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Link: https://lkml.kernel.org/r/20180902181451.80520-1-namit@vmware.com
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