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| author | Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com> | 2026-09-23 09:37:21 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com> | 2026-09-26 00:39:55 -0400 |
| commit | 93de2a6a4b91b72607136dd656edf03fb399d27f (patch) | |
| tree | 9220c76eb23cb39a146fac9692ee69afa4aa3135 /Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-93de2a6a4b91b72607136dd656edf03fb399d27f.tar.gz linux-stable-93de2a6a4b91b72607136dd656edf03fb399d27f.zip | |
KVM: SEV: Do cache maintenance on the source VM during intra-host migrationgrafted
Manually perform cache maintenance on the source VM during intra-host
migration to ensure no stale data is left in CPU caches after the VM is
destroyed. Because the source VM is "converted" to a non-SEV VM, KVM's
memory reclaim flows won't trigger cache maintenance, e.g. when all guest
memory is reclaimed in response to detaching from the mmu_notifier.
Note, relying on the destination VM to do cache maintenance isn't an option
as KVM doesn't require identical guest memory configurations, i.e. the
source VM may have access to memory that the destination VM does not.
Enforcing equivalent memory configurations is infeasible, as it would
require a *deep* comparison of memslots, e.g. to verify that not only are
the memslot identical, but what the memslots point at is also identical.
Fixes: b56639318bb2 ("KVM: SEV: Add support for SEV intra host migration")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Reported-by: Stefan Teodorescu <fane@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Sean Christopherson <seanjc@google.com>
Message-ID: <20260923163721.1584779-3-seanjc@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst | 75 |
1 files changed, 75 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..d9cd937eb --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/Yama.rst @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ +==== +Yama +==== + +Yama is a Linux Security Module that collects system-wide DAC security +protections that are not handled by the core kernel itself. This is +selectable at build-time with ``CONFIG_SECURITY_YAMA``, and can be controlled +at run-time through sysctls in ``/proc/sys/kernel/yama``: + +ptrace_scope +============ + +As Linux grows in popularity, it will become a larger target for +malware. One particularly troubling weakness of the Linux process +interfaces is that a single user is able to examine the memory and +running state of any of their processes. For example, if one application +(e.g. Pidgin) was compromised, it would be possible for an attacker to +attach to other running processes (e.g. Firefox, SSH sessions, GPG agent, +etc) to extract additional credentials and continue to expand the scope +of their attack without resorting to user-assisted phishing. + +This is not a theoretical problem. `SSH session hijacking +<https://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-usa-05/bh-us-05-boileau.pdf>`_ +and `arbitrary code injection +<https://c-skills.blogspot.com/2007/05/injectso.html>`_ attacks already +exist and remain possible if ptrace is allowed to operate as before. +Since ptrace is not commonly used by non-developers and non-admins, system +builders should be allowed the option to disable this debugging system. + +For a solution, some applications use ``prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE, ...)`` to +specifically disallow such ptrace attachment (e.g. ssh-agent), but many +do not. A more general solution is to only allow ptrace directly from a +parent to a child process (i.e. direct "gdb EXE" and "strace EXE" still +work), or with ``CAP_SYS_PTRACE`` (i.e. "gdb --pid=PID", and "strace -p PID" +still work as root). + +In mode 1, software that has defined application-specific relationships +between a debugging process and its inferior (crash handlers, etc), +``prctl(PR_SET_PTRACER, pid, ...)`` can be used. An inferior can declare which +other process (and its descendants) are allowed to call ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` +against it. Only one such declared debugging process can exists for +each inferior at a time. For example, this is used by KDE, Chromium, and +Firefox's crash handlers, and by Wine for allowing only Wine processes +to ptrace each other. If a process wishes to entirely disable these ptrace +restrictions, it can call ``prctl(PR_SET_PTRACER, PR_SET_PTRACER_ANY, ...)`` +so that any otherwise allowed process (even those in external pid namespaces) +may attach. + +The sysctl settings (writable only with ``CAP_SYS_PTRACE``) are: + +0 - classic ptrace permissions: + a process can ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` to any other + process running under the same uid, as long as it is dumpable (i.e. + did not transition uids, start privileged, or have called + ``prctl(PR_SET_DUMPABLE...)`` already). Similarly, ``PTRACE_TRACEME`` is + unchanged. + +1 - restricted ptrace: + a process must have a predefined relationship + with the inferior it wants to call ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` on. By default, + this relationship is that of only its descendants when the above + classic criteria is also met. To change the relationship, an + inferior can call ``prctl(PR_SET_PTRACER, debugger, ...)`` to declare + an allowed debugger PID to call ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` on the inferior. + Using ``PTRACE_TRACEME`` is unchanged. + +2 - admin-only attach: + only processes with ``CAP_SYS_PTRACE`` may use ptrace, either with + ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` or through children calling ``PTRACE_TRACEME``. + +3 - no attach: + no processes may use ptrace with ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` nor via + ``PTRACE_TRACEME``. Once set, this sysctl value cannot be changed. + +The original children-only logic was based on the restrictions in grsecurity. |
