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| author | Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com> | 2026-09-21 17:37:22 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org> | 2026-09-22 10:49:53 +0200 |
| commit | 0d6526f82c3cdefcca47f73f5fc08dc6f335eac6 (patch) | |
| tree | 176dc2d685debcfb082c151ee94f2425ac96b364 /Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-0d6526f82c3cdefcca47f73f5fc08dc6f335eac6.tar.gz linux-stable-0d6526f82c3cdefcca47f73f5fc08dc6f335eac6.zip | |
sched/cache: Keep nr_pref_llc_running in the runnable domain, to fix LLC mis-scheduling buggrafted
alb_break_llc() decides whether to break LLC preference during active
load balance. It does so by testing that every runnable fair task on the
source rq prefers its LLC:
env->src_rq->nr_pref_llc_running == env->src_rq->cfs.h_nr_runnable
But the two counters cover different sets. nr_pref_llc_running is updated
in account_llc_enqueue()/account_llc_dequeue(), next to cfs_rq->nr_queued,
so it follows queued tasks. h_nr_runnable is updated in set_delayed()/
clear_delayed() and drops delay-dequeued tasks.
So under DELAY_DEQUEUE, a preferring task that goes to sleep stays counted
in nr_pref_llc_running while h_nr_runnable falls. The equality then breaks,
alb_break_llc() returns false, and active balance is free to pull a task
off its preferred LLC. Active balance only moves runnable tasks, and this
is the only LLC check it consults: once the stopper runs, LBF_ACTIVE_LB
skips the per-task test in can_migrate_task(). The runnable set is the one
we want.
Fix it on the counter side. A task should be counted in
nr_pref_llc_running exactly while it is both queued on its preferred LLC
(pref_llc_queued) and runnable (!sched_delayed). Define that membership
once in task_pref_llc_runnable(), and adjust the counter only through
pref_llc_running_inc()/pref_llc_running_dec() from the four sites that
change either input: account_llc_enqueue(), account_llc_dequeue(),
set_delayed() and clear_delayed(). Gating every update on the same
predicate keeps the delay, wake and dequeue paths from double-counting
or underflowing; see the comments at those sites for the ordering.
nr_llc_running and sd->llc_counts are not touched and stay on queued
semantics.
Fixes: 714059f79ff0 ("sched/cache: Handle moving single tasks to/from their preferred LLC")
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260827135000.735138-1-zhanxusheng@xiaomi.com/
Reported-by: Zhan Xusheng <zhanxusheng@xiaomi.com>
Suggested-by: Chen Yu <yu.c.chen@intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Tim Chen <tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com>
Signed-off-by: Peter Zijlstra (Intel) <peterz@infradead.org>
Signed-off-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Kayra Cizmeci <kayracizmeci@gmail.com>
Cc: <stable@kernel.org> # v7.2.x
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/06af61afedac32e6477f57feb4d658f6c411c3af.1790035273.git.tim.c.chen@linux.intel.com
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst | 203 |
1 files changed, 203 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst b/Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..1600ead03 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst @@ -0,0 +1,203 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +================================== +IMA Measurements Export and Delete +================================== + + +Introduction +============ + +The IMA measurements list is currently stored in the kernel memory. Memory +occupation grows linearly with the number of records, and can become a +problem especially in environments with reduced resources. + +While there is an advantage in keeping the IMA measurements list in kernel +memory, so that it is always available for reading from the securityfs +interfaces, storing it elsewhere would make it possible to free precious +memory for other kernel usage. + +The IMA measurements list needs to be retained and safely stored for new +attestation servers to validate it. Assuming the IMA measurements list is +properly saved, storing it outside the kernel does not introduce security +issues, since its integrity is anyway protected by the TPM. + +Hence, the new IMA staging mechanism is introduced to export IMA +measurements to user space and delete them from kernel space. + +Staging consists in atomically moving the current measurements list to a +temporary list, so that measurements can be deleted afterwards. The staging +operation locks the hot path (racing with addition of new measurements) for +a very short time, only for swapping the list pointers. Deletion of the +measurements instead is done locklessly, away from the hot path. + +There are two flavors of the staging mechanism. In the staging with prompt, +all current measurements are staged, read and deleted upon confirmation. In +the staging and deleting flavor, N measurements are staged from the +beginning of the current measurements list and immediately deleted without +confirmation. + + +Management of Staged Measurements +================================= + +Since with the staging mechanism measurement records are removed from the +kernel, the staged measurements need to be saved in a storage and +concatenated together, so that they can be presented during remote +attestation as if staging was never done. This task can be accomplished by +a remote attestation agent modified to support staging, or a system +service. + +Coordination is necessary in the case where there are multiple actors +requesting measurements to be staged. + +In the staging with prompt case, the measurement interfaces can be accessed +only by one actor (writer) at a time, so the others will get an error until +the former closes it. Since the actors don't care about N, when they gain +access to the interface, they will get all the staged measurements at the +time of their request. + +In the case of staging and deleting, coordination is more important, since +there is the risk that two actors unaware of each other compute the value N +on the current measurements list and request IMA to stage N twice. + + +Remote Attestation Agent Workflow +================================= + +Remote attestation agents can be configured to always present all the +measurements to the remote verifiers or, alternatively, to only provide the +measurements that have not been verified yet by the remote verifiers. + +In the latter case, determining which measurements need to be sent and +verified must solely depend on the remote verifier. The remote attestation +agent can proactively send partial measurements, at the condition that they +are the ones that the remote verifier needs. + +An agent can rely on one of the supported staging methods to proactively +send to a remote verifier the measurements since the previous request up +to the ones that verify the TPM quote obtained in the current request. +The workflow with each staging method is the following. + +With staging with prompt, the agent stages the current measurements list, +reads and stores the measurements in a storage and immediately requests +IMA to delete the staged measurements from kernel memory. Afterwards, it +calculates N by replaying the PCR extend on the stored measurements until +the calculated PCRs match the quoted PCRs. It then keeps the measurements +in excess for the next attestation request. + +At the next attestation request, the agent performs the same steps above, +and concatenates the new measurements to the ones in excess from the +previous request. Also in this case, the agent replays the PCR extend until +it matches the currently quoted PCRs, keeps the measurements in excess and +presents the new N measurement records to the remote attestation server. + +With the staging and deleting method, the agent reads the current +measurements list, calculates N and requests IMA to delete only those. The +measurements in excess are kept in the IMA measurements list and can be +retrieved at the next remote attestation request. + +While keeping only the excess measurements in the storage could be +sufficient to serve the requests of a remote verifier, it is advised to +keep all the obtained measurements locally, as they might be needed for the +attestation with a different remote verifier. + + +Usage +===== + +The IMA staging mechanism can be enabled from the kernel configuration with +the CONFIG_IMA_STAGING option. This option prevents inadvertently removing +the IMA measurement list on systems which do not properly save it. + +If the option is enabled, IMA duplicates the current securityfs +measurements interfaces (both binary and ASCII), by adding the ``_staged`` +file suffix. Both the original and the staging interfaces gain the write +permission for the root user and group, but require the process to have +CAP_SYS_ADMIN set. + +The staging mechanism supports two flavors. + + +Staging with prompt +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The current measurements list is moved to a temporary staging area, +allowing it to be saved to external storage, before being deleted upon +confirmation. + +This staging process is achieved with the following steps. + + 1. ``echo A > <_staged interface>``: the user requests IMA to stage the + entire measurements list; + 2. ``cat <_staged interface>``: the user reads the staged measurements; + 3. ``echo D > <_staged interface>``: the user requests IMA to delete + staged measurements. + + +Staging and deleting +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +N measurements are staged to a temporary staging area, and immediately +deleted without further confirmation. + +This staging process is achieved with the following steps. + + 1. ``cat <original interface>``: the user reads the current measurements + list and determines what the value N for staging should be; + 2. ``echo N > <original interface>``: the user requests IMA to delete N + measurements from the current measurements list. + + +Interface Access +================ + +In order to avoid the IMA measurements list being suddenly truncated by the +staging mechanism during a read, or having multiple concurrent staging, a +semaphore-like locking scheme has been implemented on all the measurements +list interfaces. + +Multiple readers can access concurrently the original and staged +interfaces, and they can be in mutual exclusion with one writer. In order +to see the same state across all the measurement interfaces, the same +writer is allowed to open multiple interfaces for write or read/write. + +If an illegal access occurs, the open to the measurements list interface is +denied. + + +Kexec +===== + +In the event a kexec() system call occurs between staging and deleting, the +staged measurement records are marshalled before the current measurements +list, so that they are both available when the secondary kernel starts. + +If measurement is suspended before requesting to delete staged or current +measurements, IMA returns an error to user space to let it know that +marshalling is already in progress, so that it does not save the +measurements twice. + +IMA also disallows staging when suspending measurement, to avoid the +situation where neither measurements are carried over to the secondary +kernel, nor they are saved by user space to the storage. + + +Hash table +========== + +By default, the template digest of staged measurement records are kept in +kernel memory (only template data are freed), to be able to detect +duplicate records independently of staging. + +The new kernel option ``ima_flush_htable`` has been introduced to +explicitly request a complete deletion of the staged measurements, for +maximum kernel memory saving. If the option has been specified, duplicate +records are still avoided on records of the current measurements list, +but there can be duplicates between different groups of staged +measurements. + +Flushing the hash table is supported only for the staging with prompt +flavor. For the staging and deleting flavor, it would have been necessary +to lock the hot path adding new measurements for the time needed to remove +each selected measurement individually. |
