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| author | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-24 08:46:03 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org> | 2026-08-24 08:46:03 -0700 |
| commit | cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322 (patch) | |
| tree | 757a3d280760c654767631cab5ad8af2d86d1848 /Documentation/security/IMA-export-delete.rst | |
| download | linux-stable-cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322.tar.gz linux-stable-cf9610f9116d55c5a66ef9f1faecacabd93a9322.zip | |
Merge tag 'pinctrl-v7.3-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linusw/linux-pinctrlgrafted
Pull pin control updates from Linus Walleij:
"Core changes:
- Use the non-blocking mux_state_try_select() in the generic MUX pin
control back-end
- Free pin maps on pinctrl_generic_to_map() failure in the core
helpers
New hardware pin control:
- Qualcomm Maili TLMM SoC, PMG1110 PMIC, and Eliza LPASS LPI TLMM SoC
(this is for the low power audio, LPASS = Low Power Audio SubSystem
portions)
- Upboard support on top of the Intel pin controller
- Apple T6030 and T6031 support (just compatible strings)
- Samsung Exynos 8855 SoC
- Mediatek MT6858 SoC
- Rockchip RK3308B and RV1106 SoCs
- Airoha EN7523 and AN7563 SoCs
Improvements:
- Qualcomm TLMM GPIOs are unconditionally marked as wakeup capable
- Qualcomm improvements on top of the Qualcomm PDC (power domain
controller) irqchip improvements from tglx:s tree
- Qualcomm IPQ806x and IPQ9650 non-urgent pin grop fixups
- The NPCM8xx driver has been put into shape fixing many pin and
group definitions
- Some non-urgent Tegra 264 pin assignments are fixed up
- Some non-urgent fixups to Airoha AN7581 and AN7583 registers and
pin assignments, missing features etc"
* tag 'pinctrl-v7.3-1' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/linusw/linux-pinctrl: (130 commits)
dt-bindings: pinctrl: Convert TI DA850 pupd to DT schema
pinctrl: meson: sync some modify from A4
pinctrl: meson: a4: Add input enable pin configuration
pinctrl: realtek: rtd1625: remove unused group name spdif_sel
pinctrl: realtek: rtd1625: fix base_bit for VE4 GPIO 13
dt-bindings: pinctrl: microchip,pic32mzda-pinctrl: Convert to DT schema
Revert "Merge branch 'ib-rsk7204' into devel"
pinctrl: rockchip: Add RV1106 pinctrl support
dt-bindings: pinctrl: rockchip: Add RV1106 compatible
pinctrl: rockchip: Decode drive strength in the get function
pinctrl: fix PINCTRL_GENERIC_MUX not always being selectable
pinctrl: airoha: add support of an7563 SoC
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: add support of an7563 pin controller
pinctrl: airoha: try to find chip scu node by phandle first
pinctrl: airoha: add support of en7523 SoC
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: add support of en7523 pin controller
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for olt pinmux
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for pon_alt pinmux
pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add support for npu_uart pinmux
dt-bindings: pinctrl: airoha: an7583: add missed features
...
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. |
