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diff --git a/Documentation/x86/tsx_async_abort.rst b/Documentation/x86/tsx_async_abort.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..583ddc185 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/x86/tsx_async_abort.rst @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +TSX Async Abort (TAA) mitigation +================================ + +.. _tsx_async_abort: + +Overview +-------- + +TSX Async Abort (TAA) is a side channel attack on internal buffers in some +Intel processors similar to Microachitectural Data Sampling (MDS). In this +case certain loads may speculatively pass invalid data to dependent operations +when an asynchronous abort condition is pending in a Transactional +Synchronization Extensions (TSX) transaction. This includes loads with no +fault or assist condition. Such loads may speculatively expose stale data from +the same uarch data structures as in MDS, with same scope of exposure i.e. +same-thread and cross-thread. This issue affects all current processors that +support TSX. + +Mitigation strategy +------------------- + +a) TSX disable - one of the mitigations is to disable TSX. A new MSR +IA32_TSX_CTRL will be available in future and current processors after +microcode update which can be used to disable TSX. In addition, it +controls the enumeration of the TSX feature bits (RTM and HLE) in CPUID. + +b) Clear CPU buffers - similar to MDS, clearing the CPU buffers mitigates this +vulnerability. More details on this approach can be found in +:ref:`Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/mds.rst <mds>`. + +Kernel internal mitigation modes +-------------------------------- + + ============= ============================================================ + off Mitigation is disabled. Either the CPU is not affected or + tsx_async_abort=off is supplied on the kernel command line. + + tsx disabled Mitigation is enabled. TSX feature is disabled by default at + bootup on processors that support TSX control. + + verw Mitigation is enabled. CPU is affected and MD_CLEAR is + advertised in CPUID. + + ucode needed Mitigation is enabled. CPU is affected and MD_CLEAR is not + advertised in CPUID. That is mainly for virtualization + scenarios where the host has the updated microcode but the + hypervisor does not expose MD_CLEAR in CPUID. It's a best + effort approach without guarantee. + ============= ============================================================ + +If the CPU is affected and the "tsx_async_abort" kernel command line parameter is +not provided then the kernel selects an appropriate mitigation depending on the +status of RTM and MD_CLEAR CPUID bits. + +Below tables indicate the impact of tsx=on|off|auto cmdline options on state of +TAA mitigation, VERW behavior and TSX feature for various combinations of +MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits. + +1. "tsx=off" + +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== +MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=off +---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- +TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation + after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS + 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case + 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update + 0 1 1 Disabled Yes TSX disabled TSX disabled + 1 X 1 Disabled X None needed None needed +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + +2. "tsx=on" + +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== +MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=on +---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- +TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation + after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS + 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case + 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update + 0 1 1 Enabled Yes None Same as MDS + 1 X 1 Enabled X None needed None needed +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + +3. "tsx=auto" + +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== +MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES bits Result with cmdline tsx=auto +---------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- +TAA_NO MDS_NO TSX_CTRL_MSR TSX state VERW can clear TAA mitigation TAA mitigation + after bootup CPU buffers tsx_async_abort=off tsx_async_abort=full +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + 0 0 0 HW default Yes Same as MDS Same as MDS + 0 0 1 Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case Invalid case + 0 1 0 HW default No Need ucode update Need ucode update + 0 1 1 Disabled Yes TSX disabled TSX disabled + 1 X 1 Enabled X None needed None needed +========= ========= ============ ============ ============== =================== ====================== + +In the tables, TSX_CTRL_MSR is a new bit in MSR_IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES that +indicates whether MSR_IA32_TSX_CTRL is supported. + +There are two control bits in IA32_TSX_CTRL MSR: + + Bit 0: When set it disables the Restricted Transactional Memory (RTM) + sub-feature of TSX (will force all transactions to abort on the + XBEGIN instruction). + + Bit 1: When set it disables the enumeration of the RTM and HLE feature + (i.e. it will make CPUID(EAX=7).EBX{bit4} and + CPUID(EAX=7).EBX{bit11} read as 0). |