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-rw-r--r--Documentation/arch/x86/mds.rst38
1 files changed, 27 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/arch/x86/mds.rst b/Documentation/arch/x86/mds.rst
index e73fdff62c..c58c723629 100644
--- a/Documentation/arch/x86/mds.rst
+++ b/Documentation/arch/x86/mds.rst
@@ -95,6 +95,9 @@ The kernel provides a function to invoke the buffer clearing:
mds_clear_cpu_buffers()
+Also macro CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS can be used in ASM late in exit-to-user path.
+Other than CFLAGS.ZF, this macro doesn't clobber any registers.
+
The mitigation is invoked on kernel/userspace, hypervisor/guest and C-state
(idle) transitions.
@@ -138,17 +141,30 @@ Mitigation points
When transitioning from kernel to user space the CPU buffers are flushed
on affected CPUs when the mitigation is not disabled on the kernel
- command line. The migitation is enabled through the static key
- mds_user_clear.
-
- The mitigation is invoked in prepare_exit_to_usermode() which covers
- all but one of the kernel to user space transitions. The exception
- is when we return from a Non Maskable Interrupt (NMI), which is
- handled directly in do_nmi().
-
- (The reason that NMI is special is that prepare_exit_to_usermode() can
- enable IRQs. In NMI context, NMIs are blocked, and we don't want to
- enable IRQs with NMIs blocked.)
+ command line. The mitigation is enabled through the feature flag
+ X86_FEATURE_CLEAR_CPU_BUF.
+
+ The mitigation is invoked just before transitioning to userspace after
+ user registers are restored. This is done to minimize the window in
+ which kernel data could be accessed after VERW e.g. via an NMI after
+ VERW.
+
+ **Corner case not handled**
+ Interrupts returning to kernel don't clear CPUs buffers since the
+ exit-to-user path is expected to do that anyways. But, there could be
+ a case when an NMI is generated in kernel after the exit-to-user path
+ has cleared the buffers. This case is not handled and NMI returning to
+ kernel don't clear CPU buffers because:
+
+ 1. It is rare to get an NMI after VERW, but before returning to userspace.
+ 2. For an unprivileged user, there is no known way to make that NMI
+ less rare or target it.
+ 3. It would take a large number of these precisely-timed NMIs to mount
+ an actual attack. There's presumably not enough bandwidth.
+ 4. The NMI in question occurs after a VERW, i.e. when user state is
+ restored and most interesting data is already scrubbed. Whats left
+ is only the data that NMI touches, and that may or may not be of
+ any interest.
2. C-State transition