Message ID | 20200615081954.6233-1-maz@kernel.org (mailing list archive) |
---|---|
Headers | show |
Series | KVM/arm64: Enable PtrAuth on non-VHE KVM | expand |
On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 09:19:50AM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote: > Not having PtrAuth on non-VHE KVM (for whatever reason VHE is not > enabled on a v8.3 system) has always looked like an oddity. This > trivial series remedies it, and allows a non-VHE KVM to offer PtrAuth > to its guests. How likely do you think it is that people will use such a configuration? The only reason I can see for people to build a kernel with CONFIG_VHE=n is as a workaround for broken hardware, or because the kernel is too old to support VHE (in which case it doesn't understand ptrauth either, so it is irrelevant whether ptrauth depends on VHE). I wonder whether it's therefore better to "encourage" people to turn VHE on by making subsequent features depend on it where appropriate. We do want multiplatform kernels to be configured with CONFIG_VHE=y for example. I ask this, because SVE suffers the same "oddity". If SVE can be enabled for non-VHE kernels straightforwardly then there's no reason not to do so, but I worried in the past that this would duplicate complex code that would never be tested or used. If supporting ptrauth with !VHE is as simple as this series suggests, then it's low-risk. Perhaps SVE isn't much worse. I was chasing nasty bugs around at the time the SVE KVM support was originally written, and didn't want to add more unknowns into the mix... (Note, this is not an offer from me to do the SVE work!) [...] Cheers ---Dave
Hi Dave, On 2020-06-15 13:59, Dave Martin wrote: > On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 09:19:50AM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote: >> Not having PtrAuth on non-VHE KVM (for whatever reason VHE is not >> enabled on a v8.3 system) has always looked like an oddity. This >> trivial series remedies it, and allows a non-VHE KVM to offer PtrAuth >> to its guests. > > How likely do you think it is that people will use such a > configuration? Depending on the use case, very. See below. > The only reason I can see for people to build a kernel with > CONFIG_VHE=n > is as a workaround for broken hardware, or because the kernel is too > old > to support VHE (in which case it doesn't understand ptrauth either, so > it is irrelevant whether ptrauth depends on VHE). Part of the work happening around running protected VMs (which cannot be tampered with from EL1/0 host) makes it mandatory to disable VHE, so that we can wrap the host EL1 in its own Stage-2 page tables. We (the Android kernel team) are actively working on enabling this feature. > I wonder whether it's therefore better to "encourage" people to turn > VHE on by making subsequent features depend on it where appropriate. > We do want multiplatform kernels to be configured with CONFIG_VHE=y for > example. I'm all for having VHE on for platforms that support it. Which is why CONFIG_VHE=y is present in defconfig. However, we cannot offer the same level of guarantee as we can hopefully achieve with non-VHE (we can drop mappings from Stage-1, but can't protect VMs from an evil or compromised host). This is a very different use case from the usual "reduced hypervisor overhead" that we want in the general case. > I ask this, because SVE suffers the same "oddity". If SVE can be > enabled for non-VHE kernels straightforwardly then there's no reason > not > to do so, but I worried in the past that this would duplicate complex > code that would never be tested or used. It is a concern. I guess that if we manage to get some traction on Android, then the feature will get some testing! And yes, SVE is next on my list. > If supporting ptrauth with !VHE is as simple as this series suggests, > then it's low-risk. Perhaps SVE isn't much worse. I was chasing nasty > bugs around at the time the SVE KVM support was originally written, and > didn't want to add more unknowns into the mix... I think having started with a slightly smaller problem space was the right thing to do at the time. We are now reasonably confident that KVM and SVE are working correctly together, and we can now try to enable it on !VHE. Thanks, M.
On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 02:22:19PM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote: > Hi Dave, > > On 2020-06-15 13:59, Dave Martin wrote: > >On Mon, Jun 15, 2020 at 09:19:50AM +0100, Marc Zyngier wrote: > >>Not having PtrAuth on non-VHE KVM (for whatever reason VHE is not > >>enabled on a v8.3 system) has always looked like an oddity. This > >>trivial series remedies it, and allows a non-VHE KVM to offer PtrAuth > >>to its guests. > > > >How likely do you think it is that people will use such a configuration? > > Depending on the use case, very. See below. > > >The only reason I can see for people to build a kernel with CONFIG_VHE=n > >is as a workaround for broken hardware, or because the kernel is too old > >to support VHE (in which case it doesn't understand ptrauth either, so > >it is irrelevant whether ptrauth depends on VHE). > > Part of the work happening around running protected VMs (which cannot > be tampered with from EL1/0 host) makes it mandatory to disable VHE, > so that we can wrap the host EL1 in its own Stage-2 page tables. > We (the Android kernel team) are actively working on enabling this > feature. > > >I wonder whether it's therefore better to "encourage" people to turn > >VHE on by making subsequent features depend on it where appropriate. > >We do want multiplatform kernels to be configured with CONFIG_VHE=y for > >example. > > I'm all for having VHE on for platforms that support it. Which is why > CONFIG_VHE=y is present in defconfig. However, we cannot offer the same > level of guarantee as we can hopefully achieve with non-VHE (we can > drop mappings from Stage-1, but can't protect VMs from an evil or > compromised host). This is a very different use case from the usual > "reduced hypervisor overhead" that we want in the general case. > > >I ask this, because SVE suffers the same "oddity". If SVE can be > >enabled for non-VHE kernels straightforwardly then there's no reason not > >to do so, but I worried in the past that this would duplicate complex > >code that would never be tested or used. > > It is a concern. I guess that if we manage to get some traction on > Android, then the feature will get some testing! And yes, SVE is > next on my list. > > >If supporting ptrauth with !VHE is as simple as this series suggests, > >then it's low-risk. Perhaps SVE isn't much worse. I was chasing nasty > >bugs around at the time the SVE KVM support was originally written, and > >didn't want to add more unknowns into the mix... > > I think having started with a slightly smaller problem space was the > right thing to do at the time. We are now reasonably confident that > KVM and SVE are working correctly together, and we can now try to enable > it on !VHE. Cool, now I understand. Cheers ---Dave