[v7,12/12] powerpc/fsl_booke/32: Document KASLR implementation

Commit Message

Jason Yan Sept. 20, 2019, 9:45 a.m. UTC

Add document to explain how we implement KASLR for fsl_booke32.

Signed-off-by: Jason Yan <[e-mail]>
Cc: Diana Craciun <[e-mail]>
Cc: Michael Ellerman <[e-mail]>
Cc: Christophe Leroy <[e-mail]>
Cc: Benjamin Herrenschmidt <[e-mail]>
Cc: Paul Mackerras <[e-mail]>
Cc: Nicholas Piggin <[e-mail]>
Cc: Kees Cook <[e-mail]>
---
 Documentation/powerpc/kaslr-booke32.rst | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 42 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 Documentation/powerpc/kaslr-booke32.rst

Patch

diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/kaslr-booke32.rst b/Documentation/powerpc/kaslr-booke32.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..8b259fdfdf03
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/powerpc/kaslr-booke32.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@ 
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+===========================
+KASLR for Freescale BookE32
+===========================
+
+The word KASLR stands for Kernel Address Space Layout Randomization.
+
+This document tries to explain the implementation of the KASLR for
+Freescale BookE32. KASLR is a security feature that deters exploit
+attempts relying on knowledge of the location of kernel internals.
+
+Since CONFIG_RELOCATABLE has already supported, what we need to do is
+map or copy kernel to a proper place and relocate. Freescale Book-E
+parts expect lowmem to be mapped by fixed TLB entries(TLB1). The TLB1
+entries are not suitable to map the kernel directly in a randomized
+region, so we chose to copy the kernel to a proper place and restart to
+relocate.
+
+Entropy is derived from the banner and timer base, which will change every
+build and boot. This not so much safe so additionally the bootloader may
+pass entropy via the /chosen/kaslr-seed node in device tree.
+
+We will use the first 512M of the low memory to randomize the kernel
+image. The memory will be split in 64M zones. We will use the lower 8
+bit of the entropy to decide the index of the 64M zone. Then we chose a
+16K aligned offset inside the 64M zone to put the kernel in::
+
+    KERNELBASE
+
+        |-->   64M   <--|
+        |               |
+        +---------------+    +----------------+---------------+
+        |               |....|    |kernel|    |               |
+        +---------------+    +----------------+---------------+
+        |                         |
+        |----->   offset    <-----|
+
+                              kernstart_virt_addr
+
+To enable KASLR, set CONFIG_RANDOMIZE_BASE = y. If KASLR is enable and you
+want to disable it at runtime, add "nokaslr" to the kernel cmdline.