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mm: Optional full ASLR for mmap() and mremap()

PATCH RESEND Superseded Topi Miettinen 3 participants 9 messages Oct 8, 2020

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v2 of 10 Superseded Latest is v10 →

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PATCH RESEND v2 1/1 mm: Optional full ASLR for mmap() and mremap()

Writing a new value of 3 to /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space enables full randomization of memory mappings created with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(..., MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.

On 32 bit systems this may cause problems due to increased VM fragmentation if the address space gets crowded.

In this example, with value of 2, ld.so.cache, libc, an anonymous mmap and locale-archive are located close to each other:

$ strace /bin/sync
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=189096, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 189096, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7d9c1e7f2000
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\0n\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1839792, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0x7d9c1e7f0000
mmap(NULL, 1852680, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0x7d9c1e62b000
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=5642592, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 5642592, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0x7d9c1e0c9000

With 3, they are located in unrelated addresses:

$ echo 3 > /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space
$ /bin/sync
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/etc/ld.so.cache", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=189096, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 189096, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xeda4fbea000
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
read(3, "\177ELF\2\1\1\3\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\3\0>\0\1\0\0\0\0n\2\0\0\0\0\0"..., 832) = 832
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0755, st_size=1839792, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 8192, PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_ANONYMOUS, -1, 0) = 0xb8fb9c1d000
mmap(NULL, 1852680, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE|MAP_DENYWRITE, 3, 0) = 0xaabd8598000
...
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = 3
fstat(3, {st_mode=S_IFREG|0644, st_size=5642592, ...}) = 0
mmap(NULL, 5642592, PROT_READ, MAP_PRIVATE, 3, 0) = 0xbe351ab8000

---
Resent also to hardening list (hopefully the right one)
v2: also randomize mremap(..., MREMAP_MAYMOVE)

---
 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst |  6 +++---
 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst   | 11 +++++++++++
 init/Kconfig                                  |  2 +-
 mm/mmap.c                                     |  7 ++++++-
 mm/mremap.c                                   | 15 +++++++++++++++
 5 files changed, 36 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst +3 -3
index e05e581af5cf..9ea250522077 100644
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ Spectre variant 2
    left by the previous process will also be cleared.
 
    User programs should use address space randomization to make attacks
-   more difficult (Set /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1 or 2).
+   more difficult (Set /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1, 2 or 3).
 
 3. A virtualized guest attacking the host
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
@@ -499,8 +499,8 @@ Spectre variant 2
    more overhead and run slower.
 
    User programs should use address space randomization
-   (/proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1 or 2) to make attacks more
-   difficult.
+   (/proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space = 1, 2 or 3) to make attacks
+   more difficult.
 
 3. VM mitigation
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst +11 -0
index d4b32cc32bb7..acd0612155d9 100644
@@ -1060,6 +1060,17 @@ that support this feature.
     Systems with ancient and/or broken binaries should be configured
     with ``CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK`` enabled, which excludes the heap from process
     address space randomization.
+
+3   Additionally enable full randomization of memory mappings created
+    with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such
+    mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable
+    places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs
+    are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(...,
+    MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.
+
+    On 32 bit systems this may cause problems due to increased VM
+    fragmentation if the address space gets crowded.
+
 ==  ===========================================================================
 
 
init/Kconfig +1 -1
index d6a0b31b13dc..c5ea2e694f6a 100644
@@ -1859,7 +1859,7 @@ config COMPAT_BRK
 	  also breaks ancient binaries (including anything libc5 based).
 	  This option changes the bootup default to heap randomization
 	  disabled, and can be overridden at runtime by setting
-	  /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space to 2.
+	  /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space to 2 or 3.
 
 	  On non-ancient distros (post-2000 ones) N is usually a safe choice.
 
mm/mmap.c +6 -1
index 40248d84ad5f..489368f43af1 100644
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@
 #include <linux/pkeys.h>
 #include <linux/oom.h>
 #include <linux/sched/mm.h>
+#include <linux/elf-randomize.h>
 
 #include <linux/uaccess.h>
 #include <asm/cacheflush.h>
@@ -206,7 +207,7 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE1(brk, unsigned long, brk)
 #ifdef CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK
 	/*
 	 * CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK can still be overridden by setting
-	 * randomize_va_space to 2, which will still cause mm->start_brk
+	 * randomize_va_space to >= 2, which will still cause mm->start_brk
 	 * to be arbitrarily shifted
 	 */
 	if (current->brk_randomized)
@@ -1407,6 +1408,10 @@ unsigned long do_mmap(struct file *file, unsigned long addr,
 	if (mm->map_count > sysctl_max_map_count)
 		return -ENOMEM;
 
+	/* Pick a random address even outside current VMAs? */
+	if (!addr && randomize_va_space >= 3)
+		addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
 	/* Obtain the address to map to. we verify (or select) it and ensure
 	 * that it represents a valid section of the address space.
 	 */
mm/mremap.c +15 -0
index 138abbae4f75..c7fd1ab5fb5f 100644
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 #include <linux/uaccess.h>
 #include <linux/mm-arch-hooks.h>
 #include <linux/userfaultfd_k.h>
+#include <linux/elf-randomize.h>
 
 #include <asm/cacheflush.h>
 #include <asm/tlbflush.h>
@@ -720,6 +721,20 @@ SYSCALL_DEFINE5(mremap, unsigned long, addr, unsigned long, old_len,
 		goto out;
 	}
 
+	if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+		/*
+		 * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+		 * move even if not necessary!
+		 */
+		new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+		ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
+				&locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+				&uf_unmap);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+
 	/*
 	 * Always allow a shrinking remap: that just unmaps
 	 * the unnecessary pages..
Signature · 1 line
2.28.0
#1 lore raw

Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst that support this feature. · line 1072

Quoted 9 lines · Topi Miettinen

+3 Additionally enable full randomization of memory mappings created

Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst +8 -0
+    with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such
+    mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable
+    places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs
+    are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(...,
+    MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.
+
+    On 32 bit systems this may cause problems due to increased VM
+    fragmentation if the address space gets crowded.

On all systems, it will reduce performance and increase memory usage due to less efficient use of page tables and inability to merge adjacent VMAs with compatible attributes.

Quoted 4 lines
mm/mremap.c +4 -0
+	if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+		/*
+		 * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+		 * move even if not necessary!

mm/mremap.c SYSCALL_DEFINE5(mremap, unsigned long, addr, unsigned long, old_len, · line 737

Quoted 10 lines
mm/mremap.c +10 -0
+		 */
+		new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+		ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
+				&locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+				&uf_unmap);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+

Overly enthusiastic newline

#2 lore raw
Quoted 11 lines · Matthew Wilcox

Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst that support this feature. · line 1072

Quoted 9 lines · Topi Miettinen

+3 Additionally enable full randomization of memory mappings created

Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst +8 -0
+    with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such
+    mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable
+    places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs
+    are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(...,
+    MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.
+
+    On 32 bit systems this may cause problems due to increased VM
+    fragmentation if the address space gets crowded.
Quoted 3 lines

On all systems, it will reduce performance and increase memory usage due to less efficient use of page tables and inability to merge adjacent VMAs with compatible attributes.

Right, I'll update the description.

Quoted 8 lines
Quoted 8 lines
mm/mremap.c +8 -0
+	if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+		/*
+		 * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+		 * move even if not necessary!
+		 */
+		new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+		ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
Quoted 9 lines

mm/mremap.c SYSCALL_DEFINE5(mremap, unsigned long, addr, unsigned long, old_len, · line 737

Quoted 6 lines
mm/mremap.c +6 -0
+				&locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+				&uf_unmap);
+		goto out;
+	}
+
+

Overly enthusiastic newline

Will remove.

-Topi

reviewer
#3 lore raw
In reply to Topi Miettinen
Quoted 7 lines · Topi Miettinen

Writing a new value of 3 to /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space enables full randomization of memory mappings created with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(..., MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.

[...]

mm/mremap.c SYSCALL_DEFINE5(mremap, unsigned long, addr, unsigned long, old_len, · line 735

Quoted 12 lines
mm/mremap.c +12 -0
+       if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+               /*
+                * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+                * move even if not necessary!
+                */
+               new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+               ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
+                               &locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+                               &uf_unmap);
+               goto out;
+       }

You just pick a random number as the address, and try to place the mapping there? Won't this fail if e.g. the old address range overlaps with the new one, causing mremap_to() to bail out at "if (addr + old_len > new_addr && new_addr + new_len > addr)"?

Also, on Linux, the main program stack is (currently) an expanding memory mapping that starts out being something like a couple hundred kilobytes in size. If you allocate memory too close to the main program stack, and someone then recurses deep enough to need more memory, the program will crash. It sounds like your patch will randomly make such programs crash.

Also, what's your strategy in general with regards to collisions with existing mappings? Is your intention to just fall back to the classic algorithm in that case?

You may want to consider whether it would be better to store information about free memory per subtree in the VMA tree, together with the maximum gap size that is already stored in each node, and then walk down the tree randomly, with the randomness weighted by free memory in the subtrees, but ignoring subtrees whose gaps are too small. And for expanding stacks, it might be a good idea for other reasons as well (locking consistency) to refactor them such that the size in the VMA tree corresponds to the maximum expansion of the stack (and if an allocation is about to fail, shrink such stack mappings).

#4 lore raw
Quoted 6 lines · Jann Horn

You may want to consider whether it would be better to store information about free memory per subtree in the VMA tree, together with the maximum gap size that is already stored in each node, and then walk down the tree randomly, with the randomness weighted by free memory in the subtrees, but ignoring subtrees whose gaps are too small.

Please, no. We're trying to get rid of the rbtree, not enhance it further. The new data structure is a B-tree and we'd rather not burden it with extra per-node information (... although if we have to, we could)

Quoted 4 lines

And for expanding stacks, it might be a good idea for other reasons as well (locking consistency) to refactor them such that the size in the VMA tree corresponds to the maximum expansion of the stack (and if an allocation is about to fail, shrink such stack mappings).

We're doing that as part of the B-tree ;-) Although not the shrink stack mappings part ...

reviewer
#5 lore raw
Quoted 8 lines · Matthew Wilcox
Quoted 4 lines · Jann Horn

And for expanding stacks, it might be a good idea for other reasons as well (locking consistency) to refactor them such that the size in the VMA tree corresponds to the maximum expansion of the stack (and if an allocation is about to fail, shrink such stack mappings).

We're doing that as part of the B-tree ;-) Although not the shrink stack mappings part ...

Wheee, thanks! Finally no more data races on ->vm_start?

#6 lore raw
Quoted 11 lines · Jann Horn
Quoted 8 lines · Matthew Wilcox
Quoted 4 lines · Jann Horn

And for expanding stacks, it might be a good idea for other reasons as well (locking consistency) to refactor them such that the size in the VMA tree corresponds to the maximum expansion of the stack (and if an allocation is about to fail, shrink such stack mappings).

We're doing that as part of the B-tree ;-) Although not the shrink stack mappings part ...

Wheee, thanks! Finally no more data races on ->vm_start?

Ah, maybe still that. The B-tree records the start of the mapping in the tree, but we still keep vma->vm_start as pointing to the current top of the stack (it's still the top if it grows down ... right?) The key is that these numbers may now be different, so from the tree's point of view, the vm addresses for 1MB below the stack appear to be occupied. From the VMA's point of view, the stack finishes where it was last accessed.

We also get rid of the insanity of "return the next VMA if there's no VMA at this address" which most of the callers don't want and have to check for. Again, from the tree's point of view, there is a VMA at this address, but from the VMA's point of view, it'll need to expand to reach that address.

I don't think this piece is implemented yet, but it's definitely planned.

#7 lore raw
In reply to Jann Horn
Quoted 22 lines · Jann Horn
Quoted 7 lines · Topi Miettinen

Writing a new value of 3 to /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space enables full randomization of memory mappings created with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(..., MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.

[...]

mm/mremap.c SYSCALL_DEFINE5(mremap, unsigned long, addr, unsigned long, old_len, · line 735

Quoted 12 lines
mm/mremap.c +12 -0
+       if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+               /*
+                * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+                * move even if not necessary!
+                */
+               new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+               ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
+                               &locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+                               &uf_unmap);
+               goto out;
+       }
Quoted 4 lines

You just pick a random number as the address, and try to place the mapping there? Won't this fail if e.g. the old address range overlaps with the new one, causing mremap_to() to bail out at "if (addr + old_len > new_addr && new_addr + new_len > addr)"?

Thanks for the review. I think overlap would be OK in this case and the check should be skipped.

Quoted 6 lines

Also, on Linux, the main program stack is (currently) an expanding memory mapping that starts out being something like a couple hundred kilobytes in size. If you allocate memory too close to the main program stack, and someone then recurses deep enough to need more memory, the program will crash. It sounds like your patch will randomly make such programs crash.

Right, especially on 32 bit systems this could be a real problem. I have limited the stack for tasks in the whole system to 2MB without problems (most use only 128kB) and on 48 bit virtual address systems the collision to 2MB area could be roughly 1/2^(48-21) which is a very small number. But perhaps this should be still be avoided by not picking an address too close to bottom of stack, say 64MB to be sure. It may also make this more useful also for 32 bit systems but overall I'm not so optimistic due to increased fragmentation.

Quoted 3 lines

Also, what's your strategy in general with regards to collisions with existing mappings? Is your intention to just fall back to the classic algorithm in that case?

Maybe a different address could be tried (but not infinitely, say 5 times) and then fall back to classics. This would not be good for the ASLR but I haven't seen mremap() to be used much in my tests.

Quoted 9 lines

You may want to consider whether it would be better to store information about free memory per subtree in the VMA tree, together with the maximum gap size that is already stored in each node, and then walk down the tree randomly, with the randomness weighted by free memory in the subtrees, but ignoring subtrees whose gaps are too small. And for expanding stacks, it might be a good idea for other reasons as well (locking consistency) to refactor them such that the size in the VMA tree corresponds to the maximum expansion of the stack (and if an allocation is about to fail, shrink such stack mappings).

This would reduce the randomization which I want to avoid. I think the extra overhead should be OK: if this is unacceptable for a workload or system constraints, don't use mode '3' but '2'.

Instead of single global sysctl, this could be implemented as a new personality (or make this model the default and add a compatibility personality with no or less randomization), so it could be applied only for some tasks but not all.

-Topi

reviewer
#8 lore raw
Quoted 23 lines · Topi Miettinen
Quoted 22 lines · Jann Horn
Quoted 7 lines · Topi Miettinen

Writing a new value of 3 to /proc/sys/kernel/randomize_va_space enables full randomization of memory mappings created with mmap(NULL, ...). With 2, the base of the VMA used for such mappings is random, but the mappings are created in predictable places within the VMA and in sequential order. With 3, new VMAs are created to fully randomize the mappings. Also mremap(..., MREMAP_MAYMOVE) will move the mappings even if not necessary.

[...]

Quoted 12 lines
mm/mremap.c +12 -0
+       if ((flags & MREMAP_MAYMOVE) && randomize_va_space >= 3) {
+               /*
+                * Caller is happy with a different address, so let's
+                * move even if not necessary!
+                */
+               new_addr = arch_mmap_rnd();
+
+               ret = mremap_to(addr, old_len, new_addr, new_len,
+                               &locked, flags, &uf, &uf_unmap_early,
+                               &uf_unmap);
+               goto out;
+       }
Quoted 7 lines
Quoted 4 lines

You just pick a random number as the address, and try to place the mapping there? Won't this fail if e.g. the old address range overlaps with the new one, causing mremap_to() to bail out at "if (addr + old_len > new_addr && new_addr + new_len > addr)"?

Thanks for the review. I think overlap would be OK in this case and the check should be skipped.

No, mremap() can't deal with overlap (and trying to add such support would make mremap() unnecessarily complicated).