x86/speculation: Allow enabling STIBP with legacy IBRS

When plain IBRS is enabled (not enhanced IBRS), the logic in spectre_v2_user_select_mitigation() determines that STIBP is not needed.

The IBRS bit implicitly protects against cross-thread branch target injection. However, with legacy IBRS, the IBRS bit is cleared on returning to userspace for performance reasons which leaves userspace threads vulnerable to cross-thread branch target injection against which STIBP protects.

Exclude IBRS from the spectre_v2_in_ibrs_mode() check to allow for enabling STIBP (through seccomp/prctl() by default or always-on, if selected by spectre_v2_user kernel cmdline parameter).

---
 arch/x86/kernel/cpu/bugs.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++++-------
 1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

index cf81848b72f4..44e22cda7fb3 100644
@@ -1133,14 +1133,18 @@ spectre_v2_parse_user_cmdline(void)
 	return SPECTRE_V2_USER_CMD_AUTO;
 }
 
-static inline bool spectre_v2_in_ibrs_mode(enum spectre_v2_mitigation mode)
+static inline bool spectre_v2_in_eibrs_mode(enum spectre_v2_mitigation mode)
 {
-	return mode == SPECTRE_V2_IBRS ||
-	       mode == SPECTRE_V2_EIBRS ||
+	return mode == SPECTRE_V2_EIBRS ||
 	       mode == SPECTRE_V2_EIBRS_RETPOLINE ||
 	       mode == SPECTRE_V2_EIBRS_LFENCE;
 }
 
+static inline bool spectre_v2_in_ibrs_mode(enum spectre_v2_mitigation mode)
+{
+	return spectre_v2_in_eibrs_mode(mode) || mode == SPECTRE_V2_IBRS;
+}
+
 static void __init
 spectre_v2_user_select_mitigation(void)
 {

@@ -1203,12 +1207,20 @@ spectre_v2_user_select_mitigation(void)
 	}
 
 	/*
-	 * If no STIBP, IBRS or enhanced IBRS is enabled, or SMT impossible,
-	 * STIBP is not required.
+	 * If no STIBP, enhanced IBRS is enabled, or SMT impossible, STIBP
+	 * is not required.
+	 *
+	 * Enhanced IBRS also protects against cross-thread branch target
+	 * injection in user-mode as the IBRS bit remains always set which
+	 * implicitly enables cross-thread protections.  However, in legacy IBRS
+	 * mode, the IBRS bit is set only on kernel entry and cleared on return
+	 * to userspace. This disables the implicit
+	 * cross-thread protection, so allow for STIBP to be selected in that
+	 * case.
 	 */
 	if (!boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_STIBP) ||
 	    !smt_possible ||
-	    spectre_v2_in_ibrs_mode(spectre_v2_enabled))
+	    spectre_v2_in_eibrs_mode(spectre_v2_enabled))
 		return;
 
 	/*

@@ -2340,7 +2352,7 @@ static ssize_t mmio_stale_data_show_state(char *buf)
 
 static char *stibp_state(void)
 {
-	if (spectre_v2_in_ibrs_mode(spectre_v2_enabled))
+	if (spectre_v2_in_eibrs_mode(spectre_v2_enabled))
 		return "";
 
 	switch (spectre_v2_user_stibp) {

2.39.2.637.g21b0678d19-goog

Explain why STIBP is needed with legacy IBRS as currently implemented (KERNEL_IBRS) and why STIBP is not needed when enhanced IBRS is enabled.

---
 Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/spectre.rst | 21 ++++++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

index 3fe6511c5405..4d186f599d90 100644
@@ -479,8 +479,16 @@ Spectre variant 2
    On Intel Skylake-era systems the mitigation covers most, but not all,
    cases. See :ref:`[3] <spec_ref3>` for more details.
 
-   On CPUs with hardware mitigation for Spectre variant 2 (e.g. Enhanced
-   IBRS on x86), retpoline is automatically disabled at run time.
+   On CPUs with hardware mitigation for Spectre variant 2 (e.g. IBRS
+   or enhanced IBRS on x86), retpoline is automatically disabled at run time.
+
+   Systems which support enhanced IBRS (eIBRS) enable IBRS protection once at
+   boot, by setting the IBRS bit, and they're automatically protected against
+   Spectre v2 variant attacks, including cross-thread branch target injections
+   on SMT systems (STIBP). In other words, eIBRS enables STIBP too.
+
+   Legacy IBRS systems clear the IBRS bit on exit to userspace and
+   therefore explicitly enable STIBP for that
 
    The retpoline mitigation is turned on by default on vulnerable
    CPUs. It can be forced on or off by the administrator

@@ -504,9 +512,12 @@ Spectre variant 2
    For Spectre variant 2 mitigation, individual user programs
    can be compiled with return trampolines for indirect branches.
    This protects them from consuming poisoned entries in the branch
-   target buffer left by malicious software.  Alternatively, the
-   programs can disable their indirect branch speculation via prctl()
-   (See :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`).
+   target buffer left by malicious software.
+
+   On legacy IBRS systems, at return to userspace, implicit STIBP is disabled
+   because the kernel clears the IBRS bit. In this case, the userspace programs
+   can disable indirect branch speculation via prctl() (See
+   :ref:`Documentation/userspace-api/spec_ctrl.rst <set_spec_ctrl>`).
    On x86, this will turn on STIBP to guard against attacks from the
    sibling thread when the user program is running, and use IBPB to
    flush the branch target buffer when switching to/from the program.

2.39.2.637.g21b0678d19-goog

Hi,

This is the friendly patch-bot of Greg Kroah-Hartman. You have sent him a patch that has triggered this response. He used to manually respond to these common problems, but in order to save his sanity (he kept writing the same thing over and over, yet to different people), I was created. Hopefully you will not take offence and will fix the problem in your patch and resubmit it so that it can be accepted into the Linux kernel tree.

You are receiving this message because of the following common error(s) as indicated below:

- This looks like a new version of a previously submitted patch, but you did not list below the --- line any changes from the previous version. Please read the section entitled "The canonical patch format" in the kernel file, Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst for what needs to be done here to properly describe this.

If you wish to discuss this problem further, or you have questions about how to resolve this issue, please feel free to respond to this email and Greg will reply once he has dug out from the pending patches received from other developers.

thanks,

greg k-h's patch email bot

Hi,

This is the friendly patch-bot of Greg Kroah-Hartman. You have sent him a patch that has triggered this response. He used to manually respond to these common problems, but in order to save his sanity (he kept writing the same thing over and over, yet to different people), I was created. Hopefully you will not take offence and will fix the problem in your patch and resubmit it so that it can be accepted into the Linux kernel tree.

You are receiving this message because of the following common error(s) as indicated below:

- This looks like a new version of a previously submitted patch, but you did not list below the --- line any changes from the previous version. Please read the section entitled "The canonical patch format" in the kernel file, Documentation/process/submitting-patches.rst for what needs to be done here to properly describe this.

If you wish to discuss this problem further, or you have questions about how to resolve this issue, please feel free to respond to this email and Greg will reply once he has dug out from the pending patches received from other developers.

thanks,

greg k-h's patch email bot