From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from mail-wm0-f72.google.com (mail-wm0-f72.google.com [74.125.82.72]) by kanga.kvack.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3CE466B0005 for ; Sun, 4 Feb 2018 12:01:36 -0500 (EST) Received: by mail-wm0-f72.google.com with SMTP id x188so6465702wmg.2 for ; Sun, 04 Feb 2018 09:01:36 -0800 (PST) Received: from huawei.com (lhrrgout.huawei.com. [194.213.3.17]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id w1si4585866edf.199.2018.02.04.09.01.34 for (version=TLS1_2 cipher=ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 bits=128/128); Sun, 04 Feb 2018 09:01:34 -0800 (PST) From: Igor Stoppa Subject: [PATCH 6/6] Documentation for Pmalloc Date: Sun, 4 Feb 2018 19:00:56 +0200 Message-ID: <20180204170056.28772-2-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> In-Reply-To: <20180204170056.28772-1-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> References: <20180204164732.28241-1-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> <20180204170056.28772-1-igor.stoppa@huawei.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Sender: owner-linux-mm@kvack.org List-ID: To: jglisse@redhat.com, keescook@chromium.org, mhocko@kernel.org, labbott@redhat.com, hch@infradead.org, willy@infradead.org Cc: cl@linux.com, linux-security-module@vger.kernel.org, linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kernel-hardening@lists.openwall.com, Igor Stoppa Detailed documentation about the protectable memory allocator. Signed-off-by: Igor Stoppa --- Documentation/core-api/index.rst | 1 + Documentation/core-api/pmalloc.rst | 114 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2 files changed, 115 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/core-api/pmalloc.rst diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/index.rst b/Documentation/core-api/index.rst index d5bbe035316d..7244ddeb540f 100644 --- a/Documentation/core-api/index.rst +++ b/Documentation/core-api/index.rst @@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Core utilities flexible-arrays librs genalloc + pmalloc Interfaces for kernel debugging =============================== diff --git a/Documentation/core-api/pmalloc.rst b/Documentation/core-api/pmalloc.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..8dabb5e18d8f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/core-api/pmalloc.rst @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ +SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +Protectable memory allocator +============================ + +Purpose +------- + +The pmalloc library is meant to provide R/O status to data that, for some +reason, could neither be declared as constant, nor it could take advantage +of the qualifier __ro_after_init, but is write-once and read-only in spirit. +It protects data from both accidental and malicious overwrites. + +Ex: A policy that is loaded from userspace. + + +Concept +------- + +pmalloc builds on top of genalloc, using the same concept of memory pools. + +The value added by pmalloc is that now the memory contained in a pool can +become R/O, for the rest of the life of the pool. + +Different kernel idrivers and threads can use different pools, for finer +control of what becomes R/O and when. And for improved lockless concurrency. + + +Caveats +------- + +- Memory freed while a pool is not yet protected will be reused. + +- Once a pool is protected, it's not possible to allocate any more memory + from it. + +- Memory "freed" from a protected pool indicates that such memory is not + in use anymore by the requestor, however it will not become avaiable for + further use, until the pool is destroyed. + +- Before destroying a pool, all the memory allocated from it must be + released. + +- pmalloc does not provide locking support wrt allocating vs protecting + an individual pool, for performance reason. It is recommended to not + share the same pool between unrelated functions. Should sharing be a + necessity, the user of the shared pool is expected to implement locking + for that pool. + +- pmalloc uses genalloc to optimize the use of the space it allocates + through vmalloc. Some more TLB entries will be used, however less than + in the case of using directly vmalloc. The exact number depends on size + of each allocation request and possible slack. + +- Considering that not much data is supposed to be dynamically allocated + and then marked as read-only, it shouldn't be an issue that the address + range for pmalloc is limited, on 32-bit systems. + +- Regarding SMP systems, the allocations are expected to happen mostly + during an initial transient, after which there should be no more need to + perform cross-processor synchronizations of page tables. + +- To facilitate the conversion of existing code to pmalloc pools, several + helper functions are provided, mirroring their kmalloc counterparts. + + +Use +--- + +The typical sequence, when using pmalloc, is: + +1. create a pool + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pmalloc_create_pool + +2. [optional] pre-allocate some memory in the pool + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pmalloc_prealloc + +3. issue one or more allocation requests to the pool with locking as needed + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pmalloc + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pzalloc + +4. initialize the memory obtained with desired values + +5. [optional] iterate over points 3 & 4 as needed + +6. write protect the pool + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pmalloc_protect_pool + +7. use in read-only mode the handlers obtained through the allocations + +8. [optional] release all the memory allocated + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pfree + +9. [optional, but depends on point 8] destroy the pool + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h + :functions: pmalloc_destroy_pool + +API +--- + +.. kernel-doc:: include/linux/pmalloc.h -- 2.16.0 -- To unsubscribe, send a message with 'unsubscribe linux-mm' in the body to majordomo@kvack.org. For more info on Linux MM, see: http://www.linux-mm.org/ . Don't email: email@kvack.org