From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb+git@google.com>
To: linux-arm-kernel@lists.infradead.org
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, will@kernel.org,
catalin.marinas@arm.com, mark.rutland@arm.com,
Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>,
Ryan Roberts <ryan.roberts@arm.com>,
Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@arm.com>,
Liz Prucka <lizprucka@google.com>,
Seth Jenkins <sethjenkins@google.com>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>, Mike Rapoport <rppt@kernel.org>,
David Hildenbrand <david@kernel.org>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v4 15/15] arm64: mm: Remap linear aliases of the fixmap page tables read-only
Date: Mon, 27 Apr 2026 17:34:32 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260427153416.2103979-32-ardb+git@google.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260427153416.2103979-17-ardb+git@google.com>
From: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
The fixmap page tables are statically allocated, and are currently
mapped read-write both in the kernel mapping as well as its linear
alias. Due to lack of randomization of the linear map, these tables will
appear at a priori known offsets in the virtual address space when
booting without physical randomization, which means that a single kernel
write primitive is sufficient for an attacker to map memory of their own
choosing with any permissions at a known virtual address in the kernel's
address space.
To harden against this, move the fixmap PUD and PMD tables to
.pgdir_rodata, so that both their kernel mappings as well as their
linear aliases are mapped read-only during ordinary execution.
The PTE table needs to remain read-write accessible via the kernel
mapping, but its linear alias can be remapped read-only as well.
Signed-off-by: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@kernel.org>
---
arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h | 6 ++++--
arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S | 1 +
arch/arm64/mm/fixmap.c | 5 +++--
arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c | 5 +++++
4 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
index 94235dd428be..21afe923cd71 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
+++ b/arch/arm64/include/asm/pgtable.h
@@ -822,8 +822,10 @@ extern void set_rodata_pte(pte_t *ptep, pte_t pte);
static inline bool in_pgdir_rodata(void *addr)
{
- return addr >= (void *)__pgdir_rodata_start &&
- addr < (void *)__pgdir_rodata_end;
+ phys_addr_t pa = __pa_nodebug(addr);
+
+ return pa >= __pa_symbol_nodebug(__pgdir_rodata_start) &&
+ pa < __pa_symbol_nodebug(__pgdir_rodata_end);
}
static inline void set_pmd(pmd_t *pmdp, pmd_t pmd)
diff --git a/arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
index e5e1d0fd7f27..9b346dd24d1c 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+++ b/arch/arm64/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ SECTIONS
__pgdir_rodata_start = .;
swapper_pg_dir = .;
. += PAGE_SIZE;
+ *(.fixmap_rodata)
__pgdir_rodata_end = .;
}
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/fixmap.c b/arch/arm64/mm/fixmap.c
index b649ea1a46e4..ad6d46e5c23e 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/fixmap.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/fixmap.c
@@ -32,9 +32,10 @@ static_assert(NR_BM_PMD_TABLES == 1);
#define BM_PTE_TABLE_IDX(addr) __BM_TABLE_IDX(addr, PMD_SHIFT)
#define __fixmap_bss __section(".fixmap_bss") __aligned(PAGE_SIZE)
+#define __fixmap_rodata __section(".fixmap_rodata") __aligned(PAGE_SIZE)
static pte_t bm_pte[NR_BM_PTE_TABLES][PTRS_PER_PTE] __fixmap_bss;
-static pmd_t bm_pmd[PTRS_PER_PMD] __fixmap_bss __maybe_unused;
-static pud_t bm_pud[PTRS_PER_PUD] __fixmap_bss __maybe_unused;
+static pmd_t bm_pmd[PTRS_PER_PMD] __fixmap_rodata __maybe_unused;
+static pud_t bm_pud[PTRS_PER_PUD] __fixmap_rodata __maybe_unused;
static inline pte_t *fixmap_pte(unsigned long addr)
{
diff --git a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
index 84d81bae07a7..e76fe5b0c5fe 100644
--- a/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
+++ b/arch/arm64/mm/mmu.c
@@ -1076,6 +1076,11 @@ void __init mark_linear_text_alias_ro(void)
(unsigned long)__init_begin - (unsigned long)_text,
pgprot_tagged(PAGE_KERNEL_RO));
+ /* Map the fixmap PTE table at __fixmap_pgdir_start R/O in linear map too */
+ update_mapping_prot(__pa_symbol(__fixmap_pgdir_start),
+ (unsigned long)lm_alias(__fixmap_pgdir_start),
+ PAGE_SIZE, pgprot_tagged(PAGE_KERNEL_RO));
+
remap_linear_data_alias(true);
if (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_HIBERNATION)) {
--
2.54.0.rc2.544.gc7ae2d5bb8-goog
prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-04-27 15:36 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-04-27 15:34 [PATCH v4 00/15] arm64: Unmap linear alias of kernel data/bss Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 01/15] arm64: mm: Map the linear alias of text/rodata as tagged Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 02/15] mm: Make empty_zero_page __ro_after_init Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 03/15] arm64: mm: Preserve existing table mappings when mapping DRAM Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 04/15] arm64: mm: Preserve non-contiguous descriptors " Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 05/15] arm64: mm: Remove bogus stop condition from map_mem() loop Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 06/15] arm64: mm: Drop redundant pgd_t* argument from map_mem() Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 07/15] arm64: mm: Permit contiguous descriptors to be rewritten Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 08/15] arm64: kfence: Avoid NOMAP tricks when mapping the early pool Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 09/15] arm64: mm: Permit contiguous attribute for preliminary mappings Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 10/15] arm64: Move fixmap page tables to end of kernel image Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 11/15] arm64: mm: Don't abuse memblock NOMAP to check for overlaps Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 12/15] arm64: mm: Map the kernel data/bss read-only in the linear map Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 13/15] arm64: mm: Unmap kernel data/bss entirely from " Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` [PATCH v4 14/15] arm64: mm: Generalize manipulation code of read-only descriptors Ard Biesheuvel
2026-04-27 15:34 ` Ard Biesheuvel [this message]
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