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From: "Jan Sebastian Götte" <linux@jaseg.de>
To: "Jan Sebastian Götte" <linux@jaseg.de>
Cc: devicetree@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	kexec@lists.infradead.org, keyrings@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-mm@kvack.org, linux-security-module@vger.kernel.org,
	linux-integrity@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH 2/4] kexec: add CRASH_ZEROIZE to wipe secrets before kdump
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2026 18:27:37 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260731162739.158320-3-linux@jaseg.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260731162739.158320-1-linux@jaseg.de>

When kdump is used to capture system memory after a panic(), any secret
keys currently in RAM end up in the dump. Add an opt-in atomic notifier
chain, crash_zeroize_notifier_list, invoked late into __crash_kexec().
Subsystems holding secrets can register a callback to scrub them.

Callbacks are run after machine_crash_shutdown() has already stopped the
other CPUs and disabled preemption. Callbacks must not wait on locks,
which will never be released.

This is a best-effort, defence-in-depth measure, not a guarantee.
Secrets in flight on the stack, in registers, in DMA buffers, or in
other places in memory are out of scope.

Signed-off-by: Jan Sebastian Götte <linux@jaseg.de>
---
 include/linux/crash_core.h |  5 +++++
 kernel/Kconfig.kexec       |  8 ++++++++
 kernel/crash_core.c        | 18 ++++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/crash_core.h b/include/linux/crash_core.h
index bc087124cd78..5c7207c0bba1 100644
--- a/include/linux/crash_core.h
+++ b/include/linux/crash_core.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 #include <linux/linkage.h>
 #include <linux/elfcore.h>
 #include <linux/elf.h>
+#include <linux/notifier.h>
 
 struct kimage;
 
@@ -34,6 +35,10 @@ static inline void arch_kexec_protect_crashkres(void) { }
 static inline void arch_kexec_unprotect_crashkres(void) { }
 #endif
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE
+extern struct atomic_notifier_head crash_zeroize_notifier_list;
+#endif
+
 #ifndef arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event
 static inline void arch_crash_handle_hotplug_event(struct kimage *image, void *arg) { }
 #endif
diff --git a/kernel/Kconfig.kexec b/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
index 15632358bcf7..92ab0a69c8ec 100644
--- a/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
+++ b/kernel/Kconfig.kexec
@@ -179,4 +179,12 @@ config CRASH_MAX_MEMORY_RANGES
 	  the computation behind the value provided through the
 	  /sys/kernel/crash_elfcorehdr_size attribute.
 
+config CRASH_ZEROIZE
+	bool "Zeroize secrets on panic"
+	depends on CRASH_DUMP
+	help
+	  Wipe secrets (e.g. kernel keyring and memfd_secret pages) on crash or panic.
+
+	  If unsure, say N.
+
 endmenu
diff --git a/kernel/crash_core.c b/kernel/crash_core.c
index 2b36aa9fade0..d3a7763e2759 100644
--- a/kernel/crash_core.c
+++ b/kernel/crash_core.c
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@
 #include <linux/objtool.h>
 #include <linux/delay.h>
 #include <linux/panic.h>
+#include <linux/timekeeping.h>
 
 #include <asm/page.h>
 #include <asm/sections.h>
@@ -33,6 +34,22 @@
 /* Per cpu memory for storing cpu states in case of system crash. */
 note_buf_t __percpu *crash_notes;
 
+#ifdef CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE
+ATOMIC_NOTIFIER_HEAD(crash_zeroize_notifier_list);
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(crash_zeroize_notifier_list);
+
+static void crash_zeroize(void)
+{
+	ktime_t zeroize_start = ktime_get();
+
+	pr_info("Wiping sensitive secrets...\n");
+	atomic_notifier_call_chain(&crash_zeroize_notifier_list, 0, NULL);
+	pr_info("Done in %lld us\n", ktime_us_delta(ktime_get(), zeroize_start));
+}
+#else
+static inline void crash_zeroize(void) { }
+#endif /* CONFIG_CRASH_ZEROIZE */
+
 /* time to wait for possible DMA to finish before starting the kdump kernel
  * when a CMA reservation is used
  */
@@ -142,6 +159,7 @@ void __noclone __crash_kexec(struct pt_regs *regs)
 			crash_save_vmcoreinfo();
 			machine_crash_shutdown(&fixed_regs);
 			crash_cma_clear_pending_dma();
+			crash_zeroize();
 			machine_kexec(kexec_crash_image);
 		}
 		kexec_unlock();
-- 
2.53.0


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-07-31 16:27 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-07-31 16:27 [PATCH 0/4] CRASH_ZEROIZE: Wipe secrets before kdump Jan Sebastian Götte
2026-07-31 16:27 ` [PATCH 1/4] of/kexec: fix typo in comment (usable-memory-range) Jan Sebastian Götte
2026-07-31 16:27 ` Jan Sebastian Götte [this message]
2026-07-31 16:35   ` [PATCH 2/4] kexec: add CRASH_ZEROIZE to wipe secrets before kdump sashiko-bot
2026-07-31 16:27 ` [PATCH 3/4] mm/secretmem: zeroize secret pages " Jan Sebastian Götte
2026-07-31 16:40   ` sashiko-bot
2026-07-31 16:27 ` [PATCH 4/4] security/keys: zeroize key payloads " Jan Sebastian Götte
2026-07-31 16:45   ` sashiko-bot

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