[PATCH v2 29/29] x86: Use INT3 instead of NOP for linker fill bytes

Kees Cook
2019-10-11T00:06:09Z

Instead of using 0x90 (NOP) to fill bytes between functions, which makes
it easier to sloppily target functions in function pointer overwrite
attacks, fill with 0xCC (INT3) to force a trap. Also drop the space
between "=" and the value to better match the binutils documentation
https://sourceware.org/binutils/docs/ld/Output-Section-Fill.html#Output-Section-Fill

Example "objdump -d" before:

...
ffffffff810001e0 <start_cpu0>:
ffffffff810001e0: 48 8b 25 e1 b1 51 01 mov 0x151b1e1(%rip),%rsp # ffffffff8251b3c8 <initial_stack>
ffffffff810001e7: e9 d5 fe ff ff jmpq ffffffff810000c1 <secondary_startup_64+0x91>
ffffffff810001ec: 90 nop
ffffffff810001ed: 90 nop
ffffffff810001ee: 90 nop
ffffffff810001ef: 90 nop

ffffffff810001f0 <__startup_64>:
...

After:

...
ffffffff810001e0 <start_cpu0>:
ffffffff810001e0: 48 8b 25 41 79 53 01 mov 0x1537941(%rip),%rsp # ffffffff82537b28 <initial_stack>
ffffffff810001e7: e9 d5 fe ff ff jmpq ffffffff810000c1 <secondary_startup_64+0x91>
ffffffff810001ec: cc int3
ffffffff810001ed: cc int3
ffffffff810001ee: cc int3
ffffffff810001ef: cc int3

ffffffff810001f0 <__startup_64>:
...

Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
---
arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S | 2 +-
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
index b06d6e1188de..3a1a819da137 100644
--- a/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
+++ b/arch/x86/kernel/vmlinux.lds.S
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ SECTIONS
*(.text.__x86.indirect_thunk)
__indirect_thunk_end = .;
#endif
- } :text = 0x9090
+ } :text =0xcccc

/* End of text section, which should occupy whole number of pages */
_etext = .;
--
2.17.1