[PATCH 06/12] __wr_after_init: Documentation: self-protection

Igor Stoppa
2018-12-21T18:14:58Z

Update the self-protection documentation, to mention also the use of the
__wr_after_init attribute.

Signed-off-by: Igor Stoppa <igor.stoppa@huawei.com>

CC: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
CC: Nadav Amit <nadav.amit@gmail.com>
CC: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org>
CC: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
CC: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
CC: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
CC: Mimi Zohar <zohar@linux.vnet.ibm.com>
CC: Thiago Jung Bauermann <bauerman@linux.ibm.com>
CC: Ahmed Soliman <ahmedsoliman@mena.vt.edu>
CC: linux-integrity@vger.kernel.org
CC: kernel-hardening@lists.openwall.com
CC: linux-mm@kvack.org
CC: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
---
Documentation/security/self-protection.rst | 14 ++++++++------
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/security/self-protection.rst b/Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
index f584fb74b4ff..df2614bc25b9 100644
--- a/Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
+++ b/Documentation/security/self-protection.rst
@@ -84,12 +84,14 @@ For variables that are initialized once at ``__init`` time, these can
be marked with the (new and under development) ``__ro_after_init``
attribute.

-What remains are variables that are updated rarely (e.g. GDT). These
-will need another infrastructure (similar to the temporary exceptions
-made to kernel code mentioned above) that allow them to spend the rest
-of their lifetime read-only. (For example, when being updated, only the
-CPU thread performing the update would be given uninterruptible write
-access to the memory.)
+Others, which are statically allocated, but still need to be updated
+rarely, can be marked with the ``__wr_after_init`` attribute.
+
+The update mechanism must avoid exposing the data to rogue alterations
+during the update. For example, only the CPU thread performing the update
+would be given uninterruptible write access to the memory.
+
+Currently there is no protection available for data allocated dynamically.

Segregation of kernel memory from userspace memory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
--
2.19.1