Re: [PATCH v3 03/25] x86/sgx: Wipe out EREMOVE from sgx_free_epc_page()

Kai Huang
2021-03-22T20:37:46Z

On Mon, 22 Mar 2021 12:37:02 -0700 Sean Christopherson wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 22, 2021, Borislav Petkov wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 22, 2021 at 11:56:37AM -0700, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > > Not necessarily. This can only trigger in the host, and thus require a host
> > > reboot, if the host is also running enclaves. If the CSP is not running
> > > enclaves, or is running its enclaves in a separate VM, then this path cannot be
> > > reached.
> >
> > That's what I meant. Rebooting guests is a lot easier, ofc.
> >
> > Or are you saying, this can trigger *only* when they're running enclaves
> > on the *host* too?
>
> Yes. Note, it's still true if you strike out the "too", KVM support is completely
> orthogonal to this code. The purpose of this patch is to separate out the EREMOVE
> path used for host enclaves (/dev/sgx_enclave), because EPC virtualization for
> KVM will have non-buggy scenarios where EREMOVE can fail. But the virt EPC code
> is designed to handle that gracefully.
>
> > > EREMOVE can only fail if there's a kernel or hardware bug (or a VMM bug if
> > > running as a guest).
> >
> > We get those on a daily basis.
> >
> > > IME, nearly every kernel/KVM bug that I introduced that led to EREMOVE
> > > failure was also quite fatal to SGX, i.e. this is just the canary in
> > > the coal mine.
> > >
> > > It's certainly possible to add more sophisticated error handling, e.g. through
> > > the pages onto a list and periodically try to recover them. But, since the vast
> > > majority of bugs that cause EREMOVE failure are fatal to SGX, implementing
> > > sophisticated handling is quite low on the list of priorities.
> > >
> > > Dave wanted the "page leaked" error message so that it's abundantly clear that
> > > the kernel is leaking pages on EREMOVE failure and that the WARN isn't "benign".
> >
> > So this sounds to me like this should BUG too eventually.
> >
> > Or is this one of those "this should never happen" things so no one
> > should worry?
>
> Hmm. I don't think it warrants BUG. At worst, leaking EPC pages is fatal only
> to SGX. If the underlying bug caused other fallout, e.g. didn't release a lock,
> then obviously that could be fatal to the kernel. But I don't think there's
> ever a case where SGX being unusuable would prevent the kernel from functioning.
>
> > Whatever it is, if an admin sees this message in dmesg and doesn't get a
> > lengthy explanation what she/he is supposed to do, I don't think she/he
> > will be as relaxed.
> >
> > Hell, people open bugs for correctable ECCs and are asking whether they
> > need to replace their hardware.
>
> LOL.
>
> > So let's play this out: put yourself in an admin's shoes and tell me how
> > should an admin react when she/he sees that?
> >
> > Should the kernel probably also say: "Don't worry, you have enough
> > memory and what's a 4K, who cares? You'll reboot eventually."
>
> > Or should the kernel say "You need to reboot ASAP."
> >
> > And so on...
> >
> > So what is the scenario here and what kind of reaction is that message
> > supposed to cause, recovery action, blabla, the whole spiel?
>
> Probably something in between. Odds are good SGX will eventually become
> unusuable, e.g. either kernel SGX support is completely hosted, or it will soon
> leak the majority of EPC pages. Something like this?
>
> "EREMOVE returned %d (0x%x), kernel bug likely. EPC page leaked, SGX may become unusuable. Reboot recommended to continue using SGX."

Or perhaps just stick to old behavior in original sgx_free_epc_page()?

ret = __eremove(sgx_get_epc_virt_addr(page));
if (WARN_ONCE(ret, "EREMOVE returned %d (0x%x)", ret, ret))
return;

This code path is only used by host SGX driver, but not KVM. And this patch's
*main* intention is to break EREMOVE out of sgx_free_epc_page() so virtual EPC
code can use sgx_free_epc_page().

Improving the error msg can be a separate discussion and separate patch which
can be done in the future, and this has nothing to do with SGX virtualization
support.