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From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org>
To: Arvind Sankar <nivedita@alum.mit.edu>
Cc: Herbert Xu <herbert@gondor.apana.org.au>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
	"linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org" <linux-crypto@vger.kernel.org>,
	David Laight <David.Laight@aculab.com>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 1/6] crypto: Use memzero_explicit() for clearing state
Date: Fri, 23 Oct 2020 08:56:04 -0700	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20201023155604.GA3908702@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20201023153927.GA217686@rani.riverdale.lan>

On Fri, Oct 23, 2020 at 11:39:27AM -0400, Arvind Sankar wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2020 at 09:36:33PM -0700, Eric Biggers wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 20, 2020 at 04:39:52PM -0400, Arvind Sankar wrote:
> > > Without the barrier_data() inside memzero_explicit(), the compiler may
> > > optimize away the state-clearing if it can tell that the state is not
> > > used afterwards. At least in lib/crypto/sha256.c:__sha256_final(), the
> > > function can get inlined into sha256(), in which case the memset is
> > > optimized away.
> > > 
> > > Signed-off-by: Arvind Sankar <nivedita@alum.mit.edu>
> > 
> > Reviewed-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
> > 
> > Maybe get the one in arch/arm64/crypto/sha3-ce-glue.c too?
> > 
> > - Eric
> 
> Hm, there are a few more as well like that. But now I'm thinking it's
> only the generic sha256.c that may be problematic. The rest of them are
> in _final() functions which will be stored as function pointers in a
> structure, so there should be no risk of them getting optimized away?

When clearing memory because "it may be sensitive" rather than "it's needed for
the code to behave correctly", I think it's best to use memzero_explicit() to
make the intent clear, even if it seems that memset() is sufficient.  Also keep
in mind that support for compiling the kernel with LTO (link-time optimization)
is being worked on (and some people already do it), which results in more code
being optimized out.

- Eric

  reply	other threads:[~2020-10-23 15:56 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 24+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2020-10-20 20:39 [PATCH v2 0/6] crypto: lib/sha256 - cleanup/optimization Arvind Sankar
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 1/6] crypto: Use memzero_explicit() for clearing state Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  4:36   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-23 15:39     ` Arvind Sankar
2020-10-23 15:56       ` Eric Biggers [this message]
2020-10-23 20:45         ` Herbert Xu
2020-10-23 21:53           ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-29  7:00             ` Herbert Xu
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 2/6] crypto: lib/sha256 - Don't clear temporary variables Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  4:58   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-23  3:17     ` Arvind Sankar
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 3/6] crypto: lib/sha256 - Clear W[] in sha256_update() instead of sha256_transform() Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  4:59   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 4/6] crypto: lib/sha256 - Unroll SHA256 loop 8 times intead of 64 Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  5:02   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-23  3:12     ` Arvind Sankar
2020-10-23  3:16       ` Herbert Xu
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 5/6] crypto: lib/sha256 - Unroll LOAD and BLEND loops Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  5:02   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-20 20:39 ` [PATCH v2 6/6] crypto: lib/sha - Combine round constants and message schedule Arvind Sankar
2020-10-20 21:36   ` David Laight
2020-10-21 15:16     ` Arvind Sankar
2020-10-22  4:34   ` Eric Biggers
2020-10-22  8:20     ` David Laight

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