Re: [RFCv2 00/10] Linear Address Masking enabling

Alexander Potapenko
2022-05-13T12:27:10Z

On Fri, May 13, 2022 at 1:28 PM David Laight <David.Laight@aculab.com> wrote:
>
> ...
> > Once we have the possibility to store tags in the pointers, we don't
> > need redzones for heap/stack objects anymore, which saves quite a bit
> > of memory.
>
> You still need redzones.
> The high bits are ignored for actual memory accesses.
>
> To do otherwise you'd need the high bits to be in the PTE,
> copied to the TLB and finally get into the cache tag.
>
> Then you'd have to use the correct tags for each page.

Sorry, I don't understand how this is relevant to HWASan in the userspace.
Like in ASan, we have a custom allocator that assigns tags to heap
objects. The assigned tag is stored in both the shadow memory for the
object and the pointer returned by the allocator.
Instrumentation inserted by the compiler checks the pointer before
every memory access and ensures that its tag matches the tag of the
object in the shadow memory.
A tag mismatch is reported as an out-of-bounds or a use-after-free,
depending on whether the accessed memory is still considered
allocated.
Because objects with different tags follow each other, there is no
need to add extra redzones to the objects to detect buffer overflows.
(We might need to increase the object alignment though, but that's a
different story).

>
> David
>
> -
> Registered Address Lakeside, Bramley Road, Mount Farm, Milton Keynes, MK1 1PT, UK
> Registration No: 1397386 (Wales)

--
Alexander Potapenko
Software Engineer

Google Germany GmbH
Erika-Mann-Straße, 33
80636 München

Geschäftsführer: Paul Manicle, Liana Sebastian
Registergericht und -nummer: Hamburg, HRB 86891
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Hamburg

Diese E-Mail ist vertraulich. Falls Sie diese fälschlicherweise
erhalten haben sollten, leiten Sie diese bitte nicht an jemand anderes
weiter, löschen Sie alle Kopien und Anhänge davon und lassen Sie mich
bitte wissen, dass die E-Mail an die falsche Person gesendet wurde.

This e-mail is confidential. If you received this communication by
mistake, please don't forward it to anyone else, please erase all
copies and attachments, and please let me know that it has gone to the
wrong person.