[PATCH 5.18 0001/1095] Makefile: link with -z noexecstack --no-warn-rwx-segments

Greg Kroah-Hartman
2022-08-15T20:04:59Z

From: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>

commit 0d362be5b14200b77ecc2127936a5ff82fbffe41 upstream.

Users of GNU ld (BFD) from binutils 2.39+ will observe multiple
instances of a new warning when linking kernels in the form:

ld: warning: vmlinux: missing .note.GNU-stack section implies executable stack
ld: NOTE: This behaviour is deprecated and will be removed in a future version of the linker
ld: warning: vmlinux has a LOAD segment with RWX permissions

Generally, we would like to avoid the stack being executable. Because
there could be a need for the stack to be executable, assembler sources
have to opt-in to this security feature via explicit creation of the
.note.GNU-stack feature (which compilers create by default) or command
line flag --noexecstack. Or we can simply tell the linker the
production of such sections is irrelevant and to link the stack as
--noexecstack.

LLVM's LLD linker defaults to -z noexecstack, so this flag isn't
strictly necessary when linking with LLD, only BFD, but it doesn't hurt
to be explicit here for all linkers IMO. --no-warn-rwx-segments is
currently BFD specific and only available in the current latest release,
so it's wrapped in an ld-option check.

While the kernel makes extensive usage of ELF sections, it doesn't use
permissions from ELF segments.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/linux-block/3af4127a-f453-4cf7-f133-a181cce06f73@kernel.dk/
Link: https://sourceware.org/git/?p=binutils-gdb.git;a=commit;h=ba951afb99912da01a6e8434126b8fac7aa75107
Link: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/issues/57009
Reported-and-tested-by: Jens Axboe <axboe@kernel.dk>
Suggested-by: Fangrui Song <maskray@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@google.com>
Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
---
Makefile | 5 +++++
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)

--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1031,6 +1031,11 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(KCFLAGS)
KBUILD_LDFLAGS_MODULE += --build-id=sha1
LDFLAGS_vmlinux += --build-id=sha1

+KBUILD_LDFLAGS += -z noexecstack
+ifeq ($(CONFIG_LD_IS_BFD),y)
+KBUILD_LDFLAGS += $(call ld-option,--no-warn-rwx-segments)
+endif
+
ifeq ($(CONFIG_STRIP_ASM_SYMS),y)
LDFLAGS_vmlinux += $(call ld-option, -X,)
endif