[PATCH v2] x86, relocs: Ignore relocations in .notes section

Kees Cook
2024-02-27T17:57:59Z

When building with CONFIG_XEN_PV=y, .text symbols are emitted into
the .notes section so that Xen can find the "startup_xen" entry point.
This information is used prior to booting the kernel, so relocations
are not useful. In fact, performing relocations against the .notes
section means that the KASLR base is exposed since /sys/kernel/notes
is world-readable.

To avoid leaking the KASLR base without breaking unprivileged tools that
are expecting to read /sys/kernel/notes, skip performing relocations in
the .notes section. The values readable in .notes are then identical to
those found in System.map.

Reported-by: Guixiong Wei <guixiongwei@gmail.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240218073501.54555-1-guixiongwei@gmail.com/
Fixes: 5ead97c84fa7 ("xen: Core Xen implementation")
Fixes: da1a679cde9b ("Add /sys/kernel/notes")
Reviewed-by: Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
---
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>
Cc: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Cc: x86@kernel.org
Cc: "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>
Cc: "Peter Zijlstra (Intel)" <peterz@infradead.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Tony Luck <tony.luck@intel.com>
Cc: Kristen Carlson Accardi <kristen@linux.intel.com>
v2: switch to a SHT_NOTE check (jgross)
v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20240222171840.work.027-kees@kernel.org/
---
arch/x86/tools/relocs.c | 8 ++++++++
1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c b/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
index a3bae2b24626..b029fb81ebee 100644
--- a/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
+++ b/arch/x86/tools/relocs.c
@@ -653,6 +653,14 @@ static void print_absolute_relocs(void)
if (!(sec_applies->shdr.sh_flags & SHF_ALLOC)) {
continue;
}
+ /*
+ * Do not perform relocations in .notes section; any
+ * values there are meant for pre-boot consumption (e.g.
+ * startup_xen).
+ */
+ if (sec_applies->shdr.sh_type == SHT_NOTE) {
+ continue;
+ }
sh_symtab = sec_symtab->symtab;
sym_strtab = sec_symtab->link->strtab;
for (j = 0; j < sec->shdr.sh_size/sizeof(Elf_Rel); j++) {
--
2.34.1