x86/mm: Make PV linear pagetables optional

Allowing pagetables to point to other pagetables of the same level
(often called 'linear pagetables') has been included in Xen since its
inception; but recently it has been the source of a number of subtle
reference-counting bugs.

It is not used by Linux or MiniOS; but it is used by NetBSD and Novell
Netware.  There are significant numbers of people who are never going
to use the feature, along with significant numbers who need the
feature.

Reported-by: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Signed-off-by: George Dunlap <george.dunlap@citrix.com>
Reviewed-by: Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>

diff --git a/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown b/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown
index d99a20a44b9ca7da16f33b4fb81c163d53041434..500c1246d9abbb0fcb312ea84bdf4512b5a5a224 100644 (file)
--- a/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown
+++ b/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown
@@ -1231,6 +1231,25 @@ The following resources are available:
   the cache allocation.
   * `cat` instructs Xen to enable/disable Cache Allocation Technology.
   * `cos_max` indicates the max value for COS ID.
+       
+### pv-linear-pt
+> `= <boolean>`
+
+> Default: `true`
+
+Only available if Xen is compiled with CONFIG\_PV\_LINEAR\_PT support
+enabled.
+
+Allow PV guests to have pagetable entries pointing to other pagetables
+of the same level (i.e., allowing L2 PTEs to point to other L2 pages).
+This technique is often called "linear pagetables", and is sometimes
+used to allow operating systems a simple way to consistently map the
+current process's pagetables into its own virtual address space.
+
+Linux and MiniOS don't use this technique.  NetBSD and Novell Netware
+do; there may be other custom operating systems which do.  If you're
+certain you don't plan on having PV guests which use this feature,
+turning it off can reduce the attack surface.
 
 ### reboot
 > `= t[riple] | k[bd] | a[cpi] | p[ci] | P[ower] | e[fi] | n[o] [, [w]arm | [c]old]`

diff --git a/xen/arch/x86/mm.c b/xen/arch/x86/mm.c
index 7ae3c33c25f41f354228698ab977bb35c1a4413c..f897eb67087bdf2712e59786019b527c2d30bed9 100644 (file)
--- a/xen/arch/x86/mm.c
+++ b/xen/arch/x86/mm.c
@@ -727,6 +727,9 @@ static void dec_linear_uses(struct page_info *pg)
  *     frame if it is mapped by a different root table. This is sufficient and
  *     also necessary to allow validation of a root table mapping itself.
  */
+static bool_t __read_mostly opt_pv_linear_pt = 1;
+boolean_param("pv-linear-pt", opt_pv_linear_pt);
+
 #define define_get_linear_pagetable(level)                                  \
 static int                                                                  \
 get_##level##_linear_pagetable(                                             \
@@ -736,6 +739,12 @@ get_##level##_linear_pagetable(                                             \
     struct page_info *page;                                                 \
     unsigned long pfn;                                                      \
                                                                             \
+    if ( !opt_pv_linear_pt )                                                \
+    {                                                                       \
+        MEM_LOG("Attempt to create linear p.t. (feature disabled)\n");      \
+        return 0;                                                           \
+    }                                                                       \
+                                                                            \
     if ( (level##e_get_flags(pde) & _PAGE_RW) )                             \
     {                                                                       \
         MEM_LOG("Attempt to create linear p.t. with write perms");          \