[PATCH 3/3] kbuild: Implement Clang's stack initialization

Kees Cook keescook at chromium.org
Wed Apr 10 16:16:12 UTC 2019


CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL turns on stack initialization based on
-ftrivial-auto-var-init in Clang builds and on
-fplugin-arg-structleak_plugin-byref-all in GCC builds.

-ftrivial-auto-var-init is a Clang flag that provides trivial
initializers for uninitialized local variables, variable fields and
padding.

It has three possible values:
  pattern - uninitialized locals are filled with a fixed pattern
    (mostly 0xAA on 64-bit platforms, see https://reviews.llvm.org/D54604
    for more details) likely to cause crashes when uninitialized value is
    used;
  zero (it's still debated whether this flag makes it to the official
    Clang release) - uninitialized locals are filled with zeroes;
  uninitialized (default) - uninitialized locals are left intact.

The proposed config builds the kernel with
-ftrivial-auto-var-init=pattern when selected.

Developers have the possibility to opt-out of this feature on a
per-variable basis by using __attribute__((uninitialized)).

Co-developed-by: Alexander Potapenko <glider at google.com>
Signed-off-by: Alexander Potapenko <glider at google.com>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook at chromium.org>
---
 Makefile                   |  5 +++++
 security/Kconfig.hardening | 14 ++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 19 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c0a34064c574..a7d9c6cd0267 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -745,6 +745,11 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS	+= -fomit-frame-pointer
 endif
 endif
 
+# Initialize all stack variables with a pattern, if desired.
+ifdef CONFIG_INIT_STACK_ALL
+KBUILD_CFLAGS	+= -ftrivial-auto-var-init=pattern
+endif
+
 DEBUG_CFLAGS	:= $(call cc-option, -fno-var-tracking-assignments)
 
 ifdef CONFIG_DEBUG_INFO
diff --git a/security/Kconfig.hardening b/security/Kconfig.hardening
index 9942d9869864..d744e20140b4 100644
--- a/security/Kconfig.hardening
+++ b/security/Kconfig.hardening
@@ -19,9 +19,13 @@ config GCC_PLUGIN_STRUCTLEAK
 
 menu "Memory initialization"
 
+config CC_HAS_AUTO_VAR_INIT
+	def_bool $(cc-option,-ftrivial-auto-var-init=pattern)
+
 choice
 	prompt "Initialize kernel stack variables at function entry"
 	depends on CC_HAS_AUTO_VAR_INIT || GCC_PLUGINS
+	default INIT_STACK_ALL if CC_HAS_AUTO_VAR_INIT
 	default INIT_STACK_NONE
 	help
 	  This option enables initialization of stack variables at
@@ -77,6 +81,16 @@ choice
 		  of uninitialized stack variable exploits and information
 		  exposures.
 
+	config INIT_STACK_ALL
+		bool "0xAA-init everything on the stack (strongest)"
+		depends on CC_HAS_AUTO_VAR_INIT
+		help
+		  Initializes everything on the stack with a 0xAA
+		  pattern. This is intended to eliminate all classes
+		  of uninitialized stack variable exploits and information
+		  exposures, even variables that were warned to have been
+		  left uninitialized.
+
 endchoice
 
 config GCC_PLUGIN_STRUCTLEAK_VERBOSE
-- 
2.17.1



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