Re: x86/sgx: uapi change proposal

[Jarkko Sakkinen]

On Fri, Jan 11, 2019 at 02:58:26PM +0200, Jarkko Sakkinen wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 09, 2019 at 08:31:37AM -0800, Sean Christopherson wrote:
> > On Tue, Jan 08, 2019 at 02:54:11PM -0800, Andy Lutomirski wrote:
> > > On Tue, Jan 8, 2019 at 2:09 PM Sean Christopherson
> > > <sean.j.christopherson@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Cleaner in the sense that it's faster to get basic support up and running
> > > > since there are fewer touchpoints, but there are long term ramifications
> > > > to cramming EPC management in KVM.
> > > >
> > > > And at this point I'm not stating any absolutes, e.g. how EPC will be
> > > > handled by KVM.  What I'm pushing for is to not eliminate the possibility
> > > > of having the SGX subsystem own all EPC management, e.g. don't tie
> > > > /dev/sgx to a single enclave.
> > > 
> > > I haven't gone and re-read all the relevant SDM bits, so I'll just
> > > ask: what, if anything, are the actual semantics of mapping "raw EPC"
> > > like this?  You can't actually do anything with the mapping from user
> > > mode unless you actually get an enclave created and initialized in it
> > > and have it mapped at the correct linear address, right?  I still
> > > think you have the right idea, but it is a bit unusual.
> > 
> > Correct, the EPC is inaccessible until a range is "mapped" with ECREATE.
> > But I'd argue that it's not unusual, just different.  And really it's not
> > all that different than userspace mmap'ing /dev/sgx/enclave prior to
> > ioctl(ENCLAVE_CREATE).  In that case, userspace can still (attempt to)
> > access the "raw" EPC, i.e. generate a #PF, the kernel/driver just happens
> > to consider any faulting EPC address without an associated enclave as
> > illegal, e.g. signals SIGBUS.
> > 
> > The /dev/sgx/epc case simply has different semantics for moving pages in
> > and out of the EPC, i.e. different fault and eviction semantics.  Yes,
> > this allows the guest kernel to directly access the "raw" EPC, but that's
> > conceptually in line with hardware where priveleged software can directly
> > "access" the EPC (or rather, the abort page for all intents and purposes).
> > I.e. it's an argument for requiring certain privileges to open /dev/sgx/epc,
> > but IMO it's not unusual.
> > 
> > Maybe /dev/sgx/epc is a poor name and is causing confusion, e.g.
> > /dev/sgx/virtualmachine might be more appropriate.
> 
> What do you mean by saying "requiring certain privileges"? Are you
> saying that "raw EPC" (lets say /dev/vmsgx, which probably the name I
> will use for the device *if* it is required) device would require
> differet privileged than /dev/sgx?

I'd say that it would be a good goal to be able to create a VM as a
normal user and use SGX.

/Jarkko