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

From: Kees Cook
Date: Wed Apr 10 2019 - 12:16:33 EST


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@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Alexander Potapenko <glider@xxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
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