x86/pti: leave kernel text global for !PCID
I'm sticking this at the end of the series because it's a bit weird.
It can be dropped and the rest of the series is still useful without
it.
Global pages are bad for hardening because they potentially let an
exploit read the kernel image via a Meltdown-style attack which
makes it easier to find gadgets.
But, global pages are good for performance because they reduce TLB
misses when making user/kernel transitions, especially when PCIDs
are not available, such as on older hardware, or where a hypervisor
has disabled them for some reason.
This patch implements a basic, sane policy: If you have PCIDs, you
only map a minimal amount of kernel text global. If you do not have
PCIDs, you map all kernel text global.
This policy effectively makes PCIDs something that not only adds
performance but a little bit of hardening as well.
Signed-off-by: Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@redhat.com>
Cc: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@google.com>
Cc: Hugh Dickins <hughd@google.com>
Cc: Juergen Gross <jgross@suse.com>
Cc: x86@kernel.org
Cc: Nadav Amit <namit@vmware.com>
1 file changed
