From 7984754b99b6c89054edc405e9d9d35810a91d36 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kees Cook Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 15:55:59 -0800 Subject: kexec: add sysctl to disable kexec_load For general-purpose (i.e. distro) kernel builds it makes sense to build with CONFIG_KEXEC to allow end users to choose what kind of things they want to do with kexec. However, in the face of trying to lock down a system with such a kernel, there needs to be a way to disable kexec_load (much like module loading can be disabled). Without this, it is too easy for the root user to modify kernel memory even when CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM and modules_disabled are set. With this change, it is still possible to load an image for use later, then disable kexec_load so the image (or lack of image) can't be altered. The intention is for using this in environments where "perfect" enforcement is hard. Without a verified boot, along with verified modules, and along with verified kexec, this is trying to give a system a better chance to defend itself (or at least grow the window of discoverability) against attack in the face of a privilege escalation. In my mind, I consider several boot scenarios: 1) Verified boot of read-only verified root fs loading fd-based verification of kexec images. 2) Secure boot of writable root fs loading signed kexec images. 3) Regular boot loading kexec (e.g. kcrash) image early and locking it. 4) Regular boot with no control of kexec image at all. 1 and 2 don't exist yet, but will soon once the verified kexec series has landed. 4 is the state of things now. The gap between 2 and 4 is too large, so this change creates scenario 3, a middle-ground above 4 when 2 and 1 are not possible for a system. Signed-off-by: Kees Cook Acked-by: Rik van Riel Cc: Vivek Goyal Cc: Eric Biederman Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds --- include/linux/kexec.h | 1 + 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+) (limited to 'include/linux/kexec.h') diff --git a/include/linux/kexec.h b/include/linux/kexec.h index 5fd33dc1fe3a..6d4066cdb5b5 100644 --- a/include/linux/kexec.h +++ b/include/linux/kexec.h @@ -170,6 +170,7 @@ unsigned long paddr_vmcoreinfo_note(void); extern struct kimage *kexec_image; extern struct kimage *kexec_crash_image; +extern int kexec_load_disabled; #ifndef kexec_flush_icache_page #define kexec_flush_icache_page(page) -- cgit v1.2.3