@@ -16,3 +16,4 @@ are configurable at compile, boot or run time.
multihit.rst
special-register-buffer-data-sampling.rst
core-scheduling.rst
+ processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
new file mode 100644
@@ -0,0 +1,246 @@
+=========================================
+Processor MMIO Stale Data Vulnerabilities
+=========================================
+
+Processor MMIO Stale Data Vulnerabilities are a class of memory-mapped I/O
+(MMIO) vulnerabilities that can expose data. The sequences of operations for
+exposing data range from simple to very complex. Because most of the
+vulnerabilities require the attacker to have access to MMIO, many environments
+are not affected. System environments using virtualization where MMIO access is
+provided to untrusted guests may need mitigation. These vulnerabilities are
+not transient execution attacks. However, these vulnerabilities may propagate
+stale data into core fill buffers where the data can subsequently be inferred
+by an unmitigated transient execution attack. Mitigation for these
+vulnerabilities includes a combination of microcode update and software
+changes, depending on the platform and usage model. Some of these mitigations
+are similar to those used to mitigate Microarchitectural Data Sampling (MDS) or
+those used to mitigate Special Register Buffer Data Sampling (SRBDS).
+
+Data Propagators
+================
+Propagators are operations that result in stale data being copied or moved from
+one microarchitectural buffer or register to another. Processor MMIO Stale Data
+Vulnerabilities are operations that may result in stale data being directly
+read into an architectural, software-visible state or sampled from a buffer or
+register.
+
+Fill Buffer Stale Data Propagator (FBSDP)
+-----------------------------------------
+Stale data may propagate from fill buffers (FB) into the non-coherent portion
+of the uncore on some non-coherent writes. Fill buffer propagation by itself
+does not make stale data architecturally visible. Stale data must be propagated
+to a location where it is subject to reading or sampling.
+
+Sideband Stale Data Propagator (SSDP)
+-------------------------------------
+The sideband stale data propagator (SSDP) is limited to the client (including
+Intel Xeon server E3) uncore implementation. The sideband response buffer is
+shared by all client cores. For non-coherent reads that go to sideband
+destinations, the uncore logic returns 64 bytes of data to the core, including
+both requested data and unrequested stale data, from a transaction buffer and
+the sideband response buffer. As a result, stale data from the sideband
+response and transaction buffers may now reside in a core fill buffer.
+
+Primary Stale Data Propagator (PSDP)
+------------------------------------
+The primary stale data propagator (PSDP) is limited to the client (including
+Intel Xeon server E3) uncore implementation. Similar to the sideband response
+buffer, the primary response buffer is shared by all client cores. For some
+processors, MMIO primary reads will return 64 bytes of data to the core fill
+buffer including both requested data and unrequested stale data. This is
+similar to the sideband stale data propagator.
+
+Vulnerabilities
+===============
+Device Register Partial Write (DRPW) (CVE-2022-21166)
+-----------------------------------------------------
+Some endpoint MMIO registers incorrectly handle writes that are smaller than
+the register size. Instead of aborting the write or only copying the correct
+subset of bytes (for example, 2 bytes for a 2-byte write), more bytes than
+specified by the write transaction may be written to the register. On
+processors affected by FBSDP, this may expose stale data from the fill buffers
+of the core that created the write transaction.
+
+Shared Buffers Data Sampling (SBDS) (CVE-2022-21125)
+----------------------------------------------------
+After propagators may have moved data around the uncore and copied stale data
+into client core fill buffers, processors affected by MFBDS can leak data from
+the fill buffer. It is limited to the client (including Intel Xeon server E3)
+uncore implementation.
+
+Shared Buffers Data Read (SBDR) (CVE-2022-21123)
+------------------------------------------------
+It is similar to Shared Buffer Data Sampling (SBDS) except that the data is
+directly read into the architectural software-visible state. It is limited to
+the client (including Intel Xeon server E3) uncore implementation.
+
+Affected Processors
+===================
+Not all the CPUs are affected by all the variants. For instance, most
+processors for the server market (excluding Intel Xeon E3 processors) are
+impacted by only Device Register Partial Write (DRPW).
+
+Below is the list of affected Intel processors [#f1]_:
+
+ =================== ============ =========
+ Common name Family_Model Steppings
+ =================== ============ =========
+ HASWELL_X 06_3FH 2,4
+ SKYLAKE_L 06_4EH 3
+ BROADWELL_X 06_4FH All
+ SKYLAKE_X 06_55H 3,4,6,7,11
+ BROADWELL_D 06_56H 3,4,5
+ SKYLAKE 06_5EH 3
+ ICELAKE_X 06_6AH 4,5,6
+ ICELAKE_D 06_6CH 1
+ ICELAKE_L 06_7EH 5
+ ATOM_TREMONT_D 06_86H All
+ LAKEFIELD 06_8AH 1
+ KABYLAKE_L 06_8EH 9 to 12
+ ATOM_TREMONT 06_96H 1
+ ATOM_TREMONT_L 06_9CH 0
+ KABYLAKE 06_9EH 9 to 13
+ COMETLAKE 06_A5H 2,3,5
+ COMETLAKE_L 06_A6H 0,1
+ ROCKETLAKE 06_A7H 1
+ =================== ============ =========
+
+If a CPU is in the affected processor list, but not affected by a variant, it
+is indicated by new bits in MSR IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES. As described in a later
+section, mitigation largely remains the same for all the variants, i.e. to
+clear the CPU fill buffers via VERW instruction.
+
+New bits in MSRs
+================
+Newer processors and microcode update on existing affected processors added new
+bits to IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES MSR. These bits can be used to enumerate
+specific variants of Processor MMIO Stale Data vulnerabilities and mitigation
+capability.
+
+MSR IA32_ARCH_CAPABILITIES
+--------------------------
+Bit 13 - SBDR_SSDP_NO - When set, processor is not affected by either the
+ Shared Buffers Data Read (SBDR) vulnerability or the sideband stale
+ data propagator (SSDP).
+Bit 14 - FBSDP_NO - When set, processor is not affected by the Fill Buffer
+ Stale Data Propagator (FBSDP).
+Bit 15 - PSDP_NO - When set, processor is not affected by Primary Stale Data
+ Propagator (PSDP).
+Bit 17 - FB_CLEAR - When set, VERW instruction will overwrite CPU fill buffer
+ values as part of MD_CLEAR operations. Processors that do not
+ enumerate MDS_NO (meaning they are affected by MDS) but that do
+ enumerate support for both L1D_FLUSH and MD_CLEAR implicitly enumerate
+ FB_CLEAR as part of their MD_CLEAR support.
+Bit 18 - FB_CLEAR_CTRL - Processor supports read and write to MSR
+ IA32_MCU_OPT_CTRL[FB_CLEAR_DIS]. On such processors, the FB_CLEAR_DIS
+ bit can be set to cause the VERW instruction to not perform the
+ FB_CLEAR action. Not all processors that support FB_CLEAR will support
+ FB_CLEAR_CTRL.
+
+MSR IA32_MCU_OPT_CTRL
+---------------------
+Bit 3 - FB_CLEAR_DIS - When set, VERW instruction does not perform the FB_CLEAR
+action. This may be useful to reduce the performance impact of FB_CLEAR in
+cases where system software deems it warranted (for example, when performance
+is more critical, or the untrusted software has no MMIO access). Note that
+FB_CLEAR_DIS has no impact on enumeration (for example, it does not change
+FB_CLEAR or MD_CLEAR enumeration) and it may not be supported on all processors
+that enumerate FB_CLEAR.
+
+Mitigation
+==========
+Like MDS, all variants of Processor MMIO Stale Data vulnerabilities have the
+same mitigation strategy to force the CPU to clear the affected buffers before
+an attacker can extract the secrets.
+
+This is achieved by using the otherwise unused and obsolete VERW instruction in
+combination with a microcode update. The microcode clears the affected CPU
+buffers when the VERW instruction is executed.
+
+Kernel reuses the MDS function to invoke the buffer clearing:
+
+ mds_clear_cpu_buffers()
+
+On MDS affected CPUs, the kernel already invokes CPU buffer clear on
+kernel/userspace, hypervisor/guest and C-state (idle) transitions. No
+additional mitigation is needed on such CPUs.
+
+For CPUs not affected by MDS or TAA, mitigation is needed only for the attacker
+with MMIO capability. Therefore, VERW is not required for kernel/userspace. For
+virtualization case, VERW is only needed at VMENTER for a guest with MMIO
+capability.
+
+Mitigation points
+-----------------
+Return to user space
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Same mitigation as MDS when affected by MDS/TAA, otherwise no mitigation
+needed.
+
+C-State transition
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Control register writes by CPU during C-state transition can propagate data
+from fill buffer to uncore buffers. Execute VERW before C-state transition to
+clear CPU fill buffers.
+
+Guest entry point
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+Same mitigation as MDS when processor is also affected by MDS/TAA, otherwise
+execute VERW at VMENTER only for MMIO capable guests. On CPUs not affected by
+MDS/TAA, guest without MMIO access cannot extract secrets using Processor MMIO
+Stale Data vulnerabilities, so there is no need to execute VERW for such guests.
+
+Mitigation control on the kernel command line
+---------------------------------------------
+The kernel command line allows to control the Processor MMIO Stale Data
+mitigations at boot time with the option "mmio_stale_data=". The valid
+arguments for this option are:
+
+ ========== =================================================================
+ full If the CPU is vulnerable, enable mitigation; CPU buffer clearing
+ on exit to userspace and when entering a VM. Idle transitions are
+ protected as well. It does not automatically disable SMT.
+ full,nosmt Same as full, with SMT disabled on vulnerable CPUs. This is the
+ complete mitigation.
+ off Disables mitigation completely.
+ ========== =================================================================
+
+If the CPU is affected and mmio_stale_data=off is not supplied on the kernel
+command line, then the kernel selects the appropriate mitigation.
+
+Mitigation status information
+-----------------------------
+The Linux kernel provides a sysfs interface to enumerate the current
+vulnerability status of the system: whether the system is vulnerable, and
+which mitigations are active. The relevant sysfs file is:
+
+ /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/mmio_stale_data
+
+The possible values in this file are:
+
+ .. list-table::
+
+ * - 'Not affected'
+ - The processor is not vulnerable
+ * - 'Vulnerable'
+ - The processor is vulnerable, but no mitigation enabled
+ * - 'Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode'
+ - The processor is vulnerable, but microcode is not updated. The
+ mitigation is enabled on a best effort basis.
+ * - 'Mitigation: Clear CPU buffers'
+ - The processor is vulnerable and the CPU buffer clearing mitigation is
+ enabled.
+
+If the processor is vulnerable then the following information is appended to
+the above information:
+
+ ======================== ===========================================
+ 'SMT vulnerable' SMT is enabled
+ 'SMT disabled' SMT is disabled
+ 'SMT Host state unknown' Kernel runs in a VM, Host SMT state unknown
+ ======================== ===========================================
+
+References
+----------
+.. [#f1] Affected Processors
+ https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/topic-technology/software-security-guidance/processors-affected-consolidated-product-cpu-model.html