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author | 2020-08-03 14:31:31 +0000 | |
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committer | 2020-08-03 14:31:31 +0000 | |
commit | e5dd70708596ae51455a0ffa086a00c5b29f8583 (patch) | |
tree | 5d676f27b570bacf71e786c3b5cff3e6f6679b59 /gnu/llvm/clang/docs/ControlFlowIntegrityDesign.rst | |
parent | Import LLVM 10.0.0 release including clang, lld and lldb. (diff) | |
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Import LLVM 10.0.0 release including clang, lld and lldb.
ok hackroom
tested by plenty
Diffstat (limited to 'gnu/llvm/clang/docs/ControlFlowIntegrityDesign.rst')
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diff --git a/gnu/llvm/clang/docs/ControlFlowIntegrityDesign.rst b/gnu/llvm/clang/docs/ControlFlowIntegrityDesign.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..076713201a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/gnu/llvm/clang/docs/ControlFlowIntegrityDesign.rst @@ -0,0 +1,803 @@ +=========================================== +Control Flow Integrity Design Documentation +=========================================== + +This page documents the design of the :doc:`ControlFlowIntegrity` schemes +supported by Clang. + +Forward-Edge CFI for Virtual Calls +================================== + +This scheme works by allocating, for each static type used to make a virtual +call, a region of read-only storage in the object file holding a bit vector +that maps onto to the region of storage used for those virtual tables. Each +set bit in the bit vector corresponds to the `address point`_ for a virtual +table compatible with the static type for which the bit vector is being built. + +For example, consider the following three C++ classes: + +.. code-block:: c++ + + struct A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + virtual void f3(); + }; + + struct B : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + virtual void f3(); + }; + + struct C : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + virtual void f3(); + }; + +The scheme will cause the virtual tables for A, B and C to be laid out +consecutively: + +.. csv-table:: Virtual Table Layout for A, B, C + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 + + A::offset-to-top, &A::rtti, &A::f1, &A::f2, &A::f3, B::offset-to-top, &B::rtti, &B::f1, &B::f2, &B::f3, C::offset-to-top, &C::rtti, &C::f1, &C::f2, &C::f3 + +The bit vector for static types A, B and C will look like this: + +.. csv-table:: Bit Vectors for A, B, C + :header: Class, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 + + A, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0 + B, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 + C, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0 + +Bit vectors are represented in the object file as byte arrays. By loading +from indexed offsets into the byte array and applying a mask, a program can +test bits from the bit set with a relatively short instruction sequence. Bit +vectors may overlap so long as they use different bits. For the full details, +see the `ByteArrayBuilder`_ class. + +In this case, assuming A is laid out at offset 0 in bit 0, B at offset 0 in +bit 1 and C at offset 0 in bit 2, the byte array would look like this: + +.. code-block:: c++ + + char bits[] = { 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 5, 0, 0 }; + +To emit a virtual call, the compiler will assemble code that checks that +the object's virtual table pointer is in-bounds and aligned and that the +relevant bit is set in the bit vector. + +For example on x86 a typical virtual call may look like this: + +.. code-block:: none + + ca7fbb: 48 8b 0f mov (%rdi),%rcx + ca7fbe: 48 8d 15 c3 42 fb 07 lea 0x7fb42c3(%rip),%rdx + ca7fc5: 48 89 c8 mov %rcx,%rax + ca7fc8: 48 29 d0 sub %rdx,%rax + ca7fcb: 48 c1 c0 3d rol $0x3d,%rax + ca7fcf: 48 3d 7f 01 00 00 cmp $0x17f,%rax + ca7fd5: 0f 87 36 05 00 00 ja ca8511 + ca7fdb: 48 8d 15 c0 0b f7 06 lea 0x6f70bc0(%rip),%rdx + ca7fe2: f6 04 10 10 testb $0x10,(%rax,%rdx,1) + ca7fe6: 0f 84 25 05 00 00 je ca8511 + ca7fec: ff 91 98 00 00 00 callq *0x98(%rcx) + [...] + ca8511: 0f 0b ud2 + +The compiler relies on co-operation from the linker in order to assemble +the bit vectors for the whole program. It currently does this using LLVM's +`type metadata`_ mechanism together with link-time optimization. + +.. _address point: https://itanium-cxx-abi.github.io/cxx-abi/abi.html#vtable-general +.. _type metadata: https://llvm.org/docs/TypeMetadata.html +.. _ByteArrayBuilder: https://llvm.org/docs/doxygen/html/structllvm_1_1ByteArrayBuilder.html + +Optimizations +------------- + +The scheme as described above is the fully general variant of the scheme. +Most of the time we are able to apply one or more of the following +optimizations to improve binary size or performance. + +In fact, if you try the above example with the current version of the +compiler, you will probably find that it will not use the described virtual +table layout or machine instructions. Some of the optimizations we are about +to introduce cause the compiler to use a different layout or a different +sequence of machine instructions. + +Stripping Leading/Trailing Zeros in Bit Vectors +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +If a bit vector contains leading or trailing zeros, we can strip them from +the vector. The compiler will emit code to check if the pointer is in range +of the region covered by ones, and perform the bit vector check using a +truncated version of the bit vector. For example, the bit vectors for our +example class hierarchy will be emitted like this: + +.. csv-table:: Bit Vectors for A, B, C + :header: Class, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 + + A, , , 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, , + B, , , , , , , , 1, , , , , , , + C, , , , , , , , , , , , , 1, , + +Short Inline Bit Vectors +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +If the vector is sufficiently short, we can represent it as an inline constant +on x86. This saves us a few instructions when reading the correct element +of the bit vector. + +If the bit vector fits in 32 bits, the code looks like this: + +.. code-block:: none + + dc2: 48 8b 03 mov (%rbx),%rax + dc5: 48 8d 15 14 1e 00 00 lea 0x1e14(%rip),%rdx + dcc: 48 89 c1 mov %rax,%rcx + dcf: 48 29 d1 sub %rdx,%rcx + dd2: 48 c1 c1 3d rol $0x3d,%rcx + dd6: 48 83 f9 03 cmp $0x3,%rcx + dda: 77 2f ja e0b <main+0x9b> + ddc: ba 09 00 00 00 mov $0x9,%edx + de1: 0f a3 ca bt %ecx,%edx + de4: 73 25 jae e0b <main+0x9b> + de6: 48 89 df mov %rbx,%rdi + de9: ff 10 callq *(%rax) + [...] + e0b: 0f 0b ud2 + +Or if the bit vector fits in 64 bits: + +.. code-block:: none + + 11a6: 48 8b 03 mov (%rbx),%rax + 11a9: 48 8d 15 d0 28 00 00 lea 0x28d0(%rip),%rdx + 11b0: 48 89 c1 mov %rax,%rcx + 11b3: 48 29 d1 sub %rdx,%rcx + 11b6: 48 c1 c1 3d rol $0x3d,%rcx + 11ba: 48 83 f9 2a cmp $0x2a,%rcx + 11be: 77 35 ja 11f5 <main+0xb5> + 11c0: 48 ba 09 00 00 00 00 movabs $0x40000000009,%rdx + 11c7: 04 00 00 + 11ca: 48 0f a3 ca bt %rcx,%rdx + 11ce: 73 25 jae 11f5 <main+0xb5> + 11d0: 48 89 df mov %rbx,%rdi + 11d3: ff 10 callq *(%rax) + [...] + 11f5: 0f 0b ud2 + +If the bit vector consists of a single bit, there is only one possible +virtual table, and the check can consist of a single equality comparison: + +.. code-block:: none + + 9a2: 48 8b 03 mov (%rbx),%rax + 9a5: 48 8d 0d a4 13 00 00 lea 0x13a4(%rip),%rcx + 9ac: 48 39 c8 cmp %rcx,%rax + 9af: 75 25 jne 9d6 <main+0x86> + 9b1: 48 89 df mov %rbx,%rdi + 9b4: ff 10 callq *(%rax) + [...] + 9d6: 0f 0b ud2 + +Virtual Table Layout +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The compiler lays out classes of disjoint hierarchies in separate regions +of the object file. At worst, bit vectors in disjoint hierarchies only +need to cover their disjoint hierarchy. But the closer that classes in +sub-hierarchies are laid out to each other, the smaller the bit vectors for +those sub-hierarchies need to be (see "Stripping Leading/Trailing Zeros in Bit +Vectors" above). The `GlobalLayoutBuilder`_ class is responsible for laying +out the globals efficiently to minimize the sizes of the underlying bitsets. + +.. _GlobalLayoutBuilder: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/master/llvm/include/llvm/Transforms/IPO/LowerTypeTests.h + +Alignment +~~~~~~~~~ + +If all gaps between address points in a particular bit vector are multiples +of powers of 2, the compiler can compress the bit vector by strengthening +the alignment requirements of the virtual table pointer. For example, given +this class hierarchy: + +.. code-block:: c++ + + struct A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + }; + + struct B : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + virtual void f3(); + virtual void f4(); + virtual void f5(); + virtual void f6(); + }; + + struct C : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + }; + +The virtual tables will be laid out like this: + +.. csv-table:: Virtual Table Layout for A, B, C + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 + + A::offset-to-top, &A::rtti, &A::f1, &A::f2, B::offset-to-top, &B::rtti, &B::f1, &B::f2, &B::f3, &B::f4, &B::f5, &B::f6, C::offset-to-top, &C::rtti, &C::f1, &C::f2 + +Notice that each address point for A is separated by 4 words. This lets us +emit a compressed bit vector for A that looks like this: + +.. csv-table:: + :header: 2, 6, 10, 14 + + 1, 1, 0, 1 + +At call sites, the compiler will strengthen the alignment requirements by +using a different rotate count. For example, on a 64-bit machine where the +address points are 4-word aligned (as in A from our example), the ``rol`` +instruction may look like this: + +.. code-block:: none + + dd2: 48 c1 c1 3b rol $0x3b,%rcx + +Padding to Powers of 2 +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +Of course, this alignment scheme works best if the address points are +in fact aligned correctly. To make this more likely to happen, we insert +padding between virtual tables that in many cases aligns address points to +a power of 2. Specifically, our padding aligns virtual tables to the next +highest power of 2 bytes; because address points for specific base classes +normally appear at fixed offsets within the virtual table, this normally +has the effect of aligning the address points as well. + +This scheme introduces tradeoffs between decreased space overhead for +instructions and bit vectors and increased overhead in the form of padding. We +therefore limit the amount of padding so that we align to no more than 128 +bytes. This number was found experimentally to provide a good tradeoff. + +Eliminating Bit Vector Checks for All-Ones Bit Vectors +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +If the bit vector is all ones, the bit vector check is redundant; we simply +need to check that the address is in range and well aligned. This is more +likely to occur if the virtual tables are padded. + +Forward-Edge CFI for Virtual Calls by Interleaving Virtual Tables +----------------------------------------------------------------- + +Dimitar et. al. proposed a novel approach that interleaves virtual tables in [1]_. +This approach is more efficient in terms of space because padding and bit vectors are no longer needed. +At the same time, it is also more efficient in terms of performance because in the interleaved layout +address points of the virtual tables are consecutive, thus the validity check of a virtual +vtable pointer is always a range check. + +At a high level, the interleaving scheme consists of three steps: 1) split virtual table groups into +separate virtual tables, 2) order virtual tables by a pre-order traversal of the class hierarchy +and 3) interleave virtual tables. + +The interleaving scheme implemented in LLVM is inspired by [1]_ but has its own +enhancements (more in `Interleave virtual tables`_). + +.. [1] `Protecting C++ Dynamic Dispatch Through VTable Interleaving <https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~lerner/papers/ivtbl-ndss16.pdf>`_. Dimitar Bounov, Rami Gökhan Kıcı, Sorin Lerner. + +Split virtual table groups into separate virtual tables +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +The Itanium C++ ABI glues multiple individual virtual tables for a class into a combined virtual table (virtual table group). +The interleaving scheme, however, can only work with individual virtual tables so it must split the combined virtual tables first. +In comparison, the old scheme does not require the splitting but it is more efficient when the combined virtual tables have been split. +The `GlobalSplit`_ pass is responsible for splitting combined virtual tables into individual ones. + +.. _GlobalSplit: https://github.com/llvm/llvm-project/blob/master/llvm/lib/Transforms/IPO/GlobalSplit.cpp + +Order virtual tables by a pre-order traversal of the class hierarchy +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +This step is common to both the old scheme described above and the interleaving scheme. +For the interleaving scheme, since the combined virtual tables have been split in the previous step, +this step ensures that for any class all the compatible virtual tables will appear consecutively. +For the old scheme, the same property may not hold since it may work on combined virtual tables. + +For example, consider the following four C++ classes: + +.. code-block:: c++ + + struct A { + virtual void f1(); + }; + + struct B : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + }; + + struct C : A { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f3(); + }; + + struct D : B { + virtual void f1(); + virtual void f2(); + }; + +This step will arrange the virtual tables for A, B, C, and D in the order of *vtable-of-A, vtable-of-B, vtable-of-D, vtable-of-C*. + +Interleave virtual tables +~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + +This step is where the interleaving scheme deviates from the old scheme. Instead of laying out +whole virtual tables in the previously computed order, the interleaving scheme lays out table +entries of the virtual tables strategically to ensure the following properties: + +(1) offset-to-top and RTTI fields layout property + +The Itanium C++ ABI specifies that offset-to-top and RTTI fields appear at the offsets behind the +address point. Note that libraries like libcxxabi do assume this property. + +(2) virtual function entry layout property + +For each virtual function the distance between an virtual table entry for this function and the corresponding +address point is always the same. This property ensures that dynamic dispatch still works with the interleaving layout. + +Note that the interleaving scheme in the CFI implementation guarantees both properties above whereas the original scheme proposed +in [1]_ only guarantees the second property. + +To illustrate how the interleaving algorithm works, let us continue with the running example. +The algorithm first separates all the virtual table entries into two work lists. To do so, +it starts by allocating two work lists, one initialized with all the offset-to-top entries of virtual tables in the order +computed in the last step, one initialized with all the RTTI entries in the same order. + +.. csv-table:: Work list 1 Layout + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3 + + A::offset-to-top, B::offset-to-top, D::offset-to-top, C::offset-to-top + + +.. csv-table:: Work list 2 layout + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, + + &A::rtti, &B::rtti, &D::rtti, &C::rtti + +Then for each virtual function the algorithm goes through all the virtual tables in the previously computed order +to collect all the related entries into a virtual function list. +After this step, there are the following virtual function lists: + +.. csv-table:: f1 list + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3 + + &A::f1, &B::f1, &D::f1, &C::f1 + + +.. csv-table:: f2 list + :header: 0, 1 + + &B::f2, &D::f2 + + +.. csv-table:: f3 list + :header: 0 + + &C::f3 + +Next, the algorithm picks the longest remaining virtual function list and appends the whole list to the shortest work list +until no function lists are left, and pads the shorter work list so that they are of the same length. +In the example, f1 list will be first added to work list 1, then f2 list will be added +to work list 2, and finally f3 list will be added to the work list 2. Since work list 1 now has one more entry than +work list 2, a padding entry is added to the latter. After this step, the two work lists look like: + +.. csv-table:: Work list 1 Layout + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 + + A::offset-to-top, B::offset-to-top, D::offset-to-top, C::offset-to-top, &A::f1, &B::f1, &D::f1, &C::f1 + + +.. csv-table:: Work list 2 layout + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 + + &A::rtti, &B::rtti, &D::rtti, &C::rtti, &B::f2, &D::f2, &C::f3, padding + +Finally, the algorithm merges the two work lists into the interleaved layout by alternatingly +moving the head of each list to the final layout. After this step, the final interleaved layout looks like: + +.. csv-table:: Interleaved layout + :header: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 + + A::offset-to-top, &A::rtti, B::offset-to-top, &B::rtti, D::offset-to-top, &D::rtti, C::offset-to-top, &C::rtti, &A::f1, &B::f2, &B::f1, &D::f2, &D::f1, &C::f3, &C::f1, padding + +In the above interleaved layout, each virtual table's offset-to-top and RTTI are always adjacent, which shows that the layout has the first property. +For the second property, let us look at f2 as an example. In the interleaved layout, +there are two entries for f2: B::f2 and D::f2. The distance between &B::f2 +and its address point D::offset-to-top (the entry immediately after &B::rtti) is 5 entry-length, so is the distance between &D::f2 and C::offset-to-top (the entry immediately after &D::rtti). + +Forward-Edge CFI for Indirect Function Calls +============================================ + +Under forward-edge CFI for indirect function calls, each unique function +type has its own bit vector, and at each call site we need to check that the +function pointer is a member of the function type's bit vector. This scheme +works in a similar way to forward-edge CFI for virtual calls, the distinction +being that we need to build bit vectors of function entry points rather than +of virtual tables. + +Unlike when re-arranging global variables, we cannot re-arrange functions +in a particular order and base our calculations on the layout of the +functions' entry points, as we have no idea how large a particular function +will end up being (the function sizes could even depend on how we arrange +the functions). Instead, we build a jump table, which is a block of code +consisting of one branch instruction for each of the functions in the bit +set that branches to the target function, and redirect any taken function +addresses to the corresponding jump table entry. In this way, the distance +between function entry points is predictable and controllable. In the object +file's symbol table, the symbols for the target functions also refer to the +jump table entries, so that addresses taken outside the module will pass +any verification done inside the module. + +In more concrete terms, suppose we have three functions ``f``, ``g``, +``h`` which are all of the same type, and a function foo that returns their +addresses: + +.. code-block:: none + + f: + mov 0, %eax + ret + + g: + mov 1, %eax + ret + + h: + mov 2, %eax + ret + + foo: + mov f, %eax + mov g, %edx + mov h, %ecx + ret + +Our jump table will (conceptually) look like this: + +.. code-block:: none + + f: + jmp .Ltmp0 ; 5 bytes + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + + g: + jmp .Ltmp1 ; 5 bytes + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + + h: + jmp .Ltmp2 ; 5 bytes + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + int3 ; 1 byte + + .Ltmp0: + mov 0, %eax + ret + + .Ltmp1: + mov 1, %eax + ret + + .Ltmp2: + mov 2, %eax + ret + + foo: + mov f, %eax + mov g, %edx + mov h, %ecx + ret + +Because the addresses of ``f``, ``g``, ``h`` are evenly spaced at a power of +2, and function types do not overlap (unlike class types with base classes), +we can normally apply the `Alignment`_ and `Eliminating Bit Vector Checks +for All-Ones Bit Vectors`_ optimizations thus simplifying the check at each +call site to a range and alignment check. + +Shared library support +====================== + +**EXPERIMENTAL** + +The basic CFI mode described above assumes that the application is a +monolithic binary; at least that all possible virtual/indirect call +targets and the entire class hierarchy are known at link time. The +cross-DSO mode, enabled with **-f[no-]sanitize-cfi-cross-dso** relaxes +this requirement by allowing virtual and indirect calls to cross the +DSO boundary. + +Assuming the following setup: the binary consists of several +instrumented and several uninstrumented DSOs. Some of them may be +dlopen-ed/dlclose-d periodically, even frequently. + + - Calls made from uninstrumented DSOs are not checked and just work. + - Calls inside any instrumented DSO are fully protected. + - Calls between different instrumented DSOs are also protected, with + a performance penalty (in addition to the monolithic CFI + overhead). + - Calls from an instrumented DSO to an uninstrumented one are + unchecked and just work, with performance penalty. + - Calls from an instrumented DSO outside of any known DSO are + detected as CFI violations. + +In the monolithic scheme a call site is instrumented as + +.. code-block:: none + + if (!InlinedFastCheck(f)) + abort(); + call *f + +In the cross-DSO scheme it becomes + +.. code-block:: none + + if (!InlinedFastCheck(f)) + __cfi_slowpath(CallSiteTypeId, f); + call *f + +CallSiteTypeId +-------------- + +``CallSiteTypeId`` is a stable process-wide identifier of the +call-site type. For a virtual call site, the type in question is the class +type; for an indirect function call it is the function signature. The +mapping from a type to an identifier is an ABI detail. In the current, +experimental, implementation the identifier of type T is calculated as +follows: + + - Obtain the mangled name for "typeinfo name for T". + - Calculate MD5 hash of the name as a string. + - Reinterpret the first 8 bytes of the hash as a little-endian + 64-bit integer. + +It is possible, but unlikely, that collisions in the +``CallSiteTypeId`` hashing will result in weaker CFI checks that would +still be conservatively correct. + +CFI_Check +--------- + +In the general case, only the target DSO knows whether the call to +function ``f`` with type ``CallSiteTypeId`` is valid or not. To +export this information, every DSO implements + +.. code-block:: none + + void __cfi_check(uint64 CallSiteTypeId, void *TargetAddr, void *DiagData) + +This function provides external modules with access to CFI checks for +the targets inside this DSO. For each known ``CallSiteTypeId``, this +function performs an ``llvm.type.test`` with the corresponding type +identifier. It reports an error if the type is unknown, or if the +check fails. Depending on the values of compiler flags +``-fsanitize-trap`` and ``-fsanitize-recover``, this function may +print an error, abort and/or return to the caller. ``DiagData`` is an +opaque pointer to the diagnostic information about the error, or +``null`` if the caller does not provide this information. + +The basic implementation is a large switch statement over all values +of CallSiteTypeId supported by this DSO, and each case is similar to +the InlinedFastCheck() in the basic CFI mode. + +CFI Shadow +---------- + +To route CFI checks to the target DSO's __cfi_check function, a +mapping from possible virtual / indirect call targets to the +corresponding __cfi_check functions is maintained. This mapping is +implemented as a sparse array of 2 bytes for every possible page (4096 +bytes) of memory. The table is kept readonly most of the time. + +There are 3 types of shadow values: + + - Address in a CFI-instrumented DSO. + - Unchecked address (a “trusted” non-instrumented DSO). Encoded as + value 0xFFFF. + - Invalid address (everything else). Encoded as value 0. + +For a CFI-instrumented DSO, a shadow value encodes the address of the +__cfi_check function for all call targets in the corresponding memory +page. If Addr is the target address, and V is the shadow value, then +the address of __cfi_check is calculated as + +.. code-block:: none + + __cfi_check = AlignUpTo(Addr, 4096) - (V + 1) * 4096 + +This works as long as __cfi_check is aligned by 4096 bytes and located +below any call targets in its DSO, but not more than 256MB apart from +them. + +CFI_SlowPath +------------ + +The slow path check is implemented in a runtime support library as + +.. code-block:: none + + void __cfi_slowpath(uint64 CallSiteTypeId, void *TargetAddr) + void __cfi_slowpath_diag(uint64 CallSiteTypeId, void *TargetAddr, void *DiagData) + +These functions loads a shadow value for ``TargetAddr``, finds the +address of ``__cfi_check`` as described above and calls +that. ``DiagData`` is an opaque pointer to diagnostic data which is +passed verbatim to ``__cfi_check``, and ``__cfi_slowpath`` passes +``nullptr`` instead. + +Compiler-RT library contains reference implementations of slowpath +functions, but they have unresolvable issues with correctness and +performance in the handling of dlopen(). It is recommended that +platforms provide their own implementations, usually as part of libc +or libdl. + +Position-independent executable requirement +------------------------------------------- + +Cross-DSO CFI mode requires that the main executable is built as PIE. +In non-PIE executables the address of an external function (taken from +the main executable) is the address of that function’s PLT record in +the main executable. This would break the CFI checks. + +Backward-edge CFI for return statements (RCFI) +============================================== + +This section is a proposal. As of March 2017 it is not implemented. + +Backward-edge control flow (`RET` instructions) can be hijacked +via overwriting the return address (`RA`) on stack. +Various mitigation techniques (e.g. `SafeStack`_, `RFG`_, `Intel CET`_) +try to detect or prevent `RA` corruption on stack. + +RCFI enforces the expected control flow in several different ways described below. +RCFI heavily relies on LTO. + +Leaf Functions +-------------- +If `f()` is a leaf function (i.e. it has no calls +except maybe no-return calls) it can be called using a special calling convention +that stores `RA` in a dedicated register `R` before the `CALL` instruction. +`f()` does not spill `R` and does not use the `RET` instruction, +instead it uses the value in `R` to `JMP` to `RA`. + +This flavour of CFI is *precise*, i.e. the function is guaranteed to return +to the point exactly following the call. + +An alternative approach is to +copy `RA` from stack to `R` in the first instruction of `f()`, +then `JMP` to `R`. +This approach is simpler to implement (does not require changing the caller) +but weaker (there is a small window when `RA` is actually stored on stack). + + +Functions called once +--------------------- +Suppose `f()` is called in just one place in the program +(assuming we can verify this in LTO mode). +In this case we can replace the `RET` instruction with a `JMP` instruction +with the immediate constant for `RA`. +This will *precisely* enforce the return control flow no matter what is stored on stack. + +Another variant is to compare `RA` on stack with the known constant and abort +if they don't match; then `JMP` to the known constant address. + +Functions called in a small number of call sites +------------------------------------------------ +We may extend the above approach to cases where `f()` +is called more than once (but still a small number of times). +With LTO we know all possible values of `RA` and we check them +one-by-one (or using binary search) against the value on stack. +If the match is found, we `JMP` to the known constant address, otherwise abort. + +This protection is *near-precise*, i.e. it guarantees that the control flow will +be transferred to one of the valid return addresses for this function, +but not necessary to the point of the most recent `CALL`. + +General case +------------ +For functions called multiple times a *return jump table* is constructed +in the same manner as jump tables for indirect function calls (see above). +The correct jump table entry (or it's index) is passed by `CALL` to `f()` +(as an extra argument) and then spilled to stack. +The `RET` instruction is replaced with a load of the jump table entry, +jump table range check, and `JMP` to the jump table entry. + +This protection is also *near-precise*. + +Returns from functions called indirectly +---------------------------------------- + +If a function is called indirectly, the return jump table is constructed for the +equivalence class of functions instead of a single function. + +Cross-DSO calls +--------------- +Consider two instrumented DSOs, `A` and `B`. `A` defines `f()` and `B` calls it. + +This case will be handled similarly to the cross-DSO scheme using the slow path callback. + +Non-goals +--------- + +RCFI does not protect `RET` instructions: + * in non-instrumented DSOs, + * in instrumented DSOs for functions that are called from non-instrumented DSOs, + * embedded into other instructions (e.g. `0f4fc3 cmovg %ebx,%eax`). + +.. _SafeStack: https://clang.llvm.org/docs/SafeStack.html +.. _RFG: https://xlab.tencent.com/en/2016/11/02/return-flow-guard +.. _Intel CET: https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2016/06/09/intel-release-new-technology-specifications-protect-rop-attacks + +Hardware support +================ + +We believe that the above design can be efficiently implemented in hardware. +A single new instruction added to an ISA would allow to perform the forward-edge CFI check +with fewer bytes per check (smaller code size overhead) and potentially more +efficiently. The current software-only instrumentation requires at least +32-bytes per check (on x86_64). +A hardware instruction may probably be less than ~ 12 bytes. +Such instruction would check that the argument pointer is in-bounds, +and is properly aligned, and if the checks fail it will either trap (in monolithic scheme) +or call the slow path function (cross-DSO scheme). +The bit vector lookup is probably too complex for a hardware implementation. + +.. code-block:: none + + // This instruction checks that 'Ptr' + // * is aligned by (1 << kAlignment) and + // * is inside [kRangeBeg, kRangeBeg+(kRangeSize<<kAlignment)) + // and if the check fails it jumps to the given target (slow path). + // + // 'Ptr' is a register, pointing to the virtual function table + // or to the function which we need to check. We may require an explicit + // fixed register to be used. + // 'kAlignment' is a 4-bit constant. + // 'kRangeSize' is a ~20-bit constant. + // 'kRangeBeg' is a PC-relative constant (~28 bits) + // pointing to the beginning of the allowed range for 'Ptr'. + // 'kFailedCheckTarget': is a PC-relative constant (~28 bits) + // representing the target to branch to when the check fails. + // If kFailedCheckTarget==0, the process will trap + // (monolithic binary scheme). + // Otherwise it will jump to a handler that implements `CFI_SlowPath` + // (cross-DSO scheme). + CFI_Check(Ptr, kAlignment, kRangeSize, kRangeBeg, kFailedCheckTarget) { + if (Ptr < kRangeBeg || + Ptr >= kRangeBeg + (kRangeSize << kAlignment) || + Ptr & ((1 << kAlignment) - 1)) + Jump(kFailedCheckTarget); + } + +An alternative and more compact encoding would not use `kFailedCheckTarget`, +and will trap on check failure instead. +This will allow us to fit the instruction into **8-9 bytes**. +The cross-DSO checks will be performed by a trap handler and +performance-critical ones will have to be black-listed and checked using the +software-only scheme. + +Note that such hardware extension would be complementary to checks +at the callee side, such as e.g. **Intel ENDBRANCH**. +Moreover, CFI would have two benefits over ENDBRANCH: a) precision and b) +ability to protect against invalid casts between polymorphic types. |