On Thu, Apr 10, 2025 at 10:44:31AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> Some system owners use slab_debug=FPZ (or similar) as a hardening option,
> but do not want to be forced into having kernel addresses exposed due
> to the implicit "no_hash_pointers" boot param setting.[1]
> 
> Introduce the "hash_pointers" boot param, which defaults to "auto"
> (the current behavior), but also includes "always" (forcing on hashing
> even when "slab_debug=..." is defined), and "never". The existing
> "no_hash_pointers" boot param becomes an alias for "hash_pointers=never".
> 
> This makes it possible to boot with "slab_debug=FPZ hash_pointers=always".
> 
> Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/368 [1]
> Fixes: 792702911f58 ("slub: force on no_hash_pointers when slub_debug is 
> enabled")
> Co-developed-by: Sergio Perez Gonzalez <sperez...@gmail.com>
> Signed-off-by: Sergio Perez Gonzalez <sperez...@gmail.com>
> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <k...@kernel.org>
> ---
> Cc: Vlastimil Babka <vba...@suse.cz>
> Cc: Jonathan Corbet <cor...@lwn.net>
> Cc: Petr Mladek <pmla...@suse.com>
> Cc: Steven Rostedt <rost...@goodmis.org>
> Cc: Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevche...@linux.intel.com>
> Cc: Rasmus Villemoes <li...@rasmusvillemoes.dk>
> Cc: Sergey Senozhatsky <senozhat...@chromium.org>
> Cc: Andrew Morton <a...@linux-foundation.org>
> Cc: Christoph Lameter <c...@linux.com>
> Cc: Pekka Enberg <penb...@kernel.org>
> Cc: David Rientjes <rient...@google.com>
> Cc: Joonsoo Kim <iamjoonsoo....@lge.com>
> Cc: Roman Gushchin <roman.gushc...@linux.dev>
> Cc: Harry Yoo <harry....@oracle.com>
> Cc: "Paul E. McKenney" <paul...@kernel.org>
> Cc: Randy Dunlap <rdun...@infradead.org>
> Cc: Tamir Duberstein <tam...@gmail.com>
> Cc: Miguel Ojeda <oj...@kernel.org>
> Cc: Alice Ryhl <alicer...@google.com>
> Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org
> Cc: linux...@kvack.org
> ---
>  .../admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt         | 34 ++++++++-----
>  include/linux/sprintf.h                       |  2 +-
>  lib/vsprintf.c                                | 51 +++++++++++++++++--
>  mm/slub.c                                     |  5 +-
>  4 files changed, 72 insertions(+), 20 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt 
> b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> index 76e538c77e31..d0fd9c745db9 100644
> --- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
> @@ -1798,6 +1798,27 @@
>                       backtraces on all cpus.
>                       Format: 0 | 1
>  
> +     hash_pointers=
> +                     [KNL,EARLY]
> +                     By default, when pointers are printed to the console
> +                     or buffers via the %p format string, that pointer is
> +                     "hashed", i.e. obscured by hashing the pointer value.
> +                     This is a security feature that hides actual kernel
> +                     addresses from unprivileged users, but it also makes
> +                     debugging the kernel more difficult since unequal
> +                     pointers can no longer be compared. The choices are:
> +                     Format: { auto | always | never }
> +                     Default: auto
> +
> +                     auto   - Hash pointers unless slab_debug is enabled.
> +                     always - Always hash pointers (even if slab_debug is
> +                              enabled).
> +                     never  - Never hash pointers. This option should only
> +                              be specified when debugging the kernel. Do
> +                              not use on production kernels. The boot
> +                              param "no_hash_pointers" is an alias for
> +                              this mode.

So on production one would want hash pointers (i.e. auto/always), right?

Anyway, the wording LGTM.

Reviewed-by: Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdo...@gmail.com>

PS: I'm confused on unspoken convention that anything but otherwise specified
is suitable for production, as I'm expecting explicit version deployment
(e.g. use <insert something> version instead of don't use <otherwise>).
 
-- 
An old man doll... just what I always wanted! - Clara

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