File xsa398.patch of Package xen.25148
# Commit 8d03080d2a339840d3a59e0932a94f804e45110d
# Date 2022-03-08 16:38:02 +0000
# Author Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>
# Committer Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>
x86/spec-ctrl: Cease using thunk=lfence on AMD
AMD have updated their Spectre v2 guidance, and lfence/jmp is no longer
considered safe. AMD are recommending using retpoline everywhere.
Update the default heuristics to never select THUNK_LFENCE.
This is part of XSA-398 / CVE-2021-26401.
Signed-off-by: Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>
Reviewed-by: Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>
--- a/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown
+++ b/docs/misc/xen-command-line.markdown
@@ -1887,9 +1887,9 @@ to use.
If Xen was compiled with INDIRECT\_THUNK support, `bti-thunk=` can be used to
select which of the thunks gets patched into the `__x86_indirect_thunk_%reg`
-locations. The default thunk is `retpoline` (generally preferred for Intel
-hardware), with the alternatives being `jmp` (a `jmp *%reg` gadget, minimal
-overhead), and `lfence` (an `lfence; jmp *%reg` gadget, preferred for AMD).
+locations. The default thunk is `retpoline` (generally preferred), with the
+alternatives being `jmp` (a `jmp *%reg` gadget, minimal overhead), and
+`lfence` (an `lfence; jmp *%reg` gadget).
On hardware supporting IBRS (Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation), the
`ibrs=` option can be used to force or prevent Xen using the feature itself.
--- a/xen/arch/x86/spec_ctrl.c
+++ b/xen/arch/x86/spec_ctrl.c
@@ -937,16 +937,10 @@ void __init init_speculation_mitigations
if ( IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_INDIRECT_THUNK) )
{
/*
- * AMD's recommended mitigation is to set lfence as being dispatch
- * serialising, and to use IND_THUNK_LFENCE.
- */
- if ( cpu_has_lfence_dispatch )
- thunk = THUNK_LFENCE;
- /*
- * On Intel hardware, we'd like to use retpoline in preference to
+ * On all hardware, we'd like to use retpoline in preference to
* IBRS, but only if it is safe on this hardware.
*/
- else if ( retpoline_safe(caps) )
+ if ( retpoline_safe(caps) )
thunk = THUNK_RETPOLINE;
else if ( boot_cpu_has(X86_FEATURE_IBRSB) )
ibrs = true;