Unmap kernel when running in userspace (aka KAISER)
An XCCDF Rule
Description
Speculation attacks against some high-performance processors can be used to bypass MMU
permission checks and leak kernel data to userspace. This can be defended against by unmapping
the kernel when running in userspace, mapping it back in on exception entry via a trampoline
page in the vector table.
This configuration is available from kernel 4.16, but may be available if backported
by distros.
The configuration that was used to build kernel is available at /boot/config-*
.
To check the configuration value for CONFIG_UNMAP_KERNEL_AT_EL0
, run the following command:
grep CONFIG_UNMAP_KERNEL_AT_EL0 /boot/config-*
For each kernel installed, a line with value "y" should be returned.
warning alert: Warning
Rationale
This is a countermeasure to the Meltdown attack.
- ID
- xccdf_org.ssgproject.content_rule_kernel_config_unmap_kernel_at_el0
- Severity
- Medium
- References
- Updated