From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1754718AbYIEQGQ (ORCPT ); Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:06:16 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1753986AbYIEQGB (ORCPT ); Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:06:01 -0400 Received: from casper.infradead.org ([85.118.1.10]:55159 "EHLO casper.infradead.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1753973AbYIEQGA (ORCPT ); Fri, 5 Sep 2008 12:06:00 -0400 Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2008 09:05:59 -0700 From: Arjan van de Ven To: pageexec@freemail.hu Cc: Andi Kleen , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, mingo@elte.hu, tglx@tglx.de, hpa@zytor.org, Benjamin Herrenschmidt Subject: Re: [patch] Add basic sanity checks to the syscall execution patch Message-ID: <20080905090559.7cbc74f3@infradead.org> In-Reply-To: <48C0FF43.30940.2C3EFC0@pageexec.freemail.hu> References: <20080903195122.73905236@infradead.org> <873akgw251.fsf@basil.nowhere.org> <20080904054444.79e71974@infradead.org> <48C0FF43.30940.2C3EFC0@pageexec.freemail.hu> Organization: Intel X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.5.0 (GTK+ 2.12.11; i386-redhat-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-SRS-Rewrite: SMTP reverse-path rewritten from by casper.infradead.org See http://www.infradead.org/rpr.html Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:43:31 +0200 pageexec@freemail.hu wrote: > consider how your whole patch is based on one big self-contradiction. > you already assume that the attacker *can* modify arbitrary kernel > memory (even the otherwise *read-only* syscall table at that), but at > the very same time you're saying he *can't* use the same powers to > patch out your 'protection' or do many other things to evade it. as > it is, it's cargo cult security at its best, reminding one on the > Vista kernel's similar 'protection' mechanism for the service > descriptor tables... so I'm not going to say that the patch is important or good; it's the result of ben mentioning the idea on irc and me thinking "sure lets see what it would take and cost". Nothing more than that -- If you want to reach me at my work email, use arjan@linux.intel.com For development, discussion and tips for power savings, visit http://www.lesswatts.org