Kernel Hardening for 32-bit Arm Processors

This talk explains security protections missing from the Linux kernel on 32-bit ARM, how those gaps can enable exploits, and the implementation choices evaluated. It describes the mitigation design selected for upstream merging.

Syllabus

Introduction
Kernel Self Protection Project
Why are we still running 32bits
Arm 32 is left out
What are the bugs
Why did I get started
Bug 1 Thread Info
What does this mean
Why is the kernel struct
Smashing the thread info and task struct
The problem with the stack pointer
The problem with perCPU variables
Introducing Art
Second Attempt
Performance Problems
Fixing Bug 1
Fixing Bug 2
Current Status
Questions