xref: /freebsd/share/man/man9/kasan.9 (revision cab6a39d7b343596a5823e65c0f7b426551ec22d)
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30.Dd April 29, 2021
31.Dt KASAN 9
32.Os
33.Sh NAME
34.Nm KASAN
35.Nd Kernel Address SANitizer
36.Sh SYNOPSIS
37The
38.Pa GENERIC-KASAN
39kernel configuration can be used to compile a KASAN-enabled kernel using
40.Pa GENERIC
41as a base configuration.
42Alternately, to compile KASAN into the kernel, place the following line in your
43kernel configuration file:
44.Bd -ragged -offset indent
45.Cd "options KASAN"
46.Ed
47.Pp
48.In sys/asan.h
49.Ft void
50.Fn kasan_mark "const void *addr" "size_t size" "size_t redzsize" "uint8_t code"
51.Sh DESCRIPTION
52.Nm
53is a subsystem which leverages compiler instrumentation to detect invalid
54memory accesses in the kernel.
55Currently it is implemented only on the amd64 platform.
56.Pp
57When
58.Nm
59is compiled into the kernel, the compiler is configured to emit function
60calls upon every memory access.
61The functions are implemented by
62.Nm
63and permit run-time detection of several types of bugs including
64use-after-frees, double frees and frees of invalid pointers, and out-of-bounds
65accesses.
66These protections apply to memory allocated by
67.Xr uma 9 ,
68.Xr malloc 9
69and related functions, and
70.Fn kmem_malloc
71and related functions,
72as well as global variables and kernel stacks.
73.Nm
74is conservative and will not detect all instances of these types of bugs.
75Memory accesses through the kernel map are sanitized, but accesses via the
76direct map are not.
77When
78.Nm
79is configured, the kernel aims to minimize its use of the direct map.
80.Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
81.Nm
82is implemented using compiler instrumentation and a kernel runtime.
83When a
84kernel is built with the KASAN option enabled, the compiler inserts function calls
85before most memory accesses in the generated code.
86The runtime implements the corresponding functions, which decide whether a
87given access is valid.
88If not, the runtime prints a warning or panics the kernel, depending on the
89value of the
90.Sy debug.kasan.panic_on_violation
91sysctl/tunable.
92.Pp
93The
94.Nm
95runtime works by maintaining a shadow map for the kernel map.
96There exists a linear mapping between addresses in the kernel map and addresses
97in the shadow map.
98The shadow map is used to store information about the current state of
99allocations from the kernel map.
100For example, when a buffer is returned by
101.Xr malloc 9 ,
102the corresponding region of the shadow map is marked to indicate that the
103buffer is valid.
104When it is freed, the shadow map is updated to mark the buffer as invalid.
105Accesses to the buffer are intercepted by the
106.Nm
107runtime and validated using the contents of the shadow map.
108.Pp
109Upon booting, all kernel memory is marked as valid.
110Kernel allocators must mark cached but free buffers as invalid, and must mark
111them valid before freeing the kernel virtual address range.
112This slightly reduces the effectiveness of
113.Nm
114but simplifies its maintenance and integration into the kernel.
115.Pp
116Updates to the shadow map are performed by calling
117.Fn kasan_mark .
118Parameter
119.Fa addr
120is the address of the buffer whose shadow is to be updated,
121.Fa size
122is the usable size of the buffer, and
123.Fa redzsize
124is the full size of the buffer allocated from lower layers of the system.
125.Fa redzsize
126must be greater than or equal to
127.Fa size .
128In some cases kernel allocators will return a buffer larger than that requested
129by the consumer; the unused space at the end is referred to as a red zone and is
130always marked as invalid.
131.Fa code
132allows the caller to specify an identifier used when marking a buffer as invalid.
133The identifier is included in any reports generated by
134.Nm
135and helps identify the source of the invalid access.
136For instance, when an item is freed to a
137.Xr uma 9
138zone, the item is marked with
139.Dv KASAN_UMA_FREED .
140See
141.In sys/asan.h
142for the available identifiers.
143If the entire buffer is to be marked valid, i.e.,
144.Fa size
145and
146.Fa redzsize
147are equal,
148.Fa code
149should be 0.
150.Sh SEE ALSO
151.Xr build 7 ,
152.Xr KMSAN 9 ,
153.Xr malloc 9 ,
154.Xr memguard 9 ,
155.Xr redzone 9 ,
156.Xr uma 9
157.Sh HISTORY
158.Nm
159was ported from
160.Nx
161and first appeared in
162.Fx 14.0 .
163.Sh BUGS
164Accesses to kernel memory outside of the kernel map are ignored by the
165.Nm
166runtime.
167When
168.Nm
169is configured, the kernel memory allocators are configured to use the kernel
170map, but some uses of the direct map remain.
171For example, on amd64, accesses to page table pages are not tracked.
172.Pp
173Some kernel memory allocators explicitly permit accesses after an object has
174been freed.
175These cannot be sanitized by
176.Nm .
177For example, memory from all
178.Xr uma 9
179zones initialized with the
180.Dv UMA_ZONE_NOFREE
181flag are not sanitized.
182