KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space [LWN.net]

KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space

Posted Nov 16, 2017 8:08 UTC (Thu) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523)
In reply to: KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space by alkbyby
Parent article: KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space

Kernel address hiding is needed to protect the kernel in case there's a bug that allows code execution in the kernel mode.

But it looks like software-based hiding is ineffective by itself with the current model.

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KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space

Posted Nov 16, 2017 9:29 UTC (Thu) by alkbyby (subscriber, #61687) [Link] (1 responses)

"in case" doesn't seem enough justification to pay such a massive price.

KAISER: hiding the kernel from user space

Posted Nov 16, 2017 10:41 UTC (Thu) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]

Sigh. The kernel root holes are being found every month or so. But in order to exploit them reliably you need to know the kernel memory layout. And Most obvious software leaks of this information are now closed.

The problem is that hardware simply makes all software countermeasures irrelevant without something like KAISER.