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PKRU(3) FreeBSD Library Functions Manual PKRU(3)
NAME
Protection Key Rights for User pages - provide fast user-managed key-
based access control for pages
LIBRARY
Standard C Library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <machine/sysarch.h>
int
x86_pkru_get_perm(unsigned int keyidx, int *access, int *modify);
int
x86_pkru_set_perm(unsigned int keyidx, int access, int modify);
int
x86_pkru_protect_range(void *addr, unsigned long len,
unsigned int keyidx, int flag);
int
x86_pkru_unprotect_range(void *addr, unsigned long len);
DESCRIPTION
The protection keys feature provides an additional mechanism, besides the
normal page permissions as established by mmap(2) and mprotect(2), to
control access to user-mode addresses. The mechanism gives safety
measures which can be used to avoid incidental read or modification of
sensitive memory, or as a debugging feature. It cannot guard against
conscious accesses since permissions are user-controllable.
If supported by hardware, each mapped user linear address has an
associated 4-bit protection key. A new per-thread PKRU hardware register
determines, for each protection key, whether user-mode addresses with
that protection key may be read or written.
Only one key may apply to a given range at a time. The default
protection key index is zero, it is used even if no key was explicitly
assigned to the address, or if the key was removed.
The protection prevents the system from accessing user addresses as well
as the user applications. When a system call was unable to read or write
user memory due to key protection, it returns the EFAULT error code.
Note that some side effects may have occurred if this error is reported.
Protection keys require that the system uses 4-level paging (also called
long mode), which means that it is only available on amd64 system. Both
64-bit and 32-bit applications can use protection keys. More information
about the hardware feature is provided in the IA32 Software Developer's
Manual published by Intel Corp.
The key indexes written into the page table entries are managed by the
sysarch() syscall. Per-key permissions are managed using the user-mode
instructions RDPKRU and WRPKRU. The system provides convenient library
helpers for both the syscall and the instructions, described below.
The x86_pkru_protect_range() function assigns key keyidx to the range
[AMD64_PKRU_EXCL]
Only assign the key if the range does not have any other keys assigned
(including the zero key). You must first remove any existing key with
x86_pkru_unprotect_range() in order for this request to succeed. If
the AMD64_PKRU_EXCL flag is not specified, x86_pkru_protect_range()
replaces any existing key.
[AMD64_PKRU_PERSIST]
The keys assigned to the range are persistent. They are re-established
when the current mapping is destroyed and a new mapping is created in
any sub-range of the specified range. You must use a
x86_pkru_unprotect_range() call to forget the key.
The x86_pkru_unprotect_range() function removes any keys assigned to the
specified range. Existing mappings are changed to use key index zero in
page table entries. Keys are no longer considered installed for all
mappings in the range, for the purposes of x86_pkru_protect_range() with
the AMD64_PKRU_EXCL flag.
The x86_pkru_get_perm() function returns access rights for the key
specified by the keyidx argument. If the value pointed to by access is
zero after the call, no read or write permissions is granted for mappings
which are assigned the key keyidx. If access is not zero, read access is
permitted. The non-zero value of the variable pointed to by the modify
argument indicates that write access is permitted.
Conversely, the x86_pkru_set_perm() establishes the access and modify
permissions for the given key index as specified by its arguments.
RETURN VALUES
Upon successful completion, the value 0 is returned; otherwise the
value -1 is returned and the global variable errno is set to indicate the
error.
ERRORS
[EOPNOTSUPP] The hardware does not support protection keys.
[EINVAL] The supplied key index is invalid (greater than 15).
[EINVAL] The supplied flags argument for
x86_pkru_protect_range() has reserved bits set.
[EFAULT] The supplied address range does not completely fit
into the user-managed address range.
[ENOMEM] The memory shortage prevents the completion of the
operation.
[EBUSY] The AMD64_PKRU_EXCL flag was specified for
x86_pkru_protect_range() and the range already has
defined protection keys.
SEE ALSO
mmap(2), mprotect(2), munmap(2), sysarch(2).
STANDARDS
The Protection Key Rights for User pages functions are non-standard and
first appeared in FreeBSD 13.0.