linux_hardened: init

The rationale for this is to have a place to enable hardening features
that are either too invasive or that may be speculative/yet proven to be
worthwhile for general-purpose kernels.

2 files changed, 64 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/hardened-config.nix b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/hardened-config.nix
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..a85725d70e1f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/os-specific/linux/kernel/hardened-config.nix
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# Based on recommendations from:
+# http://kernsec.org/wiki/index.php/Kernel_Self_Protection_Project#Recommended_settings
+# https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Hardened/Hardened_Kernel_Project
+#
+# The base kernel is assumed to be at least 4.9 or whatever the toplevel
+# linux_hardened package expression uses.
+#
+# Dangerous features that can be permanently (for the boot session) disabled at
+# boot via sysctl or kernel cmdline are left enabled here, for improved
+# flexibility.
+
+{ stdenv }:
+
+with stdenv.lib;
+
+''
+GCC_PLUGINS y # Enable gcc plugin options
+
+DEBUG_KERNEL y
+DEBUG_RODATA y # Make kernel text & rodata read-only
+DEBUG_WX y # A one-time check for W+X mappings at boot; doesn't do anything beyond printing a warning
+
+# Additional validation of commonly targetted structures
+DEBUG_CREDENTIALS y
+DEBUG_NOTIFIERS y
+DEBUG_LIST y
+
+HARDENED_USERCOPY y # Bounds check usercopy
+
+# Wipe on free with page_poison=1
+PAGE_POISONING y
+PAGE_POISONING_NO_SANITY y
+PAGE_POISONING_ZERO y
+
+# Stricter /dev/mem
+STRICT_DEVMEM y
+IO_STRICT_DEVMEM y
+
+# Disable various dangerous settings
+ACPI_CUSTOM_METHOD n # Allows writing directly to physical memory
+PROC_KCORE n # Exposes kernel text image layout
+INET_DIAG n # Has been used for heap based attacks in the past
+
+${optionalString (stdenv.system == "x86_64-linux") ''
+  DEFAULT_MMAP_MIN_ADDR 65536 # Prevent allocation of first 64K of memory
+
+  # Reduce attack surface by disabling various emulations
+  IA32_EMULATION n
+  X86_X32 n
+
+  VMAP_STACK y # Catch kernel stack overflows
+''}
+
+''
diff --git a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
index f3d6104166bb..01a862c6c835 100644
--- a/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
+++ b/pkgs/top-level/all-packages.nix
@@ -11905,6 +11905,16 @@ with pkgs;
   # Build a kernel for Xen dom0
   linuxPackages_latest_xen_dom0 = recurseIntoAttrs (linuxPackagesFor (pkgs.linux_latest.override { features.xen_dom0=true; }));
 
+  # Hardened linux
+  linux_hardened = linux_4_9.override {
+    extraConfig = import ../os-specific/linux/kernel/hardened-config.nix {
+      inherit stdenv;
+    };
+  };
+
+  linuxPackages_hardened =
+    recurseIntoAttrs (linuxPackagesFor linux_hardened);
+
   # Grsecurity packages
 
   linux_grsec_nixos = kernelPatches.grsecurity_testing;