Files
s390-tools/genprotimg/README.md
Marc Hartmayer 65b9fc442c genprotimg: introduce new tool for the creation of PV images
Protected VMs (PVM) are KVM VMs, where KVM can't access the VM's state
like guest memory and guest registers anymore. Instead the PVMs are
mostly managed by a new entity called Ultravisor (UV), which provides
an API, so KVM and the PV can request management actions.

PVMs are encrypted at rest and protected from hypervisor access while
running. They switch from a normal operation into protected mode, so
we can still use the standard boot process to load an encrypted image
and then move it into protected mode.

This commit adds the tool 'genprotimg'. It takes a kernel, key files,
optionally an initrd, optionally a file with the kernel command line,
and it generates a single, loadable image file. The image consists of
a concatenation of a plain text boot loader, the encrypted components
for kernel, initrd, and cmdline, and the integrity-protected PV
header, containing metadata necessary for running the guest in PV
mode.

It's possible to use this image file as a kernel for zipl or for a
direct kernel boot using QEMU.

Reviewed-by: Bjoern Walk <bwalk@linux.ibm.com>
Acked-by: Patrick Steuer <patrick.steuer@de.ibm.com>
Reviewed-by: Claudio Imbrenda <imbrenda@linux.ibm.com>
Reviewed-by: Jan Höppner <hoeppner@linux.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Marc Hartmayer <mhartmay@linux.ibm.com>
Signed-off-by: Jan Höppner <hoeppner@linux.ibm.com>
2020-03-16 13:41:35 +01:00

4.8 KiB

genprotimg

genprotimg takes a kernel, key files, optionally an initrd image, optionally a file containing the kernel command line parameters, and generates a single, bootable image file. The generated image file consists of a concatenation of a plain text boot loader, the encrypted components for kernel, initrd, kernel command line, and the integrity-protected PV header, containing the metadata necessary for running the guest in protected mode. See Memory Layout for details about the internal structure of the created image.

It is possible to use the generated image as a kernel for zipl or for a direct kernel boot using QEMU.

Getting started

If all dependencies are met a simple make call in the source tree should be enough for building genprotimg.

Details

The main idea of genprotimg is:

  1. read in all keys, IVs, and other information needed for the encryption of the components and the generation of the PV header
  2. add stub stage3a (so we can calculate the memory addresses)
  3. add components: prepare the components (alignment and encryption) and add them to the memory layout
  4. build and add stage3b: generate the stage3b and add it to the memory layout
  5. generate the PV header: generate the hashes (pld, ald, and tld) of the components and create the PV header and IPIB
  6. parameterize the stub stage3a: uses the IPIB and PV header
  7. write the final image to the specified output path

Boot Loader

The boot loader consists of two parts:

  1. stage3a boot loader (cleartext), this loader is responsible for the transition into the protected mode by doing diag308 subcode 8 and 10 calls.
  2. stage3b boot loader (encrypted), this loader is very similar to the normal zipl stage3 boot loader. It will be loaded by the Ultravisor after the successful transition into protected mode. Like the zipl stage3 boot loader it moves the kernel and patches in the values for initrd and parmline.

The loaders have the following constraints:

  1. It must be possible to place stage3a and stage3b at a location greater than 0x10000 because the zipl stage3 loader zeroes out everything at addresses lower than 0x10000 of the image.
  2. As the stage3 loader of zipl assumes that the passed kernel image looks like a normal kernel image, the zipl stage3 loader modifies the content at the memory area 0x10400 - 0x10800, therefore we leave this area unused in our stage3a loader.
  3. The default entry address used by the zipl stage3 loader is 0x10000 so we add a simple branch to 0x11000 at 0x10000 so the zipl stage3 loader can modify the area 0x10400 - 0x10800 without affecting the stage3a loader.

Detail about stage3b

The stage3b.bin is linked at address 0x9000, therefore it will not work at another address. The relocation support for the stage3b loader, so that it can be placed at addresses != 0x9000, is added in the loader with the name stage3b_reloc.bin. By default, if we're talking about stage3b we refer to stage3b_reloc.bin.

Memory Layout

The memory layout of the bootable file looks like:

+-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |Start |End |Use | +=======================+===========+========================+ |0 |0x7 |Short PSW, starting | | | |instruction at 0x11000 | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |0x10000 |0x10012 |Branch to 0x11000 | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |0x10013 |0x10fff |Left intentionally | | | |unused | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |0x11000 |0x12fff |Stage3a | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |0x13000 |0x13fff |IPIB used as argument | | | |for the diag308 call | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |0x14000 |0x1[45]fff |UV header used for the | | | |diag308 call (size can | | | |be either 1 or 2 pages) | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |NEXT_PAGE_ALIGNED_ADDR | |Encrypted Kernel | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |NEXT_PAGE_ALIGNED_ADDR | |Encrypted Cmdline | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |NEXT_PAGE_ALIGNED_ADDR | |Encrypted Initrd | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+ |NEXT_PAGE_ALIGNED_ADDR | |Encrypted Stage3b_reloc | +-----------------------+-----------+------------------------+