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diff --git a/Documentation/security/smm.md b/Documentation/security/smm.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4e95427b86 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/smm.md @@ -0,0 +1,29 @@ +# x86 System Managment Mode + +## Introduction + +The code running in System Management Mode (SMM) provides runtime services +to applications running in [ring0]. It has a higher privilege level than +[ring0] and resides in the SMRAM region which cannot be accessed from [ring0]. + +SMM can be entered by issuing System Managment Interrupts (SMIs). + +## Secure data exchange + +In order to not leak SMM internals or accidentally overwrite parts of SMM, +[ring0] provided data (pointers, offsets, sizes, ...) must be checked before +using them in SMM. + +There exist two methods to verify data: + +```C +/* Returns true if the region overlaps with the SMM */ +bool smm_region_overlaps_handler(struct region *r); +``` + +```C +/* Returns true if the memory pointed to overlaps with SMM reserved memory. */ +static inline bool smm_points_to_smram(const void *ptr, const size_t len); +``` + +[ring0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_ring |