git: b20883e8210e - main - mitigations.7: Describe LASS
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Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 15:22:29 UTC
The branch main has been updated by emaste:
URL: https://cgit.FreeBSD.org/src/commit/?id=b20883e8210eb30c8ffba467c4bc9fce89bde6c4
commit b20883e8210eb30c8ffba467c4bc9fce89bde6c4
Author: Ed Maste <emaste@FreeBSD.org>
AuthorDate: 2026-02-13 20:31:51 +0000
Commit: Ed Maste <emaste@FreeBSD.org>
CommitDate: 2026-02-18 15:22:14 +0000
mitigations.7: Describe LASS
Reviewed by: kib, markj
Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation
Differential Revision: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D55281
---
share/man/man7/mitigations.7 | 17 +++++++++++++++--
1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/share/man/man7/mitigations.7 b/share/man/man7/mitigations.7
index c3c6ab55c480..37a81986e372 100644
--- a/share/man/man7/mitigations.7
+++ b/share/man/man7/mitigations.7
@@ -335,8 +335,17 @@ Another feature prevents unintended reads from or writes to user space memory
from the kernel.
This also provides effective protection against NULL pointer dereferences from
kernel.
+An additional mechanism,
+Linear Address Space Separation (LASS), is available on some amd64 machines.
+LASS prevents user-mode applications from accessing kernel-mode memory,
+and the kernel from unsanctioned access to userspace memory.
+Unlike page table-based permission controls, LASS is based only on address
+values.
+As a consequence of enforcing this separation in hardware, LASS also provides
+mitigation against certain speculative-execution side-channel attacks.
.Bl -column -offset indent "Architecture" "Feature" "Access Type Prevented"
.It Sy Architecture Ta Sy Feature Ta Sy Access Type Prevented
+.It amd64 Ta LASS Ta All
.It amd64 Ta SMAP Ta Read / Write
.It amd64 Ta SMEP Ta Execute
.It arm64 Ta PAN Ta Read / Write
@@ -345,8 +354,12 @@ kernel.
.It riscv Ta - Ta Execute
.El
.Pp
-These features are automatically used by the kernel.
-There is no user-facing configuration.
+Most of these features are automatically used by the kernel,
+with no user-facing configuration.
+LASS is controlled by the
+.Va hw.lass
+loader tunable.
+It is enabled by default, when available.
.\"
.Ss Capsicum
Capsicum is a lightweight OS capability and sandbox framework.