10 Mar
2021
10 Mar
'21
11:56 p.m.
On Tue, 9 Mar 2021 13:42:55 -0800 Kees Cook keescook@chromium.org wrote:
Choosing the initial state of static branches changes the assembly layout (if the condition is expected to be likely, inline, or unlikely, out of line via a jump). The _TRUE/_FALSE defines for CONFIG_INIT_ON_*_DEFAULT_ON were accidentally removed. These need to stay so that the CONFIG controls the pessimization of the resulting static branch NOP/JMP locations.
Changelog doesn't really explain why anyone would want to apply this patch. This is especially important for -stable patches.
IOW, what is the user visible effect of the bug?