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<h1>Documentation - GrapheneOS hardened_malloc</h1>
<p>This documentation contains instructions to use
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc">GrapheneOS hardened_malloc</a>
memory allocator as the system's default memory allocator. These instructions apply to both musl
and glibc C libraries on Unix-based and Unix-like systems. hardened_malloc can also be used
per-application and/or per-user, in which case root permissions are not required; this
documentation focuses on system-wide usage of hardened_malloc, assumes root privileges, and
assumes the compiled library will be located in a path readable by all users of the system.</p>
<p>For the complete hardened_malloc documentation, visit its
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc">official documentation</a>.</p>
<p>This documentation is also available in portable AsciiDoc format in my
<a href="https://src.inferencium.net/Inferencium/doc/src/branch/stable/security/hardened_malloc.adoc">documentation source code repository</a>.
<!-- Table of contents -->
<section id="toc">
<h2 id="toc"><a href="#toc">Table of Contents<a/></h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#memory_pages">Increase Permitted Amount of Memory Pages</a></li>
<li><a href="#clone_source_code">Clone hardened_malloc Source Code</a></li>
<li><a href="#enter_local_repository">Enter hardened_malloc Local Git Repository</a></li>
<li><a href="#compile">Compile hardened_malloc</a></li>
<li><a href="#copy_library">Copy Compiled hardened_malloc Library</a></li>
<li><a href="#preload_on_boot">Set System to Preload hardened_malloc on Boot</a></li>
</ul>
</section>
<section id="memory_pages">
<h2 id="memory_pages"><a href="#memory_pages">Increase Permitted Amount of Memory Pages</a></h2>
<p>Add <code>vm.max_map_count = 1048576</code> to <code>/etc/sysctl.conf</code>
to accommodate hardened_mallocs large amount of guard pages.</p>
</section>
<section id="clone_source_code">
<h2 id="clone_source_code"><a href="#clone_source_code">Clone hardened_malloc Source Code</a></h2>
<p><code>$ git clone https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc.git</code></p>
</section>
<section id="enter_local_repository">
<h2 id="enter_local_repository"><a href="#enter_local_repository">Enter hardened_malloc Local Git Repository</a></h2>
<p><code>$ cd hardened_malloc/</code></p>
</section>
<section id="compile">
<h2 id="compile"><a href="#compile">Compile hardened_malloc</a></h2>
<p><p><code>$ make &lt;arguments&gt;</code></p>
<p><code>CONFIG_N_ARENA=<var>n</var></code> can be adjusted to increase parallel
performance at the expense of memory usage, or decrease memory usage at the
expense of parallel performance, where <var>n</var> is an integer. Higher values
prefer parallel performance, lower values prefer lower memory usage. The number
of arenas has no impact on the security properties of hardened_malloc.
<ul>
<li>Minimum number of arenas: 1</li>
<li>Maximum number of arenas: 256</li>
</ul>
<p>For extra security, <code>CONFIG_SEAL_METADATA=true</code> can be used in
order to control whether Memory Protection Keys are used to disable access to
all writable allocator state outside of the memory allocator code. Its
currently disabled by default due to a significant performance cost for this use
case on current generation hardware. Whether or not this feature is enabled, the
metadata is all contained within an isolated memory region with high entropy
random guard regions around it.</p>
<p>For low-memory systems, <code>VARIANT=light</code> can be used to compile the
light variant of hardened_malloc, which sacrifices some security for much less
memory usage.</p>
<p>For all compile-time options, see the
<a href="https://github.com/GrapheneOS/hardened_malloc#configuration">configuration section</a>
of hardened_mallocs extensive official documentation.</p>
</section>
<section id="copy_library">
<h2 id="copy_library"><a href="#copy_library">Copy Compiled hardened_malloc Library</a></h2>
<p><code># cp out/libhardened_malloc.so &lt;target path&gt;</code></p>
</section>
<section id="preload_on_boot">
<h2 id="preload_on_boot"><a href="#preload_on_boot">Set System to Preload hardened_malloc on Boot</a></h2>
<p>musl-based systems: Add <code>export LD_PRELOAD="&lt;hardened_malloc path&gt;"</code>
to <code>/etc/environment</code><br>
glibc-based systems: Add <code>&lt;hardened_malloc path&gt;</code> to <code>/etc/ld.so.preload</code></p>
</section>
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