Move from sdmem to memtest
Rationale
Replace sdmem with the Linux kernel’s memtest=2
feature will fix
sdmem does not clear all
memory
and will generally be simpler and more robust.
Update: according to Liberte Linux’ Maxim Kammerer, the
memtest=
approach is flawed; it only tests LOWMEM, "so it seems that at most ~895 MiB can be tested in 32-bit x86 kernels". Therefore, it’s currently not fit for any kind of anti-forensics memory wiping. Being discussed on tails-dev / reported upstream, end of 2011: from sdmem to memtest, and testing procedures, PROBLEM: memtest tests only LOWMEM. Max Kammerer opened Linux bug 42630.Let’s wait for the outcome of the discussion with upstream.
There has been basically no progress 3 months later. We probably have to find an interested kernel hacker to patch the "memtest" code for our usecase.
Plans
Implemented in bugfix/from_sdmem_to_memtest
branch.
Let’s wait for feature/hugetlb_mem_wipe
to be merged. If we’re happy
with it, we can avoid moving to memtest.
Related issues
- Related to #5762 (closed)
-
Blocked by #5342 (closed)
Original created by @tails on 5658 (Redmine)