[tor-bugs] #18901 [Core Tor/Tor]: Should we stop appling --enable-expensive-hardening to constant-time code ?

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#18901: Should we stop appling --enable-expensive-hardening to constant-time code ?
------------------------------+---------------------------------------
     Reporter:  nickm         |      Owner:
         Type:  defect        |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium        |  Milestone:
    Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal        |   Keywords:  029-backport 029-proposed
Actual Points:                |  Parent ID:
       Points:                |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                |
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 The ubsan and asan options introduce branch instructions all over the
 place.  Although these branches are never actually taken in by code that
 doesn't immediately crash, I'm concerned that they might make our
 constant-time code less constant-time, with a suitably weird branch
 predictor.

 (I have no evidence that this is actually happening, but the whole
 situation is a confusing mess.)

 Out of an abundance of caution, I'd suggest that we make those options
 apply only to the non-constant-time code

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/18901>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
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