Re: [PATCH] [RESEND, net-next, v2] tcp: use monotonic timestamps for PAWS

From: Eric Dumazet
Date: Wed Jul 11 2018 - 08:17:52 EST




On 07/11/2018 03:16 AM, Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> Using get_seconds() for timestamps is deprecated since it can lead
> to overflows on 32-bit systems. While the interface generally doesn't
> overflow until year 2106, the specific implementation of the TCP PAWS
> algorithm breaks in 2038 when the intermediate signed 32-bit timestamps
> overflow.
>
> A related problem is that the local timestamps in CLOCK_REALTIME form
> lead to unexpected behavior when settimeofday is called to set the system
> clock backwards or forwards by more than 24 days.
>
> While the first problem could be solved by using an overflow-safe method
> of comparing the timestamps, a nicer solution is to use a monotonic
> clocksource with ktime_get_seconds() that simply doesn't overflow (at
> least not until 136 years after boot) and that doesn't change during
> settimeofday().
>
> To make 32-bit and 64-bit architectures behave the same way here, and
> also save a few bytes in the tcp_options_received structure, I'm changing
> the type to a 32-bit integer, which is now safe on all architectures.

Nit: This is only manipulated under socket lock protection, so it is safe even on
32bit kernels.

>
> Finally, the ts_recent_stamp field also (confusingly) gets used to store
> a jiffies value in tcp_synq_overflow()/tcp_synq_no_recent_overflow().
> This is currently safe, but changing the type to 32-bit requires
> some small changes there to keep it working.
>
> Signed-off-by: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
> v2: use time_before32()/time_after32() everywhere as suggested
> Eric Dumazet in https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/67ebb94d-c73f-6c9f-493b-00c86f595120@xxxxxxxxx/

SGTM, thanks Arnd

Signed-off-by: Eric Dumazet <edumazet@xxxxxxxxxx>