[PATCH v2] tracing/hist: bound expression strings with seq_buf

From: Pengpeng Hou

Date: Thu Apr 09 2026 - 04:31:28 EST


expr_str() allocates a fixed MAX_FILTER_STR_VAL buffer and then builds
expression names with a series of raw strcat() appends. Nested operands,
constants and field flags can push the rendered string past that fixed
limit before the name is attached to the hist field.

Build the expression strings with seq_buf and propagate failures back to
the expression parser when the rendered name would exceed
MAX_FILTER_STR_VAL.

Signed-off-by: Pengpeng Hou <pengpeng@xxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Changes since v1:
- replace the previous bounded append helper and manual length tracking
with seq_buf as suggested by Steven Rostedt
- keep the -E2BIG propagation back into parse_unary() and parse_expr()

kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c | 93 ++++++++++++++++++++++----------
1 file changed, 64 insertions(+), 29 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
index 73ea180cad55..09aaedb92993 100644
--- a/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
+++ b/kernel/trace/trace_events_hist.c
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kallsyms.h>
#include <linux/security.h>
+#include <linux/seq_buf.h>
#include <linux/mutex.h>
#include <linux/slab.h>
#include <linux/stacktrace.h>
@@ -1738,85 +1739,104 @@ static const char *get_hist_field_flags(struct hist_field *hist_field)
return flags_str;
}

-static void expr_field_str(struct hist_field *field, char *expr)
+static bool expr_field_str(struct hist_field *field, struct seq_buf *s)
{
+ const char *field_name;
+
if (field->flags & HIST_FIELD_FL_VAR_REF)
- strcat(expr, "$");
- else if (field->flags & HIST_FIELD_FL_CONST) {
- char str[HIST_CONST_DIGITS_MAX];
+ seq_buf_putc(s, '$');
+ else if (field->flags & HIST_FIELD_FL_CONST)
+ seq_buf_printf(s, "%llu", field->constant);

- snprintf(str, HIST_CONST_DIGITS_MAX, "%llu", field->constant);
- strcat(expr, str);
- }
+ field_name = hist_field_name(field, 0);
+ if (!field_name)
+ return false;

- strcat(expr, hist_field_name(field, 0));
+ seq_buf_puts(s, field_name);

if (field->flags && !(field->flags & HIST_FIELD_FL_VAR_REF)) {
const char *flags_str = get_hist_field_flags(field);

- if (flags_str) {
- strcat(expr, ".");
- strcat(expr, flags_str);
- }
+ if (flags_str)
+ seq_buf_printf(s, ".%s", flags_str);
}
+
+ return !seq_buf_has_overflowed(s);
}

static char *expr_str(struct hist_field *field, unsigned int level)
{
char *expr;
+ struct seq_buf s;
+ int ret = -E2BIG;

if (level > 1)
- return NULL;
+ return ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);

expr = kzalloc(MAX_FILTER_STR_VAL, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!expr)
- return NULL;
+ return ERR_PTR(-ENOMEM);
+
+ seq_buf_init(&s, expr, MAX_FILTER_STR_VAL);

if (!field->operands[0]) {
- expr_field_str(field, expr);
+ if (!expr_field_str(field, &s))
+ goto free;
+ seq_buf_str(&s);
return expr;
}

if (field->operator == FIELD_OP_UNARY_MINUS) {
char *subexpr;

- strcat(expr, "-(");
+ seq_buf_puts(&s, "-(");
subexpr = expr_str(field->operands[0], ++level);
- if (!subexpr) {
- kfree(expr);
- return NULL;
+ if (IS_ERR(subexpr)) {
+ ret = PTR_ERR(subexpr);
+ goto free;
}
- strcat(expr, subexpr);
- strcat(expr, ")");
+ seq_buf_puts(&s, subexpr);
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, ')');

kfree(subexpr);
+ if (seq_buf_has_overflowed(&s))
+ goto free;

+ seq_buf_str(&s);
return expr;
}

- expr_field_str(field->operands[0], expr);
+ if (!expr_field_str(field->operands[0], &s))
+ goto free;

switch (field->operator) {
case FIELD_OP_MINUS:
- strcat(expr, "-");
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, '-');
break;
case FIELD_OP_PLUS:
- strcat(expr, "+");
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, '+');
break;
case FIELD_OP_DIV:
- strcat(expr, "/");
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, '/');
break;
case FIELD_OP_MULT:
- strcat(expr, "*");
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, '*');
break;
default:
- kfree(expr);
- return NULL;
+ ret = -EINVAL;
+ goto free;
}

- expr_field_str(field->operands[1], expr);
+ if (seq_buf_has_overflowed(&s) ||
+ !expr_field_str(field->operands[1], &s))
+ goto free;

+ seq_buf_str(&s);
return expr;
+
+free:
+ kfree(expr);
+ return ERR_PTR(ret);
}

/*
@@ -2630,6 +2650,11 @@ static struct hist_field *parse_unary(struct hist_trigger_data *hist_data,
expr->is_signed = operand1->is_signed;
expr->operator = FIELD_OP_UNARY_MINUS;
expr->name = expr_str(expr, 0);
+ if (IS_ERR(expr->name)) {
+ ret = PTR_ERR(expr->name);
+ expr->name = NULL;
+ goto free;
+ }
expr->type = kstrdup_const(operand1->type, GFP_KERNEL);
if (!expr->type) {
ret = -ENOMEM;
@@ -2842,6 +2867,11 @@ static struct hist_field *parse_expr(struct hist_trigger_data *hist_data,
destroy_hist_field(operand1, 0);

expr->name = expr_str(expr, 0);
+ if (IS_ERR(expr->name)) {
+ ret = PTR_ERR(expr->name);
+ expr->name = NULL;
+ goto free_expr;
+ }
} else {
/* The operand sizes should be the same, so just pick one */
expr->size = operand1->size;
@@ -2855,6 +2885,11 @@ static struct hist_field *parse_expr(struct hist_trigger_data *hist_data,
}

expr->name = expr_str(expr, 0);
+ if (IS_ERR(expr->name)) {
+ ret = PTR_ERR(expr->name);
+ expr->name = NULL;
+ goto free_expr;
+ }
}

return expr;
--
2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)