[PATCH 28/29] perf session: Snapshot event->header.size in process_user_event()
From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo
Date: Tue May 26 2026 - 17:27:43 EST
From: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
On native-endian files, events are read from MAP_SHARED memory.
Multiple reads of event->header.size can return different values
if the file is concurrently modified, allowing an attacker to
bypass bounds checks performed on an earlier read.
Snapshot header.size into a local variable at function entry using
READ_ONCE() to prevent compiler rematerialization, and use it for
all size-dependent arithmetic within the function. This ensures
every bounds calculation uses the same value that was validated
by the reader.
Reported-by: sashiko-bot@xxxxxxxxxx # Running on a local machine
Cc: Ian Rogers <irogers@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@xxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@xxxxxxxxxx>
Assisted-by: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
tools/perf/util/session.c | 27 +++++++++++++--------------
1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 14 deletions(-)
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/session.c b/tools/perf/util/session.c
index 6de665d3c9054179..e2e821b77766dbfc 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/session.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/session.c
@@ -2230,6 +2230,7 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
{
struct ordered_events *oe = &session->ordered_events;
const struct perf_tool *tool = session->tool;
+ const u32 event_size = READ_ONCE(event->header.size);
struct perf_sample sample;
int fd = perf_data__fd(session->data);
s64 err;
@@ -2271,7 +2272,7 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
break;
case PERF_RECORD_HEADER_BUILD_ID:
if (!perf_event__check_nul(event->build_id.filename,
- (void *)event + event->header.size,
+ (void *)event + event_size,
"HEADER_BUILD_ID")) {
err = 0;
break;
@@ -2294,7 +2295,7 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
* place already.
*/
if (!perf_data__is_pipe(session->data))
- lseek(fd, file_offset + event->header.size, SEEK_SET);
+ lseek(fd, file_offset + event_size, SEEK_SET);
err = tool->auxtrace(tool, session, event);
break;
case PERF_RECORD_AUXTRACE_ERROR:
@@ -2304,14 +2305,14 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
case PERF_RECORD_THREAD_MAP: {
u64 max_nr;
- if (event->header.size < sizeof(event->thread_map)) {
+ if (event_size < sizeof(event->thread_map)) {
pr_err("PERF_RECORD_THREAD_MAP: header.size (%u) too small\n",
- event->header.size);
+ event_size);
err = -EINVAL;
break;
}
- max_nr = (event->header.size - sizeof(event->thread_map)) /
+ max_nr = (event_size - sizeof(event->thread_map)) /
sizeof(event->thread_map.entries[0]);
if (event->thread_map.nr > max_nr) {
pr_err("PERF_RECORD_THREAD_MAP: nr %" PRIu64 " exceeds max %" PRIu64 "\n",
@@ -2325,7 +2326,7 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
}
case PERF_RECORD_CPU_MAP: {
struct perf_record_cpu_map_data *data = &event->cpu_map.data;
- u32 payload = event->header.size - sizeof(event->header);
+ u32 payload = event_size - sizeof(event->header);
/*
* Native-endian events are mmap'd read-only, so we
@@ -2389,8 +2390,8 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
break;
}
case PERF_RECORD_STAT_CONFIG: {
- /* Cannot underflow: perf_event__min_size[] guarantees header.size >= sizeof */
- u64 max_nr = (event->header.size - sizeof(event->stat_config)) /
+ /* Cannot underflow: perf_event__min_size[] guarantees event_size >= sizeof */
+ u64 max_nr = (event_size - sizeof(event->stat_config)) /
sizeof(event->stat_config.data[0]);
/*
@@ -2421,7 +2422,7 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
*/
memset(&session->time_conv, 0, sizeof(session->time_conv));
memcpy(&session->time_conv, &event->time_conv,
- min((size_t)event->header.size, sizeof(session->time_conv)));
+ min((size_t)event_size, sizeof(session->time_conv)));
err = tool->time_conv(tool, session, event);
break;
case PERF_RECORD_HEADER_FEATURE:
@@ -2438,11 +2439,10 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
break;
case PERF_RECORD_BPF_METADATA: {
u64 nr_entries, max_entries;
- u32 hdr_size = READ_ONCE(event->header.size);
- if (hdr_size < sizeof(event->bpf_metadata)) {
+ if (event_size < sizeof(event->bpf_metadata)) {
pr_warning("WARNING: PERF_RECORD_BPF_METADATA: header.size (%u) too small, skipping\n",
- hdr_size);
+ event_size);
err = 0;
break;
}
@@ -2458,9 +2458,8 @@ static s64 perf_session__process_user_event(struct perf_session *session,
break;
}
- /* Snapshot — event is mmap'd and could change between reads */
nr_entries = READ_ONCE(event->bpf_metadata.nr_entries);
- max_entries = (hdr_size - sizeof(event->bpf_metadata)) /
+ max_entries = (event_size - sizeof(event->bpf_metadata)) /
sizeof(event->bpf_metadata.entries[0]);
if (nr_entries > max_entries) {
pr_warning("WARNING: PERF_RECORD_BPF_METADATA: nr_entries %" PRIu64 " exceeds max %" PRIu64 ", skipping\n",
--
2.54.0