Re: [PATCH] nvmet-auth: validate reply message payload bounds against transfer length

[Christoph Hellwig]

On Mon, Jun 01, 2026 at 08:58:18AM +0000, Tianchu Chen wrote:
> I think the current patch doesn't actually allows overflow.
> 
> hl is a __u8 and dhvlen is a __le16. So the maximum value of
> sizeof(*data) + 2 * (size_t)data->hl + dhvlen
> is 66061, which is far below SIZE_MAX. It can't wrap.

True.

> 
> About rewritting using struct_size: we still need to check
> tl >= struct_size(data, rval, 0) first,

Yes, or the existing sizeof.

> which is exactly the same
> as just using sizeof(*data) in current patch. Because we have to
> confirm the header is fully present before we can even read
> hl / dhvlen, which are the values that determine the minimum
> required rval[] length.
> 
> So I believe the current patch already achieves the intended
> goal of validating the payload against the buffer size,
> using struct_size won't change the behavior.

I find untangling magic numbers a bit hard.  Now unlike more
conventional cases we're stuck with some of them, but trying
to make the expression as self-describing as possible would
still be nice.

> That said, I'm happy to send a v2 that uses struct_size(data, rval, 0)

For the anchor that's not all that useful.

Anyway, let's keep the original version for now.  I noticed there
is more of that 2 * magic in surrounding code, so we'll need to
address that separately instead of burdening it on you.