Re: [PATCH v6] platform/x86: hp-bioscfg: fix heap OOB in hp_enforce_single_line_input()

From: Muhammad Bilal

Date: Tue Oct 20 2026 - 23:45:29 EST


Hi Ilpo,

> Why use n variant?
strnlen() keeps the read within count, which is the size of buf as far
as this helper knows, so it does not depend on the caller NUL
terminating the buffer. Both current callers pass a kstrdup() copy, so
strlen() works too. I can switch to it in v7 if you prefer.

Thanks
Muhammad

On Wed, Oct 21, 2026 at 2:19 AM Ilpo Järvinen
<ilpo.jarvinen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 16 Oct 2026, Muhammad Bilal wrote:
>
> > The input is copied with kstrdup(), which stops at the first NUL, but
> > the full write size is passed to hp_enforce_single_line_input(). With
> > an embedded NUL the helper reads, and can write one byte, past the
> > copy. Return -EINVAL if the input contains a NUL.
> >
> > Tested on HP EliteBook 840 G2 (Fedora 44, Linux 7.2.8): writing "A\0"
> > followed by 4093 bytes of "B" to current_password 100 times returns
> > -EINVAL every time, without reading into the heap.
> >
> > Fixes: a34fc329b189 ("platform/x86: hp-bioscfg: bioscfg")
> > Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > Suggested-by: Ilpo Järvinen <ilpo.jarvinen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> > Signed-off-by: Muhammad Bilal <meatuni001@xxxxxxxxx>
> > ---
> > Changes in v6:
> > - Return -EINVAL on embedded NUL instead of limiting the scan (Ilpo)
> >
> > v5: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261007134711.473857-1-meatuni001@xxxxxxxxx/
> >
> > drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg/bioscfg.c | 4 ++++
> > 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg/bioscfg.c b/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg/bioscfg.c
> > index 876fc35d035b..e306bd8b1e72 100644
> > --- a/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg/bioscfg.c
> > +++ b/drivers/platform/x86/hp/hp-bioscfg/bioscfg.c
> > @@ -162,6 +162,10 @@ int hp_enforce_single_line_input(char *buf, size_t count)
> > {
> > char *p;
> >
> > + /* buf is a string, so a NUL before count is invalid input */
> > + if (strnlen(buf, count) < count)
>
> Why use n variant?
>
> > + return -EINVAL;
> > +
> > p = memchr(buf, '\n', count);
> >
> > if (p == buf + count - 1)
> >
> > base-commit: 8667bd30fd033295b3038ce374c551d1059538ba
> >
>
> --
> i.