Re: [PATCH RFC] cred: Add WARN to detect wrong use of get/put_cred

From: Kees Cook
Date: Fri Jun 12 2020 - 13:06:54 EST


On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 06:33:45PM +0200, Peter Zijlstra wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 12, 2020 at 06:28:15PM +0800, Xiaoming Ni wrote:
> > Cred release and usage check code flow:
> > 1. put_cred()
> > if (atomic_dec_and_test(&(cred)->usage))
> > __put_cred(cred);
> >
> > 2. __put_cred()
> > BUG_ON(atomic_read(&cred->usage) != 0);
> > call_rcu(&cred->rcu, put_cred_rcu);
> >
> > 3. put_cred_rcu()
> > if (atomic_read(&cred->usage) != 0)
> > panic("CRED: put_cred_rcu() sees %p with usage %d\n",
> > cred, atomic_read(&cred->usage));
> > kmem_cache_free(cred_jar, cred);
> >
> > If panic is triggered on put_cred_rcu(), there are two possibilities
> > 1. Call get_cred() after __put_cred(), usage > 0
> > 2. Call put_cred() after __put_cred(), usage < 0
> > Since put_cred_rcu is an asynchronous behavior, it is no longer the first
> > scene when panic, there is no information about the murderer in the panic
> > call stack...
> >
> > So, add WARN() in get_cred()/put_cred(), and pray to catch the murderer
> > at the first scene.
>
> Why not not use refcount_t? It has all that goodness and more.

I thought these had been applied already, I guess not:
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20190306110549.7628-1-elena.reshetova@xxxxxxxxx/

Can we try again?

--
Kees Cook