Re: [PATCH] kdb: prevent possible null deref in kdb_msg_write

[Petr Mladek]

On Mon 2020-06-29 16:59:24, Cengiz Can wrote:
> `kdb_msg_write` operates on a global `struct kgdb_io *` called
> `dbg_io_ops`.
> 
> Although it is initialized in `debug_core.c`, there's a null check in
> `kdb_msg_write` which implies that it can be null whenever we dereference
> it in this function call.
> 
> Coverity scanner caught this as CID 1465042.
> 
> I have modified the function to bail out if `dbg_io_ops` is not properly
> initialized.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Cengiz Can <cengiz@xxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  kernel/debug/kdb/kdb_io.c | 15 ++++++++-------
>  1 file changed, 8 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/kernel/debug/kdb/kdb_io.c b/kernel/debug/kdb/kdb_io.c
> index 683a799618ad..85e579812458 100644
> --- a/kernel/debug/kdb/kdb_io.c
> +++ b/kernel/debug/kdb/kdb_io.c
> @@ -549,14 +549,15 @@ static void kdb_msg_write(const char *msg, int msg_len)
>  	if (msg_len == 0)
>  		return;
>  
> -	if (dbg_io_ops) {
> -		const char *cp = msg;
> -		int len = msg_len;
> +	if (!dbg_io_ops)
> +		return;

This looks wrong. The message should be printed to the consoles
even when dbg_io_ops is NULL. I mean that the for_each_console(c)
cycle should always get called.

Well, the code really looks racy. dbg_io_ops is set under
kgdb_registration_lock. IMHO, it should also get accessed under this lock.

It seems that the race is possible. kdb_msg_write() is called from
vkdb_printf(). This function is serialized on more CPUs using
kdb_printf_cpu lock. But it is not serialized with
kgdb_register_io_module() and kgdb_unregister_io_module() calls.

But I might miss something. dbg_io_ops is dereferenced on many other
locations without any check.


>  
> -		while (len--) {
> -			dbg_io_ops->write_char(*cp);
> -			cp++;
> -		}
> +	const char *cp = msg;
> +	int len = msg_len;
> +
> +	while (len--) {
> +		dbg_io_ops->write_char(*cp);
> +		cp++;
>  	}
>  
>  	for_each_console(c) {

You probably got confused by this new code:

		if (c == dbg_io_ops->cons)
			continue;

It dereferences dbg_io_ops without NULL check. It should probably
get replaced by:

		if (dbg_io_ops && c == dbg_io_ops->cons)
			continue;

Daniel, Sumit, could you please put some light on this?

Best Regards,
Petr