Re: [PATCH v2 1/1] binfmt_elf, coredump: Log the reason of the failed core dumps

[Kees Cook]

On Fri, Jul 12, 2024 at 02:50:56PM -0700, Roman Kisel wrote:
> Missing, failed, or corrupted core dumps might impede crash
> investigations. To improve reliability of that process and consequently
> the programs themselves, one needs to trace the path from producing
> a core dumpfile to analyzing it. That path starts from the core dump file
> written to the disk by the kernel or to the standard input of a user
> mode helper program to which the kernel streams the coredump contents.
> There are cases where the kernel will interrupt writing the core out or
> produce a truncated/not-well-formed core dump without leaving a note.
> 
> Add logging for the core dump collection failure paths to be able to reason
> what has gone wrong when the core dump is malformed or missing.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Roman Kisel <romank@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
>  fs/binfmt_elf.c          |  60 ++++++++++++++++-----
>  fs/coredump.c            | 109 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
>  include/linux/coredump.h |   8 ++-
>  kernel/signal.c          |  22 +++++++-
>  4 files changed, 165 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/fs/binfmt_elf.c b/fs/binfmt_elf.c
> index a43897b03ce9..cfe84b9436af 100644
> --- a/fs/binfmt_elf.c
> +++ b/fs/binfmt_elf.c
> @@ -1994,8 +1994,11 @@ static int elf_core_dump(struct coredump_params *cprm)
>  	 * Collect all the non-memory information about the process for the
>  	 * notes.  This also sets up the file header.
>  	 */
> -	if (!fill_note_info(&elf, e_phnum, &info, cprm))
> +	if (!fill_note_info(&elf, e_phnum, &info, cprm)) {
> +		pr_err_ratelimited("Error collecting note info, core dump of %s(PID %d) failed\n",
> +			current->comm, current->pid);

A couple things come to mind for me as I scanned through this:

- Do we want to report pid or tgid?
- Do we want to report the global value or the current pid namespace
  mapping?

Because I notice that the existing code:

>  			printk(KERN_WARNING "Pid %d(%s) over core_pipe_limit\n",
>  			       task_tgid_vnr(current), current->comm);

Is reporting tgid for current's pid namespace. We should be consistent.

I think all of this might need cleaning up first before adding new
reports. We should consolidate the reporting into a single function so
this is easier to extend in the future. Right now the proposed patch is
hand-building the report, and putting pid/comm in different places (at
the end, at the beginning, with/without "of", etc), which is really just
boilerplate repetition.

How about creating:

static void coredump_report_failure(const char *msg)
{
	char comm[TASK_COMM_LEN];

	task_get_comm(current, comm);

	pr_warn_ratelimited("coredump: %d(%*pE): %s\n",
			    task_tgid_vnr(current), strlen(comm), comm, msg);
}

Then in a new first patch, convert all the existing stuff:

	printk(KERN_WARNING ...)
	pr_info(...)
	etc

Since even the existing warnings are inconsistent and don't escape
newlines, etc. :)

Then in patch 2 use this to add the new warnings?

-- 
Kees Cook