Re: [PATCH] binder: do not crash on bad transaction in binder_thread_release()

[Carlos Llamas]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 05:24:14PM +0200, Frode Isaksen wrote:
> From: Frode Isaksen <frode@xxxxxxxx>
> 
> Instead of calling BUG(), set the binder_thread to NULL,
Yeap, not crashing the kernel is a good idea.

> as is done in other parts of the code.
> Log if it is a bad transaction (other than in or out).
> The BUG in binder_thread_release() was preceded by
> these warning logs:
> binder: 1198:1217 got reply transaction with bad transaction stack,
>  transaction 49693 has target 1198:0

So tid 1217 is sending a reply to an incoming sync transaction. However,
its transaction_stack shows that t->to_thread is NULL. I have no idea
how can this be possible. When the transaction was picked up by 1217,
its info was recorded in its transaction_stack as such:

	if (cmd != BR_REPLY && !(t->flags & TF_ONE_WAY)) {
		binder_inner_proc_lock(thread->proc);
		t->to_parent = thread->transaction_stack;
		t->to_thread = thread;            <----- HERE
		thread->transaction_stack = t;
		binder_inner_proc_unlock(thread->proc);
	}

I don't understand how 't->to_thread' later becomes NULL, maybe memory
corruption?

> binder: 1198:1217 transaction failed 29201/-71, size 4-0 line 3065
> ...
> binder: release 954:1333 transaction 49693 out, still active
> ...
> binder: release 1198:1217 transaction 49693 out, still active
> kernel BUG at drivers/android/binder.c:5070!
> 
> Signed-off-by: Frode Isaksen <frode@xxxxxxxx>
> ---
> This bug was discovered, tested and fixed (no more crashes seen) on Meta Quest 3 device.

Do you have a way to reproduce this? It sounds like there is something
else going wrong before and we probably want to fix that.

> 
>  drivers/android/binder.c | 5 +++--
>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/android/binder.c b/drivers/android/binder.c
> index 76052006bd87..c21d7806e42b 100644
> --- a/drivers/android/binder.c
> +++ b/drivers/android/binder.c
> @@ -5302,7 +5302,8 @@ static int binder_thread_release(struct binder_proc *proc,
>  			     "release %d:%d transaction %d %s, still active\n",
>  			      proc->pid, thread->pid,
>  			     t->debug_id,
> -			     (t->to_thread == thread) ? "in" : "out");
> +			     (t->to_thread == thread) ? "in" :
> +			     (t->from == thread) ? "out" : "bad");
>  
>  		if (t->to_thread == thread) {
>  			thread->proc->outstanding_txns--;
> @@ -5317,7 +5318,7 @@ static int binder_thread_release(struct binder_proc *proc,
>  			t->from = NULL;
>  			t = t->from_parent;
>  		} else
> -			BUG();
> +			t = NULL;

Dropping BUG() is nice but this could use en error message.

>  		spin_unlock(&last_t->lock);
>  		if (t)
>  			spin_lock(&t->lock);
> -- 
> 2.49.0
> 

Regards,
--
Carlos Llamas