Re: [PATCH] Input: synaptics-rmi4 - bound the SMBus block read to the caller buffer

From: Bryam Vargas

Date: Tue Jun 23 2026 - 03:30:06 EST


On 2026-06-23, Dmitry Torokhov wrote:
> Wolfram, any chance we could get this in? I am getting patches for OOB

Andi, looping you in -- MAINTAINERS hands I2C to you as of v7.1, and this is
Dmitry's 2024 i2c-core safety patch, which I just retested against current
mainline.

Dmitry, it works. You asked me to try it on the rmi_smbus stack overflow I
reported. On current mainline (master 502d801f0ab0) the patch applies with no
change after ~20 months. i2c-core-smbus.o builds, and so do the unchanged 3-arg
callers (ipmi_ssif, pmbus_core) and the 4-arg form. Nothing takes the address
of i2c_smbus_read_block_data(), so the transition macro compiles for every
caller -- each of the ~82 is a plain 3- or 4-arg call.

The concrete user that was missing in 2024: rmi_read_pdt_entry() reads a PDT
entry into an on-stack u8 buf[6], and smb_block_read() hands that buffer to
i2c_smbus_read_block_data() with no size, so a device reporting a block count
of 7..32 smashes the stack. The 4-arg form bounds it to 6:

- retval = i2c_smbus_read_block_data(client, commandcode, buf);
+ retval = i2c_smbus_read_block_data(client, commandcode, len, buf);

Why 4-arg specifically: the 3-arg default (length = I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX) is
byte-identical to today's code, so the core patch alone doesn't fix an
undersized caller -- the safety comes from moving each such caller to 4-arg,
which the rmi_smbus conversion above demonstrates.

rmi_smbus is the undersized caller here; the other block-data callers I checked
size to I2C_SMBUS_BLOCK_MAX, so this is the one live conversion for now and the
macro mainly guards the next small buffer.

I build-tested the above on mainline and A/B-verified the bound with a
userspace ASan mirror (-m64 and -m32; the unbounded value is device payload,
not bus timing, so no RMI hardware is needed): 3-arg/today faults for a count
of 7..32 into buf[6], 4-arg is clean for every count. I didn't boot-test a
patched kernel, so I'm not sending a Tested-by tag -- but happy to add one if
you want a specific config exercised.

I can post the rmi_smbus conversion as a formal patch on top of yours (it's
ready, checkpatch-clean), or you can fold it -- whichever you prefer.

Thanks,
Bryam