Re: [PATCH v15 01/11] entry: Fix potential syscall truncation in syscall_trace_enter()

[Jinjie Ruan]

On 6/25/2026 1:34 AM, Thomas Gleixner wrote:
> On Mon, May 11 2026 at 17:20, Jinjie Ruan wrote:
>> In syscall_trace_enter(), the current logic returns "ret ? : syscall".
>> While __secure_computing() currently only returns 0 (allow) or -1 (kill),
>> this "ret ? : syscall" pattern is conceptually flawed.
>>
>> If __secure_computing() were to return a non-zero value that isn't -1, it
>> would unintentionally override the actual system call number. This logic
>> is redundant because if seccomp denies the syscall, the execution path
>> should already be handled by the caller based on the error return, rather
>> than conflating the return code with the syscall number.
>>
>> Fix it by explicitly returning the syscall number. This ensures
>> the syscall register remains untainted by the trace return values and
>> aligns with the expectation that seccomp-related interceptions are
>> handled via the -1 return status.
>>
>> Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@xxxxxxxxxx>
>> Fixes: 142781e108b1 ("entry: Provide generic syscall entry functionality")
> 
> What's fixed here?
> 
> A potential future change of the __secure_computing() return value
> requires that _ALL_ callsites of that function have to be audited
> and fixed up, no?
> 
> So the change is not a fix it's an optimization to get rid of the extra
> conditional.
> 
> If you really want to sanitize this, then change the
> __secure_computing() return type to boolean (true = allow, false =
> fail) and fixup the two dozen or so call sites.

Hi, Thomas

That's an excellent suggestion. Changing __secure_computing() to a
boolean return type makes the seccomp boundary much more intuitive and
cleans up a lot of historical legacy.

I am happy to take this on. I will implement this sanitization by
changing the return type to bool and fixing up all the ~24 call sites
across the tree. To keep the series clean and bisectable, I will include
this as a standalone prerequisite cleanup patch at the very beginning of
the v16 series.

Thanks for pushing for a cleaner codebase!

Best regards,
Jinjie

> 
> Thanks,
> 
>         tglx
>