[PATCH net-next] devlink: Replace strlcat() with seq_buf

From: Ian Bridges

Date: Fri Jul 03 2026 - 23:49:58 EST


In preparation for removing the strlcat() API[1], replace its uses in
__devlink_compat_running_version().

The function accumulates a variable number of version strings into a
fixed buffer, which is what seq_buf is for. The seq_buf is anchored at
the end of any existing string in the buffer and each version string
is appended with a single seq_buf_printf(). The output is unchanged,
including under truncation.

Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/370 [1]
Signed-off-by: Ian Bridges <icb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
The patch was tested as follows, on top of net-next:
- x86_64 allmodconfig and allyesconfig builds of net/devlink/dev.o at
W=1 produce no warnings.
- A userspace comparison of the old and new construction ran with
randomized version lists and buffer contents across all buffer
fill levels. The outputs are byte-identical in every case,
including on overflow.
- The changed path was exercised in a QEMU guest through the ethtool
GDRVINFO ioctl against a netdevsim device, before and after the
change, with identical fw_version output.

net/devlink/dev.c | 9 +++++++--
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/net/devlink/dev.c b/net/devlink/dev.c
index 57b2b8f03543..0d4301267171 100644
--- a/net/devlink/dev.c
+++ b/net/devlink/dev.c
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
*/

#include <linux/device.h>
+#include <linux/seq_buf.h>
#include <net/genetlink.h>
#include <net/sock.h>
#include "devl_internal.h"
@@ -1188,8 +1189,10 @@ static void __devlink_compat_running_version(struct devlink *devlink,
char *buf, size_t len)
{
struct devlink_info_req req = {};
+ size_t used = strnlen(buf, len);
const struct nlattr *nlattr;
struct sk_buff *msg;
+ struct seq_buf sb;
int rem, err;

msg = nlmsg_new(NLMSG_DEFAULT_SIZE, GFP_KERNEL);
@@ -1201,6 +1204,8 @@ static void __devlink_compat_running_version(struct devlink *devlink,
if (err)
goto free_msg;

+ seq_buf_init(&sb, buf + used, len - used);
+
nla_for_each_attr_type(nlattr, DEVLINK_ATTR_INFO_VERSION_RUNNING,
(void *)msg->data, msg->len, rem) {
const struct nlattr *kv;
@@ -1208,8 +1213,8 @@ static void __devlink_compat_running_version(struct devlink *devlink,

nla_for_each_nested_type(kv, DEVLINK_ATTR_INFO_VERSION_VALUE,
nlattr, rem_kv) {
- strlcat(buf, nla_data(kv), len);
- strlcat(buf, " ", len);
+ seq_buf_printf(&sb, "%s ",
+ (const char *)nla_data(kv));
}
}
free_msg:
--
2.47.3