[PATCH v4 04/11] seq_buf: Clear what a writer did not claim when a seq_buf overflows

From: Kees Cook

Date: Sat Oct 03 2026 - 00:02:18 EST


Using seq_buf_set_overflow() would leave the bytes between "len"
and "size" untouched, so if seq_buf_str() is used on an overflowed
seq_buf, those bytes may be exposed. For any paths that don't claim
partially written bytes, by setting "len = size" before calling
seq_buf_set_overflow(), wipe the unclaimed bytes. The seq_buf_puts()
and related APIs already claim those bytes now, so only the unclaimed
cases remain. A specific example of this was seq_buf_path() which uses
d_path() and would write to the tail before discovering it was out
of space, and would correctly mark a seq_buf as overflowed, but the
path fragment would be left over.

Clear from len to the end of the buffer in seq_buf_set_overflow(), which
every overflow goes through, including seq_buf_commit() with a negative
count.

Add a test that fills a seq_buf, leaves it too little room for a path, and
checks that nothing of the path is left in the buffer. The tests run before
anything writable is mounted, so it takes its file from shmem.

seq_buf_path() was never exported, unlike the other writers, so the
test failed to link as a module. Export it.

Tests passed under qemu on ARCH=x86_64 with GCC 16.2.0 and CONFIG_KASAN=y,
and on big-endian ARCH=s390 with GCC s390x-linux-gnu 16.2.0, and the
test builds as a module (CONFIG_SEQ_BUF_KUNIT_TEST=m).

Assisted-by: LLM
Reviewed-by: Andy Shevchenko <andriy.shevchenko@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/seq_buf.h | 8 +++++--
lib/seq_buf.c | 5 +++++
lib/tests/seq_buf_kunit.c | 45 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
3 files changed, 56 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/seq_buf.h b/include/linux/seq_buf.h
index 77e76e283370..0c0a0db04b09 100644
--- a/include/linux/seq_buf.h
+++ b/include/linux/seq_buf.h
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
#include <linux/bug.h>
#include <linux/minmax.h>
#include <linux/seq_file.h>
+#include <linux/string.h>
#include <linux/types.h>

/*
@@ -58,12 +59,15 @@ seq_buf_has_overflowed(struct seq_buf *s)
/*
* Mark @s as overflowed, which discards the length of what it holds. The
* bytes up to its last one are the string from then on, as that is where
- * seq_buf_str() terminates it, so a caller that could not fill the buffer
- * has to NUL them itself before calling this.
+ * seq_buf_str() terminates it, so clear whatever was not written: a writer
+ * sets len to how much it filled, and anything past that was never adopted.
*/
static inline void
seq_buf_set_overflow(struct seq_buf *s)
{
+ if (s->len < s->size)
+ memset(s->buffer + s->len, 0, s->size - s->len);
+
s->len = s->size + 1;
}

diff --git a/lib/seq_buf.c b/lib/seq_buf.c
index 60e9eadb3ef7..8da2e9447adf 100644
--- a/lib/seq_buf.c
+++ b/lib/seq_buf.c
@@ -76,6 +76,8 @@ int seq_buf_vprintf(struct seq_buf *s, const char *fmt, va_list args)
s->len += len;
return 0;
}
+ /* vsnprintf() wrote as much as fits, so none of it is stale */
+ s->len = s->size;
}
seq_buf_set_overflow(s);
return -1;
@@ -164,6 +166,8 @@ int seq_buf_bprintf(struct seq_buf *s, const char *fmt, const u32 *binary)
s->len += ret;
return 0;
}
+ /* bstr_printf() wrote as much as fits, so none of it is stale */
+ s->len = s->size;
}
seq_buf_set_overflow(s);
return -1;
@@ -343,6 +347,7 @@ int seq_buf_path(struct seq_buf *s, const struct path *path, const char *esc)

return res;
}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(seq_buf_path);

/**
* seq_buf_to_user - copy the sequence buffer to user space
diff --git a/lib/tests/seq_buf_kunit.c b/lib/tests/seq_buf_kunit.c
index 046614100c77..d5b819fc0ff3 100644
--- a/lib/tests/seq_buf_kunit.c
+++ b/lib/tests/seq_buf_kunit.c
@@ -6,6 +6,9 @@
*/

#include <kunit/test.h>
+#include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/seq_buf.h>
+#include <linux/shmem_fs.h>
#include <linux/console.h>
#include <linux/seq_buf.h>
#include <linux/string.h>
@@ -466,6 +469,47 @@ static void seq_buf_do_printk_test(struct kunit *test)
KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, seq_buf_printk_empty, 0);
}

+/* Long enough that it cannot fit in the room the test leaves for it. */
+#define SEQ_BUF_TEST_PATH "/seq_buf_kunit_path_name"
+
+static void seq_buf_path_overflow_test(struct kunit *test)
+{
+ DECLARE_SEQ_BUF(s, 32);
+ const char *expected = "keep:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx";
+ struct file *file;
+ size_t len;
+ int i;
+
+ /*
+ * The tests run before anything writable is mounted, so take the file
+ * whose path gets printed from shmem, which needs no mount of its own.
+ */
+ file = shmem_file_setup(SEQ_BUF_TEST_PATH, 0, EMPTY_VMA_FLAGS);
+ if (IS_ERR(file))
+ kunit_skip(test, "cannot create a file to print the path of");
+
+ /* Leave less room than the path needs, so d_path() cannot fit it. */
+ seq_buf_puts(&s, "keep:");
+ len = seq_buf_used(&s);
+ for (i = len; i < 28; i++)
+ seq_buf_putc(&s, 'x');
+
+ KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ(test, seq_buf_path(&s, &file->f_path, "\n"), -1);
+ fput(file);
+
+ KUNIT_EXPECT_TRUE(test, seq_buf_has_overflowed(&s));
+
+ /*
+ * d_path() keeps as much of the path as fits when it does not fit
+ * whole, and seq_buf_str() would hand out that fragment, as it ends
+ * the string at the last byte of an overflowed buffer.
+ */
+ for (i = 28; i < 32; i++)
+ KUNIT_EXPECT_EQ_MSG(test, s.buffer[i], '\0',
+ "byte %d past the data is not cleared", i);
+ KUNIT_EXPECT_STREQ(test, seq_buf_str(&s), expected);
+}
+
static struct kunit_case seq_buf_test_cases[] = {
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_init_test),
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_declare_test),
@@ -482,6 +526,7 @@ static struct kunit_case seq_buf_test_cases[] = {
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_puts_partial_overflow_test),
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_putmem_partial_overflow_test),
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_putmem_hex_partial_overflow_test),
+ KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_path_overflow_test),
KUNIT_CASE(seq_buf_do_printk_test),
{}
};
--
2.55.0