[PATCH v2] kgdb: Fix buffer overflow in the qfThreadInfo packet handler
From: Christian Aurich Zanettini Martins
Date: Tue Nov 10 2026 - 03:23:00 EST
gdb_cmd_query() answers qfThreadInfo with a thread ID and a comma for
every online CPU, 9 bytes each, followed by the first page of tasks.
Only the tasks are paged, KGDB_MAX_THREAD_QUERY at a time, so the CPU
entries overrun remcom_out_buffer[BUFMAX] once there are enough CPUs.
On x86, where BUFMAX is 1024, a typical boot hits this from 109 online
CPUs (222 on arm64 and riscv), and GDB sends qfThreadInfo as soon as it
connects:
BUG: KASAN: global-out-of-bounds in pack_threadid+0x2a8/0x2e0
Write of size 1 at addr ffffffff86eecc20 by task swapper/0/1
...
The buggy address belongs to the variable:
remcom_out_buffer+0x400/0x420
Page the CPU entries together with the tasks, with one helper for both
loops, so no reply holds more than KGDB_MAX_THREAD_QUERY threads. The
CPUs still come first, which scripts/gdb relies on to detect KGDB.
Fixes: 25fc99991383 ("kgdb: fix gdb serial thread queries")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Signed-off-by: Christian Aurich Zanettini Martins <christian.aurichzm@xxxxxxxxx>
---
Notes:
Changes in v2:
- Move the shared paging code into append_threadid() (Doug)
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20261103190622.925741-1-christian.aurichzm@xxxxxxxxx/
Tested in QEMU with KASAN and GDB 15.1. Unpatched, connecting GDB to
a 109-CPU guest gives the report above; patched, 109, 128 and 255 CPUs
return the full thread list with no report.
Based on v7.4-rc1.
kernel/debug/gdbstub.c | 45 ++++++++++++++++++++++--------------------
1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 21 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/debug/gdbstub.c b/kernel/debug/gdbstub.c
index fc6a7a8c1f6e..679fab102760 100644
--- a/kernel/debug/gdbstub.c
+++ b/kernel/debug/gdbstub.c
@@ -732,6 +732,22 @@ static int gdb_cmd_reboot(struct kgdb_state *ks)
return 0;
}
+static void append_threadid(struct kgdb_state *ks, char **ptr, int *i,
+ int *finished, int threadid)
+{
+ unsigned char thref[BUF_THREAD_ID_SIZE];
+
+ if (*i >= ks->thr_query && !*finished) {
+ int_to_threadref(thref, threadid);
+ *ptr = pack_threadid(*ptr, thref);
+ *(*ptr)++ = ',';
+ ks->thr_query++;
+ if (ks->thr_query % KGDB_MAX_THREAD_QUERY == 0)
+ *finished = 1;
+ }
+ (*i)++;
+}
+
/* Handle the 'q' query packets */
static void gdb_cmd_query(struct kgdb_state *ks)
{
@@ -752,28 +768,15 @@ static void gdb_cmd_query(struct kgdb_state *ks)
i = 0;
remcom_out_buffer[0] = 'm';
ptr = remcom_out_buffer + 1;
- if (remcom_in_buffer[1] == 'f') {
- /* Each cpu is a shadow thread */
- for_each_online_cpu(cpu) {
- ks->thr_query = 0;
- int_to_threadref(thref, -cpu - 2);
- ptr = pack_threadid(ptr, thref);
- *(ptr++) = ',';
- i++;
- }
- }
+ if (remcom_in_buffer[1] == 'f')
+ ks->thr_query = 0;
- for_each_process_thread(g, p) {
- if (i >= ks->thr_query && !finished) {
- int_to_threadref(thref, p->pid);
- ptr = pack_threadid(ptr, thref);
- *(ptr++) = ',';
- ks->thr_query++;
- if (ks->thr_query % KGDB_MAX_THREAD_QUERY == 0)
- finished = 1;
- }
- i++;
- }
+ /* Each cpu is a shadow thread */
+ for_each_online_cpu(cpu)
+ append_threadid(ks, &ptr, &i, &finished, -cpu - 2);
+
+ for_each_process_thread(g, p)
+ append_threadid(ks, &ptr, &i, &finished, p->pid);
*(--ptr) = '\0';
break;
base-commit: 6628e7d4c6b25c8d18f1345e3a20d21829aae7e4
--
2.43.0