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Bug #354

closed

Translation table TVLV functions not thread safe

Added by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago. Updated over 2 years ago.

Status:
Closed
Priority:
Immediate
Target version:
Start date:
05/09/2018
Due date:
% Done:

0%

Estimated time:

Description

There is the possibility that batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_global_data/batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_local_data and any function operating on the buffer is causing a buffer overflow

Here some details from IRC

<ecsv_> hm, isn't the batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_global_data buggy?
<ecsv_> it traverses the vlan_list twice in hope that it returns the same number of entries
<ecsv_> this doesn't have to be true because it is not locked with a mutex/spinlock
<ecsv_> let us assume that something adds a vlan to vlan_list while batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_global_data is running
<ecsv_> and this happens on a core so that the current core first sees the new entry in the list after the kmalloc
<ecsv_> the second loop will traverse the list again and then at the end write an entry more than it is expected to write to the buffer
<ecsv_> or is tt_buff_lock also locked around the vlan/tt entry del/add functions?
<ecsv_> ah, no. it isn't.  for example the non-full table doesn't use it  in batadv_send_other_tt_response

Potential fix is:

diff --git a/net/batman-adv/translation-table.c b/net/batman-adv/translation-table.c
index 0225616d..7fa3a0a0 100644
--- a/net/batman-adv/translation-table.c
+++ b/net/batman-adv/translation-table.c
@@ -862,7 +862,7 @@ batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_global_data(struct batadv_orig_node *orig_node,
     struct batadv_orig_node_vlan *vlan;
     u8 *tt_change_ptr;

-    rcu_read_lock();
+    spin_lock_bh(&orig_node->vlan_list_lock);
     hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(vlan, &orig_node->vlan_list, list) {
         num_vlan++;
         num_entries += atomic_read(&vlan->tt.num_entries);
@@ -900,7 +900,7 @@ batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_global_data(struct batadv_orig_node *orig_node,
     *tt_change = (struct batadv_tvlv_tt_change *)tt_change_ptr;

 out:
-    rcu_read_unlock();
+    spin_unlock_bh(&orig_node->vlan_list_lock);
     return tvlv_len;
 }

@@ -936,7 +936,7 @@ batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_local_data(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv,
     u8 *tt_change_ptr;
     int change_offset;

-    rcu_read_lock();
+    spin_lock_bh(&bat_priv->softif_vlan_list_lock);
     hlist_for_each_entry_rcu(vlan, &bat_priv->softif_vlan_list, list) {
         num_vlan++;
         num_entries += atomic_read(&vlan->tt.num_entries);
@@ -974,7 +974,7 @@ batadv_tt_prepare_tvlv_local_data(struct batadv_priv *bat_priv,
     *tt_change = (struct batadv_tvlv_tt_change *)tt_change_ptr;

 out:
-    rcu_read_unlock();
+    spin_unlock_bh(&bat_priv->softif_vlan_list_lock);
     return tvlv_len;
 }

Actions #1

Updated by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago

  • Description updated (diff)
Actions #2

Updated by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago

  • Status changed from New to In Progress
  • Assignee changed from batman-adv developers to Antonio Quartulli
Actions #3

Updated by Antonio Quartulli almost 6 years ago

isn't the rcu_lock/unlock enough to guarantee that the objects accessed in that timeframe won't be altered by any list_add_rcu (or similar _rcu name) function?

Actions #4

Updated by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago

No, rcu provides only very weak guarantees (existence guarantees). Used correctly, it would just give you (for this list):

  • the iteration over this list will not point to a non existing object at any time (which would cause a segfault otherwise)
  • each object, which is in this rcu protected list and which you access in this rcu-lock, will not just suddenly disappear to exist as object in memory
    • this doesn't mean that the list is not modified - just that you can operate "freely" on this list without suddenly seeing a lot of segfaults because the RCU mechanism decided that the object from the list can now be kfree'd and thus end its existence

I simplified it here but you can find the details in the perfbook. But the LWN RCU article also summarizes it very well:

The effect is that if any RCU-protected data element is accessed within an RCU read-side critical section, that data element is guaranteed to remain in existence for the duration of that RCU read-side critical section.

Actions #5

Updated by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago

  • Status changed from In Progress to Resolved
  • Target version set to 2018.2
Actions #6

Updated by Sven Eckelmann almost 6 years ago

  • Status changed from Resolved to Closed

batman-adv 2018.2 was just released

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