From: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
To: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>,
Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>,
Nathan Chancellor <nathan@kernel.org>,
paulmck@kernel.org, Nicolas Schier <nsc@kernel.org>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@kernel.org>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>,
Borislav Petkov <bp@alien8.de>,
Dave Hansen <dave.hansen@linux.intel.com>,
x86@kernel.org, "H. Peter Anvin" <hpa@zytor.com>,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
linux-trace-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
linux-kbuild@vger.kernel.org, bpf@vger.kernel.org,
Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>,
kernel-team@meta.com
Subject: [PATCH v4 1/7] bootconfig: fix NULL-pointer arithmetic in xbc_snprint_cmdline()
Date: Tue, 09 Jun 2026 03:28:28 -0700 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260609-bootconfig_using_tools-v4-1-73c463f03a97@debian.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260609-bootconfig_using_tools-v4-0-73c463f03a97@debian.org>
xbc_snprint_cmdline() is meant to be called twice: first with
buf=NULL, size=0 to probe the rendered length, then with a real
buffer to fill it (the standard snprintf() two-pass pattern). The
probe call makes the function compute "buf + size" (NULL + 0) and,
on every iteration, advance "buf += ret" from that NULL base and
pass the result back into snprintf().
Pointer arithmetic on a NULL pointer is undefined behavior. It is
harmless in the in-kernel callers today, but the follow-up patches
run this same code in the userspace tools/bootconfig parser at kernel
build time, where host UBSan / FORTIFY_SOURCE abort the build.
Track a running written length (size_t) instead of mutating @buf, and
only form "buf + len" when @buf is non-NULL. snprintf(NULL, 0, ...)
is itself well defined and returns the would-be length, so the
two-pass "probe then fill" usage returns identical byte counts.
Signed-off-by: Breno Leitao <leitao@debian.org>
---
lib/bootconfig.c | 23 ++++++++++++++++-------
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
diff --git a/lib/bootconfig.c b/lib/bootconfig.c
index f445b7703fdd..2ed9ee3dc81c 100644
--- a/lib/bootconfig.c
+++ b/lib/bootconfig.c
@@ -427,10 +427,18 @@ static char xbc_namebuf[XBC_KEYLEN_MAX] __initdata;
int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root)
{
struct xbc_node *knode, *vnode;
- char *end = buf + size;
const char *val, *q;
+ size_t len = 0;
int ret;
+ /*
+ * Track the running written length rather than advancing @buf, so we
+ * never form "buf + size" or "buf += ret" while @buf is NULL (the
+ * size-probe call passes buf=NULL, size=0). NULL pointer arithmetic
+ * is undefined behavior and trips host UBSan / FORTIFY_SOURCE when
+ * this renderer runs at kernel build time. snprintf(NULL, 0, ...)
+ * itself is well defined and returns the would-be length.
+ */
xbc_node_for_each_key_value(root, knode, val) {
ret = xbc_node_compose_key_after(root, knode,
xbc_namebuf, XBC_KEYLEN_MAX);
@@ -439,10 +447,11 @@ int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root)
vnode = xbc_node_get_child(knode);
if (!vnode) {
- ret = snprintf(buf, rest(buf, end), "%s ", xbc_namebuf);
+ ret = snprintf(buf ? buf + len : NULL, rest(len, size),
+ "%s ", xbc_namebuf);
if (ret < 0)
return ret;
- buf += ret;
+ len += ret;
continue;
}
xbc_array_for_each_value(vnode, val) {
@@ -452,15 +461,15 @@ int __init xbc_snprint_cmdline(char *buf, size_t size, struct xbc_node *root)
* whitespace.
*/
q = strpbrk(val, " \t\r\n") ? "\"" : "";
- ret = snprintf(buf, rest(buf, end), "%s=%s%s%s ",
- xbc_namebuf, q, val, q);
+ ret = snprintf(buf ? buf + len : NULL, rest(len, size),
+ "%s=%s%s%s ", xbc_namebuf, q, val, q);
if (ret < 0)
return ret;
- buf += ret;
+ len += ret;
}
}
- return buf - (end - size);
+ return len;
}
#undef rest
--
2.53.0-Meta
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-06-09 10:28 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 13+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-06-09 10:28 [PATCH v4 0/7] bootconfig: embed kernel.* cmdline at build time Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` Breno Leitao [this message]
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 2/7] bootconfig: render descendant keys when xbc_snprint_cmdline() root has a value Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 3/7] bootconfig: render embedded bootconfig as a kernel cmdline at build time Breno Leitao
2026-06-10 13:44 ` Julian Braha
2026-06-10 14:50 ` Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 4/7] bootconfig: clean build-time tools/bootconfig from make clean Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 5/7] bootconfig: add xbc_prepend_embedded_cmdline() helper Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 6/7] Documentation: bootconfig: document build-time cmdline rendering Breno Leitao
2026-06-10 14:37 ` Masami Hiramatsu
2026-06-10 14:58 ` Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:28 ` [PATCH v4 7/7] x86/setup: prepend embedded bootconfig cmdline before parse_early_param Breno Leitao
2026-06-09 10:48 ` sashiko-bot
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