Re: [RFC PATCH 14/16] KVM: arm64/sve: Add SVE support to register access ioctl interface

Dave Martin
2018-07-26T13:10:12Z

On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 07:20:57PM +0200, Andrew Jones wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 25, 2018 at 03:06:21PM +0100, Dave Martin wrote:
> > On Thu, Jul 19, 2018 at 03:04:33PM +0200, Andrew Jones wrote:
> > > On Thu, Jun 21, 2018 at 03:57:38PM +0100, Dave Martin wrote:
> > > > +
> > > > + if (usize % sizeof(u32))
> > > > + return -EINVAL;
> > >
> >
> > Currently we don't enforce the register size to be a multiple of 32 bits,
> > but I'm trying to establish a stronger position. Passing different
> > register sizes feels like an abuse of the API and there is no evidence
> > that qemu or kvmtool is relying on this so far. The ability to pass
> > a misaligned register ID and/or slurp multiple vcpu registers (or parts
> > of registers) is once call really seems like it works by accident today
> > and seems not to be intentional design. Rather, it exposes kernel
> > implementation details, which is best avoided.
> >
> > It would be better to make this a global check for usize % 32 == 0
> > though, rather than burying it in fpsimd_vreg_bounds().
> >
> > Opinions?
>
> There's only one reason to not start enforcing it globally on arm/arm64,
> and that's that it's not documented that way. Changing it would be an API
> change, rather than just an API fix. It's probably a safe change, but...

I agree, though there are few direct users of this API, and I couldn't
come up with a scenario where anyone in their right mind would access
the core regs struct with access sizes <= 16 bits, and I've seen no
evidence so far of the API being used in this way.

So it would be nice to close this hole before it springs a leak.

I'll keep if for now, but flag it up for attention in the repost.
I'm happy to drop it if people care strongly enough.

> > > > +
> > > > + usize /= sizeof(u32);
> > > > +
> > > > + if ((uoffset <= start && usize <= start - uoffset) ||
> > > > + uoffset >= limit)
> > > > + return -ENOENT; /* not a vreg */
> > > > +
> > > > + BUILD_BUG_ON(uoffset > limit);
> > >
> > > Hmm, a build bug on uoffset can't be right, it's not a constant.
> > >
> > > > + if (uoffset < start || usize > limit - uoffset)
> > > > + return -EINVAL; /* overlaps vregs[] bounds */
> >
> > uoffset is not compile-time constant, but (uoffset > limit) is compile-
> > time constant, because the previous if() returns from the function
> > otherwise.
> >
> > gcc seems to do the right thing here: the code compiles as-is, but
> > if the prior if() is commented out then the BUILD_BUG_ON() fires
> > because (uoffset > limit) is no longer compile-time constant.
>
> Oh, interesting.
>
> >
> >
> > This is a defensively-coded bounds check, where
> >
> > if (A + B > C)
> >
> > is transformed to
> >
> > if (C >= B && A > C - B)
> >
> > The former is susceptible to overflow in (A + B), whereas the latter is
> > not. We might be able to hide the risk with type casts, but that trades
> > one kind of fragility for another IMHO.
> >
> > In this patch, the C >= B part is subsumed into the previous if(), but
> > because this is non-obvious I dropped the BUILD_BUG_ON() in as a hint
> > to maintainers that we really do depend on a property of the previous
> > check, so although it may look like the checks could be swapped over
> > with no ill effects, really that is not safe.
>
> I'm glad our maintainers can pick up on hints like that :-) Maybe you can
> add a comment for mortals like me though.

Hint taken... I'll add a comment. No doubt I'd eventually forget why
the BUILD_BUG_ON() was there too.

> > Maybe the BUILD_BUG_ON() is superfluous, but I would prefer at least
> > to keep a comment here.
> >
> > What do you think.
> >
>
> Comment plus build-bug or just comment works for me.
>
> >
> > OTOH, if we can show conclusively that we can avoid overflow here
> > then the code can be simplified. But I would want to be confident
> > that this is really safe not just now but also under future maintenance.
> >
>
> I agree with thoroughly checking user input. Maybe we can create/use
> some helper functions to do it. Those helpers can then get reused
> elsewhere, helping to keep ourselves sane the next time we need to
> do similar sanity checks.

It's a bit tricky to get right, because it all depends on the
combination of types being used in the expression.

I might have a think about how to do this, but for now I don't want to
introduce more churn.

Cheers
---Dave