[PATCH] video: fbdev: via: refactor deprecated strcpy

[PATCH] video: fbdev: via: refactor deprecated strcpy

[Ajith P V]

Replace the deprecated and unbounded strcpy() function with the safer
strscpy() alternative when setting up the framebuffer fixed screen
information [1][2].

The destination buffer `fix->id` is a fixed-size character array of
16 bytes. The source `viafb_name` is currently a static global string
literal ("Via"), which safely fits the destination and poses no active
overflow risk.

However, replacing strcpy() with strscpy() aligns this driver with
the ongoing kernel-wide security initiative to eliminate unbounded
string copies, hardening the code against future modifications.

This is a proactive API cleanup and there is no functional
performance or truncation risk since `viafb_name` safely fits inside
the 16-byte struct constraints.

Link: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/deprecated.html#strcpy [1]
Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/88 [2]

Signed-off-by: Ajith P V <ajithpv.linux@gmail.com>
---
 drivers/video/fbdev/via/viafbdev.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/drivers/video/fbdev/via/viafbdev.c b/drivers/video/fbdev/via/viafbdev.c
index 80f95dac32c8..925b56830fdd 100644
--- a/drivers/video/fbdev/via/viafbdev.c
+++ b/drivers/video/fbdev/via/viafbdev.c
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ static void viafb_setup_fixinfo(struct fb_fix_screeninfo *fix,
 	struct viafb_par *viaparinfo)
 {
 	memset(fix, 0, sizeof(struct fb_fix_screeninfo));
-	strcpy(fix->id, viafb_name);
+	strscpy(fix->id, viafb_name, sizeof(fix->id));
 
 	fix->smem_start = viaparinfo->fbmem;
 	fix->smem_len = viaparinfo->fbmem_free;
-- 
2.43.0

Re: [PATCH] video: fbdev: via: refactor deprecated strcpy

[Helge Deller]

On 8/10/26 14:19, Ajith P V wrote:
> Replace the deprecated and unbounded strcpy() function with the safer
> strscpy() alternative when setting up the framebuffer fixed screen
> information [1][2].
> 
> The destination buffer `fix->id` is a fixed-size character array of
> 16 bytes. The source `viafb_name` is currently a static global string
> literal ("Via"), which safely fits the destination and poses no active
> overflow risk.

correct.

> However, replacing strcpy() with strscpy() aligns this driver with
> the ongoing kernel-wide security initiative to eliminate unbounded
> string copies, hardening the code against future modifications.
Compilers often can optimize strcpy() but not strscpy().
So, why not simply dropping viafb_name and replace it with a constant string?
Or even make it 'const char viafb_name[] = "viafb";' and use this?
Then the compiler can detect any issues at compile time.

Helge