From: Alejandro Colomar <alx+linux-hardening@kernel.org>
To: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@goodmis.org>
Cc: Jiri Kosina <jkosina@suse.cz>, Petr Mladek <pmladek@suse.cz>,
Kees Cook <kees@kernel.org>,
linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org
Subject: seq_buf_str() silent truncation (data corruption)
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2026 22:30:38 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <auJmkx1p3nIrYeJ_@devuan> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <auIrUV7A8eF8DCGG@devuan>
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Hi Steve,
I believe I've found a bug in seq_buf_str().
Consider the following code:
char buf[3];
struct seq_buf s;
seq_buf_init(&s, buf, 3);
seq_buf_putmem(&s, "foo", 3); // This will return 0, I believe.
// At this point, ->len==3 and ->size==3, I believe.
seq_buf_str(&s); // BUG
Let's see the implementation of seq_buf_str():
$ git show v7.3:include/linux/seq_buf.h | grepc seq_buf_str
(standard input):static inline const char *seq_buf_str(struct seq_buf *s)
{
if (WARN_ON(s->size == 0))
return "";
if (seq_buf_buffer_left(s))
s->buffer[s->len] = 0;
else
s->buffer[s->size - 1] = 0;
return s->buffer;
}
The first check is fine (we don't trigger the WARN_ON()).
seq_buf_buffer_left(s) will return 0 (it returns 's->size - s->len').
This means we'll execute the second branch. That branch will result in
overwriting the third byte with a '\0', without reporting the overflow.
I believe the following should fix the bug:
@@ -102,10 +104,12 @@ static inline const char *seq_buf_str(struct seq_buf *s)
if (WARN_ON(s->size == 0))
return "";
- if (seq_buf_buffer_left(s))
+ if (seq_buf_buffer_left(s)) {
s->buffer[s->len] = 0;
- else
+ } else {
+ seq_buf_set_overflow(s);
s->buffer[s->size - 1] = 0;
+ }
return s->buffer;
}
I have not yet researched enough to sign a patch, but please let me know
what you think. I can prepare a formal patch next week.
NOT-assisted-by: LLM
Reported-by: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
Have a lovely night!
Alex
--
<https://www.alejandro-colomar.es>
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next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-28 21:30 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 9+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-28 17:13 seq_buf_putc() and strings Alejandro Colomar
2026-10-28 17:30 ` Alejandro Colomar
2026-10-28 17:47 ` Steven Rostedt
2026-10-28 18:00 ` Alejandro Colomar
2026-10-28 20:59 ` seq_buf_used() return value on overflow Alejandro Colomar
2026-10-28 21:03 ` Alejandro Colomar
2026-10-28 21:30 ` Alejandro Colomar [this message]
2026-10-29 1:04 ` seq_buf_str() silent truncation (data corruption) Steven Rostedt
2026-10-29 11:48 ` Alejandro Colomar
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