Re: [PATCH 2/2] exec: Add a exec_update_mutex to replace cred_guard_mutex

Eric W. Biederman
2020-03-06T22:32:10Z

ebiederm@xmission.com (Eric W. Biederman) writes:

> Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@hotmail.de> writes:
>
>> On 3/6/20 6:17 AM, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
>>> Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@hotmail.de> writes:
>>>
>>>> On 3/5/20 10:16 PM, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> The cred_guard_mutex is problematic. The cred_guard_mutex is held
>>>>> over the userspace accesses as the arguments from userspace are read.
>>>>> The cred_guard_mutex is held of PTRACE_EVENT_EXIT as the the other
>>>>> threads are killed. The cred_guard_mutex is held over
>>>>> "put_user(0, tsk->clear_child_tid)" in exit_mm().
>>>>>
>>
>> I am all for this patch, and the direction it is heading, Eric.
>>
>> I just wanted to add a note that I think it is
>> possible that exec_mm_release can also invoke put_user(0, tsk->clear_child_tid),
>> under the new exec_update_mutex, since vm_access increments the
>> mm->mm_users, under the cred_update_mutex, but releases the mutex,
>> and the caller can hold the reference for a while and then exec_mmap is not
>> releasing the last reference.
>
> Good catch. I really appreciate your close look at the details.
>
> I am wondering if process_vm_readv and process_vm_writev could be
> safely changed to use mmgrab and mmdrop, instead of mmget and mmput.
>
> That would resolve the potential issue you have pointed out. I just
> haven't figured out if it is safe. The mm code has been seriously
> refactored since I knew how it all worked.

Nope, mmget can not be replaced by mmgrab.

It might be possible to do something creative like store a cred in place
of the userns on the mm and use that for mm_access permission checks.
Still we are talking a pretty narrow window, and a case that no one has
figured out how to trigger yet. So I will leave that corner case as
something for future improvements.

Eric