* [PATCH 1/4] sysctl: Split data conversion and file position handling
2026-08-13 12:18 [PATCH 0/4] sysctl: Disallow partial updates of miss-formatted sysctl vectors Joel Granados
@ 2026-08-13 12:18 ` Joel Granados
2026-08-13 12:18 ` [PATCH 2/4] sysctl: Reject uint arrays before calling the general proc_vec Joel Granados
` (2 subsequent siblings)
3 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Joel Granados @ 2026-08-13 12:18 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kees Cook, Shuah Khan, linux-mm
Cc: Jianlin Shi, akpm, vbabka, hannes, surenb, mhocko, jackmanb, ziy,
linux-kernel, linux-fsdevel, linux-kselftest, Joel Granados
Apply the conversions to the data in a new helper function
(apply_conv_on_vec) while file position handling and argument validation
stay in the original function. Rename function to prov_vec (from
do_proc_vec). This is a prep commit to isolate the logic that needs to
change to prevent partial sysctl vector writes. No functional change
intended
Signed-off-by: Joel Granados <joel.granados@kernel.org>
---
kernel/sysctl.c | 202 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++------------------------
1 file changed, 117 insertions(+), 85 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index f7b75985d5420a522a316d1fade40dc7fbe60455..ed0e5101949c2fa56e33d543c65175d0ab579fc7 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -595,7 +595,7 @@ static int do_proc_int_conv_minmax(bool *negp, unsigned long *u_ptr, int *k_ptr,
static const char proc_wspace_sep[] = { ' ', '\t', '\n' };
/*
- * Element type processed by do_proc_vec(). The tag selects the element size
+ * Element type processed by proc_vec(). The tag selects the element size
* and signedness, and it selects which member of union proc_vec_conv is live.
*/
enum proc_vec_type {
@@ -605,7 +605,7 @@ enum proc_vec_type {
};
/*
- * Converter passed to do_proc_vec(). Only the member matching the
+ * Converter passed to proc_vec(). Only the member matching the
* enum proc_vec_type tag is ever read, so every dispatch stays fully typed and
* no void * converter pointer is needed.
*/
@@ -637,101 +637,133 @@ static int proc_vec_conv(enum proc_vec_type type, union proc_vec_conv conv,
return -EINVAL;
}
-/*
- * Read/write a vector of @type elements. The element size and signedness are
- * derived from @type, so a single runtime function replaces the per-type
- * variants. table->data is walked as raw bytes (@i) advanced by @size; the
- * converter performs the actual typed load/store.
+/**
+ * apply_conv_on_vec - Apply converter function on data vector
+ *
+ * Element signedness is derived from @data_type. table->data is walked
+ * as raw bytes (@data) advanced by @data_size; the converter performs
+ * the actual typed load/store. Sets buf_left_final to the number of
+ * bytes that where left outstanding after conversion. Can be > 0.
+ *
+ * Returns 0 on success. Non-zero on error.
*/
-static int do_proc_vec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
- void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos,
- enum proc_vec_type type, union proc_vec_conv conv)
+static int apply_conv_on_vec(const union proc_vec_conv conv,
+ const struct ctl_table *table,
+ const enum proc_vec_type data_type,
+ const size_t data_size, const int conv_dir,
+ const size_t buf_nbyte, void *buf,
+ size_t *buf_left_final)
{
- int vleft, first = 1, err = 0;
- size_t left, size;
- bool is_unsigned;
- char *i, *p;
+ int vec_left, first = 1, err = 0;
+ size_t buf_left;
+ char *data, *p;
+ bool is_unsigned = data_type == PROC_VEC_UINT || data_type == PROC_VEC_ULONG;
- switch (type) {
- case PROC_VEC_INT:
- size = sizeof(int);
- is_unsigned = false;
- break;
- case PROC_VEC_UINT:
- size = sizeof(uint);
- is_unsigned = true;
- break;
- case PROC_VEC_ULONG:
- size = sizeof(ulong);
- is_unsigned = true;
- break;
- default:
- return -EINVAL;
- }
-
- if (!table->data || !table->maxlen || !*lenp ||
- (*ppos && SYSCTL_KERN_TO_USER(dir))) {
- *lenp = 0;
- return 0;
- }
-
- i = table->data;
- vleft = table->maxlen / size;
- left = *lenp;
-
- /* uint arrays are not supported, *Do not* add support for them. */
- if (type == PROC_VEC_UINT && vleft != 1)
- return -EINVAL;
-
- if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir)) {
- if (proc_first_pos_non_zero_ignore(ppos, table))
- goto out;
+ data = table->data;
+ vec_left = table->maxlen / data_size;
+ buf_left = buf_nbyte;
- if (left > PAGE_SIZE - 1)
- left = PAGE_SIZE - 1;
- p = buffer;
+ if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(conv_dir)) {
+ if (buf_left > PAGE_SIZE - 1)
+ buf_left = PAGE_SIZE - 1;
+ p = buf;
}
- for (; left && vleft--; i += size, first = 0) {
+ for (; buf_left && vec_left--; data += data_size, first = 0) {
unsigned long lval;
bool neg = false;
- if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir)) {
- proc_skip_spaces(&p, &left);
+ if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(conv_dir)) {
+ proc_skip_spaces(&p, &buf_left);
- if (!left)
+ if (!buf_left)
break;
- err = proc_get_long(&p, &left, &lval, &neg,
+ err = proc_get_long(&p, &buf_left, &lval, &neg,
proc_wspace_sep,
sizeof(proc_wspace_sep), NULL);
if (!err && neg && is_unsigned)
err = -EINVAL;
if (err)
break;
- if (proc_vec_conv(type, conv, &neg, &lval, i, dir, table)) {
+ if (proc_vec_conv(data_type, conv, &neg, &lval, data, conv_dir, table)) {
err = -EINVAL;
break;
}
} else {
- if (proc_vec_conv(type, conv, &neg, &lval, i, dir, table)) {
+ if (proc_vec_conv(data_type, conv, &neg, &lval, data, conv_dir, table)) {
err = -EINVAL;
break;
}
if (!first)
- proc_put_char(&buffer, &left, '\t');
- proc_put_long(&buffer, &left, lval, neg);
+ proc_put_char(&buf, &buf_left, '\t');
+ proc_put_long(&buf, &buf_left, lval, neg);
}
}
- if (SYSCTL_KERN_TO_USER(dir) && !first && left && !err)
- proc_put_char(&buffer, &left, '\n');
- if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir) && !err && left)
- proc_skip_spaces(&p, &left);
- if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir) && first)
+ if (SYSCTL_KERN_TO_USER(conv_dir) && !first && buf_left && !err)
+ proc_put_char(&buf, &buf_left, '\n');
+ if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(conv_dir) && !err && buf_left)
+ proc_skip_spaces(&p, &buf_left);
+ if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(conv_dir) && first)
return err ? : -EINVAL;
- *lenp -= left;
+ *buf_left_final = buf_left;
+
+ return err;
+}
+
+/* Read/write a vector of @type elements. */
+static int proc_vec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
+ size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos, enum proc_vec_type type,
+ union proc_vec_conv conv)
+{
+ int err = 0;
+ size_t data_size, left_nbyte = SIZE_MAX;
+
+ switch (type) {
+ case PROC_VEC_INT:
+ data_size = sizeof(int);
+ break;
+ case PROC_VEC_UINT:
+ data_size = sizeof(uint);
+ break;
+ case PROC_VEC_ULONG:
+ data_size = sizeof(ulong);
+ break;
+ default:
+ return -EINVAL;
+ }
+
+ if (!table->data || !table->maxlen || !*lenp ||
+ (*ppos && SYSCTL_KERN_TO_USER(dir))) {
+ *lenp = 0;
+ return 0;
+ }
+
+ /* uint arrays are not supported, *Do not* add support for them. */
+ if (type == PROC_VEC_UINT && (table->maxlen / data_size) != 1)
+ return -EINVAL;
+
+ if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir)) {
+ if (proc_first_pos_non_zero_ignore(ppos, table))
+ goto out;
+ }
+
+ err = apply_conv_on_vec(conv, table, type, data_size, dir, *lenp, buffer,
+ &left_nbyte);
+
+ /*
+ * An unchanged left_nbyte signals a write with no parsed element; which
+ * is an error. Using SIZE_MAX to detect this error is possible because:
+ * 1. lenp is bounded by KMALLOC_MAX_SIZE in proc_sys_call_handler
+ * 2. lenp could never be SIZE_MAX as it is a "ridiculous" (exabyte) allocation.
+ */
+ if (left_nbyte == SIZE_MAX)
+ return err;
+
+ *lenp -= left_nbyte;
out:
*ppos += *lenp;
+
return err;
}
@@ -760,8 +792,8 @@ int proc_douintvec_conv(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
if (!conv)
conv = do_proc_uint_conv;
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = conv });
}
/**
@@ -820,8 +852,8 @@ int proc_dobool(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
int proc_dointvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = do_proc_int_conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = do_proc_int_conv });
}
/**
@@ -840,8 +872,8 @@ int proc_dointvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
int proc_douintvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv });
}
/**
@@ -864,8 +896,8 @@ int proc_douintvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
int proc_dointvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = do_proc_int_conv_minmax });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = do_proc_int_conv_minmax });
}
/**
@@ -891,8 +923,8 @@ int proc_dointvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
int proc_douintvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
}
/**
@@ -935,8 +967,8 @@ int proc_dou8vec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
tmp.extra2 = (unsigned int *) &max;
val = READ_ONCE(*data);
- res = do_proc_vec(&tmp, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
+ res = proc_vec(&tmp, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
if (res)
return res;
if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir))
@@ -1066,8 +1098,8 @@ int proc_doulongvec_conv(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
int (*conv)(bool *negp, ulong *u_ptr, ulong *k_ptr,
int dir, const struct ctl_table *table))
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_ULONG,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .ulong_conv = conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_ULONG,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .ulong_conv = conv });
}
/**
@@ -1087,10 +1119,10 @@ int proc_doulongvec_conv(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
* Returns: %0 on success.
*/
int proc_doulongvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
- void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
+ void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_ULONG,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .ulong_conv = do_proc_ulong_conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_ULONG,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .ulong_conv = do_proc_ulong_conv });
}
/**
@@ -1114,8 +1146,8 @@ int proc_dointvec_conv(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
{
if (!conv)
conv = do_proc_int_conv;
- return do_proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = conv });
+ return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_INT,
+ (union proc_vec_conv){ .int_conv = conv });
}
/**
--
2.50.1
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread* [PATCH 2/4] sysctl: Reject uint arrays before calling the general proc_vec
2026-08-13 12:18 [PATCH 0/4] sysctl: Disallow partial updates of miss-formatted sysctl vectors Joel Granados
2026-08-13 12:18 ` [PATCH 1/4] sysctl: Split data conversion and file position handling Joel Granados
@ 2026-08-13 12:18 ` Joel Granados
2026-08-13 12:18 ` [PATCH 3/4] sysctl: Disallow partial updates for erroneous sysctl vectors Joel Granados
2026-08-13 12:18 ` [PATCH 4/4] sysctl: Add 0013 to test partially updated vectors Joel Granados
3 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Joel Granados @ 2026-08-13 12:18 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Kees Cook, Shuah Khan, linux-mm
Cc: Jianlin Shi, akpm, vbabka, hannes, surenb, mhocko, jackmanb, ziy,
linux-kernel, linux-fsdevel, linux-kselftest, Joel Granados
Move the UINT vector size check to proc_douintvec_conv; the function
that routes UINT types only. Route all the UINT calls (including
proc_dou8vec_minmax) through proc_douintvec_conv.
UINT proc handlers that incorrectly define maxlen will now return
-EINVAL instead of 0 in the cases where data is missing, lenp is 0 or
ppos is 0. Note that maxlen == 0 is not considered as miss-defined.
Signed-off-by: Joel Granados <joel.granados@kernel.org>
---
kernel/sysctl.c | 17 +++++++----------
1 file changed, 7 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index ed0e5101949c2fa56e33d543c65175d0ab579fc7..c5fa916e626a336c004d596f4c74f829b1cdc5e1 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -739,10 +739,6 @@ static int proc_vec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
return 0;
}
- /* uint arrays are not supported, *Do not* add support for them. */
- if (type == PROC_VEC_UINT && (table->maxlen / data_size) != 1)
- return -EINVAL;
-
if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir)) {
if (proc_first_pos_non_zero_ignore(ppos, table))
goto out;
@@ -788,6 +784,9 @@ int proc_douintvec_conv(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
int (*conv)(bool *negp, ulong *u_ptr, uint *k_ptr,
int dir, const struct ctl_table *table))
{
+ /* uint arrays are not supported, *Do not* add support for them. */
+ if (table->maxlen && (table->maxlen / sizeof(uint)) != 1)
+ return -EINVAL;
if (!conv)
conv = do_proc_uint_conv;
@@ -872,8 +871,7 @@ int proc_dointvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
int proc_douintvec(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir, void *buffer,
size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv });
+ return proc_douintvec_conv(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, do_proc_uint_conv);
}
/**
@@ -923,8 +921,8 @@ int proc_dointvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
int proc_douintvec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
void *buffer, size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
{
- return proc_vec(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
+ return proc_douintvec_conv(table, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos,
+ do_proc_uint_conv_minmax);
}
/**
@@ -967,8 +965,7 @@ int proc_dou8vec_minmax(const struct ctl_table *table, int dir,
tmp.extra2 = (unsigned int *) &max;
val = READ_ONCE(*data);
- res = proc_vec(&tmp, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos, PROC_VEC_UINT,
- (union proc_vec_conv){ .uint_conv = do_proc_uint_conv_minmax });
+ res = proc_douintvec_minmax(&tmp, dir, buffer, lenp, ppos);
if (res)
return res;
if (SYSCTL_USER_TO_KERN(dir))
--
2.50.1
^ permalink raw reply related [flat|nested] 5+ messages in thread