Re: Range checking on r1 in function reg_set_seen in arch/s390/net/bpf_jit_comp.c

[Ilya Leoshkevich <iii@linux.ibm.com>]

On Thu, 2021-07-15 at 13:02 +0100, Colin Ian King wrote:
> Hi
> 
> Static analysis with cppcheck picked up an interesting issue with the
> following inline helper function in arch/s390/net/bpf_jit_comp.c :
> 
> static inline void reg_set_seen(struct bpf_jit *jit, u32 b1)
> {
>         u32 r1 = reg2hex[b1];
> 
>         if (!jit->seen_reg[r1] && r1 >= 6 && r1 <= 15)
>                 jit->seen_reg[r1] = 1;
> }
> 
> Although I believe r1 is always within range, the range check on r1
> is
> being performed before the more cache/memory expensive lookup on
> jit->seen_reg[r1].  I can't see why the range change is being
> performed
> after the access of jit->seen_reg[r1]. The following seems more
> correct:
> 
>         if (r1 >= 6 && r1 <= 15 && !jit->seen_reg[r1])
>                 jit->seen_reg[r1] = 1;
> 
> ..since the check on r1 are less expensive than !jit->seen_reg[r1]
> and
> also the range check ensures the array access is not out of bounds. I
> was just wondering if I'm missing something deeper to why the order
> is
> the way it is.
> 
> Colin

Hi,

I think your analysis is correct, thanks for spotting this!
Even though I don't think the performance difference would be 
measurable here, not confusing future readers is a good reason
to make a change that you suggest.
Do you plan to send a patch?

Best regards,
Ilya