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From: Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org>
To: Masami Hiramatsu <mhiramat@kernel.org>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: linux-trace-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org>
Subject: [PATCH 15/15] lib/bootconfig: return empty string instead of NULL from xbc_node_get_data()
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2026 21:45:55 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260314214555.96217-16-objecting@objecting.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260314214555.96217-1-objecting@objecting.org>

xbc_node_get_data() uses WARN_ON (non-fatal) when it detects an
invalid data offset, but returns NULL. Multiple callers pass the
result directly to strlen() or strcmp() without NULL checks, which
would cause a NULL pointer dereference after the non-fatal warning:

  - xbc_node_match_prefix(): strlen(p) on line 197
  - find_match_node(): strcmp(xbc_node_get_data(node), k) on line 644
  - xbc_verify_tree(): strlen(xbc_node_get_data(n)) on lines 832, 853
  - xbc_node_find_next_key_value(): returns NULL to caller on line 404

Return an empty string instead so the WARN_ON remains non-fatal as
intended. The warning backtrace still signals corruption, but the
kernel won't crash in the callers.

Signed-off-by: Josh Law <objecting@objecting.org>
---
 lib/bootconfig.c | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/lib/bootconfig.c b/lib/bootconfig.c
index 0823491221f4..fae4e6790f34 100644
--- a/lib/bootconfig.c
+++ b/lib/bootconfig.c
@@ -179,14 +179,14 @@ struct xbc_node * __init xbc_node_get_next(struct xbc_node *node)
  * @node: An XBC node.
  *
  * Return the data (which is always a null terminated string) of @node.
- * If the node has invalid data, warn and return NULL.
+ * If the node has invalid data, warn and return an empty string.
  */
 const char * __init xbc_node_get_data(struct xbc_node *node)
 {
 	int offset = node->data & ~XBC_VALUE;
 
 	if (WARN_ON(offset >= xbc_data_size))
-		return NULL;
+		return "";
 
 	return xbc_data + offset;
 }
-- 
2.34.1


      parent reply	other threads:[~2026-03-14 21:46 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 16+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-03-14 21:45 [PATCH 00/15] bootconfig: fixes, cleanups, and modernization Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 01/15] lib/bootconfig: add missing __init annotations to static helpers Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 02/15] lib/bootconfig: fix typo "initiized" in xbc_root_node() kerneldoc Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 03/15] lib/bootconfig: fix typo "uder" in xbc_node_find_next_leaf() Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 04/15] lib/bootconfig: add blank line before xbc_get_info() kerneldoc Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 05/15] lib/bootconfig: fix inconsistent if/else bracing Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 06/15] lib/bootconfig: narrow flag parameter type from uint32_t to uint16_t Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 07/15] lib/bootconfig: fix inconsistent if/else bracing in __xbc_add_key() Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 08/15] lib/bootconfig: fix off-by-one in xbc_verify_tree() next node check Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 09/15] lib/bootconfig: increment xbc_node_num after node init succeeds Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 10/15] lib/bootconfig: drop redundant memset of xbc_nodes Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 11/15] bootconfig: use __packed macro for struct xbc_node Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 12/15] bootconfig: constify xbc_calc_checksum() data parameter Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 13/15] lib/bootconfig: replace linux/kernel.h with specific includes Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` [PATCH 14/15] bootconfig: add __packed definition to tools/bootconfig shim header Josh Law
2026-03-14 21:45 ` Josh Law [this message]

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