Re: [PATCH v2] mac80211: minstrel_ht: fix NULL pointer dereference during auth/assoc

[Felix Fietkau <nbd@openwrt.org>]

On 2012-02-08 6:06 PM, Felix Fietkau wrote:
> On 2012-02-08 5:27 PM, Arend van Spriel wrote:
>> On 02/08/2012 05:08 PM, Felix Fietkau wrote:
>>> On 2012-02-08 1:44 PM, Arend van Spriel wrote:
>>>> This patch fixes the following NULL pointer dereference:
>>>>
>>>>> I rerun the test on a kernel with some more lock checking and got lucky.
>>>>>
>>>>> Feb  8 08:40:17 lb-bun-10 kernel: [  514.512283] wlan0: authenticate
>>>>> with 98:fc:11:8e:94:57
>>>>> Feb  8 08:40:17 lb-bun-10 kernel: [  514.512515] wlan0: send auth to
>>>>> 98:fc:11:8e:94:57 (try 1/3)
>>>>> Feb  8 08:40:17 lb-bun-10 kernel: [  514.514184] BUG: unable to handle
>>>>> kernel NULL pointer dereference at 00000004
>>>>> Feb  8 08:40:17 lb-bun-10 kernel: [  514.514233] IP: [<f8648f08>]
>>>>> minstrel_tx_status+0x48/0xe0 [mac80211]
>>>>
>>>> static inline int
>>>> rix_to_ndx(struct minstrel_sta_info *mi, int rix)
>>>> {
>>>>         int i = rix;
>>>>         for (i = rix; i >= 0; i--)
>>>>                 if (mi->r[i].rix == rix)
>>>>   48:   3b 58 04                cmp    0x4(%eax),%ebx
>>>>   4b:   74 4b                   je     98 <minstrel_tx_status+0x98>
>>>>   4d:   83 c2 01                add    $0x1,%edx
>>>>
>>>> It fails because of mi->r[i] being a NULL pointer. It is allocated in
>>>> minstel_alloc_sta, but minstrel_ht_alloc_sta does not call that function.
>>>>
>>>> struct minstrel_ht_sta_priv holds a union with struct minstrel_ht_sta and
>>>> struct minstrel_sta_info. During authenticate the bool is_ht is false so
>>>> minstrel_ht_tx_status calls minstrel_tx_status, but minstrel_sta_info::r
>>>> is not set until rate_init which is after assoc.
>>> I'm not sure this is the right fix. If I understand the issue correctly,
>>> mi->r is only NULL because .rate_init has not been called yet, which is
>>> a bug that other rate control modules might trip over as well, maybe in
>>> more subtle ways. If this is the case, then I believe this bug should be
>>> fixed in mac80211 instead.
>>> 
>>> Maybe it would even be a good idea to set a flag after calling
>>> rate_control_rate_init, and calling WARN_ON or even BUG_ON when doing tx
>>> before that.
>>> 
>>> - Felix
>>> 
>> 
>> Hi Felix,
>> 
>> I am not sure I can agree. minstrel_ht allocates the struct
>> minstrel_ht_sta_priv initializing is_ht to false thereby choosing a
>> default and zero'ing the legacy field. When setting is_ht to false
>> consequently the contents of the legacy field should be properly set as
>> is done in minstrel_ht_update_caps (at use_legacy label).
> Right, minstrel_ht_update_caps initializes that field, and it's always
> called from .rate_init.
> 
> While the non-HT minstrel initializes that field earlier (because it is
> not stored anywhere else), it still also assumes that it isn't asked to
> do tx until .rate_init is called.
> 
> It doesn't matter whether it crashes in non-HT minstrel or not, the main
> issue is that assumptions of both minstrel and minstrel_ht (and possibly
> other rate control implementations) are being violated by mac80211.
> 
> Before we can address that problem, we need to decide whether we want to
> change the code to no longer require .rate_init before tx (which I think
> is a bad idea, since there's no list of supported rates available yet at
> that point in time), or if we change mac80211 to no longer violate those
> assumptions. In either case, this patch is insufficient.
Actually, I took a quick look at the code and it seems to be easier
than I thought. mac80211 sets a flag after rate_control_rate_init
already, only the tx status path is lacking a check for it. This simple
patch should take care of it, please test:

---
--- a/net/mac80211/rate.h
+++ b/net/mac80211/rate.h
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ static inline void rate_control_tx_statu
 	struct ieee80211_sta *ista = &sta->sta;
 	void *priv_sta = sta->rate_ctrl_priv;
 
-	if (!ref)
+	if (!ref || !test_sta_flag(sta, WLAN_STA_RATE_CONTROL))
 		return;
 
 	ref->ops->tx_status(ref->priv, sband, ista, priv_sta, skb);