public inbox for linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
To: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Andi Kleen <andi@firstfloor.org>,
	David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com>,
	Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>,
	Roland McGrath <roland@redhat.com>,
	Rusty Russell <rusty@rustcorp.com.au>,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] wait_for_helper: SIGCHLD from user-space can lead to use-after-free
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:16:34 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20100310171634.GA1039@redhat.com> (raw)

(this patch is orthogonal to other umh changes in -mm)

1. wait_for_helper() does allow_signal(SIGCHLD) to ensure the child can't
   autoreap itself.

   However, this means that a spurious SIGCHILD from user-space can
   set TIF_SIGPENDING and:

   	- kernel_thread() or sys_wait4() can fail due to signal_pending()

   	- worse, wait4() can fail before ____call_usermodehelper() execs
   	  or exits. In this case the caller may kfree(subprocess_info)
   	  while the child still uses this memory.

   Change the code to use SIG_DFL instead of magic "(void __user *)2"
   set by allow_signal(). This means that SIGCHLD won't be delivered,
   yet the child won't autoreap itsefl.

   The problem is minor, only root can send a signal to this kthread.

2. If sys_wait4(&ret) fails it doesn't populate "ret", in this case
   wait_for_helper() reports a random value from uninitialized var.

   With this patch sys_wait4() should never fail, but still it makes
   sense to initialize ret = -ECHILD so that the caller can notice
   the problem.

Signed-off-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
---

 kernel/kmod.c |    9 +++++----
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

--- mm/kernel/kmod.c~4_SIGCHLD_RACE	2010-03-09 22:23:37.000000000 +0100
+++ mm/kernel/kmod.c	2010-03-10 17:36:37.000000000 +0100
@@ -194,15 +194,16 @@ static int wait_for_helper(void *data)
 	struct subprocess_info *sub_info = data;
 	pid_t pid;
 
-	/* Install a handler: if SIGCLD isn't handled sys_wait4 won't
-	 * populate the status, but will return -ECHILD. */
-	allow_signal(SIGCHLD);
+	/* If SIGCLD is ignored sys_wait4 won't populate the status. */
+	spin_lock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
+	current->sighand->action[SIGCHLD-1].sa.sa_handler = SIG_DFL;
+	spin_unlock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
 
 	pid = kernel_thread(____call_usermodehelper, sub_info, SIGCHLD);
 	if (pid < 0) {
 		sub_info->retval = pid;
 	} else {
-		int ret;
+		int ret = -ECHILD;
 
 		/*
 		 * Normally it is bogus to call wait4() from in-kernel because


             reply	other threads:[~2010-03-10 17:18 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2010-03-10 17:16 Oleg Nesterov [this message]
2010-03-10 18:07 ` [PATCH] wait_for_helper: SIGCHLD from user-space can lead to use-after-free Neil Horman
2010-03-10 20:32 ` Roland McGrath
2010-03-10 21:19   ` Oleg Nesterov
2010-03-10 21:27     ` Roland McGrath

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20100310171634.GA1039@redhat.com \
    --to=oleg@redhat.com \
    --cc=akpm@linux-foundation.org \
    --cc=andi@firstfloor.org \
    --cc=dhowells@redhat.com \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=nhorman@tuxdriver.com \
    --cc=roland@redhat.com \
    --cc=rusty@rustcorp.com.au \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox