Re: [PATCH v2] Add kernel config option for fuzz testing.

Tetsuo Handa
2020-03-09T11:24:04Z

On 2020/03/09 1:13, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Sun, Mar 8, 2020 at 12:53 AM Greg Kroah-Hartman
> <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>>
>> No, anything that just evaluates the code should be fine, we want static
>> analyzers to be processing those code paths. Just not to run them as
>> root on a live system.
>
> So I can see the reason to run fuzz testing as root, but I have to
> admit to hating the "special config option for this" approach.
>
> I'd *much* rather see some way to just lock down certain things
> individually. The patch in here just added the config option, which is
> the least interesting part.

I think that locking down individual thing using individual switch is an
endless game of maintaining list of switches. When someone adds a code
which should not be fuzzed, the author of that code or the maintainer of
fuzzers will add a new switch for that code, and the maintainer of fuzzers
forever has to follow new switches. I think that it is better to keep number
of switches minimal until we have to split into fine grained switches.

>
> The things that that config option then would want to disable - those
> are the things that maybe we want to have a way for the system admin
> just generally say "disable this".
>
> Nothing to do with fuzzing, imho.
>
> Linus
>