[PATCH v2 1/5] stddef: Add flexible array union helper

Kees Cook
2021-08-26T05:05:14Z

Many places in the kernel want to use a flexible array in a union. This
is especially common when wanting several different typed trailing
flexible arrays. Since GCC and Clang don't (on the surface) allow this,
such structs have traditionally used combinations of zero-element arrays
instead. This is usually in the form:

struct thing {
...
struct type1 foo[0];
struct type2 bar[];
};

This causes problems with size checks against such zero-element arrays
(for example with -Warray-bounds and -Wzero-length-bounds), so they must
all be converted to "real" flexible arrays, avoiding warnings like this:

fs/hpfs/anode.c: In function 'hpfs_add_sector_to_btree':
fs/hpfs/anode.c:209:27: warning: array subscript 0 is outside the bounds of an interior zero-length array 'struct bplus_internal_node[0]' [-Wzero-length-bounds]
209 | anode->btree.u.internal[0].down = cpu_to_le32(a);
| ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~
In file included from fs/hpfs/hpfs_fn.h:26,
from fs/hpfs/anode.c:10:
fs/hpfs/hpfs.h:412:32: note: while referencing 'internal'
412 | struct bplus_internal_node internal[0]; /* (internal) 2-word entries giving
| ^~~~~~~~

drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_fd.c: In function 'es58x_fd_tx_can_msg':
drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_fd.c:360:35: warning: array subscript 65535 is outside the bounds of an interior zero-length array 'u8[0]' {aka 'unsigned char[]'} [-Wzero-length-bounds]
360 | tx_can_msg = (typeof(tx_can_msg))&es58x_fd_urb_cmd->raw_msg[msg_len];
| ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_core.h:22,
from drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_fd.c:17:
drivers/net/can/usb/etas_es58x/es58x_fd.h:231:6: note: while referencing 'raw_msg'
231 | u8 raw_msg[0];
| ^~~~~~~

Introduce DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY() in support of flexible arrays in unions. It
is entirely possible to have a flexible array in a union: it just has to
be in a struct. And since it cannot be alone in a struct, such a struct
must have at least 1 other named member but that member can be zero sized.

As with struct_group(), this is needed in UAPI headers as well, so
implement the core there, with non-UAPI wrapper.

Additionally update kernel-doc to understand its existence.

https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/137

Cc: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
Cc: "Gustavo A. R. Silva" <gustavoars@kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
---
include/linux/stddef.h | 13 +++++++++++++
include/uapi/linux/stddef.h | 16 ++++++++++++++++
scripts/kernel-doc | 2 ++
3 files changed, 31 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/stddef.h b/include/linux/stddef.h
index 8b103a53b000..ca507bd5f808 100644
--- a/include/linux/stddef.h
+++ b/include/linux/stddef.h
@@ -84,4 +84,17 @@ enum {
#define struct_group_tagged(TAG, NAME, MEMBERS...) \
__struct_group(TAG, NAME, /* no attrs */, MEMBERS)

+/**
+ * DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY() - Declare a flexible array usable in a union
+ *
+ * @TYPE: The type of each flexible array element
+ * @NAME: The name of the flexible array member
+ *
+ * In order to have a flexible array member in a union or alone in a
+ * struct, it needs to be wrapped in an anonymous struct with at least 1
+ * named member, but that member can be empty.
+ */
+#define DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY(TYPE, NAME) \
+ __DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY(TYPE, NAME)
+
#endif
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/stddef.h b/include/uapi/linux/stddef.h
index 610204f7c275..3021ea25a284 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/stddef.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/stddef.h
@@ -25,3 +25,19 @@
struct { MEMBERS } ATTRS; \
struct TAG { MEMBERS } ATTRS NAME; \
}
+
+/**
+ * __DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY() - Declare a flexible array usable in a union
+ *
+ * @TYPE: The type of each flexible array element
+ * @NAME: The name of the flexible array member
+ *
+ * In order to have a flexible array member in a union or alone in a
+ * struct, it needs to be wrapped in an anonymous struct with at least 1
+ * named member, but that member can be empty.
+ */
+#define __DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY(TYPE, NAME) \
+ struct { \
+ struct { } __empty_ ## NAME; \
+ TYPE NAME[]; \
+ }
diff --git a/scripts/kernel-doc b/scripts/kernel-doc
index d9715efbe0b7..65088b512d14 100755
--- a/scripts/kernel-doc
+++ b/scripts/kernel-doc
@@ -1263,6 +1263,8 @@ sub dump_struct($$) {
$members =~ s/DECLARE_KFIFO\s*\($args,\s*$args,\s*$args\)/$2 \*$1/gos;
# replace DECLARE_KFIFO_PTR
$members =~ s/DECLARE_KFIFO_PTR\s*\($args,\s*$args\)/$2 \*$1/gos;
+ # replace DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY
+ $members =~ s/(?:__)?DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY\s*\($args,\s*$args\)/$1 $2\[\]/gos;
my $declaration = $members;

# Split nested struct/union elements as newer ones
--
2.30.2