[PATCH 4/4] net/core/dev.c : Race condition in net_tx_action.

[PATCH 4/4] net/core/dev.c : Race condition in net_tx_action.

[Ameen Ali]

Transmitting asynchronously on all the network devices available we will  notice the following behaviour:
a) The instruction "if (sd->completion_queue) {" saves on a CPU register the pointer value (register contents is used for the comparison)
b) The interupt is disabled (using "local_irq_disable")
c) when the content of "clist" is updated, the register is used, instead of re-read the "completion_queue" variable.

So, when a low-level tx interrupt arrives after the latching of "completion_queue", but before "local_irq_disable",
 the value stored in "clist" reflect the situation before low-level tx interrupt, resulting in a sk_buff leak
---
 net/core/dev.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
index 8f9710c..db3e59e 100644
--- a/net/core/dev.c
+++ b/net/core/dev.c
@@ -3413,7 +3413,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(netif_rx_ni);
 
 static void net_tx_action(struct softirq_action *h)
 {
-	struct softnet_data *sd = this_cpu_ptr(&softnet_data);
+	volatile struct softnet_data *sd = &__get_cpu_var(softnet_data);
 
 	if (sd->completion_queue) {
 		struct sk_buff *clist;
-- 
2.1.0

Re: [PATCH 4/4] net/core/dev.c : Race condition in net_tx_action.

[Eric Dumazet]

On Wed, 2015-02-25 at 19:50 +0200, Ameen Ali wrote:
> Transmitting asynchronously on all the network devices available we will  notice the following behaviour:
> a) The instruction "if (sd->completion_queue) {" saves on a CPU register the pointer value (register contents is used for the comparison)
> b) The interupt is disabled (using "local_irq_disable")
> c) when the content of "clist" is updated, the register is used, instead of re-read the "completion_queue" variable.
> 
> So, when a low-level tx interrupt arrives after the latching of "completion_queue", but before "local_irq_disable",
>  the value stored in "clist" reflect the situation before low-level tx interrupt, resulting in a sk_buff leak
> ---
>  net/core/dev.c | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/net/core/dev.c b/net/core/dev.c
> index 8f9710c..db3e59e 100644
> --- a/net/core/dev.c
> +++ b/net/core/dev.c
> @@ -3413,7 +3413,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(netif_rx_ni);
>  
>  static void net_tx_action(struct softirq_action *h)
>  {
> -	struct softnet_data *sd = this_cpu_ptr(&softnet_data);
> +	volatile struct softnet_data *sd = &__get_cpu_var(softnet_data);
>  
>  	if (sd->completion_queue) {
>  		struct sk_buff *clist;

Seems real bug is elsewhere. This is becoming a FAQ.

Which arch are you using, and which compiler ?

volatile are highly discouraged in favor of ACCESS_ONCE, READ_ONCE(),
WRITE_ONCE() : read
Documentation/volatile-considered-harmful.txt:19:safe

local_irq_disable() acts as a barrier the compiler should reload the
value from memory.

Re: [PATCH 4/4] net/core/dev.c : Race condition in net_tx_action.

[David Miller]

From: Ameen Ali <ameenali023@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2015 19:50:59 +0200

> @@ -3413,7 +3413,7 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(netif_rx_ni);
>  
>  static void net_tx_action(struct softirq_action *h)
>  {
> -	struct softnet_data *sd = this_cpu_ptr(&softnet_data);
> +	volatile struct softnet_data *sd = &__get_cpu_var(softnet_data);

volatile is never an appropriate solution to a race condition