Re: [PATCH v2] net/mlx5: Fix OOB access and stack information leak in PTP event handling

Carolina Jubran
2026-04-09T14:16:15Z

Hi Prathamesh, thanks for the patch!

On 02/04/2026 3:30, Prathamesh Deshpande wrote:
> In mlx5_pps_event(), several critical issues were identified during
> review by Sashiko:
>
> 1. The 'pin' index from the hardware event was used without bounds
> checking to index 'pin_config' and 'pps_info->start', leading to
> potential out-of-bounds memory access.
> 2. 'ptp_event' was not zero-initialized. Since it contains a union,
> assigning a timestamp partially leaves the 'ts_raw' field with
> uninitialized stack memory, which can leak kernel data or
> corrupt time sync logic in hardpps().
> 3. A NULL 'pin_config' could be dereferenced if initialization failed.
> 4. 'clock->ptp' could be NULL if ptp_clock_register() failed.
>
> Fix these by zero-initializing the event struct, adding a bounds
> check against MAX_PIN_NUM, and adding appropriate NULL guards.
>
> Fixes: 7c39afb394c7 ("net/mlx5: PTP code migration to driver core section")
>
> Signed-off-by: Prathamesh Deshpande <prathameshdeshpande7@gmail.com>
> ---
> v2:
> - Zero-initialize ptp_event to prevent stack information leak [Sashiko].
> - Add bounds check for hardware pin index to prevent OOB access [Sashiko].
> - Add NULL guard for pin_config to handle initialization failures [Sashiko].
> - Add NULL check for clock->ptp as originally intended.
>
> drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib/clock.c | 12 +++++++++---
> 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib/clock.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib/clock.c
> index bd4e042077af..a4d8c5c39abc 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib/clock.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/mellanox/mlx5/core/lib/clock.c
> @@ -1164,12 +1164,18 @@ static int mlx5_pps_event(struct notifier_block *nb,
> pps_nb);
> struct mlx5_core_dev *mdev = clock_state->mdev;
> struct mlx5_clock *clock = mdev->clock;
> - struct ptp_clock_event ptp_event;
> + struct ptp_clock_event ptp_event = {};
> struct mlx5_eqe *eqe = data;
> int pin = eqe->data.pps.pin;
> unsigned long flags;
> u64 ns;
>
> + if (!clock->ptp_info.pin_config)
> + return NOTIFY_OK;
> +
> + if (pin < 0 || pin >= MAX_PIN_NUM)
> + return NOTIFY_OK;

pin is defined as u8 in struct mlx5_eqe_pps, so pin < 0 is dead code.

As for the upper bound: in order to receive a PPS event on a pin, the
user must
first configure it via mlx5_ptp_enable, which already validates the index
(rq->extts.index >= clock->ptp_info.n_pins returns -EINVAL) and since
the mtpps
register only defines capabilities for 8 pins, so n_pins cannot exceed
MAX_PIN_NUM.

Maybe wrap it with WARN_ON_ONCE instead of silently returning, so if future
hardware adds support for more pins we would notice rather than silently
dropping
events.

> +
> switch (clock->ptp_info.pin_config[pin].func) {
> case PTP_PF_EXTTS:
> ptp_event.index = pin;
> @@ -1185,8 +1191,8 @@ static int mlx5_pps_event(struct notifier_block *nb,
> } else {
> ptp_event.type = PTP_CLOCK_EXTTS;
> }
> - /* TODOL clock->ptp can be NULL if ptp_clock_register fails */
> - ptp_clock_event(clock->ptp, &ptp_event);
> + if (clock->ptp)
> + ptp_clock_event(clock->ptp, &ptp_event);
> break;
> case PTP_PF_PEROUT:
> if (clock->shared) {