Re: [PATCH] smsc95xx: Use skb_cow to deal with cloned skbs

[Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>]

On 04/18/2017 09:52 AM, Eric Dumazet wrote:
> On Tue, 2017-04-18 at 17:16 +0100, James Hughes wrote:
>> On 18 April 2017 at 16:55, David Miller <davem@davemloft.net> wrote:
>>> From: Eric Dumazet <eric.dumazet@gmail.com>
>>> Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2017 08:51:51 -0700
>>>
>>>> On Tue, 2017-04-18 at 15:48 +0100, James Hughes wrote:
>>>>> The driver was failing to check that the SKB wasn't cloned
>>>>> before adding checksum data or adding header data.
>>>>> Replace existing handling to extend the buffer with
>>>>> skb_cow. Don't use skb_cow_head as the sw checksum
>>>>> code modifies the data portion.
>>>>>
>>>>> Signed-off-by: James Hughes <james.hughes@raspberrypi.org>
>>>>> ---
>>>>>  drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c | 10 +++-------
>>>>>  1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)
>>>>>
>>>>> diff --git a/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c b/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
>>>>> index df60c98..04f6397 100644
>>>>> --- a/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
>>>>> +++ b/drivers/net/usb/smsc95xx.c
>>>>> @@ -2067,13 +2067,9 @@ static struct sk_buff *smsc95xx_tx_fixup(struct usbnet *dev,
>>>>>      /* We do not advertise SG, so skbs should be already linearized */
>>>>>      BUG_ON(skb_shinfo(skb)->nr_frags);
>>>>>
>>>>> -    if (skb_headroom(skb) < overhead) {
>>>>> -            struct sk_buff *skb2 = skb_copy_expand(skb,
>>>>> -                    overhead, 0, flags);
>>>>> -            dev_kfree_skb_any(skb);
>>>>> -            skb = skb2;
>>>>> -            if (!skb)
>>>>> -                    return NULL;
>>>>> +    /* Make writable and expand space by overhead if required */
>>>>> +    if (skb_cow(skb, overhead)) {
>>>>> +            return NULL;
>>>>>      }
>>>>
>>>> Note that this patch will probably force a copy of all locally generated
>>>> TCP packets.
>>>>
>>>> For them skb_cloned(skb) is true.
>>>>
>>>> I do believe skb_cow_head() would be better, since TCP stack uses the
>>>> __skb_header_release() helper to tell lower stacks they can write the
>>>> header part, even on a clone.
>>>
>>> Agreed.
>>
>> I'm happy to work it as you see fit - you know this code far better than I do.
>>
>> Our reading of the code is that the software checksum path is
>> modifying the data rather than just adding a header. Based on the
>> description of skb_cow_head it therefore isn't appropriate. If that
>> isn't a concern in reality then skb_cow_head is fine and I'll make a
>> V2 patchset.
>> Or do we need to skb_cow if doing the software checksum, but
>> skb_cow_head normally? That can be done instead but requires a
>> slightly larger change.
>>
>> The failure case we were seeing was with a bridged network using
>> SMSC9514 and a Broadcom wifi chip on Raspberry Pi 3. The bridge was
>> making an SKB clone of broadcasts for the two interfaces, and then
>> both drivers were adding headers without checking skb_cloned(skb)
>> first, hence trampling on each other. For small packets the SMSC95xx
>> driver will be computing the software checksum and writing it in to
>> the data, so the wifi driver will also be seeing it. For many drivers
>> that probably won't matter, but is that always true?
>>
>> (Patches for the Broadcom wifi driver will be coming once we've worked
>> out the best way of fixing this - there is no error path easily
>> available if the skb_cow_head call fails).
>>
> 
> You misread what the driver does.
> 
> The TCP data (payload) is _not_ modified.
> 
> Only additional headers are pushed in front of the existing (Ethernet,
> IP, TCP) headers.
> 
> For this, skb_cow_head() is the perfect solution.

BTW, this pattern of using skb_headroom() ... skb_copy_expand() seems to
be recurring in pretty much all USB network drivers that have a tx_fixup
callback set. The problem is that each driver needs its own
headroom/tailroom so the fix is not as simple as putting the
skb_cow_head() before the call to the drivers' tx_fixup...

I wonder if a coccinelle patch would be able to do that for us?
-- 
Florian