Possible Bug in mincore or mmap

From: Bruce Dubbs
Date: Thu Mar 22 2007 - 15:27:59 EST


When testing an installation with tests from the Linux Test Project, my
kernels fail one instance of the mincore01 tests:

mincoremincore01 1 PASS : expected failure: errno = 22 (Invalid
argument)
mincore01 2 PASS : expected failure: errno = 14 (Bad address)
mincore01 3 FAIL : call succeeded unexpectedly
mincore01 4 PASS : expected failure: errno = 12 (Cannot allocate
memory)01 1 PASS : expected failure: errno = 22 (Invalid argument)
mincore01 2 PASS : expected failure: errno = 14 (Bad address)
mincore01 3 FAIL : call succeeded unexpectedly
mincore01 4 PASS : expected failure: errno = 12 (Cannot allocate
memory)

I pared down the test to the attached program. The result is supposed
to fail as it is asking for memory information 5 times what should be
allocated.

Upon experimenting, I found the test works properly if a printf is
executed before the mmap call. I have tested on locally built, but
unmodified, 2.4.25, 2.6.12.5, and a 2.6.20.3 kernels and get the same
behavior. The tests fail on IA32 architecture, but not 64-bit kernels.
The test always works properly on FC6 and RHEL3.

I've checked the archives for this issue and could not find anything
appropriate.

Could this be a potential security issue as memory that is not supposed
to be accessible seems to be available to the user? Is it expected
behavior?

Thanks.

-- Bruce
#include <sys/mman.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdio.h>

static int PAGESIZE;
static char file_name[] = "fooXXXXXX";
static void* global_pointer = NULL;
static int global_len = 0;
static int file_desc = 0;

int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
int i;
int result;
char* buf;
unsigned char vect[20] = {0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0};


PAGESIZE = getpagesize();

/* global_pointer will point to a mmapped area of global_len bytes */
global_len = PAGESIZE*2;

buf = (char*)malloc(global_len);
memset(buf, 42, global_len); // Asterisks

/* create a temporary file */
file_desc = mkstemp(file_name);

/* fill the temporary file with two pages of data */
write(file_desc, buf, global_len);
free(buf);

// Will work properly as long as print is before mmap function.
if ( argc > 1 ) printf("argc=%d\n", argc);

/* map the file in memory */
global_pointer = mmap( NULL, global_len,
PROT_READ|PROT_WRITE|PROT_EXEC, MAP_SHARED, file_desc, 0);

// Result should be -1 as the request is 5 times actual mapping
result = mincore(global_pointer, (size_t)(global_len*5), vect);

// Print some data
printf("PAGESIZE=%d\n", PAGESIZE);
printf("global_len=%d\n", global_len);
printf("global_pointer=0x%x\n", (unsigned int)global_pointer);
printf("alloc=%d\n", (global_len+PAGESIZE-1) / PAGESIZE );
printf("Result=%d\n", result);
printf("vect: ");

for ( i=0; i<20; i++) printf("%02x ", vect[i]);
printf("\n");

// Clean up
munmap(global_pointer, (size_t)global_len);
close(file_desc);
unlink(file_name);
}