Re: [PATCH] x86/mtrr: don't copy out-of-bounds data in mtrr_write

From: Al Viro
Date: Sun Jul 15 2018 - 22:35:02 EST


On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 12:03:39AM +0200, Ingo Molnar wrote:
>
> * Jann Horn <jannh@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> > - A malicious user can pass an arbitrary file to a setuid binary as
> > stdin/stdout/stderr. When the setuid binary (expecting stdin/stdout to
> > be something normal, like a proper file or a pipe) then calls read(0,
> > <buf>, <len>), if the kernel disregards the length argument and writes
> > beyond the end of the buffer, it can corrupt adjacent userspace data,
> > potentially allowing a user to escalate their privileges; a write
> > handler is somewhat less interesting because it can probably (as in
> > this case) only leak out-of-bounds data from the caller, not corrupt
> > it, but it's still a concern in theory.
>
> BTW., a naive question: would it make sense to simply disallow 'special'
> fds to be passed to setuid binaries, and fix any user-space that breaks?
> (i.e. only allow regular files and pipes/sockets.)

*Ugh*

You do realize that there's a lot of magical mystery shite that looks like
regular files? And what's wrong with directories, BTW?

While we are at it, "passed" in which sense? Via SCM_RIGHTS? Those are
only get accepted if recepient explicitly asks for those - simple read()
or recv() will have them quietly discarded, special or not.

And if it's "inherit over execve()"... Your definition *will* break.
Instantly. Right as you try to run su or sudo, with stdin/stdout/stderr
all going to a character device. Terminal, that is.

Frankly, something like
copyin_limited(buf, len, kbuf, size)
and several similar helpers would be a lot more productive than open-coding
these checks over and over or trying to come up with definitions of "special"
that would work.

BTW, what's the point open-coding
if (sscanf(line, "base=%ull size=%ull type=%s", &base, &size, &type) != 3)
return -EINVAL;
if ((base & 0xfff) || (size & 0xfff))
return -EINVAL;
i = match_string(mtrr_strings, MTRR_NUM_TYPES, type);
if (i < 0)
return i;
as
if (strncmp(line, "base=", 5))
return -EINVAL;

base = simple_strtoull(line + 5, &ptr, 0);
ptr = skip_spaces(ptr);

if (strncmp(ptr, "size=", 5))
return -EINVAL;

size = simple_strtoull(ptr + 5, &ptr, 0);
if ((base & 0xfff) || (size & 0xfff))
return -EINVAL;
ptr = skip_spaces(ptr);

if (strncmp(ptr, "type=", 5))
return -EINVAL;
ptr = skip_spaces(ptr + 5);

i = match_string(mtrr_strings, MTRR_NUM_TYPES, ptr);
if (i < 0)
return i;

Saving the copying of 'type' (which we need since '%n' is declared useless)?