Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 27 Nov 2015 09:05:54 +0100 | From | Ingo Molnar <> | Subject | Re: [kernel-hardening] [PATCH 0/2] introduce post-init read-only memory |
| |
* PaX Team <pageexec@freemail.hu> wrote:
> On 26 Nov 2015 at 11:42, Ingo Molnar wrote: > > > * PaX Team <pageexec@freemail.hu> wrote: > > > > > On 26 Nov 2015 at 9:54, Ingo Molnar wrote: > > > > > e.g., imagine that the write was to a function pointer (even an entire ops > > > structure) or a boolean that controls some important feature for after-init > > > code. ignoring/dropping such writes could cause all kinds of logic bugs (if not > > > worse). > > > > Well, the typical case is that it's a logic bug to _do_ the write: the structure > > was marked readonly for a reason but some init code re-runs during suspend or so. > > that's actually not the typical case in my experience, but rather these two: > > 1. initial mistake: someone didn't actually check whether the given object can > be __read_only > > 2. code evolution: an object that was once written by __init code only (and > thus proactively subjected to __read_only) gets modified by non-init code > due to later changes > > what you described above is a third case where there's a latent bug to begin > (unintended write) with that __read_only merely exposes but doesn't create > itself, unlike the two cases above (intended writes getting caught by wrong use > of __read_only).
You are right, I concede this part of the argument - what you describe is probably the most typical way to get ro-faults.
I do maintain the (sub-)argument that oopsing or relying on tooling help years down the line is vastly inferior to fixing up the problem and generating a one-time stack dump so that kernel developers have a chance to fix the bug. The sooner we detect and dump such information the more likely it is that such bugs don't get into end user kernel versions.
> my proposal would produce the exact same reports, the difference is in letting > the write attempt succeed vs. skipping it. this latter step is what is wrong > since it introduces at least a logic bug the same way the constprop optimization > created a logic bug.
Yes, you are right and I agree.
Does anyone want to submit such a patch for upstream? Looks like a good change.
Thanks,
Ingo
| |