linux-kernel - RE: [PATCH] ACPICA: Tables: Skip NULL entries in RSDT and XSDT.

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:	Fri, 18 Apr 2014 03:13:04 +0000
From:	"Zheng, Lv" <lv.zheng@...el.com>
To:	Greg KH <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>
CC:	"Wysocki, Rafael J" <rafael.j.wysocki@...el.com>,
	"Brown, Len" <len.brown@...el.com>, Lv Zheng <zetalog@...il.com>,
	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"stable@...r.kernel.org" <stable@...r.kernel.org>,
	"linux-acpi@...r.kernel.org" <linux-acpi@...r.kernel.org>,
	"Zhao, Yakui" <yakui.zhao@...el.com>
Subject: RE: [PATCH] ACPICA: Tables: Skip NULL entries in RSDT and XSDT.

Hi,

> From: Greg KH [mailto:gregkh@...uxfoundation.org]
> Sent: Friday, April 18, 2014 10:44 AM
> 
> On Fri, Apr 18, 2014 at 09:53:19AM +0800, Lv Zheng wrote:
> > Note that this patch is only used for stable kernels, upstream kernels
> > will have this problem fixed in ACPICA 201303-04 release.  So upstream
> > kernels shouldn't merge this commit.
> 
> What kernel commit fixed this issue in "upstream"?
> 
> > It is reported that there are buggy BIOSes in the world: AMI uses a XSDt
> > compiler for early BIOSes, this compiler will generate XSDT with a NULL
> > entry.  The affected BIOS versions are "AMI BIOS F2-F4".
> >
> > Original solution on Linux is to use an alternative heathy root table
> > instead of the ill one.  This commit is refined by the following ACPICA
> > commit that tries to reduce the source code differences between Linux and
> > ACPICA upstream.
> >   Commit: 671cc68dc61f029d44b43a681356078e02d8dab8
> >   Subject: ACPICA: Back port and refine validation of the XSDT root table.
> > But according to the bug report, the XSDT in fact is not broken, we should
> > just add NULL entry sanity check before installing a table address from
> > XSDT.
> >
> > With the NULL entry sanity check implemented, the XSDT validation is
> > useless because:
> > 1. If XSDT contains NULL entries, it can be bypassed by the new sanity
> >    check mechanism;
> > 2. If RSDP contains a bad XSDT address, invoking XSDT validation will still
> >    lead to kernel crash.
> >
> > This patch deletes XSDT validation logics and adds code to skip NULL
> > entries that can be found in RSDT or XSDT. Lv Zheng.
> >
> > Buglink: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=73911
> > Buglink: https://bugs.archlinux.org/task/39811
> > Signed-off-by: Lv Zheng <lv.zheng@...el.com>
> > Reported-and-tested-by: Bruce Chiarelli <mano155@...il.com>
> > Reported-and-tested-by: Spyros Stathopoulos <spystath@...il.com>
> > Cc: Zhao Yakui <yakui.zhao@...el.com>
> > Cc: <stable@...r.kernel.org> # 3.14.x: 671cc68: ACPICA: Back port and refine validation of the XSDT root table.
> 
> So this fix is only needed for 3.14?  Or older?  I'm confused here...

Only 3.14.1 - 3.15.1 kernels are affected.  Others are fine.
Possibly this urgent commit is useful for the users currently running 3.14 on such broken platforms.
I haven't obtained Rafael's ACKs on this.  We may discuss it in next week.

Thanks and best regards
-Lv

> greg k-h
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/