linux-ext4 - [PATCH] jbd2: fix theoretical race in jbd2__journal

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:	Thu, 20 Jun 2013 12:08:00 -0400
From:	Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>
To:	Ext4 Developers List <linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org>
Cc:	ocfs2-devel@....oracle.com, Theodore Ts'o <tytso@....edu>,
	stable@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] jbd2: fix theoretical race in jbd2__journal_restart

Once we decrement transaction->t_updates, if this is the last handle
holding the transaction from closing, and once we release the
t_handle_lock spinlock, it's possible for the transaction to commit
and be released.  In practice with normal kernels, this probably won't
happen, since the commit happens in a separate kernel thread and it's
unlikely this could all happen within the space of a few CPU cycles.

On the other hand, with a real-time kernel, this could potentially
happen, so save the tid found in transaction->t_tid before we release
t_handle_lock.  It would require an insane configuration, such as one
where the jbd2 thread was set to a very high real-time priority,
perhaps because a high priority real-time thread is trying to read or
write to a file system.  But some people who use real-time kernels
have been known to do insane things, including controlling
laser-wielding industrial robots.  :-)

Signed-off-by: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@....edu>
Cc: stable@...r.kernel.org
---

[ I plan to carry this in the ext4 tree. ]

 fs/jbd2/transaction.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/jbd2/transaction.c b/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
index 91d62e1..7391456 100644
--- a/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
+++ b/fs/jbd2/transaction.c
@@ -652,10 +652,10 @@ int jbd2__journal_restart(handle_t *handle, int nblocks, gfp_t gfp_mask)
 	}
 	if (atomic_dec_and_test(&transaction->t_updates))
 		wake_up(&journal->j_wait_updates);
+	tid = transaction->t_tid;
 	spin_unlock(&transaction->t_handle_lock);

 	jbd_debug(2, "restarting handle %p\n", handle);
-	tid = transaction->t_tid;
 	need_to_start = !tid_geq(journal->j_commit_request, tid);
 	read_unlock(&journal->j_state_lock);
 	if (need_to_start)
-- 
1.7.12.rc0.22.gcdd159b

--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-ext4" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html