linux-hardening - Re: [PATCH V2 3/3] efi: pstore: Add module parameter for setting the record size

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Date:   Fri, 14 Oct 2022 10:42:34 -0700
From:   Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
To:     "Guilherme G. Piccoli" <gpiccoli@...lia.com>
Cc:     linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, linux-efi@...r.kernel.org,
        kernel-dev@...lia.com, kernel@...ccoli.net, anton@...msg.org,
        ccross@...roid.com, tony.luck@...el.com, ardb@...nel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH V2 3/3] efi: pstore: Add module parameter for setting the
 record size

On Thu, Oct 13, 2022 at 06:06:48PM -0300, Guilherme G. Piccoli wrote:
> By default, the efi-pstore backend hardcode the UEFI variable size
> as 1024 bytes. The historical reasons for that were discussed by
> Ard in threads [0][1]:
> 
> "there is some cargo cult from prehistoric EFI times going
> on here, it seems. Or maybe just misinterpretation of the maximum
> size for the variable *name* vs the variable itself.".
> 
> "OVMF has
> OvmfPkg/OvmfPkgX64.dsc:
> gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdMaxVariableSize|0x2000
> OvmfPkg/OvmfPkgX64.dsc:
> gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdMaxVariableSize|0x8400
> 
> where the first one is without secure boot and the second with secure
> boot. Interestingly, the default is
> 
> gEfiMdeModulePkgTokenSpaceGuid.PcdMaxVariableSize|0x400
> 
> so this is probably where this 1k number comes from."
> 
> With that, and since there is not such a limit in the UEFI spec, we
> have the confidence to hereby add a module parameter to enable advanced
> users to change the UEFI record size for efi-pstore data collection,
> this way allowing a much easier reading of the collected log, which is
> not scattered anymore among many small files.
> 
> Through empirical analysis we observed that extreme low values (like 8
> bytes) could eventually cause writing issues, so given that and the OVMF
> default discussed, we limited the minimum value to 1024 bytes, which also
> is still the default.
> 
> [0] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAMj1kXF4UyRMh2Y_KakeNBHvkHhTtavASTAxXinDO1rhPe_wYg@mail.gmail.com/
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CAMj1kXFy-2KddGu+dgebAdU9v2sindxVoiHLWuVhqYw+R=kqng@mail.gmail.com/
> 
> Cc: Ard Biesheuvel <ardb@...nel.org>
> Signed-off-by: Guilherme G. Piccoli <gpiccoli@...lia.com>

With the var length change recommended by Ard, yeah, looks good to me.
:)

Thanks!

-Kees

-- 
Kees Cook