linux-hardening - Re: [PATCH] kbuild: Enable -fstrict-flex-arrays=3

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Message-ID: <ZGVm/KbJj9Fnyx9W@work>
Date:   Wed, 17 May 2023 17:45:00 -0600
From:   "Gustavo A. R. Silva" <gustavoars@...nel.org>
To:     Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
Cc:     Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>,
        Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>,
        Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>,
        Nicolas Schier <nicolas@...sle.eu>,
        linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org, Tom Rix <trix@...hat.com>,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, llvm@...ts.linux.dev,
        linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] kbuild: Enable -fstrict-flex-arrays=3

On Wed, May 17, 2023 at 04:28:04PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> The -fstrict-flex-arrays=3 option is now available with the release
> of GCC 13[1] and Clang 16[2]. This feature instructs the compiler to
> treat only C99 flexible arrays as dynamically sized for the purposes of
> object size calculations. In other words, the ancient practice of using
> 1-element arrays, or the GNU extension of using 0-sized arrays, as a
> dynamically sized array is disabled. This allows CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS,
> CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE, and other object-size aware features to behave
> unambiguously in the face of trailing arrays: only C99 flexible arrays
> are considered to be dynamically sized.

It's happening! :'-)

> 
> Enabling this will help track down any outstanding cases of fake
> flexible arrays that need attention in kernel code.
> 
> [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/C-Dialect-Options.html#index-fstrict-flex-arrays
> [2] https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangCommandLineReference.html#cmdoption-clang-fstrict-flex-arrays
> 
> Cc: Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>
> Cc: "Gustavo A. R. Silva" <gustavoars@...nel.org>
> Cc: Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>
> Cc: Nick Desaulniers <ndesaulniers@...gle.com>
> Cc: Nicolas Schier <nicolas@...sle.eu>
> Cc: linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>

Reviewed-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@...nel.org>

Thanks!
--
Gustavo

> ---
>  Makefile | 6 ++++++
>  1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> index f836936fb4d8..07e5aec1daf5 100644
> --- a/Makefile
> +++ b/Makefile
> @@ -1026,6 +1026,12 @@ KBUILD_CFLAGS += -Wno-pointer-sign
>  # globally built with -Wcast-function-type.
>  KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option, -Wcast-function-type)
>  
> +# To gain proper coverage for CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS and CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE,
> +# the kernel uses only C99 flexible arrays for dynamically sized trailing
> +# arrays. Enforce this for everything that may examine structure sizes and
> +# perform bounds checking.
> +KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-option, -fstrict-flex-arrays=3)
> +
>  # disable stringop warnings in gcc 8+
>  KBUILD_CFLAGS += $(call cc-disable-warning, stringop-truncation)
>  
> -- 
> 2.34.1
>