linux-hardening - [PATCH 1/3] printk: ringbuffer: Explain why the KUnit test ignores failed writes

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Message-ID: <20250702095157.110916-2-pmladek@suse.com>
Date: Wed,  2 Jul 2025 11:51:55 +0200
From: Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>
To: Thomas Weißschuh <thomas.weissschuh@...utronix.de>,
	John Ogness <john.ogness@...utronix.de>,
	Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...aro.org>
Cc: Steven Rostedt <rostedt@...dmis.org>,
	Sergey Senozhatsky <senozhatsky@...omium.org>,
	Kees Cook <kees@...nel.org>,
	"Gustavo A . R . Silva" <gustavoars@...nel.org>,
	David Gow <davidgow@...gle.com>,
	Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...nel.org>,
	Arnd Bergmann <arnd@...db.de>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org,
	Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>
Subject: [PATCH 1/3] printk: ringbuffer: Explain why the KUnit test ignores failed writes

The KUnit test ignores prb_reserve() failures on purpose. It tries
to push the ringbuffer beyond limits.

Note that it is a know problem that writes might fail in this situation.
printk() tries to prevent this problem by:

  + allocating big enough data buffer, see log_buf_add_cpu().

  + allocating enough descriptors by using small enough average
    record, see PRB_AVGBITS.

  + storing the record with disabled interrupts, see vprintk_store().

Also the amount of printk() messages is always somehow bound in
practice. And they are serialized when they are printed from
many CPUs on purpose, for example, when printing backtraces.

Signed-off-by: Petr Mladek <pmladek@...e.com>
---
 kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer_kunit_test.c | 13 +++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+)

diff --git a/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer_kunit_test.c b/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer_kunit_test.c
index 4081ae051d8e..217dcc14670c 100644
--- a/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer_kunit_test.c
+++ b/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer_kunit_test.c
@@ -123,6 +123,19 @@ static int prbtest_writer(void *data)
 		/* specify the text sizes for reservation */
 		prb_rec_init_wr(&r, record_size);
 
+		/*
+		 * Reservation can fail if:
+		 *
+		 *      - No free descriptor is available.
+		 *      - The buffer is full, and the oldest record is reserved
+		 *        but not yet committed.
+		 *
+		 * It actually happens in this test because all CPUs are trying
+		 * to write an unbounded number of messages in a tight loop.
+		 * These failures are intentionally ignored because this test
+		 * focuses on races, ringbuffer consistency, and pushing system
+		 * usability limits.
+		 */
 		if (prb_reserve(&e, tr->test_data->ringbuffer, &r)) {
 			r.info->text_len = record_size;
 
-- 
2.50.0