linux-kernel - [PATCH] TTY: do not update atime/mtime on read/write

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Date:	Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:25:05 +0100
From:	Jiri Slaby <jslaby@...e.cz>
To:	gregkh@...uxfoundation.org
Cc:	alan@...ux.intel.com, jirislaby@...il.com,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH] TTY: do not update atime/mtime on read/write

On http://vladz.devzero.fr/013_ptmx-timing.php, we can see how to find
out length of a password using timestamps of /dev/ptmx. It is
documented in "Timing Analysis of Keystrokes and Timing Attacks on
SSH". To avoid that problem, do not update time when reading
from/writing to a TTY.

I am afraid of regressions as this is a behavior we have since 0.97
and apps may expect the time to be current, e.g. for monitoring
whether there was a change on the TTY. Now, there is no change. So
this would better have a lot of testing before it goes upstream.

Signed-off-by: Jiri Slaby <jslaby@...e.cz>
References: CVE-2013-0160
---
 drivers/tty/tty_io.c | 8 ++------
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/tty/tty_io.c b/drivers/tty/tty_io.c
index a86219c..8801385 100644
--- a/drivers/tty/tty_io.c
+++ b/drivers/tty/tty_io.c
@@ -980,8 +980,7 @@ static ssize_t tty_read(struct file *file, char __user *buf, size_t count,
 	else
 		i = -EIO;
 	tty_ldisc_deref(ld);
-	if (i > 0)
-		inode->i_atime = current_fs_time(inode->i_sb);
+
 	return i;
 }
 
@@ -1082,11 +1081,8 @@ static inline ssize_t do_tty_write(
 			break;
 		cond_resched();
 	}
-	if (written) {
-		struct inode *inode = file->f_path.dentry->d_inode;
-		inode->i_mtime = current_fs_time(inode->i_sb);
+	if (written)
 		ret = written;
-	}
 out:
 	tty_write_unlock(tty);
 	return ret;
-- 
1.8.1.2


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