linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 1/2] Fix NULL pointer dereference while loading initramfs

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Date:	Wed, 25 Sep 2013 00:15:38 +0530 (IST)
From:	P J P <ppandit@...hat.com>
To:	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>
cc:	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] Fix NULL pointer dereference while loading
 initramfs

   Hello Andrew,

Thank you so much for reviewing these patches.

+-- On Mon, 23 Sep 2013, Andrew Morton wrote --+
| A few things here.
| - the coding style is very unconventional.  We'd do it like this:
| 	if (!deco) {
| 		pr_emerg("Invalid decompression routine address: %p\n", deco);
| 		panic("Could not decompress initial ramdisk image.");
| 	}

   Done; Please see an updated new patch attached herein.

| - There isn't much point in printing the value of `deco' - we already
|   know it's NULL.

   True, I just thought displaying 'deco' would help the person seeing the 
panic screen. Maybe while reporting an issue or trying to debug it.

|   Isn't there some more useful message we can display
|   which will tell the user what he/she did wrong, and which explains
|   how to fix it?

   Yes, the message from 'decompress_method()' says which compression method 
is required, but is not defined. I've also added a hint to select appropriate 
config option.

| - Is anyone working on fixing up Kconfig/dracut(8) so the correct
|   decompression method is used?

   Yes, I plan to do that.

Thank you so much!
--
Prasad J Pandit / Red Hat Security Response Team
DB7A 84C5 D3F9 7CD1 B5EB  C939 D048 7860 3655 602B
View attachment "0001-Fix-NULL-pointer-dereference-while-loading-initramfs.patch" of type "TEXT/PLAIN" (1840 bytes)