linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v2 5/5] exec: Add a exec_update_mutex to replace cred_guard

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Date:   Mon, 9 Mar 2020 18:01:35 +0000
From:   Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@...mail.de>
To:     "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@...ssion.com>
CC:     Christian Brauner <christian.brauner@...ntu.com>,
        Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>,
        Jann Horn <jannh@...gle.com>, Jonathan Corbet <corbet@....net>,
        Alexander Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
        Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Alexey Dobriyan <adobriyan@...il.com>,
        Thomas Gleixner <tglx@...utronix.de>,
        Oleg Nesterov <oleg@...hat.com>,
        Frederic Weisbecker <frederic@...nel.org>,
        Andrei Vagin <avagin@...il.com>,
        Ingo Molnar <mingo@...nel.org>,
        "Peter Zijlstra (Intel)" <peterz@...radead.org>,
        Yuyang Du <duyuyang@...il.com>,
        David Hildenbrand <david@...hat.com>,
        Sebastian Andrzej Siewior <bigeasy@...utronix.de>,
        Anshuman Khandual <anshuman.khandual@....com>,
        David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
        James Morris <jamorris@...ux.microsoft.com>,
        Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...uxfoundation.org>,
        Shakeel Butt <shakeelb@...gle.com>,
        Jason Gunthorpe <jgg@...pe.ca>,
        Christian Kellner <christian@...lner.me>,
        Andrea Arcangeli <aarcange@...hat.com>,
        Aleksa Sarai <cyphar@...har.com>,
        "Dmitry V. Levin" <ldv@...linux.org>,
        "linux-doc@...r.kernel.org" <linux-doc@...r.kernel.org>,
        "linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
        "linux-mm@...ck.org" <linux-mm@...ck.org>,
        "stable@...r.kernel.org" <stable@...r.kernel.org>,
        "linux-api@...r.kernel.org" <linux-api@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [PATCH v2 5/5] exec: Add a exec_update_mutex to replace
 cred_guard_mutex

On 3/9/20 6:40 PM, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
> Bernd Edlinger <bernd.edlinger@...mail.de> writes:
> 
>> On 3/8/20 10:38 PM, Eric W. Biederman wrote:
>>>
>>> The cred_guard_mutex is problematic.  The cred_guard_mutex is held
>>> over the userspace accesses as the arguments from userspace are read.
>>> The cred_guard_mutex is held of PTRACE_EVENT_EXIT as the the other
>                                 ^ over
>>
>> ... is held while waiting for the trace parent to handle PTRACE_EVENT_EXIT
>> or something?
> 
> Yes.  Let me see if I can phrase that better.
> 
>> I wonder if we also should mention that
>> it is held while waiting for the trace parent to
>> receive the exit code with "wait"?
> 
> I don't think we have to spell out the details of how it all works,
> unless that makes things clearer.  Kernel developers can be expected
> to figure out how the kernel works.  The critical thing is that it is
> an indefinite wait for userspace to take action.
> 
> But I will look.
> 
>>> threads are killed.  The cred_guard_mutex is held over
>>> "put_user(0, tsk->clear_child_tid)" in exit_mm().
>>>
>>> Any of those can result in deadlock, as the cred_guard_mutex is held
>>> over a possible indefinite userspace waits for userspace.
>>>
>>> Add exec_update_mutex that is only held over exec updating process
>>
>> Add ?
> 
> Yes.  That is what the change does: add exec_update_mutex.
> 

I just kind of missed the "subject" in this sentence,
like "This patch adds an exec_update_mutex that is ..."
but english is a foreign language for me, so may be okay as is.


Bernd.

>>> with the new contents of exec, so that code that needs not to be
>>> confused by exec changing the mm and the cred in ways that can not
>>> happen during ordinary execution of a process.
>>>
>>> The plan is to switch the users of cred_guard_mutex to
>>> exec_udpate_mutex one by one.  This lets us move forward while still
>>
>> s/udpate/update/
> 
> Yes.  Very much so.
> 
> Eric
>