linux-kernel - Re: [BUG] jfs: possible uninitialized-variable access in xtSplitUp()

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Date:   Mon, 2 Aug 2021 14:04:40 -0500
From:   Dave Kleikamp <dave.kleikamp@...cle.com>
To:     Li Tuo <islituo@...il.com>
Cc:     jfs-discussion@...ts.sourceforge.net, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        baijiaju1990@...il.com
Subject: Re: [BUG] jfs: possible uninitialized-variable access in xtSplitUp()

On 7/31/21 1:31 AM, Li Tuo wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Our static analysis tool finds a possible uninitialized-variable access 
> in the jfs driver in Linux 5.14.0-rc3:
> 
> At the beginning of the function xtSplitUp(), the variable rbn is not 
> initialized.
> If sp->header.flag & BT_ROOT is true,
> 780:    rc = (sp->header.flag & BT_ROOT) ? xtSplitRoot(tid, ip, split, 
> &rmp) : xtSplitPage(tid, ip, split, &rmp, &rbn);
> 
> the varialbe rbn will remain uninitialized.
> However, it is accessed through:
> 814:    rcbn = rbn;
> 
> I am not quite sure whether this possible uninitialized-variable access 
> is real and how to fix it if it is real.
> Any feedback would be appreciated, thanks!

I think the logic that protects us is that in the case where rbn is 
uninitialized, sp->header.flag & BT_ROOT, which means it SHOULD BE the 
last entry in btstack, so we shouldn't enter the loop:
	while ((parent = BT_POP(btstack)) != NULL) {

It does seem that some type of sanity check is warranted. I'll take a 
closer look and see if I can add some kind of error path if things are 
out of sync.

> 
> Reported-by: TOTE Robot <oslab@...nghua.edu.cn>
> 
> Best wishes,
> Tuo Li