linux-kernel - [PATCH net-next 1/3] ipv6: Add sockaddr

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Message-Id: <20250722171836.1078436-1-kees@kernel.org>
Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:18:31 -0700
From: Kees Cook <kees@...nel.org>
To: Marcelo Ricardo Leitner <marcelo.leitner@...il.com>
Cc: Kees Cook <kees@...nel.org>,
	Jakub Kicinski <kuba@...nel.org>,
	"Jason A. Donenfeld" <Jason@...c4.com>,
	Andrew Lunn <andrew+netdev@...n.ch>,
	"David S. Miller" <davem@...emloft.net>,
	Eric Dumazet <edumazet@...gle.com>,
	Paolo Abeni <pabeni@...hat.com>,
	Xin Long <lucien.xin@...il.com>,
	Simon Horman <horms@...nel.org>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	wireguard@...ts.zx2c4.com,
	netdev@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-sctp@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH net-next 1/3] ipv6: Add sockaddr_inet unified address structure

There are cases in networking (e.g. wireguard, sctp) where a union is
used to provide coverage for either IPv4 or IPv6 network addresses,
and they include an embedded "struct sockaddr" as well (for "sa_family"
and raw "sa_data" access). The current struct sockaddr contains a
flexible array, which means these unions should not be further embedded
in other structs because they do not technically have a fixed size (and
are generating warnings for the coming -Wflexible-array-not-at-end flag
addition). But the future changes to make struct sockaddr a fixed size
(i.e. with a 14 byte sa_data member) make the "sa_data" uses with an IPv6
address a potential place for the compiler to get upset about object size
mismatches. Therefore, we need a sockaddr that cleanly provides both an
sa_family member and an appropriately fixed-sized sa_data member that does
not bloat member usage via the potential alternative of sockaddr_storage
to cover both IPv4 and IPv6, to avoid unseemly churn in the affected code
bases.

Introduce sockaddr_inet as a unified structure for holding both IPv4 and
IPv6 addresses (i.e. large enough to accommodate sockaddr_in6).

The structure is defined in linux/in6.h since its max size is sized
based on sockaddr_in6 and provides a more specific alternative to the
generic sockaddr_storage for IPv4 with IPv6 address family handling.

The "sa_family" member doesn't use the sa_family_t type to avoid needing
layer violating header inclusions.

Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <kees@...nel.org>
---
 include/linux/in6.h | 7 +++++++
 1 file changed, 7 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/linux/in6.h b/include/linux/in6.h
index 0777a21cbf86..403f926d33d8 100644
--- a/include/linux/in6.h
+++ b/include/linux/in6.h
@@ -18,6 +18,13 @@

 #include <uapi/linux/in6.h>

+/* Large enough to hold both sockaddr_in and sockaddr_in6. */
+struct sockaddr_inet {
+	unsigned short	sa_family;
+	char		sa_data[sizeof(struct sockaddr_in6) -
+				sizeof(unsigned short)];
+};
+
 /* IPv6 Wildcard Address (::) and Loopback Address (::1) defined in RFC2553
  * NOTE: Be aware the IN6ADDR_* constants and in6addr_* externals are defined
  * in network byte order, not in host byte order as are the IPv4 equivalents
-- 
2.34.1