linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH RESEND v4] checkpatch: add uninitialized pointer with _

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Message-ID: <24e675622cd33404f8717189205658b016332131.camel@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2025 12:23:56 +0530
From: ally heev <allyheev@...il.com>
To: Dwaipayan Ray <dwaipayanray1@...il.com>, Lukas Bulwahn
	 <lukas.bulwahn@...il.com>, Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>, Jonathan Corbet
	 <corbet@....net>, Andy Whitcroft <apw@...onical.com>
Cc: workflows@...r.kernel.org, linux-doc@...r.kernel.org, 
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...aro.org>,
 David Hunter <david.hunter.linux@...il.com>, Shuah Khan
 <skhan@...uxfoundation.org>, Viresh Kumar	 <vireshk@...nel.org>, Nishanth
 Menon <nm@...com>, Stephen Boyd <sboyd@...nel.org>,  linux-pm
 <linux-pm@...r.kernel.org>, dan.j.williams@...el.com, Geert Uytterhoeven	
 <geert@...ux-m68k.org>, James Bottomley
 <James.Bottomley@...senpartnership.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH RESEND v4] checkpatch: add uninitialized pointer with
 __free attribute check

On Mon, 2025-11-17 at 08:40 +0530, Ally Heev wrote:
> uninitialized pointers with __free attribute can cause undefined
> behavior as the memory randomly assigned to the pointer is freed
> automatically when the pointer goes out of scope.
> add check in checkpatch to detect such issues.
> 
> Suggested-by: Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...aro.org>
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/8a4c0b43-cf63-400d-b33d-d9c447b7e0b9@suswa.mountain/
> Acked-by: Dan Williams <dan.j.williams@...el.com>
> Signed-off-by: Ally Heev <allyheev@...il.com>
> ---
> Testing:
> ran checkpatch.pl before and after the change on
> crypto/asymmetric_keys/x509_public_key.c, which has
> both initialized with NULL and uninitialized pointers
> ---
> Changes in v4:
> - fixed UNINITIALIZED_PTR_WITH_FREE description
> - Link to v3: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251025-aheev-checkpatch-uninitialized-free-v3-1-a67f72b1c2bd@gmail.com
> 
> Changes in v3:
> - remove $FreeAttribute
> - Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251024-aheev-checkpatch-uninitialized-free-v2-0-16c0900e8130@gmail.com
> 
> Changes in v2:
> - change cover letter and title to reflect new changes
> - fix regex to handle multiple declarations in a single line case
> - convert WARN to ERROR for uninitialized pointers
> - add a new WARN for pointers initialized with NULL
> - NOTE: tried handling multiple declarations on a single line by splitting
>         them and matching the parts with regex, but, it turned out to be
> 	complex and overkill. Moreover, multi-line declarations pose a threat
> - Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20251021-aheev-checkpatch-uninitialized-free-v1-1-18fb01bc6a7a@gmail.com
> ---
>  Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst | 5 +++++
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl                  | 6 ++++++
>  2 files changed, 11 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst b/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> index d5c47e560324fb2399a5b1bc99c891ed1de10535..c61a3892a60c13f7c5ba89e969e39a93a3dcd5bc 100644
> --- a/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/dev-tools/checkpatch.rst
> @@ -1009,6 +1009,11 @@ Functions and Variables
>  
>        return bar;
>  
> +  **UNINITIALIZED_PTR_WITH_FREE**
> +    Pointers with __free attribute should be initialized. Not doing so
> +    may lead to undefined behavior as the memory assigned (garbage,
> +    in case not initialized) to the pointer is freed automatically
> +    when the pointer goes out of scope.
>  
>  Permissions
>  -----------
> diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> index 92669904eecc7a8d2afd3f2625528e02b6d17cd6..e697d81d71c0b3628f7b59807e8bc40d582621bb 100755
> --- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> +++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
> @@ -7721,6 +7721,12 @@ sub process {
>  				ERROR("MISSING_SENTINEL", "missing sentinel in ID array\n" . "$here\n$stat\n");
>  			}
>  		}
> +
> +# check for uninitialized pointers with __free attribute
> +		while ($line =~ /\*\s*($Ident)\s+__free\s*\(\s*$Ident\s*\)\s*[,;]/g) {
> +			ERROR("UNINITIALIZED_PTR_WITH_FREE",
> +			      "pointer '$1' with __free attribute should be initialized\n" . $herecurr);
> +		}
>  	}
>  
>  	# If we have no input at all, then there is nothing to report on
> 
> ---
> base-commit: 6548d364a3e850326831799d7e3ea2d7bb97ba08
> change-id: 20251021-aheev-checkpatch-uninitialized-free-5c39f75e10a1
> 
> Best regards,
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There's an ongoing discussion about making this rule global
https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/58fd478f408a34b578ee8d949c5c4b4da4d4f41d.camel@HansenPartnership.com/.
I will wait till weekend before making any more changes.

Also, CCing James Bottomley