linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] tools/power x86_energy_perf_policy: Fix potential NULL pointer dereference

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Message-ID: <CADD9qejDfpTZTgO9SjTnNAKrvOfKUDQBEdf-HXH_+EHgsFtyig@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2025 21:04:16 +0530
From: Malaya Kumar Rout <mrout@...hat.com>
To: Len Brown <lenb@...nel.org>
Cc: linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, malayarout91@...il.com, 
	Len Brown <len.brown@...el.com>, Kaushlendra Kumar <kaushlendra.kumar@...el.com>
Subject: Re: [PATCH] tools/power x86_energy_perf_policy: Fix potential NULL
 pointer dereference

On Tue, Nov 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM Len Brown <lenb@...nel.org> wrote:
>
> I've applied these two patches, thanks.
>
> BTW. we generally use the linux-pm list for patches to these utilities
> rather than lkml -- as we manage the patches there via patchwork.
>
> -Len
Thanks for the clarification. Sorry for posting it to LKML.
 I will send future patches for these utilities to linux-pm.
>
> On Sat, Nov 22, 2025 at 10:17 AM Malaya Kumar Rout <mrout@...hat.com> wrote:
> >
> > In err_on_hypervisor(), strstr() is called to search for "flags" in the
> > buffer, but the return value is not checked before being used in pointer
> > arithmetic (flags - buffer). If strstr() returns NULL because "flags" is
> > not found in /proc/cpuinfo, this will cause undefined behavior and likely
> > a crash.
> >
> > Add a NULL check after the strstr() call and handle the error appropriately
> > by cleaning up resources and reporting a meaningful error message.
> >
> > Signed-off-by: Malaya Kumar Rout <mrout@...hat.com>
> > ---
> >  .../x86/x86_energy_perf_policy/x86_energy_perf_policy.c      | 5 +++++
> >  1 file changed, 5 insertions(+)
> >
> > diff --git a/tools/power/x86/x86_energy_perf_policy/x86_energy_perf_policy.c b/tools/power/x86/x86_energy_perf_policy/x86_energy_perf_policy.c
> > index 884a4c746f32..be2a9c285a85 100644
> > --- a/tools/power/x86/x86_energy_perf_policy/x86_energy_perf_policy.c
> > +++ b/tools/power/x86/x86_energy_perf_policy/x86_energy_perf_policy.c
> > @@ -660,6 +660,11 @@ void err_on_hypervisor(void)
> >         }
> >
> >         flags = strstr(buffer, "flags");
> > +       if (!flags) {
> > +               fclose(cpuinfo);
> > +               free(buffer);
> > +               err(1, "Failed to find 'flags' in /proc/cpuinfo");
> > +       }
> >         rewind(cpuinfo);
> >         fseek(cpuinfo, flags - buffer, SEEK_SET);
> >         if (!fgets(buffer, 4096, cpuinfo)) {
> > --
> > 2.51.0
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Len Brown, Intel Open Source Technology Center
>