linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH] mm/kfence: randomize the freelist on initialization

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 for Android: free password hash cracker in your pocket

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

Message-ID: <CAG_fn=WTEM5m7zcVO+S74JNz2t3nYY0vJNDyRrAhuHxrvHCv9Q@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:13:42 +0100
From: Alexander Potapenko <glider@...gle.com>
To: Pimyn Girgis <pimyn@...gle.com>
Cc: akpm@...ux-foundation.org, linux-mm@...ck.org, 
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, elver@...gle.com, dvyukov@...gle.com, 
	kasan-dev@...glegroups.com, stable@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] mm/kfence: randomize the freelist on initialization

On Tue, Jan 20, 2026 at 5:16 PM Pimyn Girgis <pimyn@...gle.com> wrote:
>
> Randomize the KFENCE freelist during pool initialization to make allocation
> patterns less predictable. This is achieved by shuffling the order in which
> metadata objects are added to the freelist using get_random_u32_below().
>
> Additionally, ensure the error path correctly calculates the address range
> to be reset if initialization fails, as the address increment logic has
> been moved to a separate loop.
>
> Cc: stable@...r.kernel.org
> Fixes: 0ce20dd84089 ("mm: add Kernel Electric-Fence infrastructure")
> Signed-off-by: Pimyn Girgis <pimyn@...gle.com>
Reviewed-by: Alexander Potapenko <glider@...gle.com>