netdev - Re: [PATCH v4 1/3] mm/slab: Use memzero

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Date:   Tue, 16 Jun 2020 08:42:08 +0200
From:   Michal Hocko <mhocko@...nel.org>
To:     Waiman Long <longman@...hat.com>
Cc:     Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
        David Howells <dhowells@...hat.com>,
        Jarkko Sakkinen <jarkko.sakkinen@...ux.intel.com>,
        James Morris <jmorris@...ei.org>,
        "Serge E. Hallyn" <serge@...lyn.com>,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
        Joe Perches <joe@...ches.com>,
        Matthew Wilcox <willy@...radead.org>,
        David Rientjes <rientjes@...gle.com>,
        Johannes Weiner <hannes@...xchg.org>,
        Dan Carpenter <dan.carpenter@...cle.com>,
        David Sterba <dsterba@...e.cz>,
        "Jason A . Donenfeld" <Jason@...c4.com>, linux-mm@...ck.org,
        keyrings@...r.kernel.org, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-crypto@...r.kernel.org, linux-pm@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-stm32@...md-mailman.stormreply.com,
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        linux-integrity@...r.kernel.org, stable@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 1/3] mm/slab: Use memzero_explicit() in kzfree()

On Mon 15-06-20 21:57:16, Waiman Long wrote:
> The kzfree() function is normally used to clear some sensitive
> information, like encryption keys, in the buffer before freeing it back
> to the pool. Memset() is currently used for the buffer clearing. However,
> it is entirely possible that the compiler may choose to optimize away the
> memory clearing especially if LTO is being used. To make sure that this
> optimization will not happen, memzero_explicit(), which is introduced
> in v3.18, is now used in kzfree() to do the clearing.
> 
> Fixes: 3ef0e5ba4673 ("slab: introduce kzfree()")
> Cc: stable@...r.kernel.org
> Signed-off-by: Waiman Long <longman@...hat.com>

Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@...e.com>

Although I am not really sure this is a stable material. Is there any
known instance where the memset was optimized out from kzfree?

> ---
>  mm/slab_common.c | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/slab_common.c b/mm/slab_common.c
> index 9e72ba224175..37d48a56431d 100644
> --- a/mm/slab_common.c
> +++ b/mm/slab_common.c
> @@ -1726,7 +1726,7 @@ void kzfree(const void *p)
>  	if (unlikely(ZERO_OR_NULL_PTR(mem)))
>  		return;
>  	ks = ksize(mem);
> -	memset(mem, 0, ks);
> +	memzero_explicit(mem, ks);
>  	kfree(mem);
>  }
>  EXPORT_SYMBOL(kzfree);
> -- 
> 2.18.1
> 

-- 
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs