linux-hardening - Re: [PATCH 5/5] fs: Convert struct file::f_count to refcount_long

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Date: Fri, 3 May 2024 00:41:52 +0100
From: Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>
To: Kees Cook <keescook@...omium.org>
Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@...nel.org>, Jan Kara <jack@...e.cz>,
	linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org, Zack Rusin <zack.rusin@...adcom.com>,
	Broadcom internal kernel review list <bcm-kernel-feedback-list@...adcom.com>,
	Maarten Lankhorst <maarten.lankhorst@...ux.intel.com>,
	Maxime Ripard <mripard@...nel.org>,
	Thomas Zimmermann <tzimmermann@...e.de>,
	David Airlie <airlied@...il.com>, Daniel Vetter <daniel@...ll.ch>,
	Jani Nikula <jani.nikula@...ux.intel.com>,
	Joonas Lahtinen <joonas.lahtinen@...ux.intel.com>,
	Rodrigo Vivi <rodrigo.vivi@...el.com>,
	Tvrtko Ursulin <tursulin@...ulin.net>,
	Andi Shyti <andi.shyti@...ux.intel.com>,
	Lucas De Marchi <lucas.demarchi@...el.com>,
	Matt Atwood <matthew.s.atwood@...el.com>,
	Matthew Auld <matthew.auld@...el.com>,
	Nirmoy Das <nirmoy.das@...el.com>,
	Jonathan Cavitt <jonathan.cavitt@...el.com>,
	Will Deacon <will@...nel.org>,
	Peter Zijlstra <peterz@...radead.org>,
	Boqun Feng <boqun.feng@...il.com>,
	Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@....com>,
	Kent Overstreet <kent.overstreet@...ux.dev>,
	Masahiro Yamada <masahiroy@...nel.org>,
	Nathan Chancellor <nathan@...nel.org>,
	Nicolas Schier <nicolas@...sle.eu>,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, dri-devel@...ts.freedesktop.org,
	intel-gfx@...ts.freedesktop.org, linux-kbuild@...r.kernel.org,
	linux-hardening@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 5/5] fs: Convert struct file::f_count to refcount_long_t

On Thu, May 02, 2024 at 04:21:13PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> On Fri, May 03, 2024 at 12:12:28AM +0100, Al Viro wrote:
> > On Thu, May 02, 2024 at 03:52:21PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> > 
> > > As for semantics, what do you mean? Detecting dec-below-zero means we
> > > catch underflow, and detected inc-from-zero means we catch resurrection
> > > attempts. In both cases we avoid double-free, but we have already lost
> > > to a potential dangling reference to a freed struct file. But just
> > > letting f_count go bad seems dangerous.
> > 
> > Detected inc-from-zero can also mean an RCU lookup detecting a descriptor
> > in the middle of getting closed.  And it's more subtle than that, actually,
> > thanks to SLAB_TYPESAFE_BY_RCU for struct file.
> 
> But isn't that already handled by __get_file_rcu()? i.e. shouldn't it be
> impossible for a simple get_file() to ever see a 0 f_count under normal
> conditions?

For get_file() it is impossible.  The comment about semantics had been
about the sane ways to recover if such crap gets detected.

__get_file_rcu() is a separate story - consider the comment in there: 
	* atomic_long_inc_not_zero() above provided a full memory
	* barrier when we acquired a reference.
         *
         * This is paired with the write barrier from assigning to the
         * __rcu protected file pointer so that if that pointer still
         * matches the current file, we know we have successfully
         * acquired a reference to the right file.

and IIRC, refcount_t is weaker wrt barriers.