Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling

From	"PaX Team" <pageexec@freemail.hu>
Newsgroups	linux.kernel
Subject	Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling
Date	2017-04-24 13:10 +0200
Message-ID	<tzK2u-6io-7@gated-at.bofh.it> (permalink)
References	<tzK2u-6io-9@gated-at.bofh.it> <tzHHk-4GC-11@gated-at.bofh.it>
Organization	linux.* mail to news gateway

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On 24 Apr 2017 at 10:32, Peter Zijlstra wrote:

> On Fri, Apr 21, 2017 at 03:09:39PM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> > This patch ports the x86-specific atomic overflow handling from PaX's
> > PAX_REFCOUNT to the upstream refcount_t API. This is an updated version
> > from PaX that eliminates the saturation race condition by resetting the
> > atomic counter back to the INT_MAX saturation value on both overflow and
> > underflow. To win a race, a system would have to have INT_MAX threads
> > simultaneously overflow before the saturation handler runs.

note that the above is wrong (and even contradicting itself and the code).

> And is this impossible? Highly unlikely I'll grant you, but absolutely
> impossible?

here's my analysis from a while ago:
http://www.openwall.com/lists/kernel-hardening/2017/01/05/19

> Also, you forgot nr_cpus in your bound. Afaict the worst case here is
> O(nr_tasks + 3*nr_cpus).

what does nr_cpus have to do with winning the race?

> Because PaX does it, is not a correctness argument. And this really
> wants one.

heh, do you want to tell me about how checking for a 0 refcount prevents
exploiting a bug?

Thread

[PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-22 00:10 +0200
  Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 10:40 +0200
    Re: [kernel-hardening] Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast  refcount_t handling Jann Horn <jannh@google.com> - 2017-04-24 11:00 +0200
      Re: [kernel-hardening] Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast  refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 11:30 +0200
    Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling "PaX Team" <pageexec@freemail.hu> - 2017-04-24 13:10 +0200
      Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 13:20 +0200
        Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling "PaX Team" <pageexec@freemail.hu> - 2017-04-24 15:20 +0200
          Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 15:40 +0200
            Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling "PaX Team" <pageexec@freemail.hu> - 2017-04-24 17:20 +0200
              Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-24 22:50 +0200
      Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-24 22:40 +0200
    Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-24 22:20 +0200
  Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 12:50 +0200
    Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-24 22:20 +0200
  Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org> - 2017-04-24 13:00 +0200
    Re: [PATCH] x86/refcount: Implement fast refcount_t handling Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> - 2017-04-24 22:30 +0200

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