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watch_queue: Fix missing locking in watch_queue_set_size()

PATCH In review Cen Zhang (Microsoft) 2 participants 3 messages Oct 8 – Oct 9 Stable branch

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#0 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 watch_queue: Fix missing locking in watch_queue_set_size()

There is a race between watch_queue_set_size() and post_one_notification(). watch_queue_set_size() publishes wqueue->notes, notes_bitmap, nr_pages and nr_notes with plain stores and does not take wqueue->lock, so the four stores are not atomic as a group and, depending on the build, notes can be stored last (gcc 14 on x86-64 does this). Since keyctl_watch_key() lets a watch attach to a queue before it is sized, post_one_notification() can already be running on another CPU at that moment: it reads nr_notes > 0, passes its bounds check, and then reads notes while it is still NULL, dereferencing notes[0].

An unprivileged user triggers this reliably by watching one of its own keys through a notification pipe and racing ioctl(IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_SIZE) on that pipe against keyctl(KEYCTL_SETPERM) on the key from another CPU, triggering:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
  RIP: 0010:post_one_notification.isra.0+0xa2/0x1e0
  Call Trace:
   __post_watch_notification+0x148/0x180
   keyctl_setperm_key+0x119/0x130
   do_syscall_64+0x108/0x4c0
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

Fix this by putting the four publication stores under wqueue->lock. post_one_notification() already runs with that lock held, so a poster now sees either the whole pool or none of it.

Fixes c73be61cede5 ("pipe: Add general notification queue support")
Reported-by [email protected]
Assisted-by LLM
---
 kernel/watch_queue.c | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)
kernel/watch_queue.c +3 -0
index 538520861e8b..9fb3035b3ebd 100644
@@ -294,10 +294,13 @@ long watch_queue_set_size(struct pipe_inode_info *pipe, unsigned int nr_notes)
 		goto error_p;
 
 	bitmap_fill(bitmap, nr_notes);
+	/* Use lock since watches may already be attached. */
+	spin_lock_bh(&wqueue->lock);
 	wqueue->notes = pages;
 	wqueue->notes_bitmap = bitmap;
 	wqueue->nr_pages = nr_pages;
 	wqueue->nr_notes = nr_notes;
+	spin_unlock_bh(&wqueue->lock);
 	return 0;
 
 error_p:
Signature · 1 line
2.55.0
#1 lore raw

kernel/watch_queue.c long watch_queue_set_size(struct pipe_inode_info *pipe, unsigned int nr_notes) · line 303

Quoted 7 lines
kernel/watch_queue.c +3 -0
+	/* Use lock since watches may already be attached. */
+	spin_lock_bh(&wqueue->lock);
 	wqueue->notes = pages;
 	wqueue->notes_bitmap = bitmap;
 	wqueue->nr_pages = nr_pages;
 	wqueue->nr_notes = nr_notes;
+	spin_unlock_bh(&wqueue->lock);

I'll send a v2 tomorrow, replacing the lock with smp_store_release()/ smp_load_acquire() for wqueue->nr_notes.

maintainer
#2 lore raw
In reply to Cen Zhang (Microsoft)
Quoted 34 lines · Cen Zhang (Microsoft)

There is a race between watch_queue_set_size() and post_one_notification(). watch_queue_set_size() publishes wqueue->notes, notes_bitmap, nr_pages and nr_notes with plain stores and does not take wqueue->lock, so the four stores are not atomic as a group and, depending on the build, notes can be stored last (gcc 14 on x86-64 does this). Since keyctl_watch_key() lets a watch attach to a queue before it is sized, post_one_notification() can already be running on another CPU at that moment: it reads nr_notes > 0, passes its bounds check, and then reads notes while it is still NULL, dereferencing notes[0].

An unprivileged user triggers this reliably by watching one of its own keys through a notification pipe and racing ioctl(IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_SIZE) on that pipe against keyctl(KEYCTL_SETPERM) on the key from another CPU, triggering:

  BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000000
  RIP: 0010:post_one_notification.isra.0+0xa2/0x1e0
  Call Trace:
   __post_watch_notification+0x148/0x180
   keyctl_setperm_key+0x119/0x130
   do_syscall_64+0x108/0x4c0
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f
  Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception in interrupt

Fix this by putting the four publication stores under wqueue->lock. post_one_notification() already runs with that lock held, so a poster now sees either the whole pool or none of it.

Fixes c73be61cede5 ("pipe: Add general notification queue support")
Reported-by [email protected]
Assisted-by LLM
Quoted 3 lines
---
 kernel/watch_queue.c | 3 +++
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+)

No need to cc: [email protected] for public patches like this, thanks.

greg k-h