In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Revert "riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for __access_ok()"
This reverts commit ad5643cf2f69 ("riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for
__access_ok()").
This commit changes TASK_SIZE_MAX to be LONG_MAX to optimize access_ok(),
because the previous TASK_SIZE_MAX (default to TASK_SIZE) requires some
computation.
The reasoning was that all user addresses are less than LONG_MAX, and all
kernel addresses are greater than LONG_MAX. Therefore access_ok() can
filter kernel addresses.
Addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX are not valid user addresses, but
access_ok() let them pass. That was thought to be okay, because they are
not valid addresses at hardware level.
Unfortunately, one case is missed: get_user_pages_fast() happily accepts
addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX. futex(), for instance, uses
get_user_pages_fast(). This causes the problem reported by Robert [1].
Therefore, revert this commit. TASK_SIZE_MAX is changed to the default:
TASK_SIZE.
This unfortunately reduces performance, because TASK_SIZE is more expensive
to compute compared to LONG_MAX. But correctness first, we can think about
optimization later, if required.
References
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
Revert "riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for __access_ok()"
This reverts commit ad5643cf2f69 ("riscv: Define TASK_SIZE_MAX for
__access_ok()").
This commit changes TASK_SIZE_MAX to be LONG_MAX to optimize access_ok(),
because the previous TASK_SIZE_MAX (default to TASK_SIZE) requires some
computation.
The reasoning was that all user addresses are less than LONG_MAX, and all
kernel addresses are greater than LONG_MAX. Therefore access_ok() can
filter kernel addresses.
Addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX are not valid user addresses, but
access_ok() let them pass. That was thought to be okay, because they are
not valid addresses at hardware level.
Unfortunately, one case is missed: get_user_pages_fast() happily accepts
addresses between TASK_SIZE and LONG_MAX. futex(), for instance, uses
get_user_pages_fast(). This causes the problem reported by Robert [1].
Therefore, revert this commit. TASK_SIZE_MAX is changed to the default:
TASK_SIZE.
This unfortunately reduces performance, because TASK_SIZE is more expensive
to compute compared to LONG_MAX. But correctness first, we can think about
optimization later, if required.
References