[PATCH RESEND] ext4: fix undefined behavior in ext4_fill_flex_info()

From: Xi Wang
Date: Mon Jan 09 2012 - 18:49:32 EST


Commit 503358ae01b70ce6909d19dd01287093f6b6271c ("ext4: avoid divide by
zero when trying to mount a corrupted file system") fixes CVE-2009-4307
by performing a sanity check on s_log_groups_per_flex, since it can be
set to a bogus value by an attacker.

sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex = sbi->s_es->s_log_groups_per_flex;
groups_per_flex = 1 << sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex;

if (groups_per_flex < 2) { ... }

This patch fixes two potential issues in the previous commit.

1) The sanity check might only work on architectures like PowerPC.
On x86, 5 bits are used for the shifting amount. That means, given a
large s_log_groups_per_flex value like 36, groups_per_flex = 1 << 36
is essentially 1 << 4 = 16, rather than 0. This will bypass the check,
leaving s_log_groups_per_flex and groups_per_flex inconsistent.

2) The sanity check relies on undefined behavior, i.e., oversized shift.
A standard-confirming C compiler could rewrite the check in unexpected
ways. Consider the following equivalent form, assuming groups_per_flex
is unsigned for simplicity.

groups_per_flex = 1 << sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex;
if (groups_per_flex == 0 || groups_per_flex == 1) {

We compile the code snippet using Clang 3.0 and GCC 4.6. Clang will
completely optimize away the check groups_per_flex == 0, leaving the
patched code as vulnerable as the original. GCC keeps the check, but
there is no guarantee that future versions will do the same.

Signed-off-by: Xi Wang <xi.wang@xxxxxxxxx>
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
---
BTW, the patch does not limit s_log_groups_per_flex too much, so
groups_per_flex could be as large as 1 << 31. When calculating
flex_group_count, can

sbi->s_groups_count + groups_per_flex

overflow and cause any problem?
---
fs/ext4/super.c | 7 +++----
1 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/fs/ext4/super.c b/fs/ext4/super.c
index 64e2529..ecea4c9 100644
--- a/fs/ext4/super.c
+++ b/fs/ext4/super.c
@@ -2005,17 +2005,16 @@ static int ext4_fill_flex_info(struct super_block *sb)
struct ext4_group_desc *gdp = NULL;
ext4_group_t flex_group_count;
ext4_group_t flex_group;
- int groups_per_flex = 0;
+ unsigned int groups_per_flex = 0;
size_t size;
int i;

sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex = sbi->s_es->s_log_groups_per_flex;
- groups_per_flex = 1 << sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex;
-
- if (groups_per_flex < 2) {
+ if (sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex < 1 || sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex > 31) {
sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex = 0;
return 1;
}
+ groups_per_flex = 1 << sbi->s_log_groups_per_flex;

/* We allocate both existing and potentially added groups */
flex_group_count = ((sbi->s_groups_count + groups_per_flex - 1) +
--
1.7.5.4

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