Re: [PATCH v2] wifi: wl18xx: replace deprecated strncpy with strscpy

From: Kalle Valo
Date: Mon Oct 23 2023 - 13:29:56 EST


Justin Stitt <justinstitt@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> strncpy() is deprecated for use on NUL-terminated destination strings
> [1] and as such we should prefer more robust and less ambiguous string
> interfaces.
>
> wl->chip.phy_fw_ver_str is obviously intended to be NUL-terminated by
> the deliberate comment telling us as much. Furthermore, its only use is
> drivers/net/wireless/ti/wlcore/debugfs.c shows us it should be
> NUL-terminated since its used in scnprintf:
> 492 | DRIVER_STATE_PRINT_STR(chip.phy_fw_ver_str);
> which is defined as:
> | #define DRIVER_STATE_PRINT_STR(x) DRIVER_STATE_PRINT(x, "%s")
> ...
> | #define DRIVER_STATE_PRINT(x, fmt) \
> | (res += scnprintf(buf + res, DRIVER_STATE_BUF_LEN - res,\
> | #x " = " fmt "\n", wl->x))
>
> We can also see that NUL-padding is not required.
>
> Considering the above, a suitable replacement is `strscpy` [2] due to
> the fact that it guarantees NUL-termination on the destination buffer
> without unnecessarily NUL-padding.
>
> The very fact that a plain-english comment had to be made alongside a
> manual NUL-byte assignment for such a simple purpose shows why strncpy
> is faulty. It has non-obvious behavior that has to be clarified every
> time it is used (and if it isn't then the reader suffers).
>
> Link: https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/deprecated.html#strncpy-on-nul-terminated-strings [1]
> Link: https://manpages.debian.org/testing/linux-manual-4.8/strscpy.9.en.html [2]
> Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/90
> Cc: linux-hardening@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Signed-off-by: Justin Stitt <justinstitt@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@xxxxxxxxxxxx>

Patch applied to wireless-next.git, thanks.

fb329e8b1d88 wifi: wl18xx: replace deprecated strncpy with strscpy

--
https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-wireless/patch/20231018-strncpy-drivers-net-wireless-ti-wl18xx-main-c-v2-1-ab828a491ce5@xxxxxxxxxx/

https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/developers/documentation/submittingpatches