Re: [PATCH] exec: Force single empty string when argv is empty
From: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>
Date: 2022-02-01 02:01:02
Also in:
linux-fsdevel, linux-hardening, lkml, stable
On 1/31/22 16:09, Kees Cook wrote:
Quoting[1] Ariadne Conill:
"In several other operating systems, it is a hard requirement that the
second argument to execve(2) be the name of a program, thus prohibiting
a scenario where argc < 1. POSIX 2017 also recommends this behaviour,
but it is not an explicit requirement[2]:
The argument arg0 should point to a filename string that is
associated with the process being started by one of the exec
functions.
...
Interestingly, Michael Kerrisk opened an issue about this in 2008[3],
but there was no consensus to support fixing this issue then.
Hopefully now that CVE-2021-4034 shows practical exploitative use[4]
of this bug in a shellcode, we can reconsider.
This issue is being tracked in the KSPP issue tracker[5]."
While the initial code searches[6][7] turned up what appeared to be
mostly corner case tests, trying to that just reject argv == NULL
(or an immediately terminated pointer list) quickly started tripping[8]
existing userspace programs.
The next best approach is forcing a single empty string into argv and
adjusting argc to match. The number of programs depending on argc == 0
seems a smaller set than those calling execve with a NULL argv.
Account for the additional stack space in bprm_stack_limits(). Inject an
empty string when argc == 0 (and set argc = 1). Warn about the case so
userspace has some notice about the change:
process './argc0' launched './argc0' with NULL argv: empty string added
Additionally WARN() and reject NULL argv usage for kernel threads.
[1] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220127000724.15106-1-ariadne@dereferenced.org/ (local)
[2] https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/functions/exec.html
[3] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8408
[4] https://www.qualys.com/2022/01/25/cve-2021-4034/pwnkit.txt
[5] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/176
[6] https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=execve%5C+*%5C%28%5B%5E%2C%5D%2B%2C+*NULL&literal=0
[7] https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=execlp%3F%5Cs*%5C%28%5B%5E%2C%5D%2B%2C%5Cs*NULL&literal=0
[8] https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20220131144352.GE16385@xsang-OptiPlex-9020/ (local)Acked-by: Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org> and cc-ing linux-api. I agree that this should be done regardless of any security context change.
quoted hunk
Reported-by: Ariadne Conill <redacted> Reported-by: Michael Kerrisk <redacted> Cc: Matthew Wilcox <willy@infradead.org> Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org> Cc: Rich Felker <dalias@libc.org> Cc: Eric Biederman <redacted> Cc: Alexander Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk> Cc: linux-fsdevel@vger.kernel.org Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <redacted> --- fs/exec.c | 26 +++++++++++++++++++++++++- 1 file changed, 25 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c index 79f2c9483302..bbf3aadf7ce1 100644 --- a/fs/exec.c +++ b/fs/exec.c@@ -495,8 +495,14 @@ static int bprm_stack_limits(struct linux_binprm *bprm) * the stack. They aren't stored until much later when we can't * signal to the parent that the child has run out of stack space. * Instead, calculate it here so it's possible to fail gracefully. + * + * In the case of argc = 0, make sure there is space for adding a + * empty string (which will bump argc to 1), to ensure confused + * userspace programs don't start processing from argv[1], thinking + * argc can never be 0, to keep them from walking envp by accident. + * See do_execveat_common(). */ - ptr_size = (bprm->argc + bprm->envc) * sizeof(void *); + ptr_size = (min(bprm->argc, 1) + bprm->envc) * sizeof(void *); if (limit <= ptr_size) return -E2BIG; limit -= ptr_size;@@ -1897,6 +1903,9 @@ static int do_execveat_common(int fd, struct filename *filename, } retval = count(argv, MAX_ARG_STRINGS); + if (retval == 0) + pr_warn_once("process '%s' launched '%s' with NULL argv: empty string added\n", + current->comm, bprm->filename); if (retval < 0) goto out_free; bprm->argc = retval;@@ -1923,6 +1932,19 @@ static int do_execveat_common(int fd, struct filename *filename, if (retval < 0) goto out_free; + /* + * When argv is empty, add an empty string ("") as argv[0] to + * ensure confused userspace programs that start processing + * from argv[1] won't end up walking envp. See also + * bprm_stack_limits(). + */ + if (bprm->argc == 0) { + retval = copy_string_kernel("", bprm); + if (retval < 0) + goto out_free; + bprm->argc = 1; + } + retval = bprm_execve(bprm, fd, filename, flags); out_free: free_bprm(bprm);@@ -1951,6 +1973,8 @@ int kernel_execve(const char *kernel_filename, } retval = count_strings_kernel(argv); + if (WARN_ON_ONCE(retval == 0)) + retval = -EINVAL; if (retval < 0) goto out_free; bprm->argc = retval;