Shailabh wrote:

I don't know if there are buffer overflow 
issues in passing a string

I don't know if this comment applies to "the standard netlink way of
passing it up using NLA_STRING", but the way I deal with buffer length
issues in the cpuset code is to insist that the user code express the
list in no fewer than 100 + 6 * NR_CPUS bytes:

From kernel/cpuset.c:

        /* Crude upper limit on largest legitimate cpulist user might write. */
        if (nbytes > 100 + 6 * NR_CPUS)
                return -E2BIG;

This lets the user specify the buffer size passed in, but prevents
them from trying a denial of service attack on the kernel by trying
to pass in a huge buffer.

If the user can't figure out how to write the desired cpulist in
that size, then tough toenails.

-- 
                  I won't rest till it's the best ...
                  Programmer, Linux Scalability
                  Paul Jackson [off-list ref] 1.925.600.0401