tty: Fix lockless tty buffer race
authorPeter Hurley <peter@hurleysoftware.com>
Fri, 2 May 2014 14:56:12 +0000 (10:56 -0400)
committerGreg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Sat, 3 May 2014 22:14:28 +0000 (18:14 -0400)
Commit 6a20dbd6caa2358716136144bf524331d70b1e03,
"tty: Fix race condition between __tty_buffer_request_room and flush_to_ldisc"
correctly identifies an unsafe race condition between
__tty_buffer_request_room() and flush_to_ldisc(), where the consumer
flush_to_ldisc() prematurely advances the head before consuming the
last of the data committed. For example:

           CPU 0                     |            CPU 1
__tty_buffer_request_room            | flush_to_ldisc
  ...                                |   ...
                                     |   count = head->commit - head->read
  n = tty_buffer_alloc()             |
  b->commit = b->used                |
  b->next = n                        |
                                     |   if (!count)                /* T */
                                     |     if (head->next == NULL)  /* F */
                                     |     buf->head = head->next

In this case, buf->head has been advanced but head->commit may have
been updated with a new value.

Instead of reintroducing an unnecessary lock, fix the race locklessly.
Read the commit-next pair in the reverse order of writing, which guarantees
the commit value read is the latest value written if the head is
advancing.

Reported-by: Manfred Schlaegl <manfred.schlaegl@gmx.at>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # 3.12.x+
Signed-off-by: Peter Hurley <peter@hurleysoftware.com>
Signed-off-by: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
drivers/tty/tty_buffer.c

index 8ebd9f8..cf78d19 100644 (file)
@@ -258,7 +258,11 @@ static int __tty_buffer_request_room(struct tty_port *port, size_t size,
                        n->flags = flags;
                        buf->tail = n;
                        b->commit = b->used;
-                       smp_mb();
+                       /* paired w/ barrier in flush_to_ldisc(); ensures the
+                        * latest commit value can be read before the head is
+                        * advanced to the next buffer
+                        */
+                       smp_wmb();
                        b->next = n;
                } else if (change)
                        size = 0;
@@ -444,17 +448,24 @@ static void flush_to_ldisc(struct work_struct *work)
 
        while (1) {
                struct tty_buffer *head = buf->head;
+               struct tty_buffer *next;
                int count;
 
                /* Ldisc or user is trying to gain exclusive access */
                if (atomic_read(&buf->priority))
                        break;
 
+               next = head->next;
+               /* paired w/ barrier in __tty_buffer_request_room();
+                * ensures commit value read is not stale if the head
+                * is advancing to the next buffer
+                */
+               smp_rmb();
                count = head->commit - head->read;
                if (!count) {
-                       if (head->next == NULL)
+                       if (next == NULL)
                                break;
-                       buf->head = head->next;
+                       buf->head = next;
                        tty_buffer_free(port, head);
                        continue;
                }