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Re: [PATCH] xen/efi: Fix crash with initial empty EFI options



On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 5:04 PM Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 07.07.2025 17:51, Frediano Ziglio wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM Jan Beulich <jbeulich@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >>
> >> On 07.07.2025 17:11, Frediano Ziglio wrote:
> >>> EFI code path split options from EFI LoadOptions fields in 2
> >>> pieces, first EFI options, second Xen options.
> >>> "get_argv" function is called first to get the number of arguments
> >>> in the LoadOptions, second, after allocating enough space, to
> >>> fill some "argc"/"argv" variable. However the first parsing could
> >>> be different from second as second is able to detect "--" argument
> >>> separator. So it was possible that "argc" was bigger that the "argv"
> >>> array leading to potential buffer overflows, in particular
> >>> a string like "-- a b c" would lead to buffer overflow in "argv"
> >>> resulting in crashes.
> >>> Using EFI shell is possible to pass any kind of string in
> >>> LoadOptions.
> >>>
> >>> Fixes: 201f261e859e ("EFI: move x86 boot/runtime code to common/efi")
> >>
> >> This only moves the function, but doesn't really introduce any issue 
> >> afaics.
> >>
> >
> > Okay, I'll follow the rename
> >
> >>> --- a/xen/common/efi/boot.c
> >>> +++ b/xen/common/efi/boot.c
> >>> @@ -345,6 +345,7 @@ static unsigned int __init get_argv(unsigned int 
> >>> argc, CHAR16 **argv,
> >>>                                      VOID *data, UINTN size, UINTN 
> >>> *offset,
> >>>                                      CHAR16 **options)
> >>>  {
> >>> +    CHAR16 **const orig_argv = argv;
> >>>      CHAR16 *ptr = (CHAR16 *)(argv + argc + 1), *prev = NULL, *cmdline = 
> >>> NULL;
> >>>      bool prev_sep = true;
> >>>
> >>> @@ -384,7 +385,7 @@ static unsigned int __init get_argv(unsigned int 
> >>> argc, CHAR16 **argv,
> >>>                  {
> >>>                      cmdline = data + *offset;
> >>>                      /* Cater for the image name as first component. */
> >>> -                    ++argc;
> >>> +                    ++argv;
> >>
> >> We're on the argc == 0 and argv == NULL path here. Incrementing NULL is UB,
> >> if I'm not mistaken.
> >
> > Not as far as I know. Why?
>
> Increment and decrement operators are like additions. For additions the 
> standard
> says: "For addition, either both operands shall have arithmetic type, or one
> operand shall be a pointer to an object type and the other shall have integer
> type." Neither of the alternatives is true for NULL.
>

Yes and no. The expression here is not NULL + 1, but (CHAR16**)NULL +
1, hence the pointer has a type and so the expression is valid.

> > Some systems even can use NULL pointers as valid, like mmap.
>
> Right, but that doesn't make the use of NULL C-compliant.
>
> >>> @@ -402,7 +403,7 @@ static unsigned int __init get_argv(unsigned int 
> >>> argc, CHAR16 **argv,
> >>>          {
> >>>              if ( cur_sep )
> >>>                  ++ptr;
> >>> -            else if ( argv )
> >>> +            else if ( orig_argv )
> >>>              {
> >>>                  *ptr = *cmdline;
> >>>                  *++ptr = 0;
> >>> @@ -410,8 +411,8 @@ static unsigned int __init get_argv(unsigned int 
> >>> argc, CHAR16 **argv,
> >>>          }
> >>>          else if ( !cur_sep )
> >>>          {
> >>> -            if ( !argv )
> >>> -                ++argc;
> >>> +            if ( !orig_argv )
> >>> +                ++argv;
> >>>              else if ( prev && wstrcmp(prev, L"--") == 0 )
> >>>              {
> >>>                  --argv;
> >>
> >> As per this, it looks like that on the 1st pass we may indeed overcount
> >> arguments. But ...
> >>
> >
> > I can use again argc if you prefer, not strong about it.
> >
> >>> @@ -428,9 +429,9 @@ static unsigned int __init get_argv(unsigned int 
> >>> argc, CHAR16 **argv,
> >>>          }
> >>>          prev_sep = cur_sep;
> >>>      }
> >>> -    if ( argv )
> >>> +    if ( orig_argv )
> >>>          *argv = NULL;
> >>> -    return argc;
> >>> +    return argv - orig_argv;
> >>>  }
> >>>
> >>>  static EFI_FILE_HANDLE __init get_parent_handle(const EFI_LOADED_IMAGE 
> >>> *loaded_image,
> >>> @@ -1348,8 +1349,8 @@ void EFIAPI __init noreturn efi_start(EFI_HANDLE 
> >>> ImageHandle,
> >>>                                    (argc + 1) * sizeof(*argv) +
> >>>                                        loaded_image->LoadOptionsSize,
> >>>                                    (void **)&argv) == EFI_SUCCESS )
> >>> -            get_argv(argc, argv, loaded_image->LoadOptions,
> >>> -                     loaded_image->LoadOptionsSize, &offset, &options);
> >>> +            argc = get_argv(argc, argv, loaded_image->LoadOptions,
> >>> +                            loaded_image->LoadOptionsSize, &offset, 
> >>> &options);
> >>
> >> ... wouldn't this change alone cure that problem? And even that I don't
> >> follow. Below here we have
> >>
> >>         for ( i = 1; i < argc; ++i )
> >>         {
> >>             CHAR16 *ptr = argv[i];
> >>
> >>             if ( !ptr )
> >>                 break;
> >>
> >> and the 2nd pass of get_argv() properly terminates the (possibly too large)
> >> array with a NULL sentinel. So I wonder what it is that I'm overlooking and
> >> that is broken.
> >
> > I realized that because I got a crash, not just by looking at the code.
> >
> > The string was something like "-- a b c d":
>
> That's in the "plain command line" case or the LOAD_OPTIONS one? In the
> former case the image name should come first, aiui. And in the latter case
> the 2nd pass sets argv[0] to NULL very early, increments the pointer, and
> hence at the bottom of the function argv[1] would also be set to NULL.
> Aiui at least, i.e. ...
>
> > - the first get_argv call produces a 5 argc;
> > - you allocate space for 6 pointers and length of the entire string to copy;
> > - the parser writes a single pointer in argv and returns still 5 as argc;
> > - returned argc is ignored;
> > - code "for (i = 1; i < argc; ++i)" starts accessing argv[1] which is
> > not initialized, in case of garbage you dereference garbage.
>
> ... I don't see how argv[1] can hold garbage.
>

As I said, this happened as a crash during testing, not looking at the
code. It's a plain string in LoadOptions, *offset is set to 0 so
there's no initial set of argv[0]. argv[0] is set with the beginning
of "--" but then when "--" is detected" argv is moved back to initial
value and the terminator is written still in argv[0], so argv[1] is
never written.

> Jan

Frediano



 


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