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-rw-r--r--Documentation/process/deprecated.rst79
1 files changed, 58 insertions, 21 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/process/deprecated.rst b/Documentation/process/deprecated.rst
index 1f7f3e6c9cda..22a5e62c92ea 100644
--- a/Documentation/process/deprecated.rst
+++ b/Documentation/process/deprecated.rst
@@ -131,27 +131,32 @@ value of strcpy() was used, since strscpy() does not return a pointer to
the destination, but rather a count of non-NUL bytes copied (or negative
errno when it truncates).
-strncpy() on NUL-terminated strings
------------------------------------
-Use of strncpy() does not guarantee that the destination buffer will
-be NUL terminated. This can lead to various linear read overflows and
-other misbehavior due to the missing termination. It also NUL-pads
-the destination buffer if the source contents are shorter than the
-destination buffer size, which may be a needless performance penalty
-for callers using only NUL-terminated strings.
-
-When the destination is required to be NUL-terminated, the replacement is
-strscpy(), though care must be given to any cases where the return value
-of strncpy() was used, since strscpy() does not return a pointer to the
-destination, but rather a count of non-NUL bytes copied (or negative
-errno when it truncates). Any cases still needing NUL-padding should
-instead use strscpy_pad().
-
-If a caller is using non-NUL-terminated strings, strtomem() should be
-used, and the destinations should be marked with the `__nonstring
-<https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Common-Variable-Attributes.html>`_
-attribute to avoid future compiler warnings. For cases still needing
-NUL-padding, strtomem_pad() can be used.
+strncpy()
+---------
+strncpy() has been removed from the kernel. All former callers have
+been migrated to safer alternatives.
+
+strncpy() did not guarantee NUL-termination of the destination buffer,
+leading to linear read overflows and other misbehavior. It also
+unconditionally NUL-padded the destination, which was a needless
+performance penalty for callers using only NUL-terminated strings. Due
+to its various behaviors, it was an ambiguous API for determining what
+an author's true intent was for the copy.
+
+The replacements for strncpy() are:
+
+- strscpy() when the destination must be NUL-terminated.
+- strscpy_pad() when the destination must be NUL-terminated and
+ zero-padded (e.g., structs crossing privilege boundaries).
+- memtostr() for NUL-terminated destinations from non-NUL-terminated
+ fixed-width sources (with the `__nonstring` attribute on the source).
+- memtostr_pad() for the same, but with zero-padding.
+- strtomem() for non-NUL-terminated fixed-width destinations, with
+ the `__nonstring` attribute on the destination.
+- strtomem_pad() for non-NUL-terminated destinations that also need
+ zero-padding.
+- memcpy_and_pad() for bounded copies from potentially unterminated
+ sources where the destination size is a runtime value.
strlcpy()
---------
@@ -372,3 +377,35 @@ The helper must be used::
DECLARE_FLEX_ARRAY(struct type2, two);
};
};
+
+Open-coded kmalloc assignments for struct objects
+-------------------------------------------------
+Performing open-coded kmalloc()-family allocation assignments prevents
+the kernel (and compiler) from being able to examine the type of the
+variable being assigned, which limits any related introspection that
+may help with alignment, wrap-around, or additional hardening. The
+kmalloc_obj()-family of macros provide this introspection, which can be
+used for the common code patterns for single, array, and flexible object
+allocations. For example, these open coded assignments::
+
+ ptr = kmalloc(sizeof(*ptr), gfp);
+ ptr = kzalloc(sizeof(*ptr), gfp);
+ ptr = kmalloc_array(count, sizeof(*ptr), gfp);
+ ptr = kcalloc(count, sizeof(*ptr), gfp);
+ ptr = kmalloc(struct_size(ptr, flex_member, count), gfp);
+ ptr = kmalloc(sizeof(struct foo), gfp);
+
+become, respectively::
+
+ ptr = kmalloc_obj(*ptr [, gfp] );
+ ptr = kzalloc_obj(*ptr [, gfp] );
+ ptr = kmalloc_objs(*ptr, count [, gfp] );
+ ptr = kzalloc_objs(*ptr, count [, gfp] );
+ ptr = kmalloc_flex(*ptr, flex_member, count [, gfp] );
+ __auto_type ptr = kmalloc_obj(struct foo [, gfp] );
+
+The argument gfp is optional, the default value is GFP_KERNEL.
+If `ptr->flex_member` is annotated with __counted_by(), the allocation
+will automatically fail if `count` is larger than the maximum
+representable value that can be stored in the counter member associated
+with `flex_member`.