On 27/07/2021 22.58, Kees Cook wrote: > At its core, FORTIFY_SOURCE uses the compiler's __builtin_object_size() > internal[0] to determine the available size at a target address based on > the compile-time known structure layout details. It operates in two > modes: outer bounds (0) and inner bounds (1). In mode 0, the size of the > enclosing structure is used. In mode 1, the size of the specific field > is used. For example: > > struct object { > u16 scalar1; /* 2 bytes */ > char array[6]; /* 6 bytes */ > u64 scalar2; /* 8 bytes */ > u32 scalar3; /* 4 bytes */ > } instance; > > > __builtin_object_size(instance.array, 0) == 18, since the remaining size > of the enclosing structure starting from "array" is 18 bytes (6 + 8 + 4). I think the compiler would usually end up making that struct size 24, with 4 bytes of trailing padding (at least when alignof(u64) is 8). In that case, does __builtin_object_size(instance.array, 0) actually evaluate to 18, or to 22? A quick test on x86-64 suggests the latter, so the memcpy(, , 20) would not be a violation. Perhaps it's better to base the example on something which doesn't have potential trailing padding - so either add another 4 byte member, or also make scalar2 u32. Rasmus