Interesting bug :-) Just so I get this right - this could just as well be fixed with instead changing msg_controllen to this: mh.msg_controllen = CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int) * nfd); That said, your version works equally well and is slightly cleaner. I don't recall we have any problems with VLAs. Perhaps adding a comment to your finding and a registered kernel bug/patch/etc would be helpful. Anyhow, good work, so: Acked-by: David Henningsson <diwic at ubuntu.com> On 2016-11-15 17:48, Ahmed S. Darwish wrote: > Users reported audio breakage for 32-bit pulse clients connected > to a 64-bit server over memfds. Investigating the issue further, > the problem is twofold: > > 1. iochannel's file-descriptor passing code is liberal in what it > issues: produced ancillary data object's "data" section exceeds > length field. How such an extra space is handled is a grey area > in the POSIX.1g spec, the IETF RFC #2292 "Advanced Sockets API > for IPv6" memo, and the cmsg(3) manpage. > > 2. A 64-bit kernel handling of such extra space differs by whether > the app is 64-bit or 32-bit. For 64-bit apps, the kernel > smartly ducks the issue. For 32-bit apps, an -EINVAL is > directly returned; that's due to a kernel CMSG header traversal > bug in the networking stack "32-bit sockets emulation layer". > > Compare Linux Kernel's socket.h cmsg_nxthdr() code and the > 32-bit emulation layer version of it at net/compat.c > cmsg_compat_nxthdr() for further info. Notice how the former > graciously ignores incomplete CMSGs while the latter _directly_ > complains about them -- as of kernel version 4.9-rc5. > > (A kernel patch is to be submitted) > > Details: > > iochannel typically uses sendmsg() for passing FDs & credentials. > From RFC 2292, sendmsg() control data is just a heterogeneous > array of embedded ancillary objects that can differ in length. > Linguistically, a "control message" is an ancillary data object. > > For example, below is a sendmsg() "msg_control" containing two > ancillary objects: > > |<---------------------- msg_controllen---------------------->| > | | > |<--- ancillary data object -->|<----- ancillary data object->| > |<------- CMSG_SPACE() ------->|<------- CMSG_SPACE() ------->| > | | | > |<-------- cmsg_len ------->| |<-------- cmsg_len ------->| | > |<------- CMSG_LEN() ------>| |<------- CMSG_LEN() ------>| | > | | | | | > +-----+-----+-----+--+------+--+-----+-----+-----+--+------+--+ > |cmsg_|cmsg_|cmsg_|XX|cmsg_ |XX|cmsg_|cmsg_|cmsg_|XX|cmsg_ |XX| > |len |level|type |XX|data[]|XX|len |level|type |XX|data[]|XX| > +-----+-----+-----+--+------+--+-----+-----+-----+--+----+-+--+ > ^^^^^^^ Ancil Object #1 ^^^^^^^ Ancil Object #2 > (control message) (control message) > ^ > | > +--- sendmsg() "msg_control" points here > > Problem is, while passing FDs, iochannel's code try to avoid > variable-length arrays by creating a single cmsg object that can > fit as much FDs as possible: > > union { > struct cmsghdr hdr; > uint8_t data[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int) * MAX_ANCIL_DATA_FDS)]; > } cmsg; ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > Most of the time though the number of FDs to be passed is less > than the maximum above, thus "cmsg_len" is set to the _actual_ FD > array size: > > cmsg.hdr.cmsg_len = CMSG_LEN(sizeof(int) * nfd); > ^^^ > This inconsistency tricks the kernel into thinking that we have 2 > ancillay data objects instead of one! First cmsg is valid as > intended, but the second is instantly _corrupt_ since it has a > cmsg_len size of 0 -- thus failing kernel's CMSG_OK() tests. > > For 32-bit apps on a 32-bit kernel, and 64-bit apps over a 64-bit > one, the kernel's own CMSG header traversal macros just ignore the > second "incomplete" cmsg. For 32-bit apps over a 64-bit kernel > though, the kernel 32-bit socket emulation macros does not forgive > such incompleteness and directly complains of invalid args (due to > a subtle bug). > > Avoid this ugly problem, which can also bite us in a pure 64-bit > environment if MAX_ANCIL_DATA_FDS got extended to 5 FDs, by > setting "cmsg_data[]" array size to "cmsg_len". > > BugLink: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97769 > > Signed-off-by: Ahmed S. Darwish <darwish.07 at gmail.com> > --- > > Hopefully variable-length arrays won't be problematic in esoteric > build environments? > > src/pulsecore/iochannel.c | 4 +++- > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-) > > diff --git a/src/pulsecore/iochannel.c b/src/pulsecore/iochannel.c > index e62750b..8ace297 100644 > --- a/src/pulsecore/iochannel.c > +++ b/src/pulsecore/iochannel.c > @@ -346,6 +346,8 @@ ssize_t pa_iochannel_write_with_creds(pa_iochannel*io, const void*data, size_t l > return r; > } > > +/* For more details on FD passing, check the cmsg(3) manpage > + * and IETF RFC #2292: "Advanced Sockets API for IPv6" */ > ssize_t pa_iochannel_write_with_fds(pa_iochannel*io, const void*data, size_t l, int nfd, const int *fds) { > ssize_t r; > int *msgdata; > @@ -353,7 +355,7 @@ ssize_t pa_iochannel_write_with_fds(pa_iochannel*io, const void*data, size_t l, > struct iovec iov; > union { > struct cmsghdr hdr; > - uint8_t data[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int) * MAX_ANCIL_DATA_FDS)]; > + uint8_t data[CMSG_SPACE(sizeof(int) * nfd)]; > } cmsg; > > pa_assert(io); >