• Elena Reshetova's avatar
    nsproxy: Convert nsproxy.count to refcount_t · 2ddd3cac
    Elena Reshetova authored
    atomic_t variables are currently used to implement reference counters
    with the following properties:
     - counter is initialized to 1 using atomic_set()
     - a resource is freed upon counter reaching zero
     - once counter reaches zero, its further
       increments aren't allowed
     - counter schema uses basic atomic operations
       (set, inc, inc_not_zero, dec_and_test, etc.)
    
    Such atomic variables should be converted to a newly provided
    refcount_t type and API that prevents accidental counter overflows and
    underflows. This is important since overflows and underflows can lead
    to use-after-free situation and be exploitable.
    
    The variable nsproxy.count is used as pure reference counter. Convert it
    to refcount_t and fix up the operations.
    
    **Important note for maintainers:
    
    Some functions from refcount_t API defined in refcount.h have different
    memory ordering guarantees than their atomic counterparts. Please check
    Documentation/core-api/refcount-vs-atomic.rst for more information.
    
    Normally the differences should not matter since refcount_t provides
    enough guarantees to satisfy the refcounting use cases, but in some
    rare cases it might matter. Please double check that you don't have
    some undocumented memory guarantees for this variable usage.
    
    For the nsproxy.count it might make a difference in following places:
     - put_nsproxy() and switch_task_namespaces(): decrement in
       refcount_dec_and_test() only provides RELEASE ordering and ACQUIRE
       ordering on success vs. fully ordered atomic counterpart
    Suggested-by: default avatarKees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
    Signed-off-by: default avatarElena Reshetova <elena.reshetova@intel.com>
    Reviewed-by: default avatarDavid Windsor <dwindsor@gmail.com>
    Reviewed-by: default avatarHans Liljestrand <ishkamiel@gmail.com>
    Reviewed-by: default avatarChristian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
    Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20230818041327.gonna.210-kees@kernel.orgSigned-off-by: default avatarKees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
    2ddd3cac
nsproxy.h 3.12 KB