Re: [PATCH 1/2] http-backend: Fix access beyond end of string.

[Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>]

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

> On Sun, Nov 15, 2009 at 05:36:54PM -0800, Shawn O. Pearce wrote:
> ...
>> Shouldn't this instead be:
>> 
>> diff --git a/http-backend.c b/http-backend.c
>> index 9021266..16ec635 100644
>> --- a/http-backend.c
>> +++ b/http-backend.c
>> @@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
>>  			}
>>  
>>  			cmd = c;
>> -			cmd_arg = xmalloc(n);
>> +			cmd_arg = xmalloc(n + 1);
>>  			strncpy(cmd_arg, dir + out[0].rm_so + 1, n);
>>  			cmd_arg[n] = '\0';
>>  			dir[out[0].rm_so] = 0;
>> 
>> The cmd_arg string was simply allocated too small.  Your fix is
>> terminating the string one character too short which would cause
>> get_loose_object and get_pack_file to break.
>
> Actually, from my reading, I think his fix is right, because you trim
> the first character during the strncpy (using "out[0].rm_so + 1").

Your regexps all start with leading "/", and rm_so+1 points at the
character after the slash; the intention being that you would copy
the rest of the matched sequence without the leading "/".

So allocating n = rm_eo - rm_so is Ok.  It counts the space for
terminating NUL.  But copying "up to n bytes" using strncpy(), only to NUL
terminate immediately later, is dubious.  You would want to copy only n-1
bytes.  I.e.

	n = out[0].rm_eo - out[0].rm_so; /* allocation */
        ... validate and fail invalid method ...
        cmd_arg = xmalloc(n);
        memcpy(cmd_arg, dir + out[0].rm_so + 1, n-1);
        cmd_arg[n-1] = '\0';