[PATCH] Bluetooth: L2CAP: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[PATCH] Bluetooth: L2CAP: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[Gustavo A. R. Silva]

The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
introduced in C99:

struct foo {
        int stuff;
        struct boo array[];
};

By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.

Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
this change:

"Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]

sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.

This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.

[1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
[2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
[3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")

Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
---
 include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h | 6 +++---
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h b/include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h
index dada14d0622c..8f1e6a7a2df8 100644
--- a/include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h
+++ b/include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h
@@ -499,7 +499,7 @@ struct l2cap_ecred_conn_req {
 	__le16 mtu;
 	__le16 mps;
 	__le16 credits;
-	__le16 scid[0];
+	__le16 scid[];
 } __packed;
 
 struct l2cap_ecred_conn_rsp {
@@ -507,13 +507,13 @@ struct l2cap_ecred_conn_rsp {
 	__le16 mps;
 	__le16 credits;
 	__le16 result;
-	__le16 dcid[0];
+	__le16 dcid[];
 };
 
 struct l2cap_ecred_reconf_req {
 	__le16 mtu;
 	__le16 mps;
-	__le16 scid[0];
+	__le16 scid[];
 } __packed;
 
 #define L2CAP_RECONF_SUCCESS		0x0000
-- 
2.26.2

Re: [PATCH] Bluetooth: L2CAP: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[Marcel Holtmann]

Hi Gustavo,

> The current codebase makes use of the zero-length array language
> extension to the C90 standard, but the preferred mechanism to declare
> variable-length types such as these ones is a flexible array member[1][2],
> introduced in C99:
> 
> struct foo {
>        int stuff;
>        struct boo array[];
> };
> 
> By making use of the mechanism above, we will get a compiler warning
> in case the flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which
> will help us prevent some kind of undefined behavior bugs from being
> inadvertently introduced[3] to the codebase from now on.
> 
> Also, notice that, dynamic memory allocations won't be affected by
> this change:
> 
> "Flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof operator
> may not be applied. As a quirk of the original implementation of
> zero-length arrays, sizeof evaluates to zero."[1]
> 
> sizeof(flexible-array-member) triggers a warning because flexible array
> members have incomplete type[1]. There are some instances of code in
> which the sizeof operator is being incorrectly/erroneously applied to
> zero-length arrays and the result is zero. Such instances may be hiding
> some bugs. So, this work (flexible-array member conversions) will also
> help to get completely rid of those sorts of issues.
> 
> This issue was found with the help of Coccinelle.
> 
> [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html
> [2] https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/21
> [3] commit 76497732932f ("cxgb3/l2t: Fix undefined behaviour")
> 
> Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
> ---
> include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h | 6 +++---
> 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

patch has been applied to bluetooth-next tree.

Regards

Marcel

Re: [PATCH] Bluetooth: L2CAP: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array

[Gustavo A. R. Silva]

On Mon, May 18, 2020 at 09:58:22AM +0200, Marcel Holtmann wrote:
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org>
> > ---
> > include/net/bluetooth/l2cap.h | 6 +++---
> > 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> patch has been applied to bluetooth-next tree.
> 

Thanks, Marcel.

--
Gustavo