[PATCH] bpf: queue_stack_maps: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[PATCH] bpf: queue_stack_maps: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[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]

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 <gustavo@embeddedor.com>
---
 kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c | 2 +-
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c b/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
index f697647ceb54..30e1373fd437 100644
--- a/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
+++ b/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ struct bpf_queue_stack {
 	u32 head, tail;
 	u32 size; /* max_entries + 1 */
 
-	char elements[0] __aligned(8);
+	char elements[] __aligned(8);
 };
 
 static struct bpf_queue_stack *bpf_queue_stack(struct bpf_map *map)
-- 
2.25.0

Re: [PATCH] bpf: queue_stack_maps: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[Andrii Nakryiko]

On Thu, Feb 13, 2020 at 7:22 AM Gustavo A. R. Silva
<gustavo@embeddedor.com> wrote:
>
> 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]
>
> 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 <gustavo@embeddedor.com>
> ---

Sure, why not, though I don't think that's the only one (e.g.,
bpf_storage_buffer's data is zero-length as well).

Acked-by: Andrii Nakryiko <andriin@fb.com>

>  kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c | 2 +-
>  1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)
>
> diff --git a/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c b/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
> index f697647ceb54..30e1373fd437 100644
> --- a/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
> +++ b/kernel/bpf/queue_stack_maps.c
> @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ struct bpf_queue_stack {
>         u32 head, tail;
>         u32 size; /* max_entries + 1 */
>
> -       char elements[0] __aligned(8);
> +       char elements[] __aligned(8);
>  };
>
>  static struct bpf_queue_stack *bpf_queue_stack(struct bpf_map *map)
> --
> 2.25.0
>

Re: [PATCH] bpf: queue_stack_maps: Replace zero-length array with flexible-array member

[Daniel Borkmann]

On 2/13/20 6:47 PM, Andrii Nakryiko wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2020 at 7:22 AM Gustavo A. R. Silva
> <gustavo@embeddedor.com> wrote:
>>
>> 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]
>>
>> 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 <gustavo@embeddedor.com>
> 
> Sure, why not, though I don't think that's the only one (e.g.,
> bpf_storage_buffer's data is zero-length as well).
> 
> Acked-by: Andrii Nakryiko <andriin@fb.com>

+1, Gustavo, there are several such instances in the whole BPF subsystem. Please combine
them all into a single patch, including https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/1239563/, and
resubmit.

Thanks,
Daniel