[PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[Eric Biggers]

This series fixes a bug where request_module() was reporting success to
kernel code when module autoloading had been completely disabled via
'echo > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe'.

It also addresses the issues raised on the original thread
(https://lkml.kernel.org/lkml/20200310223731.126894-1-ebiggers@kernel.org/T/#u)
by documenting the modprobe sysctl, adding a self-test for the empty
path case, and downgrading a user-reachable WARN_ONCE().

Changed since v3:
  - Added Fixes tag to the fs/filesystems.c patch, and mentioned why the
    warning is continued to be printed once only.

Changed since v2:
  - Adjusted the new documentation to avoid implicitly bringing up
    module aliases, which are a more complex topic.
  - Split the selftest patch into two patches, one to fix the test
    numbering bug and one to add the new tests.

Changed since v1:
  - Added patches to address the other issues raised on the thread.

Eric Biggers (5):
  kmod: make request_module() return an error when autoloading is
    disabled
  fs/filesystems.c: downgrade user-reachable WARN_ONCE() to
    pr_warn_once()
  docs: admin-guide: document the kernel.modprobe sysctl
  selftests: kmod: fix handling test numbers above 9
  selftests: kmod: test disabling module autoloading

 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 25 +++++++++++-
 fs/filesystems.c                            |  4 +-
 kernel/kmod.c                               |  4 +-
 tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh        | 43 +++++++++++++++++++--
 4 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)


base-commit: 5076190daded2197f62fe92cf69674488be44175
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH v4 1/5] kmod: make request_module() return an error when autoloading is disabled

[Eric Biggers]

From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>

It's long been possible to disable kernel module autoloading completely
(while still allowing manual module insertion) by setting
/proc/sys/kernel/modprobe to the empty string.  This can be preferable
to setting it to a nonexistent file since it avoids the overhead of an
attempted execve(), avoids potential deadlocks, and avoids the call to
security_kernel_module_request() and thus on SELinux-based systems
eliminates the need to write SELinux rules to dontaudit module_request.

However, when module autoloading is disabled in this way,
request_module() returns 0.  This is broken because callers expect 0 to
mean that the module was successfully loaded.

Apparently this was never noticed because this method of disabling
module autoloading isn't used much, and also most callers don't use the
return value of request_module() since it's always necessary to check
whether the module registered its functionality or not anyway.  But
improperly returning 0 can indeed confuse a few callers, for example
get_fs_type() in fs/filesystems.c where it causes a WARNING to be hit:

	if (!fs && (request_module("fs-%.*s", len, name) == 0)) {
		fs = __get_fs_type(name, len);
		WARN_ONCE(!fs, "request_module fs-%.*s succeeded, but still no fs?\n", len, name);
	}

This is easily reproduced with:

	echo > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
	mount -t NONEXISTENT none /

It causes:

	request_module fs-NONEXISTENT succeeded, but still no fs?
	WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 1106 at fs/filesystems.c:275 get_fs_type+0xd6/0xf0
	[...]

This should actually use pr_warn_once() rather than WARN_ONCE(), since
it's also user-reachable if userspace immediately unloads the module.
Regardless, request_module() should correctly return an error when it
fails.  So let's make it return -ENOENT, which matches the error when
the modprobe binary doesn't exist.

I've also sent patches to document and test this case.

Acked-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
---
 kernel/kmod.c | 4 ++--
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/kernel/kmod.c b/kernel/kmod.c
index bc6addd9152b4..a2de58de6ab62 100644
--- a/kernel/kmod.c
+++ b/kernel/kmod.c
@@ -120,7 +120,7 @@ static int call_modprobe(char *module_name, int wait)
  * invoke it.
  *
  * If module auto-loading support is disabled then this function
- * becomes a no-operation.
+ * simply returns -ENOENT.
  */
 int __request_module(bool wait, const char *fmt, ...)
 {
@@ -137,7 +137,7 @@ int __request_module(bool wait, const char *fmt, ...)
 	WARN_ON_ONCE(wait && current_is_async());
 
 	if (!modprobe_path[0])
-		return 0;
+		return -ENOENT;
 
 	va_start(args, fmt);
 	ret = vsnprintf(module_name, MODULE_NAME_LEN, fmt, args);
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH v4 2/5] fs/filesystems.c: downgrade user-reachable WARN_ONCE() to pr_warn_once()

[Eric Biggers]

From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>

After request_module(), nothing is stopping the module from being
unloaded until someone takes a reference to it via try_get_module().

The WARN_ONCE() in get_fs_type() is thus user-reachable, via userspace
running 'rmmod' concurrently.

Since WARN_ONCE() is for kernel bugs only, not for user-reachable
situations, downgrade this warning to pr_warn_once().

Keep it printed once only, since the intent of this warning is to detect
a bug in modprobe at boot time.  Printing the warning more than once
wouldn't really provide any useful extra information.

Fixes: 41124db869b7 ("fs: warn in case userspace lied about modprobe return")
Acked-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org> # v4.13+
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
---
 fs/filesystems.c | 4 +++-
 1 file changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/fs/filesystems.c b/fs/filesystems.c
index 77bf5f95362da..90b8d879fbaf3 100644
--- a/fs/filesystems.c
+++ b/fs/filesystems.c
@@ -272,7 +272,9 @@ struct file_system_type *get_fs_type(const char *name)
 	fs = __get_fs_type(name, len);
 	if (!fs && (request_module("fs-%.*s", len, name) == 0)) {
 		fs = __get_fs_type(name, len);
-		WARN_ONCE(!fs, "request_module fs-%.*s succeeded, but still no fs?\n", len, name);
+		if (!fs)
+			pr_warn_once("request_module fs-%.*s succeeded, but still no fs?\n",
+				     len, name);
 	}
 
 	if (dot && fs && !(fs->fs_flags & FS_HAS_SUBTYPE)) {
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH v4 3/5] docs: admin-guide: document the kernel.modprobe sysctl

[Eric Biggers]

From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>

Document the kernel.modprobe sysctl in the same place that all the other
kernel.* sysctls are documented.  Make sure to mention how to use this
sysctl to completely disable module autoloading, and how this sysctl
relates to CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER.

Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
index def074807cee9..e3c15660ee5d9 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
 - kexec_load_disabled
 - kptr_restrict
 - l2cr                        [ PPC only ]
-- modprobe                    ==> Documentation/debugging-modules.txt
+- modprobe
 - modules_disabled
 - msg_next_id		      [ sysv ipc ]
 - msgmax
@@ -444,6 +444,29 @@ l2cr: (PPC only)
 This flag controls the L2 cache of G3 processor boards. If
 0, the cache is disabled. Enabled if nonzero.
 
+modprobe:
+=========
+
+The path to the usermode helper for autoloading kernel modules, by
+default "/sbin/modprobe".  This binary is executed when the kernel
+requests a module.  For example, if userspace passes an unknown
+filesystem type to mount(), then the kernel will automatically request
+the corresponding filesystem module by executing this usermode helper.
+This usermode helper should insert the needed module into the kernel.
+
+This sysctl only affects module autoloading.  It has no effect on the
+ability to explicitly insert modules.
+
+If this sysctl is set to the empty string, then module autoloading is
+completely disabled.  The kernel will not try to execute a usermode
+helper at all, nor will it call the kernel_module_request LSM hook.
+
+If CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER=y is set in the kernel configuration,
+then the configured static usermode helper overrides this sysctl,
+except that the empty string is still accepted to completely disable
+module autoloading as described above.
+
+Also see Documentation/debugging-modules.txt.
 
 modules_disabled:
 =================
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH v4 4/5] selftests: kmod: fix handling test numbers above 9

[Eric Biggers]

From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>

get_test_count() and get_test_enabled() were broken for test numbers
above 9 due to awk interpreting a field specification like '$0010' as
octal rather than decimal.  Fix it by stripping the leading zeroes.

Acked-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh | 13 +++++++++----
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
index 8b944cf042f6c..315a43111e046 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
@@ -505,18 +505,23 @@ function test_num()
 	fi
 }
 
-function get_test_count()
+function get_test_data()
 {
 	test_num $1
-	TEST_DATA=$(echo $ALL_TESTS | awk '{print $'$1'}')
+	local field_num=$(echo $1 | sed 's/^0*//')
+	echo $ALL_TESTS | awk '{print $'$field_num'}'
+}
+
+function get_test_count()
+{
+	TEST_DATA=$(get_test_data $1)
 	LAST_TWO=${TEST_DATA#*:*}
 	echo ${LAST_TWO%:*}
 }
 
 function get_test_enabled()
 {
-	test_num $1
-	TEST_DATA=$(echo $ALL_TESTS | awk '{print $'$1'}')
+	TEST_DATA=$(get_test_data $1)
 	echo ${TEST_DATA#*:*:}
 }
 
-- 
2.25.1

[PATCH v4 5/5] selftests: kmod: test disabling module autoloading

[Eric Biggers]

From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>

Test that request_module() fails with -ENOENT when
/proc/sys/kernel/modprobe contains (a) a nonexistent path, and (b) an
empty path.

Case (b) is a regression test for the patch "kmod: make request_module()
return an error when autoloading is disabled".

Tested with 'kmod.sh -t 0010 && kmod.sh -t 0011', and also simply with
'kmod.sh' to run all kmod tests.

Acked-by: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
---
 tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+)

diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
index 315a43111e046..3702dbcc90a77 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/kmod/kmod.sh
@@ -61,6 +61,8 @@ ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0006:10:1"
 ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0007:5:1"
 ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0008:150:1"
 ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0009:150:1"
+ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0010:1:1"
+ALL_TESTS="$ALL_TESTS 0011:1:1"
 
 # Kselftest framework requirement - SKIP code is 4.
 ksft_skip=4
@@ -149,6 +151,7 @@ function load_req_mod()
 
 test_finish()
 {
+	echo "$MODPROBE" > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
 	echo "Test completed"
 }
 
@@ -443,6 +446,30 @@ kmod_test_0009()
 	config_expect_result ${FUNCNAME[0]} SUCCESS
 }
 
+kmod_test_0010()
+{
+	kmod_defaults_driver
+	config_num_threads 1
+	echo "/KMOD_TEST_NONEXISTENT" > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
+	config_trigger ${FUNCNAME[0]}
+	config_expect_result ${FUNCNAME[0]} -ENOENT
+	echo "$MODPROBE" > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
+}
+
+kmod_test_0011()
+{
+	kmod_defaults_driver
+	config_num_threads 1
+	# This causes the kernel to not even try executing modprobe.  The error
+	# code is still -ENOENT like when modprobe doesn't exist, so we can't
+	# easily test for the exact difference.  But this still is a useful test
+	# since there was a bug where request_module() returned 0 in this case.
+	echo > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
+	config_trigger ${FUNCNAME[0]}
+	config_expect_result ${FUNCNAME[0]} -ENOENT
+	echo "$MODPROBE" > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe
+}
+
 list_tests()
 {
 	echo "Test ID list:"
@@ -460,6 +487,8 @@ list_tests()
 	echo "0007 x $(get_test_count 0007) - multithreaded tests with default setup test request_module() and get_fs_type()"
 	echo "0008 x $(get_test_count 0008) - multithreaded - push kmod_concurrent over max_modprobes for request_module()"
 	echo "0009 x $(get_test_count 0009) - multithreaded - push kmod_concurrent over max_modprobes for get_fs_type()"
+	echo "0010 x $(get_test_count 0010) - test nonexistent modprobe path"
+	echo "0011 x $(get_test_count 0011) - test completely disabling module autoloading"
 }
 
 usage()
@@ -616,6 +645,7 @@ test_reqs
 allow_user_defaults
 load_req_mod
 
+MODPROBE=$(</proc/sys/kernel/modprobe)
 trap "test_finish" EXIT
 
 parse_args $@
-- 
2.25.1

Re: [PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[Eric Biggers]

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 04:05:10PM -0700, Eric Biggers wrote:
> This series fixes a bug where request_module() was reporting success to
> kernel code when module autoloading had been completely disabled via
> 'echo > /proc/sys/kernel/modprobe'.
> 
> It also addresses the issues raised on the original thread
> (https://lkml.kernel.org/lkml/20200310223731.126894-1-ebiggers@kernel.org/T/#u)
> by documenting the modprobe sysctl, adding a self-test for the empty
> path case, and downgrading a user-reachable WARN_ONCE().
> 
> Changed since v3:
>   - Added Fixes tag to the fs/filesystems.c patch, and mentioned why the
>     warning is continued to be printed once only.
> 
> Changed since v2:
>   - Adjusted the new documentation to avoid implicitly bringing up
>     module aliases, which are a more complex topic.
>   - Split the selftest patch into two patches, one to fix the test
>     numbering bug and one to add the new tests.
> 
> Changed since v1:
>   - Added patches to address the other issues raised on the thread.

It seems that people are relatively happy with this patch series now.
Andrew, will you be taking it through -mm?  I don't see any better place.

Thanks,

- Eric

Re: [PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[Andrew Morton]

On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 22:28:19 -0700 Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org> wrote:

> It seems that people are relatively happy with this patch series now.
> Andrew, will you be taking it through -mm?  I don't see any better place.

Yup.

Re: [PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[Eric Biggers]

On Fri, Mar 20, 2020 at 07:27:18PM -0700, Andrew Morton wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Mar 2020 22:28:19 -0700 Eric Biggers <ebiggers@kernel.org> wrote:
> 
> > It seems that people are relatively happy with this patch series now.
> > Andrew, will you be taking it through -mm?  I don't see any better place.
> 
> Yup.

Andrew, can you update -mm to v4 of this patchset?  Right now it contains a mix
of v2 and v3.  In particular the diff for "docs: admin-guide: document the
kernel.modprobe sysctl" is different, and I made some small updates to commit
messages.

- Eric

Re: [PATCH v4 0/5] module autoloading fixes and cleanups

[Eric Biggers]

On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 10:12:52AM -0700, Eric Biggers wrote:
> 
> Andrew, can you update -mm to v4 of this patchset?  Right now it contains a mix
> of v2 and v3.  In particular the diff for "docs: admin-guide: document the
> kernel.modprobe sysctl" is different, and I made some small updates to commit
> messages.

Ping?

Re: [PATCH v4 3/5] docs: admin-guide: document the kernel.modprobe sysctl

[Eric Biggers]

Andrew,

On Wed, Mar 18, 2020 at 04:05:13PM -0700, Eric Biggers wrote:
> From: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
> 
> Document the kernel.modprobe sysctl in the same place that all the other
> kernel.* sysctls are documented.  Make sure to mention how to use this
> sysctl to completely disable module autoloading, and how this sysctl
> relates to CONFIG_STATIC_USERMODEHELPER.
> 
> Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast@kernel.org>
> Cc: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
> Cc: Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>
> Cc: Jeff Vander Stoep <jeffv@google.com>
> Cc: Jessica Yu <jeyu@kernel.org>
> Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
> Cc: Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>
> Cc: NeilBrown <neilb@suse.com>
> Signed-off-by: Eric Biggers <ebiggers@google.com>
> ---
>  Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 25 ++++++++++++++++++++-
>  1 file changed, 24 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 

I just noticed there's already a patch going into 5.7 through the docs tree
(https://lkml.kernel.org/lkml/20200329172713.206afe79@lwn.net/) that creates the
documentation for this sysctl:

        commit 0317c5371e6a9b71a2e25b47013dd5c62d55d1a6
        Author: Stephen Kitt <steve@sk2.org>
        Date:   Tue Feb 18 13:59:17 2020 +0100

            docs: merge debugging-modules.txt into sysctl/kernel.rst

It looks for -mm, you resolved the conflict by changing my patch to add the
documentation to a different location in the file.  But that's not correct as it
results in this sysctl being documented twice.

Perhaps just drop this patch for now, but keep patches 1-2 and 4-5?  I can
rebase and resend this documentation patch later.

- Eric