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docs: deprecated.rst: Add zero-length and one-element arrays
Add zero-length and one-element arrays to the list. While I continue replacing zero-length and one-element arrays with flexible-array members, I need a reference to point people to, so they don't introduce more instances of such arrays. And while here, add a note to the "open-coded arithmetic in allocator arguments" section, on the use of struct_size() and the arrays-to-deprecate mentioned here. Co-developed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> Signed-off-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> Signed-off-by: Gustavo A. R. Silva <gustavoars@kernel.org> Acked-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20200608213711.GA22271@embeddedor Signed-off-by: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>
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@ -85,6 +85,11 @@ Instead, use the helper::
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header = kzalloc(struct_size(header, item, count), GFP_KERNEL);
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.. note:: If you are using struct_size() on a structure containing a zero-length
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or a one-element array as a trailing array member, please refactor such
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array usage and switch to a `flexible array member
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<#zero-length-and-one-element-arrays>`_ instead.
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See array_size(), array3_size(), and struct_size(),
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for more details as well as the related check_add_overflow() and
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check_mul_overflow() family of functions.
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@ -200,3 +205,116 @@ All switch/case blocks must end in one of:
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* continue;
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* goto <label>;
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* return [expression];
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Zero-length and one-element arrays
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----------------------------------
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There is a regular need in the kernel to provide a way to declare having
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a dynamically sized set of trailing elements in a structure. Kernel code
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should always use `"flexible array members" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexible_array_member>`_
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for these cases. The older style of one-element or zero-length arrays should
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no longer be used.
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In older C code, dynamically sized trailing elements were done by specifying
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a one-element array at the end of a structure::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[1];
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};
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This led to fragile size calculations via sizeof() (which would need to
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remove the size of the single trailing element to get a correct size of
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the "header"). A `GNU C extension <https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html>`_
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was introduced to allow for zero-length arrays, to avoid these kinds of
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size problems::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[0];
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};
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But this led to other problems, and didn't solve some problems shared by
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both styles, like not being able to detect when such an array is accidentally
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being used _not_ at the end of a structure (which could happen directly, or
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when such a struct was in unions, structs of structs, etc).
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C99 introduced "flexible array members", which lacks a numeric size for
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the array declaration entirely::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[];
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};
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This is the way the kernel expects dynamically sized trailing elements
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to be declared. It allows the compiler to generate errors when the
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flexible array does not occur last in the structure, which helps to prevent
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some kind of `undefined behavior
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<https://git.kernel.org/linus/76497732932f15e7323dc805e8ea8dc11bb587cf>`_
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bugs from being inadvertently introduced to the codebase. It also allows
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the compiler to correctly analyze array sizes (via sizeof(),
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`CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE`, and `CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS`). For instance,
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there is no mechanism that warns us that the following application of the
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sizeof() operator to a zero-length array always results in zero::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[0];
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};
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struct something *instance;
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instance = kmalloc(struct_size(instance, items, count), GFP_KERNEL);
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instance->count = count;
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size = sizeof(instance->items) * instance->count;
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memcpy(instance->items, source, size);
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At the last line of code above, ``size`` turns out to be ``zero``, when one might
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have thought it represents the total size in bytes of the dynamic memory recently
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allocated for the trailing array ``items``. Here are a couple examples of this
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issue: `link 1
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<https://git.kernel.org/linus/f2cd32a443da694ac4e28fbf4ac6f9d5cc63a539>`_,
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`link 2
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<https://git.kernel.org/linus/ab91c2a89f86be2898cee208d492816ec238b2cf>`_.
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Instead, `flexible array members have incomplete type, and so the sizeof()
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operator may not be applied <https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html>`_,
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so any misuse of such operators will be immediately noticed at build time.
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With respect to one-element arrays, one has to be acutely aware that `such arrays
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occupy at least as much space as a single object of the type
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<https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Zero-Length.html>`_,
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hence they contribute to the size of the enclosing structure. This is prone
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to error every time people want to calculate the total size of dynamic memory
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to allocate for a structure containing an array of this kind as a member::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[1];
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};
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struct something *instance;
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instance = kmalloc(struct_size(instance, items, count - 1), GFP_KERNEL);
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instance->count = count;
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size = sizeof(instance->items) * instance->count;
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memcpy(instance->items, source, size);
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In the example above, we had to remember to calculate ``count - 1`` when using
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the struct_size() helper, otherwise we would have --unintentionally-- allocated
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memory for one too many ``items`` objects. The cleanest and least error-prone way
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to implement this is through the use of a `flexible array member`::
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struct something {
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size_t count;
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struct foo items[];
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};
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struct something *instance;
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instance = kmalloc(struct_size(instance, items, count), GFP_KERNEL);
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instance->count = count;
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size = sizeof(instance->items[0]) * instance->count;
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memcpy(instance->items, source, size);
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