Re: [PATCH 2/3] exec: let do_coredump limit the number of concurrent dumps to pipes (v5)

[Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>]

core_pattern: Introduce core pipe limiting sysctl

Since we can dump cores to pipe, rather than directly to the filesystem, we
create a condition in which a user can create a very high load on the system
simply by running bad applications.  If the pipe reader specified in
core_pattern is poorly written, we can have lots of ourstandig resources and
processes in the system.  This sysctl introduces an ability to limit that
resource consumption.  core_pipe_limit defines how many in-flight dumps may be
run in parallel, dumps beyond this value are skipped and a note is made in the
kernel log.  A special value of 0 in core_pipe_limit denotes unlimited core
dumps may be handled (this is the default value).

Signed-off-by: Neil Horman <nhorman@tuxdriver.com>
Reported-by: Earl Chew <earl_chew@agilent.com>


 Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt |   22 ++++++++++++++++++++++
 fs/exec.c                       |   21 +++++++++++++++++----
 kernel/sysctl.c                 |    9 +++++++++
 3 files changed, 48 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
index 322a00b..bb226ba 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/kernel.txt
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ show up in /proc/sys/kernel:
 - acct
 - auto_msgmni
 - core_pattern
+- core_pipe_limit
 - core_uses_pid
 - ctrl-alt-del
 - dentry-state
@@ -119,6 +120,27 @@ core_pattern is used to specify a core dumpfile pattern name.
 
 ==============================================================
 
+core_pipe_limit:
+
+This sysctl is only applicable when core_pattern is configured to pipe core
+files to user space helper a (when the first character of core_pattern is a '|',
+see above).  When collecting cores via a pipe to an application, it is
+occasionally usefull for the collecting application to gather data about the
+crashing process from its /proc/pid directory.  In order to do this safely, the
+kernel must wait for the collecting process to exit, so as not to remove the
+crashing processes proc files prematurely.  This in turn creates the possibility
+that a misbehaving userspace collecting process can block the reaping of a
+crashed process simply by never exiting.  This sysctl defends against that.  It
+defines how many concurrent crashing processes may be piped to user space
+applications in parallel.  If this value is exceeded, then those crashing
+processes above that value are noted via the kernel log and their cores are
+skipped.  0 is a special value, indicating that unlimited processes may be
+captured in parallel, but that no waiting will take place (i.e. the collecting
+process is not guaranteed access to /proc/<crahing pid>/).  This value defaults
+to 0.
+
+==============================================================
+
 core_uses_pid:
 
 The default coredump filename is "core".  By setting
diff --git a/fs/exec.c b/fs/exec.c
index 9defd20..93ab6eb 100644
--- a/fs/exec.c
+++ b/fs/exec.c
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@
 
 int core_uses_pid;
 char core_pattern[CORENAME_MAX_SIZE] = "core";
+unsigned int core_pipe_limit;
 int suid_dumpable = 0;
 
 /* The maximal length of core_pattern is also specified in sysctl.c */
@@ -1726,7 +1727,8 @@ void do_coredump(long signr, int exit_code, struct pt_regs *regs)
 	unsigned long core_limit = current->signal->rlim[RLIMIT_CORE].rlim_cur;
 	char **helper_argv = NULL;
 	int helper_argc = 0;
-	char *delimit;
+	int dump_count = 0;
+	static atomic_t core_dump_count = ATOMIC_INIT(0);
 
 	audit_core_dumps(signr);
 
@@ -1798,21 +1800,29 @@ void do_coredump(long signr, int exit_code, struct pt_regs *regs)
 			goto fail_unlock;
 		}
 
+		dump_count = atomic_inc_return(&core_dump_count);
+		if (core_pipe_limit && (core_pipe_limit < dump_count)) {
+			printk(KERN_WARNING "Pid %d(%s) over core_pipe_limit\n",
+			       task_tgid_vnr(current), current->comm);
+			printk(KERN_WARNING "Skipping core dump\n");
+			goto fail_dropcount;
+		}
+
 		helper_argv = argv_split(GFP_KERNEL, corename+1, &helper_argc);
 		if (!helper_argv) {
 			printk(KERN_WARNING "%s failed to allocate memory\n",
 			       __func__);
-			goto fail_unlock;
+			goto fail_dropcount;
 		}
 
 		core_limit = RLIM_INFINITY;
 
 		/* SIGPIPE can happen, but it's just never processed */
- 		if (call_usermodehelper_pipe(corename+1, helper_argv, NULL,
+ 		if (call_usermodehelper_pipe(helper_argv[0], helper_argv, NULL,
 				&file)) {
  			printk(KERN_INFO "Core dump to %s pipe failed\n",
 			       corename);
- 			goto fail_unlock;
+ 			goto fail_dropcount;
  		}
 	} else {
 		if (core_limit < binfmt->min_coredump)
@@ -1853,6 +1863,9 @@ void do_coredump(long signr, int exit_code, struct pt_regs *regs)
 
 close_fail:
 	filp_close(file, NULL);
+fail_dropcount:
+	if (dump_count)
+		atomic_dec(&core_dump_count);
 fail_unlock:
 	if (helper_argv)
 		argv_free(helper_argv);
diff --git a/kernel/sysctl.c b/kernel/sysctl.c
index 62e4ff9..681052f 100644
--- a/kernel/sysctl.c
+++ b/kernel/sysctl.c
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ extern int max_threads;
 extern int core_uses_pid;
 extern int suid_dumpable;
 extern char core_pattern[];
+extern unsigned int core_pipe_limit;
 extern int pid_max;
 extern int min_free_kbytes;
 extern int pid_max_min, pid_max_max;
@@ -407,6 +408,14 @@ static struct ctl_table kern_table[] = {
 		.proc_handler	= &proc_dostring,
 		.strategy	= &sysctl_string,
 	},
+	{
+		.ctl_name	= CTL_UNNUMBERED,
+		.procname	= "core_pipe_limit",
+		.data		= &core_pipe_limit,
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(unsigned int),
+		.mode		= 0644,
+		.proc_handler	= &proc_dointvec,
+	},
 #ifdef CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL
 	{
 		.procname	= "tainted",