From: Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
To: peterz@infradead.org, mingo@redhat.com, acme@kernel.org,
namhyung@kernel.org
Cc: mark.rutland@arm.com, alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com,
jolsa@kernel.org, irogers@google.com, adrian.hunter@intel.com,
james.clark@linaro.org, howardchu95@gmail.com,
atomlin@atomlin.com, neelx@suse.com, chjohnst@mail.com,
sean@ashe.io, steve@abita.co, rishil1999@outlook.com,
linux-perf-users@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 0/7] perf trace: Validate payload bounds across augmented argument beautifiers
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2026 20:55:23 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260919005530.728615-1-atomlin@atomlin.com> (raw)
When pretty-printing augmented syscall arguments in perf trace, raw payload
data captured from BPF programs is passed to various argument formatters
via struct syscall_arg.
However, when processing malformed, truncated, or untrusted perf.data
records (e.g. truncated reads in BPF ringbuffers, cross-architecture
replays, or crafted sample records), the payload can be shorter than
expected or contain invalid size fields:
1. Dereferencing augmented_arg fields before validating that
arg->augmented.size is at least sizeof(struct augmented_arg) can read
past the available buffer.
2. Passing augmented_arg->size to formatters or loop counters without
bounding it against the remaining buffer can cause out-of-bounds memory
reads.
3. In multi-argument syscalls (e.g. rename*), calculating consumed bytes
without 64-bit alignment advances arg->augmented.args to unaligned
addresses. Furthermore, calculating consumed offsets without bounds
checking can overflow signed integer bounds or cause arg->augmented.size
to underflow, advancing arg->augmented.args out of bounds and
corrupting the parsing state for all subsequent arguments.
4. Type/family-specific beautifiers (i.e. BTF struct dump, sockaddr,
timespec, perf_event_attr) can dereference structure fields without
verifying that the payload contains sufficient bytes for the target
type, or trust embedded size fields (such as attr->size) that exceed
the actual captured buffer.
This series adds comprehensive upper-bound and payload-size checks across
all augmented argument beautifiers in perf trace, enforces 64-bit pointer
alignment when consuming multi-argument payloads, and ensures extensible
dispatching for address family formatters. If validation fails in any
beautifier, it cleanly falls back to printing the raw pointer/hex value.
To facilitate clean, conflict-free backports across active LTS kernels,
each fix is isolated to its own commit.
Changes since v2:
- Expanded the series from 6 to 7 patches by splitting the string
beautifier pointer advancement and 64-bit alignment logic into a
dedicated patch
- Added a new patch to round up consumed payload bytes to 64-bit
boundaries using PERF_ALIGN(), matching the alignment produced by the
BPF tracepoint probes (sys_enter_rename*) in
augmented_raw_syscalls.bpf.c
- Reset arg->augmented on buffer overrun to prevent corrupted parsing
state from reading out of bounds on subsequent arguments
- Validated payload size directly against arg->augmented.size instead of
reading augmented_arg->size, which is unpopulated by the BPF tracer
(sys_enter_{clock_,}nanosleep) and contains stale per-CPU map data
- Refactored af_scnprintfs into a dispatch table associating each
formatter with its minimum required payload size (.min_size), preserving
extensibility for future address families without hardcoded conditionals
- Used offsetof(struct sockaddr_un, sun_path) + 1 for AF_LOCAL rather than
sizeof(struct sockaddr_un) to correctly accommodate variable-length
domain socket paths
- Validated payload size against arg->augmented.size and payload_size
rather than reading uninitialized augmented_arg->size
- Validated payload size directly against arg->augmented.size instead of
reading uninitialized augmented_arg->size, which is unpopulated by
sys_enter_perf_event_open()
- Verified that when attr->size is specified, it is at least
PERF_ATTR_SIZE_VER0 and does not exceed payload_size, preventing
out-of-bounds reads in perf_event_attr__fprintf() caused by malformed
records or TOCTOU mutations during trace capture
- Link to v2: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20260907015140.363076-1-atomlin@atomlin.com/
Changes since v1:
- Expanded the original single patch into a 6-patch series in response to
reviewer feedback from sashiko-bot regarding similar bounds check
omissions across other augmented formatters in perf trace
- Added new patch validating payload bounds and consumed offset
calculations in syscall_arg__scnprintf_augmented_string()
- Added new patch validating payload bounds before byte traversal in
syscall_arg__scnprintf_buf(), isolated to ensure an independent Fixes:
tag for stable backports
- Added new patch validating payload size against sizeof(struct timespec)
in syscall_arg__scnprintf_augmented_timespec()
- Added new patch validating payload bounds and family-specific lengths in
syscall_arg__scnprintf_augmented_sockaddr()
- Added new patch validating payload size against at least
PERF_ATTR_SIZE_VER0 in
syscall_arg__scnprintf_augmented_perf_event_attr()
- Link to v1: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260906011132.279321-1-atomlin@atomlin.com/
Aaron Tomlin (7):
perf trace: Add upper bound checks for augmented BTF struct printing
perf trace: Validate payload bounds in augmented string beautifier
perf trace: Align pointer advance in augmented string beautifier
perf trace: Validate payload bounds in augmented buffer beautifier
perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented timespec
beautifier
perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented sockaddr
beautifier
perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented perf_event_open
beautifier
tools/perf/builtin-trace.c | 45 +++++++++++++++++------
tools/perf/trace/beauty/perf_event_open.c | 23 ++++++++++--
tools/perf/trace/beauty/sockaddr.c | 35 +++++++++++++-----
tools/perf/trace/beauty/timespec.c | 15 ++++++--
4 files changed, 91 insertions(+), 27 deletions(-)
base-commit: 02f6847e1822714a4201b87e42f92b0d43e8549d
--
2.55.0
next reply other threads:[~2026-09-19 0:55 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 8+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-09-19 0:55 Aaron Tomlin [this message]
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 1/7] perf trace: Add upper bound checks for augmented BTF struct printing Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 2/7] perf trace: Validate payload bounds in augmented string beautifier Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 3/7] perf trace: Align pointer advance " Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 4/7] perf trace: Validate payload bounds in augmented buffer beautifier Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 5/7] perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented timespec beautifier Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 6/7] perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented sockaddr beautifier Aaron Tomlin
2026-09-19 0:55 ` [PATCH v3 perf-tools-next 7/7] perf trace beauty: Validate payload size in augmented perf_event_open beautifier Aaron Tomlin
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