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List:       freedesktop-xorg-devel
Subject:    Re: [PATCH-V4] xserver: Optional backtrace handler
From:       Barry Scott <barry.scott () onelan ! co ! uk>
Date:       2011-10-13 13:28:05
Message-ID: 201110131428.05523.barry.scott () onelan ! co ! uk
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On Wednesday 12 October 2011 18:50:32 Keith Packard wrote:
> On Thu, 6 Oct 2011 13:19:35 +0100, Barry Scott <barry.scott@onelan.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> > Is there anything else I need to do to make this patch acceptable
> > for inclusion in Xorg?
> 
> Two things:
> 
>  1. This option needs to be restricted to root, much like many other
>     options in the server (-modulepath, etc). There's a patch in the
>     queue which regularizes this, but the xf86 DDX uses:
> 
>     if ( (geteuid() == 0) && (getuid() != 0) ) {
>       FatalError("The '%s' option can only be used by root.\n", argv[i]);
>     }

understood, if Xorg is SUID then this is a problem. I can fix that.

> 
>  2. I'd love to figure out how to fork at the time of the error; this
>     would encourage people to actually use this option regularly.
> 
>     posix threads makes the usual libc fork() function take the malloc
>     mutex across its operations, but I wonder if syscall(SYS_fork) is
>     portable enough to be used instead?

Pre forking means that the handler is not dependent on sanity of libc.
The last serious Xorg bug we where trying to fix was a malloc heap corruption
that prevented the "fork on demand" patch from working at all.

Would a fix for the SUID security issue bring this patch up to a suitable
level of usefulness to include in Xorg? Leaving improvements like
fork on demand to a later patch?

Barry

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content="1" /><style type="text/css"> p, li { white-space: pre-wrap; }
</style></head><body style=" font-family:'Monospace'; font-size:10pt; \
font-weight:400; font-style:normal;"> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">On Wednesday 12 October 2011 18:50:32 Keith Packard wrote:</p> <p \
style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; On Thu, 6 Oct 2011 \
13:19:35 +0100, Barry Scott &lt;barry.scott@onelan.co.uk&gt; wrote:</p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; &gt; Is there anything \
else I need to do to make this patch acceptable</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; &gt; for inclusion in Xorg?</p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; Two things:</p> <p \
style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;  1. This option needs to \
be restricted to root, much like many other</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     options in the server (-modulepath, \
etc). There's a patch in the</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     queue which regularizes this, but the xf86 DDX uses:</p> \
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     if ( (geteuid() == \
0) &amp;&amp; (getuid() != 0) ) {</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">&gt;       FatalError(&quot;The '%s' option can only be used by \
root.\n&quot;, argv[i]);</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     }</p> <p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">understood, if Xorg is SUID then this is a \
problem. I can fix that.</p> <p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;  2. I'd love to figure out how to fork at \
the time of the error; this</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     would encourage people to actually use this option \
regularly.</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; \
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt; </p> \
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     posix threads makes \
the usual libc fork() function take the malloc</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     mutex across its operations, but I \
wonder if syscall(SYS_fork) is</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">&gt;     portable enough to be used instead?</p> <p \
style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; \
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p> \
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Pre forking means that the \
handler is not dependent on sanity of libc.</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">The last serious Xorg bug we where trying to fix \
was a malloc heap corruption</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">that prevented the &quot;fork on demand&quot; patch from working \
at all.</p> <p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">Would a fix for the SUID security issue bring this patch up to a \
suitable</p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; \
margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">level of \
usefulness to include in Xorg? Leaving improvements like</p> <p style=" \
margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; \
-qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">fork on demand to a later \
patch?</p> <p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p> <p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; \
margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; \
-qt-user-state:0;">Barry</p> <p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; \
margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; \
text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"><br /></p></body></html>



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