[PATCH printk] printk_ringbuffer: Fix get_data() size sanity check
From: John Ogness
Date: Thu Mar 19 2026 - 09:50:07 EST
Commit cc3bad11de6e ("printk_ringbuffer: Fix check of valid data
size when blk_lpos overflows") added sanity checking to get_data()
to avoid returning data of illegal sizes (too large or too small).
It uses the helper function data_check_size() for the check.
However, data_check_size() expects the size of the data, not the
size of the data block. get_data() is providing the size of the
data block. This means that if the data size (text_buf_size) is
the maximum legal size:
sizeof(prb_data_block) + text_buf_size == DATA_SIZE(data_ring) / 2
data_check_size() will report failure because it adds
sizeof(prb_data_block) to the provided size. The sanity check in
get_data() is counting the data block header twice. The result is
that the reader fails to read the legal record.
Since get_data() subtracts the data block header size before returning,
move the sanity check to after the subtraction.
Luckily printk() is not vulnerable to this problem because
truncate_msg() limits printk-messages to 1/4 of the ringbuffer.
Indeed, by adjusting the printk_ringbuffer KUnit test, which does not
use printk() and its truncate_msg() check, it is easy to see that the
reader fails and the WARN_ON is triggered.
Fixes: cc3bad11de6e ("printk_ringbuffer: Fix check of valid data size when blk_lpos overflows")
Signed-off-by: John Ogness <john.ogness@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c | 8 ++++----
1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c b/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c
index 56c8e3d031f49..613a6524cdd81 100644
--- a/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c
+++ b/kernel/printk/printk_ringbuffer.c
@@ -1302,10 +1302,6 @@ static const char *get_data(struct prb_data_ring *data_ring,
return NULL;
}
- /* Sanity check. Data-less blocks were handled earlier. */
- if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!data_check_size(data_ring, *data_size) || !*data_size))
- return NULL;
-
/* A valid data block will always be aligned to the ID size. */
if (WARN_ON_ONCE(blk_lpos->begin != ALIGN(blk_lpos->begin, sizeof(db->id))) ||
WARN_ON_ONCE(blk_lpos->next != ALIGN(blk_lpos->next, sizeof(db->id)))) {
@@ -1319,6 +1315,10 @@ static const char *get_data(struct prb_data_ring *data_ring,
/* Subtract block ID space from size to reflect data size. */
*data_size -= sizeof(db->id);
+ /* Sanity check. Data-less blocks were handled earlier. */
+ if (WARN_ON_ONCE(!data_check_size(data_ring, *data_size) || !*data_size))
+ return NULL;
+
return &db->data[0];
}
base-commit: 9095f233c0258e9a05e958c7d822eb38681e7a5a
--
2.47.3