Re: [PATCH] riscv: lib: Fix ZBB strnlen wrap-around regression on huge counts

From: Michael Neuling

Date: Sun Sep 13 2026 - 23:36:43 EST


> From: Shao Mingyin <shao.mingyin@xxxxxxxxxx>
>
> commit 5d588c684833 ("riscv: lib: Fix ZBB strnlen reading past count
> boundary") computes the aligned scan boundary from the last valid byte
> (s + count - 1). When count is huge (e.g. SIZE_MAX, which FORTIFY
> strcat/strlcat pass when the destination size is not known at compile
> time), s + count wraps around and the aligned boundary lands before s.
> The pre-loop guard "bgeu t0, t4, 2f" then always exits for aligned
> strings of 8 or more characters, and strnlen() returns 8 instead of
> the real length.
>
> This silently truncates strings built by fortified strcat: the dm
> sysfs name attribute shows "live-bas" instead of "live-base", the
> truncated name pollutes the udev database, and blivet/anaconda (as
> well as LVM/dm-crypt/multipath userspace) break on RISC-V systems.
>
> Detect the wrap-around and saturate the boundary to the top of the
> address space, making the scan equivalent to strlen(). Normal counts
> are unaffected.

Nice catch

> Fixes: 5d588c684833 ("riscv: lib: Fix ZBB strnlen reading past count boundary")

I believe this issue also affects original strnlen implementation, so
this should actually be:
Fixes: 5ba15d419fab ("riscv: lib: add strnlen() implementation")
The text in the commit needs to be fixed also.

> Signed-off-by: Shao Mingyin <shao.mingyin@xxxxxxxxxx>

Other than the above:
Acked-By: Michael Neuling <mikey@xxxxxxxxxxx>

> ---
> arch/riscv/lib/strnlen.S | 10 ++++++++++
> 1 file changed, 10 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/arch/riscv/lib/strnlen.S b/arch/riscv/lib/strnlen.S
> index a8911605c248..2451289ed0f9 100644
> --- a/arch/riscv/lib/strnlen.S
> +++ b/arch/riscv/lib/strnlen.S
> @@ -87,9 +87,19 @@ strnlen_zbb:
> * Aligned boundary. Use the address of the last valid byte
> * (s + count - 1) to avoid loading a word past the count
> * boundary in the loop below. count == 0 is handled above.
> + *
> + * Saturate the boundary when s + count wraps around (very large
> + * counts, e.g. SIZE_MAX passed by FORTIFY strcat/strlcat with a
> + * destination whose size is unknown at compile time). Without
> + * this, the wrapped boundary lands before s and the pre-loop
> + * guard below always exits, returning a truncated length.
> + * Saturating makes the scan equivalent to strlen().
> */
> add t4, a0, a1
> addi t4, t4, -1
> + bgeu t4, a0, 1f
> + li t4, -1
> +1:
> andi t4, t4, -SZREG
>
> /* Get the first word. */
> --
> 2.27.0
>
> _______________________________________________
> linux-riscv mailing list
> linux-riscv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.infradead.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-riscv