[makedumpfile PATCH] Prevent data loss in last page of ELF core dumpfile

Atsushi Kumagai ats-kumagai at wm.jp.nec.com
Wed Jul 5 01:34:32 PDT 2017


Hello Eric,

Good catch, thanks for your investigation.
Please see the comment below.

>When generating an ELF core dump file, if a segment/section size
>is not an integral of PAGE_SIZE, then the corresponding generated
>segment/section is erroneously truncated to a PAGE_SIZE integral.
>Thus a small loss of data up to PAGE_SIZE-1 bytes can occur.
>
>In the function write_elf_pages_cyclic(), two variables memsz and
>filesz track the sizes. This patch provides the missing update to
>filesz for one particular condition, in a fashion consistent with
>the update to memsz in this condition.
>
>This patch corrects the test case described here.
>
>I have an existing ELF vmcore dumpfile and run it through
>makedumpfile again, as such:
>
>% makedumpfile -E -x vmlinux vmcore newvmcore
>% objdump --all-headers vmcore > before.txt
>% objdump --all-headers newvmcore > after.txt
>
>From crash, here is a description of the original vmcore:
>
>      KERNEL: vmlinux
>    DUMPFILE: vmcore
>        CPUS: 4
>        DATE: Thu Jan  7 07:49:10 2016
>      UPTIME: 00:00:22
>LOAD AVERAGE: 0.00, 0.00, 0.00
>       TASKS: 77
>    NODENAME: mini-amd64
>     RELEASE: 4.2.0-ns.gen.amd64.1
>     VERSION: #1 SMP Wed Oct 28 16:32:12 CET 2015
>     MACHINE: x86_64  (2194 Mhz)
>      MEMORY: 4 GB
>       PANIC: "sysrq: SysRq : Trigger a crash"
>         PID: 96
>     COMMAND: "bash"
>        TASK: ffff88017a4c9e00  [THREAD_INFO: ffff88017a198000]
>         CPU: 3
>       STATE: TASK_RUNNING (SYSRQ)
>
>In essence, no re-filtering has occured and I expect to see a very similar
>ELF dump file to the original.  And for the most part, the files are similar,
>but I do observe some differences.
>
>The contents of before.txt are:
>
>== before.txt ========================================================
>vmcore:     file format elf64-x86-64
>vmcore
>architecture: i386:x86-64, flags 0x00000000:
>
>start address 0x0000000000000000
>
>Program Header:
>    NOTE off    0x0000000000001000 vaddr 0x0000000000000000 paddr 0x0000000000000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000000000c6c memsz 0x0000000000000c6c flags ---
>    LOAD off    0x0000000000002000 vaddr 0xffffffff81000000 paddr 0x0000000001000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000000829000 memsz 0x0000000000829000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x000000000082b000 vaddr 0xffff880000001000 paddr 0x0000000000001000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000000009ec00 memsz 0x000000000009ec00 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000008ca000 vaddr 0xffff880000100000 paddr 0x0000000000100000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000003f00000 memsz 0x0000000003f00000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000047ca000 vaddr 0xffff880014000000 paddr 0x0000000014000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000006bfdf000 memsz 0x000000006bfdf000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000707a9000 vaddr 0xffff880100000000 paddr 0x0000000100000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000080000000 memsz 0x0000000080000000 flags rwx
>
>Sections:
>Idx Name          Size      VMA               LMA               File off  Algn
>  0 note0         00000c6c  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00001000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, READONLY
>  1 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00001084  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  2 .reg          000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00001084  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  3 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  000011e8  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  4 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  0000134c  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  5 .reg/96       000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  000014b0  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  6 load1         00829000  ffffffff81000000  0000000001000000  00002000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  7 load2         0009ec00  ffff880000001000  0000000000001000  0082b000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  8 load3         03f00000  ffff880000100000  0000000000100000  008ca000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  9 load4         6bfdf000  ffff880014000000  0000000014000000  047ca000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
> 10 load5         80000000  ffff880100000000  0000000100000000  707a9000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>SYMBOL TABLE:
>no symbols
>
>== before.txt ========================================================
>
>And the contents of after.txt:
>
>== after.txt =========================================================
>newvmcore:  file format elf64-x86-64
>newvmcore:
>architecture: i386:x86-64, flags 0x00000000:
>
>start address 0x0000000000000000
>
>Program Header:
>    NOTE off    0x0000000000000190 vaddr 0x0000000000000000 paddr 0x0000000000000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000000000c6c memsz 0x0000000000000c6c flags ---
>    LOAD off    0x0000000000000dfc vaddr 0xffffffff81000000 paddr 0x0000000001000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000000829000 memsz 0x0000000000829000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x0000000000829dfc vaddr 0xffff880000001000 paddr 0x0000000000001000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000000009e000 memsz 0x000000000009ec00 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000008c7dfc vaddr 0xffff880000100000 paddr 0x0000000000100000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000003f00000 memsz 0x0000000003f00000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000047c7dfc vaddr 0xffff880014000000 paddr 0x0000000014000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000006bfdf000 memsz 0x000000006bfdf000 flags rwx
>    LOAD off    0x00000000707a6dfc vaddr 0xffff880100000000 paddr 0x0000000100000000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x0000000080000000 memsz 0x0000000080000000 flags rwx
>
>Sections:
>Idx Name          Size      VMA               LMA               File off  Algn
>  0 note0         00000c6c  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00000190  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, READONLY
>  1 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00000214  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  2 .reg          000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00000214  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  3 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00000378  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  4 .reg/0        000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  000004dc  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  5 .reg/96       000000d8  0000000000000000  0000000000000000  00000640  2**2
>                  CONTENTS
>  6 load1         00829000  ffffffff81000000  0000000001000000  00000dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  7 load2a        0009e000  ffff880000001000  0000000000001000  00829dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  8 load2b        00000000  ffff88000009f000  000000000009f000  008c7dfc  2**0
>                  ALLOC, CODE
>  9 load3         03f00000  ffff880000100000  0000000000100000  008c7dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
> 10 load4         6bfdf000  ffff880014000000  0000000014000000  047c7dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
> 11 load5         80000000  ffff880100000000  0000000100000000  707a6dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>== after.txt =========================================================
>
>If we ignore the file offset differences, one can see that something has
>happened to "load2".
>
>The original vmcore "load2" looks like:
>
>Program Header:
>    LOAD off    0x000000000082b000 vaddr 0xffff880000001000 paddr 0x0000000000001000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000000009ec00 memsz 0x000000000009ec00 flags rwx
>Sections:
>  7 load2         0009ec00  ffff880000001000  0000000000001000  0082b000  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>
>It was split into these when passed through makedumpfile:
>
>Program Header:
>    LOAD off    0x0000000000829dfc vaddr 0xffff880000001000 paddr 0x0000000000001000 align 2**0
>         filesz 0x000000000009e000 memsz 0x000000000009ec00 flags rwx
>Sections:
>  7 load2a        0009e000  ffff880000001000  0000000000001000  00829dfc  2**0
>                  CONTENTS, ALLOC, LOAD, CODE
>  8 load2b        00000000  ffff88000009f000  000000000009f000  008c7dfc  2**0
>                  ALLOC, CODE
>
>In doing so, makedumpfile truncated the size of "load2a" 0009e000 by 0xc00
>bytes compared to original vmcore "load2" 0009ec00. This appears to be a
>loss of data, and likely bug.
>
>In addition, makedumpfile also generated a new zero-length section (and no
>corresponding program header, thankfully) of what would appear to be the page
>address following the end of "load2a". This seems to be un-necessary, and
>perhaps a likely bug, though harmless for this example.
>
>With the patch applied, the correct segment and section are generated (and
>no extraneous section), and the newly generated vmcore loads within 'crash'.
>
>Signed-off-by: Eric DeVolder <eric.devolder at oracle.com>
>---
>---
> makedumpfile.c | 7 +++++--
> 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
>diff --git a/makedumpfile.c b/makedumpfile.c
>index e69b6df..94359ac 100644
>--- a/makedumpfile.c
>+++ b/makedumpfile.c
>@@ -7326,10 +7326,13 @@ write_elf_pages_cyclic(struct cache_data *cd_header, struct cache_data *cd_page)
> 			for (pfn = MAX(pfn_start, cycle.start_pfn); pfn < cycle.end_pfn; pfn++) {
> 				if (!is_dumpable(info->bitmap2, pfn, &cycle)) {
> 					num_excluded++;
>-					if ((pfn == pfn_end - 1) && frac_tail)
>+					if ((pfn == pfn_end - 1) && frac_tail) {
> 						memsz += frac_tail;
>-					else
>+						filesz += frac_tail;
>+					} else {
> 						memsz += page_size;
>+						filesz += page_size;
>+                    }

As "!is_dumpable()" indicates, this block is for page filtering.
If a page is excluded, page_size shouldn't be added to filesz since 
the page is not included in the file.

So I don't think this approach is proper, but I don't have a good
idea for now. It seems that a frac_tail page can be judged as
"not dumpable" erroneously even without filtering, I suspect it's
the root cause of your problem.


Thanks,
Atsushi Kumagai




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