4.2 BSD file/inode counts less than zero.

Brian Thomson thomson at uthub.UUCP
Tue Feb 14 03:44:03 AEST 1984


Index: sys/kern_descrip.c 4.2BSD Fix

Description:
	It is possible to close a file descriptor more than once,
	or otherwise use it after it has been closed, and
	possibly after another process has reallocated it or
	reallocated the in-core inode it points to.

Repeat-By:
	If you have installed Jeff Mogul's firewall panic in
	closef() [ref. unix-wizards <14552 at sri-arpa.UUCP> Dec 12 83]
	you may have already seen this.  If not, then PUT IT IN
	FIRST!!! like so:
	kern_descrip.c, closef(), before

		(*fp->f_ops->fo_close)(fp);

	insert
		if(fp->f_count < 1)
			panic("closef: f_count < 1");
	
	Then run the following program with the shell 'exec' command,
	such that it is the only process that has your terminal open:

	    #include <sys/types.h>
	    #include <setjmp.h>
	    #include <signal.h>
	    #include <sys/ioctl.h>

	    jmp_buf jb;
	    int zero;

	    gorp() {
		    longjmp(jb, 0);
	    }

	    main() {
		    int i;
		    for(i = 0; i < 20; i++)
			    if(i != 1) close(i);
		    setjmp(jb);
		    ioctl(1, TIOCSTART, 0);
		    ioctl(1, TIOCFLUSH, &zero);
		    ioctl(1, TIOCSTOP, 0);
		    write(1, "a", 1);
		    signal(SIGALRM, gorp);
		    alarm(1);
		    close(1);
	    }

	If all went well (so to speak) a single 'a' will print on your
	terminal, and your 4.2 system will have paniced.

Fix:
	What is happening here is that the process is sleeping at
	interruptible priority in sys/tty.c routine ttywait()
	for the output queue to drain.  Routine close() in sys/kern_descrip.c
	doesn't clear u.u_ofile[1] until the close is complete,
	even though the reference counts in the file table entry
	and in the inode are decremented BEFORE the close completes,
	so after the signal wakes us up we have a pointer to a
	freed file table entry which may also point to a freed
	in-core inode.  
	Note that the same scenario holds if the process takes
	a fatal signal during the close, since normal exit() handling 
	involves closing all open file descriptors, and f.d. #1
	still looks open.
	4.1 used to clear the u.u_ofile[] entry in close() before
	calling closef(), and doing so would indeed correct the above
	instance of the problem.  But closef() is called from several
	other places in the code, none of which expect to be interrupted:
		copen() in sys/ufs_syscalls.c
		setregs() in sys/kern_exec.c
		unp_discard() in sys/uipc_usrreq.c

	The fix I have adopted is suggested by the comment 'XXX Should catch'
	in sys/sys_inode.c's ino_close().  In that routine, add the
	declaration

		label_t oqsave;

	and replace the last line

		(*cfunc)(dev, flag, fp);

	by the lines

		oqsave = u.u_qsave;
		if(setjmp(&u.u_qsave) == 0)
			(*cfunc)(dev, flag, fp); /* last arg is invalid!! */
		u.u_qsave = oqsave;

	There is still the minor problem that the tty doesn't
	quite get properly closed if a signal is taken, but
	that is preferable to the mashed file systems people have
	been reporting.  A better, but harder, fix would be
	to rework ttyclose() so that, instead of waiting, the
	tty structure gets marked TS_CLOSING and the close
	completes asynchronously at interrupt time when the
	outq has drained.

	I think the lesson to be learned here is that UNIX has become
	too big to let this setjmp/longjmp-on-signal nonsense remain
	much longer.
-- 
			Brian Thomson,	    CSRG Univ. of Toronto
			{linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,utzoo}!utcsrgv!thomson



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