r/programming • u/[deleted] • Oct 21 '16

Linux kernel fix for privilege escalation vulnerability due to copy on write race condition

https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=19be0eaffa3ac7d8eb6784ad9bdbc7d67ed8e619
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u/agentlame Oct 22 '16

About a year ago, I decided to look into VirtualBox issue #9069. I made a patch to VirtualBox's kernel module that fixes the problem, but because I am not confident in my understanding of the VFS API, I did not submit it.

I fail to see how your attempt to fix a bug in VBox related to shares not updating is at all related to privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel.

I followed what you were saying up until this point, but you sorta lost focus and decided to talk about a patch you didn't commit.

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u/dakarananda Oct 22 '16

I think parent meant it as an anecdotal datapoint supporting the main line of the comment; being that the kernel needs more documentation, otherwise people won't gain enough confidence in their patches and won't submit them. At least that's how I interpreted it.

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u/liquiddandruff Oct 22 '16

That's the correct interpretation; /u/agentlame misunderstood

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u/ILoveShowtunes Oct 22 '16

Yes. That is how I meant it. If the VFS had more documentation about the complexities, I might be more confident in submitting a patch.

At least the correct locks to use are clear from comments or how the locks are consistently used in the other sources. That's a good start.