Contributing to Linux Kernel security
an idea by pperego
Updated 10 months ago. 3 hacker ♥️. 3 followers. Has no hacker: grab it!

Description

A couple of weeks ago, I found this blog post by Gustavo Silva, a Linux Kernel contributor.

I always strived to start again into hacking the Linux Kernel, so I asked Coverity scan dashboard access and I want to contribute to Linux Kernel by fixing some minor issues.

I want also to create a Linux Kernel fuzzing lab using qemu and syzkaller

Goals

  1. Fix at least 2 security bugs
  2. Create the fuzzing lab and having it running

The story so far

  • Day 1: setting up a virtual machine for kernel development using Tumbleweed. Reading a lot of documentation, taking confidence with Coverity dashboard and with procedures to submit a kernel patch
  • Day 2: I read really a lot of documentation and I triaged some findings on Coverity SAST dashboard. I have to confirm that SAST tool are great false positives generator, even for low hanging fruits.
  • Day 3: Working on trivial changes after I read this blog post: https://www.toblux.com/posts/2024/02/linux-kernel-patches.html. I have to take confidence with the patch preparation and submit process yet.
    • First trivial patch sent: using strtruefalse() macro instead of hard-coded strings in a staging driver for a lcd display
    • Fix for a dereference before null check issue discovered by Coverity (CID 1601566) https://scan7.scan.coverity.com/#/project-view/52110/11354?selectedIssue=1601566
  • Day 4: Triaging more issues found by Coverity.
    • The patch for CID 1601566 was refused. The check against the NULL pointer was pointless so I prepared a version 2 of the patch removing the check.
    • Fixed another dereference before NULL check in iwlmvmparsewowlaninfo_notif() routine (CID 1601547). This one was already submitted by another kernel hacker :(
  • Day 5: Wrapping up. I had to do some minor rework on patch for CID 1601566. I found a stalker bothering me in private emails and people I interacted with me, advised he is a well known bothering person. Markus Elfring for the record.

  • Wrapping up: being back doing kernel hacking is amazing and I don't want to stop it. My battery pack is completely drained but changing the scope gave me a great twist and I really want to feel this energy not doing a single task for months.

    I failed in setting up a fuzzing lab but I was too optimistic for the patch submission process.

The patches

1 2

First result

The patch is included in the Linux Kernel.

Resources

The dashboard

The serie of blog posts by Gustavo Silva inspiring this project.

An email with some quick "where to start" instructions The patchset philosophy

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This project is part of:

Hack Week 24

Activity

  • 11 months ago: andreabenini liked this project.
  • 11 months ago: wfrisch liked this project.
  • 11 months ago: dbenini liked this project.
  • 12 months ago: pperego added keyword "linux" to this project.
  • 12 months ago: pperego added keyword "kernel" to this project.
  • 12 months ago: pperego added keyword "security" to this project.
  • 12 months ago: pperego originated this project.


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