Contributing to Linux Kernel security by pperego

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

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Testing and adding GNU/Linux distributions on Uyuni by juliogonzalezgil

Join the Gitter channel! https://gitter.im/uyuni-project/hackweek

Uyuni is a configuration and infrastructure management tool that saves you time and headaches when you have to manage and update tens, hundreds or even thousands of machines. It also manages configuration, can run audits, build image containers, monitor and much more!

Currently there are a few distributions that are completely untested on Uyuni or SUSE Manager (AFAIK) or just not tested since a long time, and could be interesting knowing how hard would be working with them and, if possible, fix whatever is broken.

For newcomers, the easiest distributions are those based on DEB or RPM packages. Distributions with other package formats are doable, but will require adapting the Python and Java code to be able to sync and analyze such packages (and if salt does not support those packages, it will need changes as well). So if you want a distribution with other packages, make sure you are comfortable handling such changes.

No developer experience? No worries! We had non-developers contributors in the past, and we are ready to help as long as you are willing to learn. If you don't want to code at all, you can also help us preparing the documentation after someone else has the initial code ready, or you could also help with testing :-)

The idea is testing Salt and Salt-ssh clients, but NOT traditional clients, which are deprecated.

To consider that a distribution has basic support, we should cover at least (points 3-6 are to be tested for both salt minions and salt ssh minions):

1. Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
2. Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
3. Package management (install, remove, update...)
4. Patching
5. Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
6. Salt remote commands
7. Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement
8. Bonus point: sumaform enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/sumaform)
9. Bonus point: Documentation (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni-docs)
10. Bonus point: testsuite enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/tree/master/testsuite)

If something is breaking: we can try to fix it, but the main idea is research how supported it is right now. Beyond that it's up to each project member how much to hack :-)

• If you don't have knowledge about some of the steps: ask the team
• If you still don't know what to do: switch to another distribution and keep testing.

This card is for EVERYONE, not just developers. Seriously! We had people from other teams helping that were not developers, and added support for Debian and new SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap versions :-)

Pending

FUSS

FUSS is a complete GNU/Linux solution (server, client and desktop/standalone) based on Debian for managing an educational network.

https://fuss.bz.it/

Seems to be a Debian 12 derivative, so adding it could be quite easy.

• [W] Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
• [W] Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap script, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator) --> Working for all 3 options (salt minion UI, salt minion bootstrap script and salt-ssh minion from the UI).
• [W] Package management (install, remove, update...) --> Installing a new package works, needs to test the rest.
• [I] Patching (if patch information is available, could require writing some code to parse it, but IIRC we have support for Ubuntu already). No patches detected. Do we support patches for Debian at all?
• [W] Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
• [W] Salt remote commands
• [ ] Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement

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toptop - a top clone written in Go by dshah

Description

toptop is a clone of Linux's top CLI tool, but written in Go.

Goals

Learn more about Go (mainly bubbletea) and Linux

Resources

GitHub

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VulnHeap by r1chard-lyu

Description

The VulnHeap project is dedicated to the in-depth analysis and exploitation of vulnerabilities within heap memory management. It focuses on understanding the intricate workflow of heap allocation, chunk structures, and bin management, which are essential to identifying and mitigating security risks.

Goals

• Familiarize with heap
  • Heap workflow
  • Chunk and bin structure
  • Vulnerabilities
• Vulnerability
  • Use after free (UAF)
  • Heap overflow
  • Double free
• Use Docker to create a vulnerable environment and apply techniques to exploit it

Resources

• https://heap-exploitation.dhavalkapil.com/divingintoglibc_heap
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudburst/libheap/master/heap.png
• https://github.com/shellphish/how2heap?tab=readme-ov-file

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Explore simple and distro indipendent declarative Linux starting on Tumbleweed or Arch Linux by janvhs

Description

Inspired by mkosi the idea is to experiment with a declarative approach of defining Linux systems. A lot of tools already make it possible to manage the systems infrastructure by using description files, rather than manual invocation. An example for this are systemd presets for managing enabled services or the /etc/fstab file for describing how partitions should be mounted.

If we would take inspiration from openSUSE MicroOS and their handling of the /etc/ directory, we could theoretically use systemd-sysupdate to swap out the /usr/ partition and create an A/B boot scheme, where the /usr/ partition is always freshly built according to a central system description. In the best case it would be possible to still utilise snapshots, but an A/B root scheme would be sufficient for the beginning. This way you could get the benefit of NixOS's declarative system definition, but still use the distros package repositories and don't have to deal with the overhead of Flakes or the Nix language.

Goals

• A simple and understandable system
• Check fitness of mkosi or write a simple extensible image builder tool for it
• Create a declarative system specification
• Create a system with swappable /usr/ partition
• Create an A/B root scheme
• Swap to the new system without reboot (kexec?)

Resources

• Ideas that have been floating around in my head for a while
• https://0pointer.net/blog/fitting-everything-together.html
• GNOME OS
• MicroOS
• systemd mkosi
• Vanilla OS

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Testing and adding GNU/Linux distributions on Uyuni by juliogonzalezgil

Join the Gitter channel! https://gitter.im/uyuni-project/hackweek

Uyuni is a configuration and infrastructure management tool that saves you time and headaches when you have to manage and update tens, hundreds or even thousands of machines. It also manages configuration, can run audits, build image containers, monitor and much more!

Currently there are a few distributions that are completely untested on Uyuni or SUSE Manager (AFAIK) or just not tested since a long time, and could be interesting knowing how hard would be working with them and, if possible, fix whatever is broken.

For newcomers, the easiest distributions are those based on DEB or RPM packages. Distributions with other package formats are doable, but will require adapting the Python and Java code to be able to sync and analyze such packages (and if salt does not support those packages, it will need changes as well). So if you want a distribution with other packages, make sure you are comfortable handling such changes.

No developer experience? No worries! We had non-developers contributors in the past, and we are ready to help as long as you are willing to learn. If you don't want to code at all, you can also help us preparing the documentation after someone else has the initial code ready, or you could also help with testing :-)

The idea is testing Salt and Salt-ssh clients, but NOT traditional clients, which are deprecated.

To consider that a distribution has basic support, we should cover at least (points 3-6 are to be tested for both salt minions and salt ssh minions):

1. Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
2. Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap scritp, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator)
3. Package management (install, remove, update...)
4. Patching
5. Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
6. Salt remote commands
7. Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement
8. Bonus point: sumaform enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/sumaform)
9. Bonus point: Documentation (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni-docs)
10. Bonus point: testsuite enablement (https://github.com/uyuni-project/uyuni/tree/master/testsuite)

If something is breaking: we can try to fix it, but the main idea is research how supported it is right now. Beyond that it's up to each project member how much to hack :-)

• If you don't have knowledge about some of the steps: ask the team
• If you still don't know what to do: switch to another distribution and keep testing.

This card is for EVERYONE, not just developers. Seriously! We had people from other teams helping that were not developers, and added support for Debian and new SUSE Linux Enterprise and openSUSE Leap versions :-)

Pending

FUSS

FUSS is a complete GNU/Linux solution (server, client and desktop/standalone) based on Debian for managing an educational network.

https://fuss.bz.it/

Seems to be a Debian 12 derivative, so adding it could be quite easy.

• [W] Reposync (this will require using spacewalk-common-channels and adding channels to the .ini file)
• [W] Onboarding (salt minion from UI, salt minion from bootstrap script, and salt-ssh minion) (this will probably require adding OS to the bootstrap repository creator) --> Working for all 3 options (salt minion UI, salt minion bootstrap script and salt-ssh minion from the UI).
• [W] Package management (install, remove, update...) --> Installing a new package works, needs to test the rest.
• [I] Patching (if patch information is available, could require writing some code to parse it, but IIRC we have support for Ubuntu already). No patches detected. Do we support patches for Debian at all?
• [W] Applying any basic salt state (including a formula)
• [W] Salt remote commands
• [ ] Bonus point: Java part for product identification, and monitoring enablement

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Update Haskell ecosystem in Tumbleweed to GHC-9.10.x by psimons

Description

We are currently at GHC-9.8.x, which a bit old. So I'd like to take a shot at the latest version of the compiler, GHC-9.10.x. This is gonna be interesting because the new version requires major updates to all kinds of libraries and base packages, which typically means patching lots of packages to make them build again.

Goals

Have working builds of GHC-9.10.x and the required Haskell packages in 'devel:languages:haskell` so that we can compile:

• git-annex
• pandoc
• xmonad
• cabal-install

Resources

• https://build.opensuse.org/project/show/devel:languages:haskell/
• https://github.com/opensuse-haskell/configuration/
• #discuss-haskell
• https://www.twitch.tv/peti343

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Framework laptop integration by nkrapp

Project Description

Although openSUSE does run on the Framework laptops out-of-the-box, there is still room to improve the experience. The ultimate goal is to get openSUSE on the list of community supported distros

Goal for this Hackweek

The goal this year is to at least package all of the soft- and firmware for accessories like the embedded controller, Framework 16 inputmodule and other tools. I already made some progress by packaging the inputmodule control software, but the firmware is still missing

Resources

As I only have a Framework laptop 16 and not a 13 I'm looking for people with hardware that can help me test

Progress:

Update 1:

The project lives under my home for now until I can get an independent project on OBS: Framework Laptop project

Also, the first package is already done, it's the cli for the led-matrix spacer module on the Framework Laptop 16. I am also testing this myself, but any feedback or questions are welcome.

You can test the package on the Framework 16 by adding this repo and installing the package inputmodule-control

Update 2:

I finished packaging the python cli/gui for the inputmodule. It is using a bit of a hack because one of the dependencies (PySimpleGUI) recently switched to a noncommercial license so I cannot ship it. But now you can actually play the games on the led-matrix (the rust package doesn't include controls for the games). I'm also working on the Framework system tools now, which should be more interesting for Framework 13 users.

You can test the package on the Framework 16 by installing python311-framework16_inputmodule and then running "ledmatrixctl" from the command line.

Update 3:

I packaged the framework_tool, a general application for interacting with the system. You can find it some detailed information what it can do here. On my system everything related to the embedded controller functionality doesn't work though, so some help testing and debugging would be appreciated.

Update 4:

Today I finished the qmk interface, which gives you a cli (and gui) to configure your Framework 16 keyboard. Sadly the Python gui is broken upstream, but I added the qmk_hid package with the cli and from my testing it works well.

Final Update:

All the interesting programs are now done, I decided to exclude the firmware for now since upstream also recommends using fwupd to update it. I will hack on more things related to the Framework Laptops in the future so if there are any ideas to improve the experience (or any bugs to report) feel free to message me about it.

As a final summary/help for everyone using a Framework Laptop who wants to use this software:

The source code for all packages can be found in repositories in the Framework organization on Github

All software can be installed from this repo (Tumbleweed)

The available packages are:

• framework-inputmodule-control (FW16) - play with the inputmodules on your Framework 16 (b1-display, led-matrix, c1-minimal)

• python-framework16_inputmodule (FW16) - same as inputmodule-control but is needed if you want to play and crontrol the built-in games in the led-matrix (call with ledmatrixctl or ledmatrixgui)

• framework_tool (FW13 and FW 16) - use to see and configure general things on your framework system. Commands using the embedded controller might not work, it looks like there are some problems with the kernel module used by the EC. Fixing this is out of scope for this hackweek but I am working on it

• qmk_hid (FW16) - a cli to configure the FW16 qmk keyboard. Sadly the gui for this is broken upstream so only the cli is usable for now

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Packaging Mu on OBS by joeyli

Description

Packaging Microsoft Mu project

Goals

Packaging Mu RPM on OBS.

Resources

https://microsoft.github.io/mu/

https://github.com/microsoft/mu

https://github.com/microsoft/mu_basecore

https://github.com/microsoft/mutianoplatforms

https://github.com/microsoft/mutianoplus

https://github.com/microsoft/mu_plus

Hackweek 22: Look at Microsoft Mu project

https://hackweek.opensuse.org/22/projects/look-at-microsoft-mu-project

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BT31i7z3qh13adj9pdRz3lTUkqIsXvjY/view?usp=drive_link

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