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From:   Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Date:   Thu, 20 Sep 2018 13:08:40 -0700
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Subject: Re: [PATCH v5 12/15] Compiler Attributes: add support for __nonstring
 (gcc >= 8)
To:     Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sandonis@gmail.com>
Cc:     Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
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On Thu, Sep 20, 2018 at 10:22 AM, Miguel Ojeda
<miguel.ojeda.sandonis@gmail.com> wrote:
> From the GCC manual:
>
>   nonstring
>
>     The nonstring variable attribute specifies that an object or member
>     declaration with type array of char, signed char, or unsigned char,
>     or pointer to such a type is intended to store character arrays that
>     do not necessarily contain a terminating NUL. This is useful in detecting
>     uses of such arrays or pointers with functions that expect NUL-terminated
>     strings, and to avoid warnings when such an array or pointer is used as
>     an argument to a bounded string manipulation function such as strncpy.
>
>   https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Common-Variable-Attributes.html
>
> This attribute can be used for documentation purposes (i.e. replacing
> comments), but it is most helpful when the following warnings are enabled:
>
>   -Wstringop-overflow
>
>     Warn for calls to string manipulation functions such as memcpy and
>     strcpy that are determined to overflow the destination buffer.
>
>     [...]
>
>   -Wstringop-truncation
>
>     Warn for calls to bounded string manipulation functions such as
>     strncat, strncpy, and stpncpy that may either truncate the copied
>     string or leave the destination unchanged.
>
>     [...]
>
>     In situations where a character array is intended to store a sequence
>     of bytes with no terminating NUL such an array may be annotated with
>     attribute nonstring to avoid this warning. Such arrays, however,
>     are not suitable arguments to functions that expect NUL-terminated
>     strings. To help detect accidental misuses of such arrays GCC issues
>     warnings unless it can prove that the use is safe.
>
>   https://gcc.gnu.org/onlinedocs/gcc/Warning-Options.html
>
> Signed-off-by: Miguel Ojeda <miguel.ojeda.sandonis@gmail.com>

Reviewed-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>

-Kees

-- 
Kees Cook
Pixel Security