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Date:   Mon, 7 Nov 2022 22:14:40 +0100
From:   Solar Designer <solar@openwall.com>
To:     Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Cc:     Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>, linux-hardening@vger.kernel.org,
        kernel-hardening@lists.openwall.com,
        Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org>,
        Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linuxfoundation.org>,
        Seth Jenkins <sethjenkins@google.com>,
        "Eric W . Biederman" <ebiederm@xmission.com>,
        Andy Lutomirski <luto@kernel.org>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] exit: Put an upper limit on how often we can oops
Message-ID: <20221107211440.GA4233@openwall.com>
References: <20221107201317.324457-1-jannh@google.com>
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On Mon, Nov 07, 2022 at 09:13:17PM +0100, Jann Horn wrote:
> +oops_limit
> +==========
> +
> +Number of kernel oopses after which the kernel should panic when
> +``panic_on_oops`` is not set.

Rather than introduce this separate oops_limit, how about making
panic_on_oops (and maybe all panic_on_*) take the limit value(s) instead
of being Boolean?  I think this would preserve the current behavior at
panic_on_oops = 0 and panic_on_oops = 1, but would introduce your
desired behavior at panic_on_oops = 10000.  We can make 10000 the new
default.  If a distro overrides panic_on_oops, it probably sets it to 1
like RHEL does.

Are there distros explicitly setting panic_on_oops to 0?  If so, that
could be a reason to introduce the separate oops_limit.

I'm not advocating one way or the other - I just felt this should be
explicitly mentioned and decided on.

Alexander