Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 13:04:30 -0600 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.net> To: Robert Watson <rwatson@freebsd.org>, Pieter de Boer <pieter@thedarkside.nl> Cc: freebsd-security@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Protecting against kernel NULL-pointer derefs Message-ID: <200909271904.NAA14681@lariat.net> In-Reply-To: <alpine.BSF.2.00.0909271937490.41451@fledge.watson.org> References: <4AAF4A64.3080906@thedarkside.nl> <alpine.BSF.2.00.0909271937490.41451@fledge.watson.org>
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As someone who has been frustrated by a disproportionate number of bugs related to null and wild pointer dereferencing, I'd opt for such an option to be incorporated in the next point release. Perhaps, there could be two options: one to generate a warning in the log and then "fail soft" (e.g. by mapping a zero page) and another to cause a hard panic. The "fail soft" option would be particularly handy to help flush out bugs -- particularly in device drivers -- in preparation for making a hard panic the default at some future time. It would also provide a fallback for administrators, to allow them to keep their systems running while a bug was diagnosed and fixed. --Brett Glass At 12:39 PM 9/27/2009, Robert Watson wrote: >FYI, changes are now going into head to implement this policy, >although by slightly different mechanisms. I expect to see them >merged to various branches, and also to active security branches >(although disabled there by default using a sysctl so as not to >disturb existing setups unless desired by the administrator). > >Robert
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