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The pools currently have plenty of options (and some usefull ones were even lost with the modern design), but most of them could be categorized along a few use cases, namely, performance, reliability, debuggability. This document explores various ways to try to combine them and their effect in a less complex way for the long term.
244 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
244 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
2022-02-22 - debugging options with pools
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Two goals:
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- help developers spot bugs as early as possible
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- make the process more reliable in field, by killing sick ones as soon as
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possible instead of letting them corrupt data, cause trouble, or even be
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exploited.
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An allocated object may exist in 5 forms:
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- in use: currently referenced and used by haproxy, 100% of its size are
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dedicated to the application which can do absolutely anything with it,
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but it may never touch anything before nor after that area.
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- in cache: the object is neither referenced nor used anymore, but it sits
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in a thread's cache. The application may not touch it at all anymore, and
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some parts of it could even be unmapped. Only the current thread may safely
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reach it, though others might find/release it when under thread isolation.
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The thread cache needs some LRU linking that may be stored anywhere, either
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inside the area, or outside. The parts surrounding the <size> parts remain
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invisible to the application layer, and can serve as a protection.
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- in shared cache: the object is neither referenced nor used anymore, but it
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may be reached by any thread. Some parts of it could be unmapped. Any
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thread may pick it but only one may find it, hence once grabbed, it is
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guaranteed no other one will find it. The shared cache needs to set up a
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linked list and a single pointer needs to be stored anywhere, either inside
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or outside the area. The parts surrounding the <size> parts remain
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invisible to the application layer, and can serve as a protection.
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- in the system's memory allocator: the object is not known anymore from
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haproxy. It may be reassigned in parts or totally to other pools or other
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subsystems (e.g. crypto library). Some or all of it may be unmapped. The
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areas surrounding the <size> parts are also part of the object from the
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library's point of view and may be delivered to other areas. Tampering
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with these may cause any other part to malfunction in dirty ways.
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- in the OS only: the memory allocator gave it back to the OS.
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The following options need to be configurable:
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- detect improper initialization: this is done by poisonning objects before
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delivering them to the application.
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- help figure where an object was allocated when in use: a pointer to the
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call place will help. Pointing to the last pool_free() as well for the
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same reasons when dealing with a UAF.
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- detection of wrong pointer/pool when in use: a pointer to the pool before
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or after the area will definitely help.
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- detection of overflows when in use: a canary at the end of the area
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(closest possible to <size>) will definitely help. The pool above can do
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that job. Ideally, we should fill some data at the end so that even
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unaligned sizes can be checked (e.g. a buffer that gets a zero appended).
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If we just align on 2 pointers, writing the same pointer twice at the end
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may do the job, but we won't necessarily have our bytes. Thus a particular
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end-of-string pattern would be useful (e.g. ff55aa01) to fill it.
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- detection of double free when in cache: similar to detection of wrong
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pointer/pool when in use: the pointer at the end may simply be changed so
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that it cannot match the pool anymore. By using a pointer to the caller of
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the previous free() operation, we have the guarantee to see different
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pointers, and this pointer can be inspected to figure where the object was
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previously freed. An extra check may even distinguish a perfect double-free
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(same caller) from just a wrong free (pointer differs from pool).
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- detection of late corruption when in cache: keeping a copy of the
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checksum of the whole area upon free() will do the job, but requires one
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extra storage area for the checksum. Filling the area with a pattern also
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does the job and doesn't require extra storage, but it loses the contents
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and can be a bit slower. Sometimes losing the contents can be a feature,
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especially when trying to detect late reads. Probably that both need to
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be implemented. Note that if contents are not strictly needed, storing a
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checksum inside the area does the job.
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- preserve total contents in cache for debugging: losing some precious
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information can be a problem.
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- pattern filling of the area helps detect use-after-free in read-only mode.
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- allocate cold first helps with both cases above.
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Uncovered:
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- overflow/underflow when in cache/shared/libc: it belongs to use-after-free
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pattern and such an error during regular use ought to be caught while the
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object was still in use.
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- integrity when in libc: not under our control anymore, this is a libc
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problem.
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Arbitrable:
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- integrity when in shared cache: unlikely to happen only then if it could
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have happened in the local cache. Shared cache not often used anymore, thus
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probably not worth the effort
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- protection against double-free when in shared cache/libc: might be done for
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a cheap price, probably worth being able to quickly tell that such an
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object left the local cache (e.g. the mark points to the caller, but could
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possibly just be incremented, hence still point to the same code location+1
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byte when released. Calls are 4 bytes min on RISC, 5 on x86 so we do have
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some margin by having a caller's location be +0,+1,+2 or +3.
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- underflow when in use: hasn't been really needed over time but may change.
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- detection of late corruption when in shared cache: checksum or area filling
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are possible, but is this as relevant as it used to considering the less
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common use of the shared cache ?
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Design considerations:
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- object allocation when in use must remain minimal
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- when in cache, there are 2 lists which the compiler expect to be at least
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aligned each (e.g. if/when we start to use DWCAS).
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- the original "pool debugging" feature covers both pool tracking, double-
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free detection, overflow detection and caller info at the cost of a single
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pointer placed immediately after the area.
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- preserving the contents might be done by placing the cache links and the
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shared cache's list outside of the area (either before or after). Placing
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it before has the merit that the allocated object preserves the 4-ptr
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alignment. But when a larger alignment is desired this often does not work
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anymore. Placing it after requires some dynamic adjustment depending on the
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object's size. If any protection is installed, this protection must be
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placed before the links so that the list doesn't get randomly corrupted and
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corrupts adjacent elements. Note that if protection is desired, the extra
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waste is probably less critical.
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- a link to the last caller might have to be stored somewhere. Without
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preservation the free() caller may be placed anywhere while the alloc()
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caller may only be placed outside. With preservation, again the free()
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caller may be placed either before the object or after the mark at the end.
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There is no particular need that both share the same location though it may
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help. Note that when debugging is enabled, the free() caller doesn't need
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to be duplicated and can continue to serve as the double-free detection.
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Thus maybe in the end we only need to store the caller to the last alloc()
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but not the free() since if we want it it's available via the pool debug.
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- use-after-free detection: contents may be erased on free() and checked on
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alloc(), but they can also be checksummed on free() and rechecked on
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alloc(). In the latter case we need to store a checksum somewhere. Note
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that with pure checksum we don't know what part was modified, but seeing
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previous contents can be useful.
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Possibilities:
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1) Linked lists inside the area:
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V size alloc
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---+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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in use |##############################| (Pool) (Tracer) |
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---+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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---+--+--+------------------------+-----------------+--
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in cache |L1|L2|########################| (Caller) (Sum) |
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---+--+--+------------------------+-----------------+--
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or:
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---+--+--+------------------------+-----------------+--
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in cache |L1|L2|###################(sum)| (Caller) |
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---+--+--+------------------------+-----------------+--
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---+-+----------------------------+-----------------+--
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in global |N|XXXX########################| (Caller) |
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---+-+----------------------------+-----------------+--
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2) Linked lists before the the area leave room for tracer and pool before
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the area, but the canary must remain at the end, however the area will
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be more difficult to keep aligned:
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V head size alloc
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----+-+-+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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in use |T|P|##############################| (canary) |
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----+-+-+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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--+-----+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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in cache |L1|L2|##############################| (Caller) (Sum) |
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--+-----+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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------+-+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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in global |N|##############################| (Caller) |
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------+-+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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3) Linked lists at the end of the area, might be shared with extra data
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depending on the state:
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V size alloc
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---+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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in use |##############################| (Pool) (Tracer) |
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---+------------------------------+-----------------+--
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---+------------------------------+--+--+-----------+--
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in cache |##############################|L1|L2| (Caller) (Sum)
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---+------------------------------+--+--+-----------+--
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---+------------------------------+-+---------------+--
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in global |##############################|N| (Caller) |
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---+------------------------------+-+---------------+--
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This model requires a little bit of alignment at the end of the area, which is
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not incompatible with pattern filling and/or checksumming:
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- preserving the area for post-mortem analysis means nothing may be placed
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inside. In this case it could make sense to always store the last releaser.
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- detecting late corruption may be done either with filling or checksumming,
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but the simple fact of assuming a risk of corruption that needs to be
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chased means we must not store the lists nor caller inside the area.
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Some models imply dedicating some place when in cache:
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- preserving contents forces the lists to be prefixed or appended, which
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leaves unused places when in use. Thus we could systematically place the
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pool pointer and the caller in this case.
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- if preserving contents is not desired, almost everything can be stored
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inside when not in use. Then each situation's size should be calculated
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so that the allocated size is known, and entries are filled from the
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beginning while not in use, or after the size when in use.
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- if poisonning is requested, late corruption might be detected but then we
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don't want the list to be stored inside at the risk of being corrupted.
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Maybe just implement a few models:
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- compact/optimal: put l1/l2 inside
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- detect late corruption: fill/sum, put l1/l2 out
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- preserve contents: put l1/l2 out
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- corruption+preserve: do not fill, sum out
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- poisonning: not needed on free if pattern filling is done.
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try2:
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- poison on alloc to detect missing initialization: yes/no
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(note: nothing to do if filling done)
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- poison on free to detect use-after-free: yes/no
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(note: nothing to do if filling done)
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- check on alloc for corruption-after-free: yes/no
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If content-preserving => sum, otherwise pattern filling; in
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any case, move L1/L2 out.
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- check for overflows: yes/no: use a canary after the area. The
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canary can be the pointer to the pool.
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- check for alloc caller: yes/no => always after the area
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- content preservation: yes/no
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(disables filling, moves lists out)
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- improved caller tracking: used to detect double-free, may benefit
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from content-preserving but not only.
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