kernel: claim refuses delegated hardware — and E2 had already closed the hole

The rule as planned: a device that was given to someone may be handed on,
never taken. Implemented, and honest about what it is worth.

Writing the test showed the plan had the wrong step doing the work. A
delegated device is HELD, so an attempt to take it is refused as
AlreadyClaimed before the giver is ever consulted; and once a borrower's
death returns the device to its lender — or clears both when the lender is
gone — there is no state where a device is unheld and still on loan. The
window a stranger could have used stops existing at E2. This check is
unreachable.

It stays anyway: one comparison, failing closed, guarding any future path
that frees a device without clearing its giver, which is exactly the hole
this run closed. The comment says it is unreachable rather than implying a
protection it does not provide.

The attacker fixture does not gain the assertion that was deferred to this
step, and its header records why: there is no refusal for it to observe, and
on a bare boot with no device manager nothing is delegated at all, so the
assertion had nothing to bite on. It failed loudly on its first run rather
than passing quietly, which is the only reason this was noticed.

It also leaves the loader's framebuffer alone without naming it: nobody
delegates the framebuffer, so it has no giver, so the display service claims
it exactly as before.

Suite 118/118.
This commit is contained in:
Daniel Samson
2026-08-08 22:31:04 +01:00
parent 1a1d92cba9
commit ba195fa0a2
4 changed files with 38 additions and 10 deletions
+11 -3
View File
@@ -119,14 +119,22 @@ Two things fall out rather than being special-cased:
display service can still claim it exactly as today. No exemption in the kernel, no
mention of display anywhere in the rule.
- **Restart needs no race.** A dying driver's device returns to the manager, which
re-delegates it on respawn. Today the kernel releases it to nobody and the manager
re-claims first-come, so every restart reopens the hole this run closes.
re-delegates it on respawn. Previously the kernel released it to nobody and the
manager re-claimed first-come, so every restart reopened the hole.
**Found while implementing: E2 is the step that closes the hole, not E3.** A delegated
device is *held*, so an attempt to take it is refused as `AlreadyClaimed` long before
the giver is consulted — and once a borrower's death returns the device to its lender
(or clears both when the lender is gone), there is no state where a device is unheld and
still on loan. E3's check is therefore unreachable today. It stays as one comparison
that fails closed, guarding any future path that frees a device without clearing its
giver, and its comment says so rather than implying a protection it is not providing.
| Step | What |
|---|---|
| E1 | Record a giver per device; `device_transfer` and the spawn grant set it — **done** |
| E2 | On task death a device reverts to its giver if alive, else its claim clears — **done** |
| E3 | `device_claim` refuses a device that has a giver |
| E3 | `device_claim` refuses a device that has a giver — **done**, but unreachable: E2 already closed the window |
| E4 | The manager claims every resource-bearing device at boot, so nothing is left takeable |
| E5 | The attacker fixture gains the claim half it has been waiting for since D2 |
| E6 | Delete the delegated-set scaffolding — every driver is delegated now |