SECURITY: CPU usage amplification attack.

Details: https://github.com/sandstorm-io/capnproto/tree/master/security-advisories/2014-03-02-0-all-cpu-amplification.md

CONTRIBUTORS

@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ Scott Purdy <scott@fer.io>: kj/std iostream interface
 Bryan Borham <bjboreham@gmail.com>: Initial MSVC support
 Philip Quinn <p@partylemon.com>: cmake build and other assorted bits
 Brian Taylor <el.wubo@gmail.com>: emacs syntax highlighting
+Ben Laurie <ben@links.org>: discovered and responsibly disclosed security bugs
 
 This file does not list people who maintain their own Cap'n Proto
 implementations as separate projects.  Those people are awesome too!  :)

c++/src/capnp/arena.h

@@ -117,6 +117,13 @@ class SegmentReader {
 
   KJ_ALWAYS_INLINE(bool containsInterval(const void* from, const void* to));
 
+  KJ_ALWAYS_INLINE(bool amplifiedRead(WordCount virtualAmount));
+  // Indicates that the reader should pretend that `virtualAmount` additional data was read even
+  // though no actual pointer was traversed. This is used e.g. when reading a struct list pointer
+  // where the element sizes are zero -- the sender could set the list size arbitrarily high and
+  // cause the receiver to iterate over this list even though the message itself is small, so we
+  // need to defend agaisnt DoS attacks based on this.
+
   inline Arena* getArena();
   inline SegmentId getSegmentId();
 
@@ -367,6 +374,10 @@ inline bool SegmentReader::containsInterval(const void* from, const void* to) {
           arena);
 }
 
+inline bool SegmentReader::amplifiedRead(WordCount virtualAmount) {
+  return readLimiter->canRead(virtualAmount, arena);
+}
+
 inline Arena* SegmentReader::getArena() { return arena; }
 inline SegmentId SegmentReader::getSegmentId() { return id; }
 inline const word* SegmentReader::getStartPtr() { return ptr.begin(); }

c++/src/capnp/encoding-test.c++

@@ -1410,6 +1410,36 @@ TEST(Encoding, Has) {
   EXPECT_TRUE(root.asReader().hasInt32List());
 }
 
+TEST(Encoding, VoidListAmplification) {
+  MallocMessageBuilder builder;
+  builder.initRoot<test::TestAnyPointer>().getAnyPointerField().initAs<List<Void>>(1u << 28);
+
+  auto segments = builder.getSegmentsForOutput();
+  EXPECT_EQ(1, segments.size());
+  EXPECT_LT(segments[0].size(), 16);  // quite small for such a big list!
+
+  SegmentArrayMessageReader reader(builder.getSegmentsForOutput());
+  auto root = reader.getRoot<test::TestAnyPointer>().getAnyPointerField();
+  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(root.getAs<List<TestAllTypes>>());
+
+  MallocMessageBuilder copy;
+  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(copy.setRoot(reader.getRoot<AnyPointer>()));
+}
+
+TEST(Encoding, EmptyStructListAmplification) {
+  MallocMessageBuilder builder;
+  builder.initRoot<test::TestAnyPointer>().getAnyPointerField()
+      .initAs<List<test::TestEmptyStruct>>(1u << 28);
+
+  auto segments = builder.getSegmentsForOutput();
+  EXPECT_EQ(1, segments.size());
+  EXPECT_LT(segments[0].size(), 16);  // quite small for such a big list!
+
+  SegmentArrayMessageReader reader(builder.getSegmentsForOutput());
+  auto root = reader.getRoot<test::TestAnyPointer>().getAnyPointerField();
+  EXPECT_NONFATAL_FAILURE(root.getAs<List<TestAllTypes>>());
+}
+
 TEST(Encoding, Constants) {
   EXPECT_EQ(VOID, test::TestConstants::VOID_CONST);
   EXPECT_EQ(true, test::TestConstants::BOOL_CONST);

c++/src/capnp/layout.c++

@@ -308,6 +308,11 @@ struct WireHelpers {
     return segment == nullptr || segment->containsInterval(start, end);
   }
 
+  static KJ_ALWAYS_INLINE(bool amplifiedRead(SegmentReader* segment, WordCount virtualAmount)) {
+    // If segment is null, this is an unchecked message, so we don't do read limiter checks.
+    return segment == nullptr || segment->amplifiedRead(virtualAmount);
+  }
+
   static KJ_ALWAYS_INLINE(word* allocate(
       WirePointer*& ref, SegmentBuilder*& segment, WordCount amount,
       WirePointer::Kind kind, BuilderArena* orphanArena)) {
@@ -1675,6 +1680,15 @@ struct WireHelpers {
             goto useDefault;
           }
 
+          if (wordsPerElement * (1 * ELEMENTS) == 0 * WORDS) {
+            // Watch out for lists of zero-sized structs, which can claim to be arbitrarily large
+            // without having sent actual data.
+            KJ_REQUIRE(amplifiedRead(srcSegment, elementCount * (1 * WORDS / ELEMENTS)),
+                       "Message contains amplified list pointer.") {
+              goto useDefault;
+            }
+          }
+
           return setListPointer(dstSegment, dst,
               ListReader(srcSegment, ptr, elementCount, wordsPerElement * BITS_PER_WORD,
                          tag->structRef.dataSize.get() * BITS_PER_WORD,
@@ -1693,6 +1707,15 @@ struct WireHelpers {
             goto useDefault;
           }
 
+          if (elementSize == ElementSize::VOID) {
+            // Watch out for lists of void, which can claim to be arbitrarily large without having
+            // sent actual data.
+            KJ_REQUIRE(amplifiedRead(srcSegment, elementCount * (1 * WORDS / ELEMENTS)),
+                       "Message contains amplified list pointer.") {
+              goto useDefault;
+            }
+          }
+
           return setListPointer(dstSegment, dst,
               ListReader(srcSegment, ptr, elementCount, step, dataSize, pointerCount, elementSize,
                          nestingLimit - 1),
@@ -1931,6 +1954,15 @@ struct WireHelpers {
         goto useDefault;
       }
 
+      if (wordsPerElement * (1 * ELEMENTS) == 0 * WORDS) {
+        // Watch out for lists of zero-sized structs, which can claim to be arbitrarily large
+        // without having sent actual data.
+        KJ_REQUIRE(amplifiedRead(segment, size * (1 * WORDS / ELEMENTS)),
+                   "Message contains amplified list pointer.") {
+          goto useDefault;
+        }
+      }
+
       if (checkElementSize) {
         // If a struct list was not expected, then presumably a non-struct list was upgraded to a
         // struct list.  We need to manipulate the pointer to point at the first field of the
@@ -1988,14 +2020,24 @@ struct WireHelpers {
       BitCount dataSize = dataBitsPerElement(ref->listRef.elementSize()) * ELEMENTS;
       WirePointerCount pointerCount =
           pointersPerElement(ref->listRef.elementSize()) * ELEMENTS;
+      ElementCount elementCount = ref->listRef.elementCount();
       auto step = (dataSize + pointerCount * BITS_PER_POINTER) / ELEMENTS;
 
-      KJ_REQUIRE(boundsCheck(segment, ptr, ptr +
-                     roundBitsUpToWords(ElementCount64(ref->listRef.elementCount()) * step)),
+      WordCount wordCount = roundBitsUpToWords(ElementCount64(elementCount) * step);
+      KJ_REQUIRE(boundsCheck(segment, ptr, ptr + wordCount),
                  "Message contains out-of-bounds list pointer.") {
         goto useDefault;
       }
 
+      if (elementSize == ElementSize::VOID) {
+        // Watch out for lists of void, which can claim to be arbitrarily large without having sent
+        // actual data.
+        KJ_REQUIRE(amplifiedRead(segment, elementCount * (1 * WORDS / ELEMENTS)),
+                   "Message contains amplified list pointer.") {
+          goto useDefault;
+        }
+      }
+
       if (checkElementSize) {
         if (elementSize == ElementSize::BIT && expectedElementSize != ElementSize::BIT) {
           KJ_FAIL_REQUIRE(
@@ -2025,7 +2067,7 @@ struct WireHelpers {
         }
       }
 
-      return ListReader(segment, ptr, ref->listRef.elementCount(), step,
+      return ListReader(segment, ptr, elementCount, step,
                         dataSize, pointerCount, elementSize, nestingLimit - 1);
     }
   }