[PATCH v3] dlfcn: Add dlinfo request type RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH (bug #24298)

Arjun Shankar arjun@redhat.com
Fri Jan 16 20:18:42 GMT 2026


The existing dlinfo request type RTLD_DI_ORIGIN used for querying the
value of the '$ORIGIN' dynamic string token is prone to buffer
overflows.

This commit adds a new request type named RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH that
returns a pointer to the dynamic string token (i.e. the 'l_origin' field
in the link map) instead.  The dlinfo manual is updated with the new
request type, and the description of RTLD_DI_ORIGIN is updated to
recommend RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH instead.

A test for the new request type is also added to tst-dlinfo.
---
v2: https://inbox.sourceware.org/libc-alpha/20260116150921.3841139-1-arjun@redhat.com/
Changes in v3: Address Carlos' review comments on the manual change:
 * Specify the lifetime of the result's validity
---
 dlfcn/dlfcn.h       |  7 ++++++-
 dlfcn/dlinfo.c      |  7 +++++++
 dlfcn/tst-dlinfo.c  |  8 ++++++++
 manual/dynlink.texi | 12 +++++++++++-
 4 files changed, 32 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/dlfcn/dlfcn.h b/dlfcn/dlfcn.h
index a1ee0765bd..a73303a17e 100644
--- a/dlfcn/dlfcn.h
+++ b/dlfcn/dlfcn.h
@@ -167,7 +167,12 @@ enum
        the number of program headers in the array.  */
     RTLD_DI_PHDR = 11,
 
-    RTLD_DI_MAX = 11
+    /* Treat ARG as `const char **' and at that location, store the address
+       of the directory name used to expand $ORIGIN in this shared object's
+       dependency file names.  */
+    RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH = 12,
+
+    RTLD_DI_MAX = 12
   };
 
 
diff --git a/dlfcn/dlinfo.c b/dlfcn/dlinfo.c
index 6a1a7345b5..a4c6ffb5b8 100644
--- a/dlfcn/dlinfo.c
+++ b/dlfcn/dlinfo.c
@@ -67,6 +67,13 @@ dlinfo_doit (void *argsblock)
       strcpy (args->arg, l->l_origin);
       break;
 
+    case RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH:
+      if (l->l_origin != (char *) -1)
+        *(const char **) args->arg = l->l_origin;
+      else
+        *(const char **) args->arg = NULL;
+      break;
+
     case RTLD_DI_TLS_MODID:
       *(size_t *) args->arg = 0;
       *(size_t *) args->arg = l->l_tls_modid;
diff --git a/dlfcn/tst-dlinfo.c b/dlfcn/tst-dlinfo.c
index 014cb1b6ff..d0c8d8fb6d 100644
--- a/dlfcn/tst-dlinfo.c
+++ b/dlfcn/tst-dlinfo.c
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <error.h>
+#include <support/check.h>
 
 #define TEST_FUNCTION do_test ()
 
@@ -56,6 +57,13 @@ do_test (void)
       printf ("origin: %s\n", origin);
     }
 
+  const char *origin_path;
+  TRY (RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH, &origin_path)
+    {
+      TEST_COMPARE_STRING (origin, origin_path);
+      printf ("origin_path: %s\n", origin_path);
+    }
+
   Dl_serinfo counts;
   TRY (RTLD_DI_SERINFOSIZE, &counts)
     {
diff --git a/manual/dynlink.texi b/manual/dynlink.texi
index a388d7eeeb..477370b81a 100644
--- a/manual/dynlink.texi
+++ b/manual/dynlink.texi
@@ -554,13 +554,23 @@ The namespace identifier of @var{handle} is written to
 @code{*@var{arg}}.  The @var{arg} argument must be the address of an
 object of type @code{Lmid_t}.
 
+@item RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH
+The @code{$ORIGIN} dynamic string token pointer for @var{handle} is written
+to @code{*@var{arg}}.  The @var{arg} argument must be the address of a
+@code{const char *}.  If the @code{$ORIGIN} could not be determined, the
+function still returns 0 but writes a null pointer to @code{*@var{arg}}.
+The returned string is only valid as long as the corresponding handle is
+valid.  Accessing it after @code{dlclose} has been called for the
+corresponding object is not safe.
+
 @item RTLD_DI_ORIGIN
 The value of the @code{$ORIGIN} dynamic string token for @var{handle} is
 written to the character array starting at @var{arg} as a
 null-terminated string.
 
 This request type should not be used because it is prone to buffer
-overflows.
+overflows.  Instead, @code{RTLD_DI_ORIGIN_PATH} described above should be
+used.
 
 @item RTLD_DI_SERINFO
 @itemx RTLD_DI_SERINFOSIZE
-- 
2.52.0



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