[PATCH v2] posix: Fix wordexp WRDE_APPEND to preserve state on non-NOSPACE errors (BZ 34090, CVE-2026-6368)
Adhemerval Zanella
adhemerval.zanella@linaro.org
Wed Jul 1 18:51:37 GMT 2026
The previous implementation saved a copy of the wordexp_t struct at
entry and blindly restored it on error via (*pwordexp = old_word).
This is incorrect when WRDE_APPEND is set because w_addword may have
called realloc on we_wordv during partial processing before the error
was detected. If realloc relocated the buffer, the saved we_wordv
pointer is dangling; restoring it causes a use-after-free in the
caller (e.g. via wordfree), and the relocated buffer is leaked.
Fix this by duplicating the we_wordv pointer array at entry when
WRDE_APPEND is set, so that all subsequent realloc calls inside
w_addword operate on the copy.
This change also fixes a POSIX conformance issue: if the WRDE_APPEND
flag is specified, pwordexp->we_wordc and pwordexp->we_wordv shall
not be modified.
Also fix two pre-existing error return paths in the '"' and '\'' cases
that returned directly from w_addword failures instead of going through
do_error, which would leak the saved array (and previously would also
skip the word cleanup).
Checked on x86_64-linux-gnu and i686-linux-gnu.
--
Changes from v1:
* Use aninterposed realloc to make the test more deterministic.
* Add WRDE_DOOFFS tests.
---
posix/Makefile | 1 +
posix/tst-wordexp-append.c | 375 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
posix/wordexp.c | 64 ++++++-
3 files changed, 432 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 posix/tst-wordexp-append.c
diff --git a/posix/Makefile b/posix/Makefile
index d9f897faa16..10d70ae0ae2 100644
--- a/posix/Makefile
+++ b/posix/Makefile
@@ -330,6 +330,7 @@ tests := \
tst-wait3 \
tst-wait4 \
tst-waitid \
+ tst-wordexp-append \
tst-wordexp-nocmd \
tst-wordexp-reuse \
tstgetopt \
diff --git a/posix/tst-wordexp-append.c b/posix/tst-wordexp-append.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6aad7a0a8ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/posix/tst-wordexp-append.c
@@ -0,0 +1,375 @@
+/* Test for wordexp with WRDE_APPEND flag.
+ Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+ This file is part of the GNU C Library.
+
+ The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
+ modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
+ version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
+
+ The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
+ Lesser General Public License for more details.
+
+ You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
+ License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
+ <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. */
+
+#include <wordexp.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <malloc.h>
+
+#include <support/check.h>
+#include <support/support.h>
+
+/* w_addword grows we_wordv with realloc, make every call guaranteed to
+ relocate the block. This makes BZ 34090 regression more deterministic. */
+void *
+realloc (void *ptr, size_t size)
+{
+ if (ptr == NULL)
+ return malloc (size);
+ if (size == 0)
+ {
+ free (ptr);
+ return NULL;
+ }
+
+ void *new = malloc (size);
+ if (new == NULL)
+ return NULL;
+
+ /* Copy only what is valid in the old block to avoid reading past it. */
+ size_t old = malloc_usable_size (ptr);
+ memcpy (new, ptr, old < size ? old : size);
+ free (ptr);
+ return new;
+}
+
+/* Verify that all words in we match the expected NULL-terminated
+ array. */
+static void
+check_words (const wordexp_t *we, const char *const *expected, int line)
+{
+ size_t i;
+ for (i = 0; expected[i] != NULL; i++)
+ {
+ TEST_VERIFY (i < we->we_wordc);
+ TEST_COMPARE_STRING (we->we_wordv[we->we_offs + i], expected[i]);
+ }
+ TEST_COMPARE (we->we_wordc, i);
+}
+
+#define CHECK_WORDS(we, ...) \
+ do { \
+ const char *const expected_[] = { __VA_ARGS__, NULL }; \
+ check_words (we, expected_, __LINE__); \
+ } while (0)
+
+/* Test 1: WRDE_APPEND + WRDE_BADCHAR preserves we_wordc. */
+static void
+test_append_badchar_preserves_count (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_badchar_preserves_count\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("one two three", &we, 0), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, 3);
+
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+
+ /* ')' triggers WRDE_BADCHAR and "extra" would be a new word if the
+ expansion succeeded, exercising the w_addword path before the error
+ is detected. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("extra )", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 2: WRDE_APPEND + WRDE_BADCHAR preserves the we_wordv pointer even
+ when internal realloc would move the buffer. */
+static void
+test_append_badchar_preserves_pointer (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_badchar_preserves_pointer\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ /* Use many words so that the initial we_wordv allocation is
+ non-trivial and a later realloc is more likely to move it. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("a b c d e f g h", &we, 0), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, 8);
+
+ char **saved_wordv = we.we_wordv;
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+
+ /* The interposed realloc guarantees the internal we_wordv buffer moves
+ during parsing, so the pointer-stability check below is meaningful. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("append )", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv == saved_wordv);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 3: After a failed WRDE_APPEND the original words are still accessible
+ and correct. */
+static void
+test_append_badchar_words_intact (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_badchar_words_intact\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("alpha beta gamma", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "alpha", "beta", "gamma");
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("delta )", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+
+ /* Words must still be intact. */
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "alpha", "beta", "gamma");
+ /* The NULL terminator must still be present. */
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv[we.we_offs + we.we_wordc] == NULL);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 4: Successful WRDE_APPEND still works (regression test). */
+static void
+test_append_success (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_success\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("hello", &we, 0), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, 1);
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("world", &we, WRDE_APPEND), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, 2);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "hello", "world");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 5: Successful append after a failed append — the implementation must
+ recover and allow further use of the wordexp_t. */
+static void
+test_append_success_after_failure (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_success_after_failure\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("first", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "first");
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("bad |", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+
+ /* State must be exactly as before the failed call. */
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "first");
+
+ /* A subsequent successful append must work. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("second third", &we, WRDE_APPEND), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "first", "second", "third");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 6: Multiple consecutive failed appends do not corrupt state. */
+static void
+test_append_multiple_failures (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_multiple_failures\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("keep this", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "keep", "this");
+
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+ char **saved_wordv = we.we_wordv;
+
+ /* Each of these bad characters must leave the state unchanged. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x )", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x |", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x ;", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x &", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x <", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("x >", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv == saved_wordv);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "keep", "this");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 7: WRDE_APPEND with WRDE_SYNTAX error (unterminated quote) also
+ preserves state. */
+static void
+test_append_syntax_error (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_syntax_error\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("original", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "original");
+
+ char **saved_wordv = we.we_wordv;
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+
+ /* Unterminated double quote triggers WRDE_SYNTAX. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("\"unterminated", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_SYNTAX);
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv == saved_wordv);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "original");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 8: Error without WRDE_APPEND still works (regression test for the
+ non-APPEND code path in do_error). */
+static void
+test_no_append_error (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_no_append_error\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ /* Simple failure without WRDE_APPEND. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("bad |", &we, 0), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+
+ /* After failure without WRDE_APPEND the struct should be safe to
+ reuse — start fresh. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("ok", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "ok");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 9: WRDE_BADCHAR on the very first character (no partial words added
+ before the error). */
+static void
+test_append_badchar_immediate (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_badchar_immediate\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("hello world", &we, 0), 0);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "hello", "world");
+
+ char **saved_wordv = we.we_wordv;
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+
+ /* The bad character is the very first byte — no w_addword call happens
+ before the error. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("|", &we, WRDE_APPEND), WRDE_BADCHAR);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv == saved_wordv);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 10: WRDE_APPEND into an empty wordexp_t (initial call uses WRDE_APPEND
+ with a zeroed struct — unusual but allowed). */
+static void
+test_append_into_empty (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_append_into_empty\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+
+ /* First call with WRDE_APPEND on a zeroed struct. The implementation
+ must handle we_wordv == NULL gracefully. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("solo", &we, WRDE_APPEND), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, 1);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "solo");
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Verify that the leading we_offs slots are all NULL. */
+static void
+check_offs_null (const wordexp_t *we)
+{
+ for (size_t i = 0; i < we->we_offs; i++)
+ TEST_VERIFY (we->we_wordv[i] == NULL);
+}
+
+/* Test 11: successful WRDE_APPEND with WRDE_DOOFFS and a non-zero we_offs.
+ The leading offset slots must stay NULL and words must land at
+ we_wordv[we_offs + i] across both the initial and the appended call. */
+static void
+test_dooffs_append_success (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_dooffs_append_success\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+ we.we_offs = 2;
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("one two", &we, WRDE_DOOFFS), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_offs, 2);
+ check_offs_null (&we);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "one", "two");
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("three", &we, WRDE_APPEND | WRDE_DOOFFS), 0);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_offs, 2);
+ check_offs_null (&we);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "one", "two", "three");
+ /* The NULL terminator must sit right after the last word. */
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv[we.we_offs + we.we_wordc] == NULL);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+/* Test 12: failed WRDE_APPEND with WRDE_DOOFFS preserves we_wordc, the
+ we_wordv pointer, the words and the leading NULL offset slots. This
+ exercises the we_offs arithmetic in the array duplication and in the
+ error-path cleanup (we_wordv[we_offs + --we_wordc]). */
+static void
+test_dooffs_append_error_preserves_state (void)
+{
+ printf ("info: test_dooffs_append_error_preserves_state\n");
+ wordexp_t we = { 0 };
+ we.we_offs = 3;
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("alpha beta", &we, WRDE_DOOFFS), 0);
+ check_offs_null (&we);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "alpha", "beta");
+
+ char **saved_wordv = we.we_wordv;
+ size_t saved_count = we.we_wordc;
+
+ /* "gamma" is a partial word added via w_addword (forcing a relocating
+ realloc of we_wordv) before ')' triggers WRDE_BADCHAR. */
+ TEST_COMPARE (wordexp ("gamma )", &we, WRDE_APPEND | WRDE_DOOFFS),
+ WRDE_BADCHAR);
+
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_offs, 3);
+ TEST_COMPARE (we.we_wordc, saved_count);
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv == saved_wordv);
+ check_offs_null (&we);
+ CHECK_WORDS (&we, "alpha", "beta");
+ TEST_VERIFY (we.we_wordv[we.we_offs + we.we_wordc] == NULL);
+
+ wordfree (&we);
+}
+
+static int
+do_test (void)
+{
+ test_append_badchar_preserves_count ();
+ test_append_badchar_preserves_pointer ();
+ test_append_badchar_words_intact ();
+ test_append_success ();
+ test_append_success_after_failure ();
+ test_append_multiple_failures ();
+ test_append_syntax_error ();
+ test_no_append_error ();
+ test_append_badchar_immediate ();
+ test_append_into_empty ();
+ test_dooffs_append_success ();
+ test_dooffs_append_error_preserves_state ();
+
+ return 0;
+}
+
+#include <support/test-driver.c>
diff --git a/posix/wordexp.c b/posix/wordexp.c
index f0f69ee85d5..5f3941fa845 100644
--- a/posix/wordexp.c
+++ b/posix/wordexp.c
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
#include <scratch_buffer.h>
#include <_itoa.h>
#include <assert.h>
+#include <intprops.h>
/*
* This is a recursive-descent-style word expansion routine.
@@ -2224,6 +2225,12 @@ wordexp (const char *words, wordexp_t *pwordexp, int flags)
char ifs_white[4];
wordexp_t old_word = *pwordexp;
+ /* When WRDE_APPEND is set we work on a copy of the we_wordv array so that
+ the caller's original pointer is never invalidated by realloc inside
+ w_addword. The saved_wordv keeps the original; on success we free it,
+ on non-NOSPACE error we free the working copy and restore the original. */
+ char **saved_wordv = NULL;
+
if (flags & WRDE_REUSE)
{
/* Minimal implementation of WRDE_REUSE for now */
@@ -2258,6 +2265,23 @@ wordexp (const char *words, wordexp_t *pwordexp, int flags)
pwordexp->we_offs = 0;
}
}
+ else if (pwordexp->we_wordv != NULL)
+ {
+ /* WRDE_APPEND with an existing word list: duplicate the array so that
+ realloc during parsing does not invalidate the caller's pointer. The
+ strings themselves are shared. */
+ size_t num_p;
+ char **dup;
+ if (INT_ADD_WRAPV (pwordexp->we_offs, pwordexp->we_wordc, &num_p)
+ || INT_ADD_WRAPV (num_p, 1, &num_p))
+ return WRDE_NOSPACE;
+ dup = __libc_reallocarray (NULL, num_p, sizeof *dup);
+ if (dup == NULL)
+ return WRDE_NOSPACE;
+ memcpy (dup, pwordexp->we_wordv, num_p * sizeof *dup);
+ saved_wordv = pwordexp->we_wordv;
+ pwordexp->we_wordv = dup;
+ }
/* Find out what the field separators are.
* There are two types: whitespace and non-whitespace.
@@ -2338,7 +2362,7 @@ wordexp (const char *words, wordexp_t *pwordexp, int flags)
error = w_addword (pwordexp, NULL);
if (error)
- return error;
+ goto do_error;
}
break;
@@ -2356,7 +2380,7 @@ wordexp (const char *words, wordexp_t *pwordexp, int flags)
error = w_addword (pwordexp, NULL);
if (error)
- return error;
+ goto do_error;
}
break;
@@ -2422,10 +2446,15 @@ wordexp (const char *words, wordexp_t *pwordexp, int flags)
/* There was a word separator at the end */
if (word == NULL) /* i.e. w_newword */
- return 0;
+ {
+ free (saved_wordv);
+ return 0;
+ }
/* There was no field separator at the end */
- return w_addword (pwordexp, word);
+ error = w_addword (pwordexp, word);
+ free (saved_wordv);
+ return error;
do_error:
/* Error:
@@ -2436,11 +2465,30 @@ do_error:
free (word);
if (error == WRDE_NOSPACE)
- return WRDE_NOSPACE;
+ {
+ /* we_wordc and we_wordv are updated to reflect any words that were
+ successfully expanded. The old array is obsolete. */
+ free (saved_wordv);
+ return WRDE_NOSPACE;
+ }
- if ((flags & WRDE_APPEND) == 0)
- wordfree (pwordexp);
+ if (flags & WRDE_APPEND)
+ {
+ /* POSIX 2024 states that for in other error cases, if the WRDE_APPEND
+ flag was specified, we_wordc and we_wordv shall not be modified.
+
+ Free strings appended during this call, discard the working copy of
+ we_wordv, and restore the caller's original pointer. */
+ while (pwordexp->we_wordc > old_word.we_wordc)
+ free (pwordexp->we_wordv[pwordexp->we_offs + --pwordexp->we_wordc]);
+ free (pwordexp->we_wordv);
+ pwordexp->we_wordv = saved_wordv;
+ }
+ else
+ {
+ wordfree (pwordexp);
+ *pwordexp = old_word;
+ }
- *pwordexp = old_word;
return error;
}
--
2.43.0
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