Hi Aaron,

I pulled the latest main (including 364419bc and 412ff442) and verified
both standard and ASAN/UBSan builds. All unstrip regression tests,
including run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh, passed cleanly.

Thanks again.

Kind regards,
Harshit

On Mon, 19 Oct 2026 at 09:14, Harshit Kumar <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Hi Aaron,
>
> Thanks for reviewing and merging the patch, and for taking care of the
> v2 cleanups in a separate commit. I'll pull the latest and confirm
> everything builds and the new tests pass.
>
> Kind regards,
> Harshit
>
> On Mon, 19 Oct 2026 at 04:52, Aaron Merey <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Harshit,
> >
> > On Thu, Oct 8, 2026 at 10:24 AM Harshit Kumar <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >
> > > Three sites compute a symbol count as `sh_size / sh_entsize` or subtract
> > > one from it.  The existing guards rejected only `sh_entsize == 0`, so a
> > > section that declares `sh_size < sh_entsize` truncates the quotient
> > > to zero and the subtraction wraps.  Both fields come straight from the
> > > input ELF.
> > >
> > > copy_elided_sections():
> > > In the symbol merge path, `stripped_nsym - 1 + unstripped_nsym - 1` wraps
> > > if either `stripped_nsym == 0` or `unstripped_nsym == 0`.
> > > When `unstripped_nsym == 0`, `total_syms` is under-allocated for
> > > `stripped_nsym - 2` elements and collect_symbols() writes past the end
> > > of the allocation.
> > > When `stripped_nsym == 0`, `&symbols[stripped_nsym - 1]` passes an
> > > underflowed pointer (&symbols[SIZE_MAX]) to collect_symbols(), which
> > > performs out-of-bounds heap writes.
> > > Additionally, the earlier section copy loop rejected only
> > > `shdr_mem.sh_entsize == 0`, allowing malformed SYMTAB/DYNSYM sections from
> > > the stripped file to propagate.
> > >
> > > add_new_section_symbols():
> > > `size_t symndx_map[nsym - 1]` declared a VLA with SIZE_MAX elements when
> > > `nsym == 0`.  Malformed symbol tables are normally rejected earlier,
> > > but the check in add_new_section_symbols() is retained as defense in
> > > depth to protect the VLA declaration against underflow.
> > >
> > > Fix the guards at all sites so the quotient can never be zero.  Add a
> > > regression test covering malformed stripped and unstripped symbol tables.
> > >
> > > https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=34705
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Harshit Kumar <[email protected]>
> >
> > Thanks for the patch, it has been merged. I mistakenly merged v1 plus
> > the tests/Makefile.am fix. The remaining cleanups from v2 were merged
> > in a separate commit:
> > https://sourceware.org/pipermail/elfutils-devel/2026q4/009771.html
> >
> > Aaron
> >
> > > ---
> > > v2:
> > > - tests/Makefile.am: restore run-unstrip-M.sh in EXTRA_DIST.
> > > - tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh: anchor greps on site-specific
> > >   prefixes and use grep -q to suppress stdout.
> > > - tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh: fix test description comments and
> > >   copyright attribution.
> > > - src/unstrip.c: wrap lines exceeding 79 columns.
> > > - Commit message: note add_new_section_symbols() guard as defense in 
> > > depth;
> > >   rewrap message lines to <= 74 columns; remove stale line reference and
> > >   ChangeLog block.
> > >
> > >  src/unstrip.c                               |  27 +++--
> > >  tests/Makefile.am                           |   8 +-
> > >  tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh           | 106 ++++++++++++++++++++
> > >  tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug.bz2    | Bin 0 -> 220 bytes
> > >  tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped.bz2 | Bin 0 -> 225 bytes
> > >  tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug.bz2    | Bin 0 -> 224 bytes
> > >  tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped.bz2 | Bin 0 -> 179 bytes
> > >  7 files changed, 131 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> > >  create mode 100755 tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh
> > >  create mode 100644 tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug.bz2
> > >  create mode 100644 tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped.bz2
> > >  create mode 100644 tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug.bz2
> > >  create mode 100644 tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped.bz2
> > >
> > > diff --git a/src/unstrip.c b/src/unstrip.c
> > > index 60f0916a..39d5bb65 100644
> > > --- a/src/unstrip.c
> > > +++ b/src/unstrip.c
> > > @@ -638,8 +638,9 @@ add_new_section_symbols (Elf_Scn *old_symscn, size_t 
> > > old_shnum,
> > >    GElf_Shdr shdr_mem;
> > >    GElf_Shdr *shdr = gelf_getshdr (symscn, &shdr_mem);
> > >    ELF_CHECK (shdr != NULL, _("cannot get section header: %s"));
> > > -  if (shdr->sh_entsize == 0)
> > > -    error_exit (0, "Symbol table section cannot have zero sh_entsize");
> > > +  if (shdr->sh_entsize == 0 || shdr->sh_size < shdr->sh_entsize)
> > > +    error_exit (0, _("Symbol table section cannot have zero sh_entsize"
> > > +                    " or a sh_size smaller than sh_entsize"));
> > >
> > >    const size_t nsym = shdr->sh_size / shdr->sh_entsize;
> > >    size_t symndx_map[nsym - 1];
> > > @@ -1778,9 +1779,11 @@ more sections in stripped file than debug file -- 
> > > arguments reversed?"));
> > >
> > >             Elf_Data *shndxdata = NULL; /* XXX */
> > >
> > > -           if (shdr_mem.sh_entsize == 0)
> > > +           if (shdr_mem.sh_entsize == 0
> > > +               || shdr_mem.sh_size < shdr_mem.sh_entsize)
> > >               error_exit (0,
> > > -                         "SYMTAB section cannot have zero sh_entsize");
> > > +                         _("SYMTAB section cannot have zero sh_entsize"
> > > +                           " or a sh_size smaller than sh_entsize"));
> > >             for (size_t i = 1; i < shdr_mem.sh_size / 
> > > shdr_mem.sh_entsize; ++i)
> > >               {
> > >                 GElf_Sym sym_mem;
> > > @@ -1844,18 +1847,24 @@ more sections in stripped file than debug file -- 
> > > arguments reversed?"));
> > >                                         && bias != 0)))
> > >      {
> > >        /* Merge the stripped file's symbol table into the unstripped one. 
> > >  */
> > > +      if (stripped_symtab != NULL
> > > +         && (stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_entsize == 0
> > > +             || (stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_size
> > > +                 < stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_entsize)))
> > > +       error_exit (0,
> > > +                   _("stripped SYMTAB section cannot have zero 
> > > sh_entsize"
> > > +                     " or a sh_size smaller than sh_entsize"));
> > >        const size_t stripped_nsym = (stripped_symtab == NULL ? 1
> > >                                     : (stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_size
> > > -                                      / 
> > > (stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_entsize == 0
> > > -                                         ? 1
> > > -                                         : 
> > > stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_entsize)));
> > > +                                      / 
> > > stripped_symtab->shdr.sh_entsize));
> > >
> > >        GElf_Shdr shdr_mem;
> > >        GElf_Shdr *shdr = gelf_getshdr (unstripped_symtab, &shdr_mem);
> > >        ELF_CHECK (shdr != NULL, _("cannot get section header: %s"));
> > > -      if (shdr->sh_entsize == 0)
> > > +      if (shdr->sh_entsize == 0 || shdr->sh_size < shdr->sh_entsize)
> > >         error_exit (0,
> > > -                   "unstripped SYMTAB section cannot have zero 
> > > sh_entsize");
> > > +                   _("unstripped SYMTAB section cannot have zero 
> > > sh_entsize"
> > > +                     " or a sh_size smaller than sh_entsize"));
> > >        const size_t unstripped_nsym = shdr->sh_size / shdr->sh_entsize;
> > >
> > >        /* First collect all the symbols from both tables.  */
> > > diff --git a/tests/Makefile.am b/tests/Makefile.am
> > > index dd937122..261649fd 100644
> > > --- a/tests/Makefile.am
> > > +++ b/tests/Makefile.am
> > > @@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ TESTS = run-arextract.sh run-arsymtest.sh run-ar.sh 
> > > newfile test-nlist \
> > >         run-strip-reloc-ppc64.sh \
> > >         run-strip-nobitsalign.sh run-strip-remove-keep.sh \
> > >         run-unstrip-test.sh run-unstrip-test2.sh run-unstrip-test3.sh \
> > > -       run-unstrip-test4.sh run-unstrip-M.sh run-elfstrmerge-test.sh \
> > > +       run-unstrip-test4.sh run-unstrip-M.sh run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh 
> > > \
> > > +       run-elfstrmerge-test.sh \
> > >         run-ecp-test.sh run-ecp-test2.sh run-alldts.sh \
> > >         run-elflint-test.sh run-elflint-self.sh run-ranlib-test.sh \
> > >         run-ranlib-test2.sh run-ranlib-test3.sh run-ranlib-test4.sh \
> > > @@ -378,6 +379,11 @@ EXTRA_DIST = run-arextract.sh run-arsymtest.sh 
> > > run-ar.sh \
> > >              run-unstrip-test4.sh testfile-strtab.bz2 \
> > >              testfile-strtab.stripped.bz2 testfile-strtab.debuginfo.bz2 \
> > >              run-unstrip-M.sh run-elfstrmerge-test.sh \
> > > +            run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh \
> > > +            testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped.bz2 \
> > > +            testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug.bz2 \
> > > +            testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped.bz2 \
> > > +            testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug.bz2 \
> > >              run-elflint-self.sh run-ranlib-test.sh run-ranlib-test2.sh \
> > >              run-ranlib-test3.sh run-ranlib-test4.sh \
> > >              run-addrscopes.sh run-strings-test.sh run-funcscopes.sh \
> > > diff --git a/tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh 
> > > b/tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh
> > > new file mode 100755
> > > index 00000000..0d1995b4
> > > --- /dev/null
> > > +++ b/tests/run-unstrip-symtab-count.sh
> > > @@ -0,0 +1,106 @@
> > > +#! /bin/sh
> > > +# Copyright (C) 2026 Harshit Kumar
> > > +# This file is part of elfutils.
> > > +#
> > > +# This file is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
> > > +# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
> > > +# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
> > > +# (at your option) any later version.
> > > +#
> > > +# elfutils 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 General Public License for more details.
> > > +#
> > > +# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
> > > +# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
> > > +
> > > +# Regression test for the symbol count underflow in unstrip.
> > > +#
> > > +# Both files below declare a SHT_SYMTAB section whose sh_size is smaller
> > > +# than its sh_entsize.  The quotient sh_size / sh_entsize is therefore 
> > > zero,
> > > +# and the code that used to compute "symbol count minus one" wrapped.  
> > > unstrip
> > > +# must reject such a file instead of doing the subtraction.
> > > +#
> > > +# symtab0: the unstripped (debug) file is the malformed one.  This 
> > > reaches
> > > +#   copy_elided_sections(), where "stripped_nsym - 1 + unstripped_nsym - 
> > > 1"
> > > +#   wrapped and collect_symbols() then wrote one struct symbol past the 
> > > end
> > > +#   of the allocation.  It aborted under glibc heap checking before the 
> > > fix.
> > > +#
> > > +# symtab1: the stripped file is the malformed one, and its debug file 
> > > has no
> > > +#   symbol table at all.  The section copy loop rejects the malformed 
> > > symbol
> > > +#   table from the stripped file before it can be propagated.
> > > +#
> > > +# Case 2 reuses the symtab0 files with the arguments swapped, relying on
> > > +#   the argument order to make the malformed file the stripped one and 
> > > the
> > > +#   valid file the debug one.  Without the guard on stripped_symtab,
> > > +#   "stripped_nsym - 1" wrapped to SIZE_MAX, leading to out-of-bounds 
> > > pointer
> > > +#   arithmetic (&symbols[SIZE_MAX]) and a heap-buffer-overflow write in
> > > +#   collect_symbols().
> > > +
> > > +# To regenerate the test files:
> > > +#
> > > +#   testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped: a valid ET_REL object with a four
> > > +#     entry .symtab (sh_size 0x60, sh_entsize 0x18).  Any small ET_REL 
> > > file
> > > +#     with an unstrippable symbol table will do.
> > > +#   testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug: the same file with the .symtab 
> > > section
> > > +#     header's sh_size field changed from 0x60 to 0x00.  Offset 0x188, 
> > > the
> > > +#     low byte of that sh_size, is the only difference.
> > > +#   testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped: a valid ET_REL object whose 
> > > .symtab
> > > +#     has sh_size 0x78 (120) and sh_entsize 0x79 (121).  Both fields are
> > > +#     needed: a nonzero sh_size keeps libelf willing to return the symbol
> > > +#     data, while sh_entsize > sh_size drives the quotient to zero.  
> > > Symbols
> > > +#     1..4 are STT_SECTION entries with st_shndx equal to their index.
> > > +#   testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug: the symtab0 debug file with its 
> > > .symtab
> > > +#     section header retyped SHT_PROGBITS (so it is not seen as a symbol
> > > +#     table) plus one extra unnamed SHT_PROGBITS section header appended.
> > > +
> > > +. $srcdir/test-subr.sh
> > > +
> > > +stripped0=testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped
> > > +debug0=testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug
> > > +stripped1=testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped
> > > +debug1=testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug
> > > +
> > > +testfiles $stripped0 $debug0 $stripped1 $debug1
> > > +tempfiles symtab-count.out symtab-count.err
> > > +
> > > +# Case 0: the unstripped (debug) file has an empty symbol table.  This 
> > > used
> > > +# to corrupt the heap in collect_symbols().
> > > +if testrun ${abs_top_builddir}/src/unstrip -o symtab-count.out 
> > > $stripped0 $debug0 \
> > > +     2> symtab-count.err
> > > +then
> > > +  echo >&2 "unstrip accepted an unstripped SYMTAB with sh_size smaller 
> > > than sh_entsize"
> > > +  exit 1
> > > +fi
> > > +
> > > +grep -q ": unstripped SYMTAB section cannot" symtab-count.err
> > > +
> > > +# Case 1: the stripped file has sh_entsize larger than sh_size, and its
> > > +# debug file has no symbol table.  The section copy loop rejects the
> > > +# malformed symbol table.
> > > +if testrun ${abs_top_builddir}/src/unstrip -o symtab-count.out 
> > > $stripped1 $debug1 \
> > > +     2> symtab-count.err
> > > +then
> > > +  echo >&2 "unstrip accepted a stripped SYMTAB with sh_size smaller than 
> > > sh_entsize"
> > > +  exit 1
> > > +fi
> > > +
> > > +grep -q ": SYMTAB section cannot" symtab-count.err
> > > +
> > > +# Case 2: symtab0 files with arguments swapped, so the malformed file is
> > > +# the stripped one and the debug file is valid.  This used to corrupt the
> > > +# heap in collect_symbols() by passing an underflowed pointer
> > > +# (&symbols[SIZE_MAX]) when merging symbols.
> > > +if testrun ${abs_top_builddir}/src/unstrip -o symtab-count.out $debug0 
> > > $stripped0 \
> > > +     2> symtab-count.err
> > > +then
> > > +  echo >&2 "unstrip accepted a stripped SYMTAB with sh_size smaller than 
> > > sh_entsize"
> > > +  exit 1
> > > +fi
> > > +
> > > +grep -q ": stripped SYMTAB section cannot" symtab-count.err
> > > +
> > > +test_cleanup
> > > +
> > > +exit 0
> > > diff --git a/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug.bz2 
> > > b/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.debug.bz2
> > > new file mode 100644
> > > index 
> > > 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..b6ec646cdef78c62925f53df5693498c1426bfa3
> > > GIT binary patch
> > > literal 220
> > > zcmZ>Y%CIzaj8qGbeAA*Ez`)S;|MmYrKOQhJGB`WCFgfg2mP=^RaA06?P+(wkP+-`=
> > > zu%<a!<>Jc8j$3)BNHIt;<a8u3NHH+0H83zcsG3Y-Yj$gpVqjp%(6}b?S~%t7BHp|=
> > > z=N5TyydZQgQh2Ig2cxE<i<pDLOJgNA-jmDD{R}oVGF+ymz-evcrJ7|op)E^b8voLa
> > > z(51yudp!@#HF=>hYf_Jcih%P|pHGU5RQInfyDl5g>{uy#_iNl#hSZ<$`~ECl^U&nw
> > > bBmt9P#vrwXEq(7Fz4KVkB_uncbrk~uIQCP^
> > >
> > > literal 0
> > > HcmV?d00001
> > >
> > > diff --git a/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped.bz2 
> > > b/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab0.stripped.bz2
> > > new file mode 100644
> > > index 
> > > 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..17dfc2de9b62bf4e8e90ce936d2d4f524b62d61e
> > > GIT binary patch
> > > literal 225
> > > zcmZ>Y%CIzaj8qGb)IIy#gn^;=|LgyMemr1cWN>zNVRHDbESJ!r;lRM)puoW7pun(!
> > > zVNDCCzvru5U*;^i<ts86Oc-tl@-Q$kFkHxBb}(TUQpsF!aRJ*EkU->{9ek}`t8>3`
> > > zIY}nkOiP+0@-E`)#DXnMLKD_BwkWZElN4m(J#pAN)kQ+FS1?d0_04(zuq7{^r*&So
> > > z+_IKy%Nf(v7dI%iWH@;AWGQrduq#|}UFxuBrreh6K2vJg_VAx5Kl`<AT0`nD!%3Om
> > > efs4~Zw>XP02+%DEb5H+Rt`gkJ$#m!bW(NSW=2=$&
> > >
> > > literal 0
> > > HcmV?d00001
> > >
> > > diff --git a/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug.bz2 
> > > b/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.debug.bz2
> > > new file mode 100644
> > > index 
> > > 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..36bb79c3bddb1d7eacac20842b5b96808db853da
> > > GIT binary patch
> > > literal 224
> > > zcmZ>Y%CIzaj8qGbv@K$CU|^W=|MmYrKOQhNGB`WCFgfg2mP=^RaA06?P+(wkP+-`=
> > > zu%_9`XK|*9bl@@t23`hZ7Xt<c24=?vybKq3JQgsVFyZMBxWK^dm|0@gH8mth{jAx`
> > > z^oiRJsjxkM@}?{11A|m5W2aA}N>7@@1asw?jy{coN=Ay2Oswb5eEBL`*H>2M*Lz0!
> > > z%7uV^mse_SU~0*5u$1bmR&3xD_#*A3VJM-&C-v)cs!sVq3w!0g^5HM@IqFxhoj$AT
> > > c;zzgD{Z(S&y{^KoZPWgX7r9ylOaS=^06jTVKmY&$
> > >
> > > literal 0
> > > HcmV?d00001
> > >
> > > diff --git a/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped.bz2 
> > > b/tests/testfile-unstrip-symtab1.stripped.bz2
> > > new file mode 100644
> > > index 
> > > 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..69c678a961c04ca96d6518d5592b48d9f1c1c9b2
> > > GIT binary patch
> > > literal 179
> > > zcmZ>Y%CIzaj8qGbe0!t+C<8;q|JU^=UMyl@WN>zNVRA5Hl1XULaA06?P+(wkP+;if
> > > z4L)hYxLEV$LWy2U-U)`HX3LkHVD@Fc!Y0@;`RCU6^;5kpi)TIaIJ!YWa`F9?t$KY5
> > > z%8Hr{>_rTXw|Im&8AMAhSTgqBEA@KzF<mJ5((yyrHlK1mA+aWKp@2e1O2p#5;(>=w
> > > k7i|+<5hvR9u#DeDoXN}~R%nW)UhAESej+N?Wy&8N05sP`Z2$lO
> > >
> > > literal 0
> > > HcmV?d00001
> > >
> > > --
> > > 2.55.0
> > >
> > >
> >

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