Discussion:
openssl_init in multithreaded programs
s***@orange.com
2015-06-10 16:05:28 UTC
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Hello,

I'm using a multithreaded program that performs krb5 calls.

I'm getting segfaults when krb5 calls
pkinit_init_plg_crypto->openssl_init->OPENSSL_add_all_algorithms_noconf.

openssl_init in pkinit_crypto_openssl.c has the following code:

static void
openssl_init() {
static int did_init = 0;

if (!did_init) {
/* initialize openssl routines */
CRYPTO_malloc_init();
ERR_load_crypto_strings();
OpenSSL_add_all_algorithms();
did_init++;
}
}


The static did_init is incremented _after_ the calls to OpenSSL. This
enlarges the time interval between the test and the set of did_init.
Several threads may slip through this time window and they cause the
segfault when they call the OpenSSL functions concurrently.

Is this a bug in krb5? Or should I use the exclusion mechanisms of
OpenSSL (https://www.openssl.org/docs/crypto/threads.html) before
calling any krb5 function?

Thank you,
Sorin
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Greg Hudson
2015-06-10 16:37:10 UTC
Permalink
Post by s***@orange.com
I'm getting segfaults when krb5 calls
pkinit_init_plg_crypto->openssl_init->OPENSSL_add_all_algorithms_noconf.
[...]

In 1.13 we switched to doing this in a library initializer, which gets
run only once as long as the PKINIT module isn't unloaded. We also
switched to loading modules with RTLD_NODELETE on platforms which have it.

We could, of course, still race with another thread calling another
library which happens to initialize OpenSSL.

It's also worth noting that we never tear down OpenSSL (because we have
no way of knowing whether the application or another library is still
using it), so all of the heap memory it allocates could get lost if the
PKINIT module and OpenSSL library are unloaded. This shouldn't happen
with 1.13 on platforms with RTLD_NODELETE.
Post by s***@orange.com
Is this a bug in krb5? Or should I use the exclusion mechanisms of
OpenSSL (https://www.openssl.org/docs/crypto/threads.html) before
calling any krb5 function?
It's kind of a bug in krb5 (even with the 1.13 changes), but it's not a
bug we can currently fix. OpenSSL can't be used safely from a library
in a multithreaded application without help from the calling
application, or without special considerations in the library API (such
as a function the calling application is required to invoke before
spawning any threads).

So, while you'd be less likely to have issues with 1.13, it's probably
better to use the exclusion mechanisms in your application.
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Russ Allbery
2015-06-12 01:08:46 UTC
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Post by Greg Hudson
It's also worth noting that we never tear down OpenSSL (because we have
no way of knowing whether the application or another library is still
using it), so all of the heap memory it allocates could get lost if the
PKINIT module and OpenSSL library are unloaded. This shouldn't happen
with 1.13 on platforms with RTLD_NODELETE.
Oh, even for PAM modules where the PAM module and libkrb5 are all
unloaded? That's great news!
--
Russ Allbery (***@eyrie.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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