Use ufile_ptr for file position
Project / Subsystem
binutils / binutils
Date
2026-07-27
Proposer
Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>
Source type
public_inbox
Consensus
Proposed
Sentiment
—/10
Technical tradeoffs
- • Fixes a potential integer overflow vulnerability related to large file handling.
- • Improves the safety and correctness of file offset calculations.
- • Removes unnecessary type casts.
All attributes
- project
- binutils
- subsystem
- binutils
- patch_id
- —
- discussion_id
- amb5fXXwmsjGAiy2@squeak.grove.modra.org
- source_type
- public_inbox
- title
- Use ufile_ptr for file position
- headline
- Use ufile_ptr for file position
- tldr
- Changes `file_ptr` to `ufile_ptr` in `elf.c` to safely handle file offsets and removecasts.
- proposer
- Alan Modra <amodra@gmail.com>
- consensus
- Proposed
- outcome
- proposed
- sentiment_score
- —
- technical_tradeoffs
-
- • Fixes a potential integer overflow vulnerability related to large file handling.
- • Improves the safety and correctness of file offset calculations.
- • Removes unnecessary type casts.
- series_id
- —
- series_role
- standalone
- series_parts
- []
- tags
-
- • binutils
- • bfd
- • elf
- • security
- • fuzzing
- bugzilla_url
- —
- date
- 2026-07-27T00:00:00.000Z
Use ufile_ptr for file position
This patch replaces the file_ptr type with ufile_ptr for tracking file offsets within bfd/elf.c. This change directly addresses an issue where file_ptr addition could overflow, as discovered by an objcopy fuzz test. Using an unsigned type (ufile_ptr) for current file offsets provides greater safety and accuracy, allowing for the removal of unnecessary type casts and preventing potential bugs related to large file sizes.