The counted_by attribute

The counted_by attribute was introduced in Clang-18 and will soon be available in GCC-15. Its purpose is to associate a flexible-array member with a struct member that will hold the number of elements in this array at some point at run-time. This association is critical for enabling runtime bounds checking via the array bounds sanitizer and the __builtin_dynamic_object_size() built-in function. In user-space, this extra level of security is enabled by -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=3. Therefore, using this attribute correctly enhances C codebases with runtime bounds-checking coverage on flexible-array members.

Here is an example of a flexible array annotated with this attribute:

struct bounded_flex_struct {
    ...
    size_t count;
    struct foo flex_array[] __attribute__((__counted_by__(count)));
};

In the above example, count is the struct member that will hold the number of elements of the flexible array at run-time. We will call this struct member the counter.

In the Linux kernel, this attribute facilitates bounds-checking coverage through fortified APIs such as the memcpy() family of functions, which internally use __builtin_dynamic_object_size() (CONFIG_FORTIFY_SOURCE). As well as through the array-bounds sanitizer (CONFIG_UBSAN_BOUNDS).

The __counted_by() macro

In the kernel we wrap the counted_by attribute in the __counted_by() macro, as shown below.

#if __has_attribute(__counted_by__)
# define __counted_by(member)  __attribute__((__counted_by__(member)))
#else
# define __counted_by(member)
#endif

• c8248faf3ca27 (“Compiler Attributes: counted_by: Adjust name...“)

And with this we have been annotating flexible-array members across the whole kernel tree over the last year.

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/sched.h b/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/sched.h
index 5f8b871d79afac..6b3c778815f09e 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/sched.h
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/chelsio/cxgb4/sched.h
@@ -82,7 +82,7 @@ struct sched_class {
 
 struct sched_table {      /* per port scheduling table */
 	u8 sched_size;
-	struct sched_class tab[];
+	struct sched_class tab[] __counted_by(sched_size);
 };

• ceba9725fb45 (“cxgb4: Annotate struct sched_table with ...“)

However, as we are about to see, not all __counted_by() annotations are always as straightforward as the one above.

__counted_by() annotations in the kernel

There are a number of requirements to properly use the counted_by attribute. One crucial requirement is that the counter must be initialized before the first reference to the flexible-array member. Another requirement is that the array must always contain at least as many elements as indicated by the counter. Below you can see an example of a kernel patch addressing these requirements.

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/fweh.c b/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/fweh.c
index dac7eb77799bd1..68960ae9898713 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/fweh.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/fweh.c
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ struct brcmf_fweh_queue_item {
 	u8 ifaddr[ETH_ALEN];
 	struct brcmf_event_msg_be emsg;
 	u32 datalen;
-	u8 data[];
+	u8 data[] __counted_by(datalen);
 };
 
 /*
@@ -418,17 +418,17 @@ void brcmf_fweh_process_event(struct brcmf_pub *drvr,
 	    datalen + sizeof(*event_packet) > packet_len)
 		return;
 
-	event = kzalloc(sizeof(*event) + datalen, gfp);
+	event = kzalloc(struct_size(event, data, datalen), gfp);
 	if (!event)
 		return;
 
+	event->datalen = datalen;
 	event->code = code;
 	event->ifidx = event_packet->msg.ifidx;
 
 	/* use memcpy to get aligned event message */
 	memcpy(&event->emsg, &event_packet->msg, sizeof(event->emsg));
 	memcpy(event->data, data, datalen);
-	event->datalen = datalen;
 	memcpy(event->ifaddr, event_packet->eth.h_dest, ETH_ALEN);
 
 	brcmf_fweh_queue_event(fweh, event);

• 62d19b358088 (“wifi: brcmfmac: fweh: Add __counted_by...“)

In the patch above, datalen is the counter for the flexible-array member data. Notice how the assignment to the counter event->datalen = datalen had to be moved to before calling memcpy(event->data, data, datalen), this ensures the counter is initialized before the first reference to the flexible array. Otherwise, the compiler would complain about trying to write into a flexible array of size zero, due to datalen being zeroed out by a previous call to kzalloc(). This assignment-after-memcpy has been quite common in the Linux kernel. However, when dealing with counted_by annotations, this pattern should be changed. Therefore, we have to be careful when doing these annotations. We should audit all instances of code that reference both the counter and the flexible array and ensure they meet the proper requirements.

In the kernel, we've been learning from our mistakes and have fixed some buggy annotations we made in the beginning. Here are a couple of bugfixes to make you aware of these issues:

• 6dc445c19050 (“clk: bcm: rpi: Assign –>num before accessing...“)

• 9368cdf90f52 (“clk: bcm: dvp: Assign –>num before accessing...“)

Another common issue is when the counter is updated inside a loop. See the patch below.

diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/cfg80211.c b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/cfg80211.c
index 8993028709ecfb..e8f1d30a8d73c5 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/cfg80211.c
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/cfg80211.c
@@ -892,10 +892,8 @@ static int wil_cfg80211_scan(struct wiphy *wiphy,
 	struct wil6210_priv *wil = wiphy_to_wil(wiphy);
 	struct wireless_dev *wdev = request->wdev;
 	struct wil6210_vif *vif = wdev_to_vif(wil, wdev);
-	struct {
-		struct wmi_start_scan_cmd cmd;
-		u16 chnl[4];
-	} __packed cmd;
+	DEFINE_FLEX(struct wmi_start_scan_cmd, cmd,
+		    channel_list, num_channels, 4);
 	uint i, n;
 	int rc;
 
@@ -977,9 +975,8 @@ static int wil_cfg80211_scan(struct wiphy *wiphy,
 	vif->scan_request = request;
 	mod_timer(&vif->scan_timer, jiffies + WIL6210_SCAN_TO);
 
-	memset(&cmd, 0, sizeof(cmd));
-	cmd.cmd.scan_type = WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN;
-	cmd.cmd.num_channels = 0;
+	cmd->scan_type = WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN;
+	cmd->num_channels = 0;
 	n = min(request->n_channels, 4U);
 	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
 		int ch = request->channels[i]->hw_value;
@@ -991,7 +988,8 @@ static int wil_cfg80211_scan(struct wiphy *wiphy,
 			continue;
 		}
 		/* 0-based channel indexes */
-		cmd.cmd.channel_list[cmd.cmd.num_channels++].channel = ch - 1;
+		cmd->num_channels++;
+		cmd->channel_list[cmd->num_channels - 1].channel = ch - 1;
 		wil_dbg_misc(wil, "Scan for ch %d  : %d MHz\n", ch,
 			     request->channels[i]->center_freq);
 	}
@@ -1007,16 +1005,15 @@ static int wil_cfg80211_scan(struct wiphy *wiphy,
 	if (rc)
 		goto out_restore;
 
-	if (wil->discovery_mode && cmd.cmd.scan_type == WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN) {
-		cmd.cmd.discovery_mode = 1;
+	if (wil->discovery_mode && cmd->scan_type == WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN) {
+		cmd->discovery_mode = 1;
 		wil_dbg_misc(wil, "active scan with discovery_mode=1\n");
 	}
 
 	if (vif->mid == 0)
 		wil->radio_wdev = wdev;
 	rc = wmi_send(wil, WMI_START_SCAN_CMDID, vif->mid,
-		      &cmd, sizeof(cmd.cmd) +
-		      cmd.cmd.num_channels * sizeof(cmd.cmd.channel_list[0]));
+		      cmd, struct_size(cmd, channel_list, cmd->num_channels));
 
 out_restore:
 	if (rc) {
diff --git a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h
index 71bf2ae27a984f..b47606d9068c8b 100644
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ struct wmi_start_scan_cmd {
 	struct {
 		u8 channel;
 		u8 reserved;
-	} channel_list[];
+	} channel_list[] __counted_by(num_channels);
 } __packed;
 
 #define WMI_MAX_PNO_SSID_NUM	(16)

• 34c34c242a1b (“wifi: wil6210: cfg80211: Use __counted_by...“)

The patch above does a bit more than merely annotating the flexible array with the __counted_by() macro, but that's material for a future post. For now, let's focus on the following excerpt.

-	cmd.cmd.scan_type = WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN;
-	cmd.cmd.num_channels = 0;
+	cmd->scan_type = WMI_ACTIVE_SCAN;
+	cmd->num_channels = 0;
 	n = min(request->n_channels, 4U);
 	for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
 		int ch = request->channels[i]->hw_value;
@@ -991,7 +988,8 @@ static int wil_cfg80211_scan(struct wiphy *wiphy,
 			continue;
 		}
 		/* 0-based channel indexes */
-		cmd.cmd.channel_list[cmd.cmd.num_channels++].channel = ch - 1;
+		cmd->num_channels++;
+		cmd->channel_list[cmd->num_channels - 1].channel = ch - 1;
 		wil_dbg_misc(wil, "Scan for ch %d  : %d MHz\n", ch,
 			     request->channels[i]->center_freq);
 	}
 ...
--- a/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h
+++ b/drivers/net/wireless/ath/wil6210/wmi.h
@@ -474,7 +474,7 @@ struct wmi_start_scan_cmd {
 	struct {
 		u8 channel;
 		u8 reserved;
-	} channel_list[];
+	} channel_list[] __counted_by(num_channels);
 } __packed;

Notice that in this case, num_channels is our counter, and it's set to zero before the for loop. Inside the for loop, the original code used this variable as an index to access the flexible array, then updated it via a post-increment, all in one line: cmd.cmd.channel_list[cmd.cmd.num_channels++]. The issue is that once channel_list was annotated with the __counted_by() macro, the compiler enforces dynamic array indexing of channel_list to stay below num_channels. Since num_channels holds a value of zero at the moment of the array access, this leads to undefined behavior and may trigger a compiler warning.

As shown in the patch, the solution is to increment num_channels before accessing the array, and then access the array through an index adjustment below num_channels.

Another option is to avoid using the counter as an index for the flexible array altogether. This can be done by using an auxiliary variable instead. See an excerpt of a patch below.

diff --git a/include/net/bluetooth/hci.h b/include/net/bluetooth/hci.h
index 38eb7ec86a1a65..21ebd70f3dcc97 100644
--- a/include/net/bluetooth/hci.h
+++ b/include/net/bluetooth/hci.h
@@ -2143,7 +2143,7 @@ struct hci_cp_le_set_cig_params {
 	__le16  c_latency;
 	__le16  p_latency;
 	__u8    num_cis;
-	struct hci_cis_params cis[];
+	struct hci_cis_params cis[] __counted_by(num_cis);
 } __packed;

@@ -1722,34 +1717,33 @@ static int hci_le_create_big(struct hci_conn *conn, struct bt_iso_qos *qos)
 
 static int set_cig_params_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data)
 {
 ...

+	u8 aux_num_cis = 0;
 	u8 cis_id;
 ...

 	for (cis_id = 0x00; cis_id < 0xf0 &&
-	     pdu.cp.num_cis < ARRAY_SIZE(pdu.cis); cis_id++) {
+	     aux_num_cis < pdu->num_cis; cis_id++) {
 		struct hci_cis_params *cis;
 
 		conn = hci_conn_hash_lookup_cis(hdev, NULL, 0, cig_id, cis_id);
@@ -1758,7 +1752,7 @@ static int set_cig_params_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data)
 
 		qos = &conn->iso_qos;
 
-		cis = &pdu.cis[pdu.cp.num_cis++];
+		cis = &pdu->cis[aux_num_cis++];
 		cis->cis_id = cis_id;
 		cis->c_sdu  = cpu_to_le16(conn->iso_qos.ucast.out.sdu);
 		cis->p_sdu  = cpu_to_le16(conn->iso_qos.ucast.in.sdu);
@@ -1769,14 +1763,14 @@ static int set_cig_params_sync(struct hci_dev *hdev, void *data)
 		cis->c_rtn  = qos->ucast.out.rtn;
 		cis->p_rtn  = qos->ucast.in.rtn;
 	}
+	pdu->num_cis = aux_num_cis;
 
 ...

• ea9e148c803b (“Bluetooth: hci_conn: Use __counted_by() and...“)

Again, the entire patch does more than merely annotate the flexible-array member, but let's just focus on how aux_num_cis is used to access flexible array pdu->cis[].

In this case, the counter is num_cis. As in our previous example, originally, the counter is used to directly access the flexible array: &pdu.cis[pdu.cp.num_cis++]. However, the patch above introduces a new variable aux_num_cis to be used instead of the counter: &pdu->cis[aux_num_cis++]. The counter is then updated after the loop: pdu->num_cis = aux_num_cis.

Both solutions are acceptable, so use whichever is convenient for you. :)

Here, you can see a recent bugfix for some buggy annotations that missed the details discussed above:

• [PATCH] wifi: iwlwifi: mvm: Fix _counted_by usage in cfg80211_wowlan_nd*

In a future post, I'll address the issue of annotating flexible arrays of flexible structures. Spoiler alert: don't do it!

Latest version: How to use the new counted_by attribute in C (and Linux)