[DTrace-devel] [PATCH] usdt: enforce provider name size limit

[Kris Van Hees]

On Tue, Feb 17, 2026 at 02:21:23PM -0500, Eugene Loh wrote:
> I'd like to understand this patch better.  In particular, in what sense can
> a PID take up to 10 chars?  What if it isn't that wide? If by coincidence
> all my PIDs just happen to be narrower, why must my provider name make space
> for a PID I'll never see.  IIUC, a PID will "typically" (whatever that
> means) not exceed 32768, well, or maybe 4194304.  So I might even be
> guaranteed that my PIDs will be shorter than 10 chars.

pid_t is an int (32-bit value) so it can take up to 10 decimal digits
(2147483647).  While it would be very unusual to see PIDs with such high
values, we need to account for the possibility because tis involves USDT
probes. i.e. probes that are built into libraries and applications.  Since
we do not know what systems they will be used (and trace) on, we need to
account for the worst case scenario.  It would not be acceptable that we
can trace on system A but not on system B just because A happens to have
lower value PIDs than B.

> On 2/17/26 11:35, Kris Van Hees via DTrace-devel wrote:
> > Since USDT provider names have a PID appended to them, the base provider
> > name cannot be longer than 53 characters (PID can take up to 10 chars).
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Kris Van Hees <kris.van.hees at oracle.com>
> > ---
> >   libdtrace/dt_link.c                     | 24 ++++++++++++---
> >   test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.r  |  3 ++
> >   test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.sh | 41 +++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >   3 files changed, 63 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
> >   create mode 100644 test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.r
> >   create mode 100755 test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.sh
> > 
> > diff --git a/libdtrace/dt_link.c b/libdtrace/dt_link.c
> > index ffa16d9a..e77f06f7 100644
> > --- a/libdtrace/dt_link.c
> > +++ b/libdtrace/dt_link.c
> > @@ -148,7 +148,15 @@ note_add_provider(usdt_elf_t *usdt, dt_provider_t *pvp)
> >   	usdt->base = ALIGN(usdt->base + usdt->size, 4);
> >   	usdt->size = 0;
> > +	/* Ensure there is enough space in the provider name for the PID. */
> >   	len = strlen(pvp->desc.dtvd_name);
> > +	if (len > DTRACE_PROVNAMELEN - 10 - 1)
> > +		return dt_link_error(usdt->dtp, NULL, -1,
> > +				     "USDT provider name may not exceed %d "
> > +				     "characters: %s\n",
> > +				     DTRACE_PROVNAMELEN - 11,
> > +				     pvp->desc.dtvd_name);
> > +
> >   	sz = PROV_NOTE_HEADSZ +
> >   	     ALIGN(len + 1, 4) +	/* provider name */
> >   	     6 * sizeof(uint32_t);	/* stability attributes */
> > @@ -382,12 +390,16 @@ create_elf64(dtrace_hdl_t *dtp, dtrace_prog_t *pgp, int fd, uint_t flags)
> >   	shdr->sh_addralign = sizeof(char);
> >   	/* Add the provider definitions. */
> > -	while ((pvp = dt_htab_next(dtp->dt_provs, &it)) != NULL)
> > -		note_add_provider(usdt, pvp);
> > +	while ((pvp = dt_htab_next(dtp->dt_provs, &it)) != NULL) {
> > +		if (note_add_provider(usdt, pvp) == -1)
> > +			goto fail;
> > +	}
> >   	if (!(flags & DTRACE_D_STRIP)) {
> > -		note_add_version(usdt);
> > -		note_add_utsname(usdt);
> > +		if (note_add_version(usdt) == -1)
> > +			goto fail;
> > +		if (note_add_utsname(usdt) == -1)
> > +			goto fail;
> >   	}
> >   	dt_free(dtp, usdt);
> > @@ -492,7 +504,9 @@ dtrace_program_link(dtrace_hdl_t *dtp, dtrace_prog_t *pgp, uint_t dflags,
> >   	if (!dtp->dt_lazyload)
> >   		unlink(file);
> > -	create_elf64(dtp, pgp, fd, dflags | dtp->dt_dflags);
> > +	ret = create_elf64(dtp, pgp, fd, dflags | dtp->dt_dflags);
> > +	if (ret == -1)
> > +		goto done;
> >   	if (status != 0 || lseek(fd, 0, SEEK_SET) != 0)
> >   		return dt_link_error(dtp, NULL, -1,
> > diff --git a/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.r b/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.r
> > new file mode 100644
> > index 00000000..1305f434
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.r
> > @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
> > +-- @@stderr --
> > +dtrace: failed to link script prov: USDT provider name may not exceed 53 characters: test_12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234_prov
> > +failed to create DOF
> > diff --git a/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.sh b/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.sh
> > new file mode 100755
> > index 00000000..599e461e
> > --- /dev/null
> > +++ b/test/unittest/usdt/err.prov-too-long.sh
> > @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
> > +#!/bin/bash
> > +#
> > +# Oracle Linux DTrace.
> > +# Copyright (c) 2026, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
> > +# Licensed under the Universal Permissive License v 1.0 as shown at
> > +# http://oss.oracle.com/licenses/upl.
> > +#
> > +
> > +# Ensure that provider names longer than 53 chars are rejected at link time.
> > +
> > +if [ $# != 1 ]; then
> > +	echo expected one argument: '<'dtrace-path'>'
> > +	exit 2
> > +fi
> > +
> > +
> > +dtrace=$1
> > +
> > +DIRNAME="$tmpdir/prov-too-long.$$.$RANDOM"
> > +mkdir -p $DIRNAME
> > +cd $DIRNAME
> > +
> > +cat > prov.d <<EOF
> > +/* Provider name is 53 chars long */
> > +provider test_1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123_prov {
> > +	probe go();
> > +};
> > +/* Provider name is 54 chars long */
> > +provider test_12345678901234567890123456789012345678901234_prov {
> > +	probe go();
> > +};
> > +EOF
> > +
> > +$dtrace $dt_flags -G -s prov.d
> > +if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
> > +	echo "failed to create DOF" >& 2
> > +	exit 1
> > +fi
> > +
> > +echo "DOF creation should have failed" >& 2
> > +exit 0