fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1: allowlist comm=java, not a denylist of shells
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The round-1 fix excluded known shell names (sh/bash/zsh/dash/ksh) from
running_pid()'s pgrep candidates. Two holes remained, both the same
false-positive shape the ticket exists to remove:

1. A pid pgrep lists can exit before the following `ps -o comm=` lookup
   runs. On a gone pid, ps prints nothing, comm is empty, and an empty
   string matches no denied shell name -- so a dead pid was still counted.
2. The denylist only knows the shells someone thought to name. ssh, perl,
   python3, ruby, tail -- anything else carrying the pattern in its own
   argv -- was still counted alongside the real daemon. The ticket names
   ssh as a live route.

Both close with one change: allowlist comm=java instead of denying shells.
The daemon is always `java -jar target/fleetd.jar`, so its comm is always
`java`; an empty comm (hole 1) is not `java` either, closing that hole for
free.

Answers the objection in the code comment: an allowlist can under-count if
fleetd ever stops being launched by `java` (a native image, a renamed
launcher). That's a false negative, the worse direction for a guard -- but
it is not a new assumption: PATTERN='target/fleetd.jar' already assumes a
jar run by java, and that pattern breaks before this allowlist would.

Replaces the round-1 "real second process" test (which gave its exec -a
standin an argv[0] holding the pattern, but not comm=java) with one that
forces comm=java via `exec -a java sh -c '...'`. Adds two stubbed
pgrep/ps tests pinning the two holes directly (a non-java, non-shell comm
such as perl; an empty comm from an already-exited pid) -- deterministic
on every platform, unlike a live-process fixture, and immune to the BSD
vs Linux difference in how `comm` is derived from a fabricated process.
Adds a stubbed positive backstop (comm=java is counted).

Confirmed the regression is caught: reverted to the round-1 denylist,
reran the suite, watched the new non-shell-comm test fail at
`set -e`'s first failure, then isolated the exited-pid test separately
and confirmed it also fails against the same broken code. Restored the
fix and reran green.

Branch merged with origin/main (3 commits: hunter role + CLAUDE.md
addendum) before this commit; unrelated, no conflicts.
This commit is contained in:
Dai Ha
2026-09-19 15:31:15 +07:00
parent 1e68d7ee39
commit 4b9ebda1b3
2 changed files with 104 additions and 20 deletions
+27 -9
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@@ -181,21 +181,39 @@ jar_id() { local f="${1:-$JAR}"; [ -f "$f" ] && hash256 "$f" || echo "absent"; }
# matches that line right alongside the real `java -jar target/fleetd.jar` process. `pgrep -c`
# (an in-one-call count) does not exist on BSD/macOS at all, so this cannot be fixed by switching
# pgrep flags — it has to filter what pgrep already found, after the fact, in a way that still
# runs on BSD. The daemon is always started as `java -jar target/fleetd.jar`, so its process name
# (comm) is always `java`; a self-matching wrapper of this shape is always a shell. So: keep pgrep
# to FIND candidates (that part is already portable), then drop any candidate whose `comm` names a
# shell — the wrapper is excluded, a genuine second daemon-shaped process (java, or in a test,
# anything that is not itself a shell) still counts. `comm` can carry a login shell's leading '-'
# (e.g. "-bash") or, on some `ps` builds, a full path — both are stripped before the comparison.
# runs on BSD.
#
# fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1 — the first cut of this filter kept everything whose `comm` was NOT a
# shell name (a denylist: sh/bash/zsh/dash/ksh). Two holes in that, both the same false-positive
# shape the ticket exists to remove in the first place:
# 1. a pid `pgrep` just listed can exit before the `ps -o comm=` lookup runs; on a gone pid `ps`
# prints nothing, `comm` ends up empty, and an empty string matches none of the denied shell
# names — so a pid that no longer exists was still counted.
# 2. the denylist only knows the shells someone thought to name. `ssh`, `perl`, `python3`,
# `ruby`, `tail` — anything else that carries the pattern in its own argv — was still
# counted right along with the real daemon, and the ticket names `ssh` as a live route.
# Both close with the same change: allowlist `comm = java` instead of denying shells. Measured on
# the live daemon: `pid=30224 comm=java`. An empty comm (hole 1) is not `java` either, so it is
# excluded for free — no separate "is this pid still alive" check needed.
#
# The objection, because it is real: an allowlist can UNDER-count. If fleetd ever stops being
# launched as `java -jar ...` — a native image, a renamed launcher — `running_pid()` silently
# returns nothing and `assert_single_daemon` stops noticing a second daemon at all. For a guard,
# that false-negative direction is the worse one to be wrong in. This is not a new assumption,
# though: `PATTERN='target/fleetd.jar'` two lines up already assumes the daemon is a jar, which
# is only ever run by `java`. If that launch method changes, `PATTERN` stops matching anything
# before this allowlist would ever get the chance to be wrong — the allowlist rides on the same
# assumption that is already load-bearing, it does not add a new one. Whoever changes the launch
# method needs to update both `PATTERN` and this allowlist together.
running_pid() {
local pid comm out=''
for pid in $(pgrep -f "$PATTERN" 2>/dev/null || true); do
comm="$(ps -o comm= -p "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true)"
comm="${comm##*/}"
comm="${comm#-}"
case "$comm" in
sh|bash|zsh|dash|ksh) continue ;;
esac
# Allowlist, not a denylist of wrappers — see the CORRECTION 1 comment above. Anything that
# is not literally `java` is excluded, including an empty comm from a pid that already exited.
[ "$comm" = java ] || continue
out="$out$pid"$'\n'
done
printf '%s' "$out"
+77 -11
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@@ -457,24 +457,87 @@ test_running_pid_excludes_self_matching_wrapper_shell() {
|| fail "running_pid() counted a self-matching wrapper shell (pid $wrapper_pid, holding the pattern as literal text in its own argv, not the daemon): before=[$before] after=[$after]"
}
# fleetd #593 instance 2, the other half — the fix above must not exclude too much. A genuine
# daemon-shaped process (comm is not a shell) whose own argv holds the pattern must still be
# found. `exec -a` gives a harmless `sleep` an argv[0] containing the pattern without starting a
# real JVM: copying a system binary into a scratch path and executing it from there was tried
# first and the OS killed it outright (SIGKILL, exit 137 — almost certainly a code-signing check),
# so this uses `exec -a` instead, which needs no binary of its own and nothing under a scratch
# directory.
test_running_pid_still_finds_a_real_second_process() {
# fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1 — the round-1 version of this test gave its standin an argv[0]
# containing the pattern text (via `exec -a`) and left `comm` as whatever that override produced,
# which was never `java`. That was fine for a denylist-of-shells filter, but the allowlist below
# now requires `comm = java` specifically, so the standin here must actually carry that comm, not
# just avoid being a shell. `exec -a java` overrides argv[0] to `java` while the process itself
# stays a genuine, harmless `sh`; combining it with the same non-exec'ing multi-statement shape
# the wrapper-shell test above uses keeps the pattern text in the process's own `ps -o args` for
# as long as it runs. Measured live on this Mac (BSD/macOS: `ps -o comm=` here reflects argv[0]):
# `comm=java`, `args` contains the pattern, `pgrep -f "$PATTERN"` finds it. Copying a real system
# binary into a scratch path and executing it from there was tried first, for a more literal
# stand-in daemon, and the OS killed it outright (SIGKILL, exit 137 — almost certainly a
# code-signing check on a relocated binary); `exec -a` needs no binary of its own and nothing
# under a scratch directory, and it is the technique CORRECTION 1 names as the right one.
#
# This is the one live-process test in this file whose result could differ on Linux: Linux sets
# `comm` from the actually-executed binary's own path, not from `exec -a`'s argv[0] override (BSD
# ties `comm` to argv[0], which is what makes this technique work here) — so on Linux this
# specific fixture might report `comm=sh`, not `comm=java`, even though the REAL daemon (a literal
# `java -jar target/fleetd.jar` process, never fabricated) is unaffected either way. I could not
# verify this fixture's behavior on Linux, so test_running_pid_counts_a_pid_whose_comm_is_java
# below backstops the same claim (the allowlist admits a pid whose comm is `java`) with a stubbed
# `ps`, which is identical bash on every platform and carries no such platform question.
test_running_pid_finds_a_real_java_named_second_process() {
local before after standin_pid
before="$(running_pid)"
( exec -a "fleetd-593-test-standin-target/fleetd.jar" sleep 20 ) &
( exec -a java sh -c 'echo "target/fleetd.jar" >/dev/null; sleep 20' ) &
standin_pid=$!
sleep 0.3
after="$(running_pid)"
kill "$standin_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
wait "$standin_pid" 2>/dev/null || true
printf '%s\n' "$after" | grep -qxF "$standin_pid" \
|| fail "running_pid() did not find a real second daemon-shaped process (pid $standin_pid) whose own argv holds the pattern: before=[$before] after=[$after]"
|| fail "running_pid() did not find a real second process (pid $standin_pid, comm forced to 'java' via exec -a) whose own argv holds the pattern: before=[$before] after=[$after]"
}
# fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1, hole 2 — the round-1 filter denied known shell names (sh/bash/zsh/
# dash/ksh) and counted everything else. `ssh`, `perl`, `python3`, `ruby`, `tail` — anything not on
# that list, carrying the pattern in its own argv — was still counted right alongside the real
# daemon, and the ticket names `ssh` as a live route. Stubbing `pgrep`/`ps` (rather than spawning a
# real perl/ssh process) pins the exact discriminator this correction is about — comm, not the
# caller's shape — deterministically on every platform, with no dependency on perl/python3/ruby
# being installed in whatever environment runs this suite, and no dependency on how a given OS
# derives `comm` for a fabricated process (see the comment above
# test_running_pid_finds_a_real_java_named_second_process for why that matters here).
test_running_pid_drops_a_pid_whose_comm_is_not_java() {
pgrep() { printf '4242\n'; }
ps() { printf 'perl\n'; }
local found
found="$(running_pid)"
unset -f pgrep ps
[ -z "$found" ] \
|| fail "running_pid() counted pid 4242 whose comm is 'perl', not 'java' — denying known shell names does not exclude a non-shell wrapper such as ssh or perl (fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1): found=[$found]"
}
# fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1, hole 1 — pgrep can list a pid that exits before the following
# `ps -o comm=` lookup runs; on a gone pid `ps` prints nothing, so `comm` comes back empty. Under
# the round-1 denylist an empty string matched none of the denied shell names, so the dead pid was
# still counted — the exact false-positive shape the ticket exists to remove, just rarer. The
# allowlist fixes this for free: an empty comm is not `java` either.
test_running_pid_drops_a_pid_that_exited_before_the_comm_lookup() {
pgrep() { printf '4242\n'; }
ps() { :; } # a pid that no longer exists: the real `ps -p <gone>` prints nothing and this mirrors that
local found
found="$(running_pid)"
unset -f pgrep ps
[ -z "$found" ] \
|| fail "running_pid() counted pid 4242 whose comm lookup came back empty (the pid had already exited before the lookup ran) — an empty comm must not pass the allowlist (fleetd #593 CORRECTION 1): found=[$found]"
}
# The positive backstop for both stubbed tests above, and for
# test_running_pid_finds_a_real_java_named_second_process on whatever platform that live fixture
# does not itself carry comm=java: the allowlist must still ADMIT the one comm value the real
# daemon actually has. Measured on the real, currently-running daemon on this Mac: `comm=java`.
test_running_pid_counts_a_pid_whose_comm_is_java() {
pgrep() { printf '4242\n'; }
ps() { printf 'java\n'; }
local found
found="$(running_pid)"
unset -f pgrep ps
printf '%s\n' "$found" | grep -qxF '4242' \
|| fail "running_pid() did not count pid 4242 whose comm is 'java' — the daemon's own name must pass the allowlist: found=[$found]"
}
# fleetd #593 instance 3 — assert_single_daemon's refusal message used to tell the operator to
@@ -1956,7 +2019,10 @@ test_count_daemon_pids
test_assert_single_daemon_accepts_one_pid
test_assert_single_daemon_rejects_two_pids
test_running_pid_excludes_self_matching_wrapper_shell
test_running_pid_still_finds_a_real_second_process
test_running_pid_finds_a_real_java_named_second_process
test_running_pid_drops_a_pid_whose_comm_is_not_java
test_running_pid_drops_a_pid_that_exited_before_the_comm_lookup
test_running_pid_counts_a_pid_whose_comm_is_java
test_die_message_does_not_recommend_bare_pgrep_as_remediation
test_jar_id_defaults_to_live_and_reports_explicit_path
test_hash256_computes_a_real_sha256