Three follow-up cleanups on top of the determinism / typedef / LE
work in f2a5be3.
================================================================
Pass 1: fix strict-aliasing UB in PPU sprite buffer and FCEU_dwmemset
================================================================
Three sites were doing type-punning through uint32_t* casts that
GCC flags with -Wstrict-aliasing=2:
1. ppu.c FetchSpriteData (two near-identical sites). After populating
a local SPRB struct (4 bytes: ca[2], atr, x), the prior code did
'*(uint32_t*)&SPRBUF[ns << 2] = *(uint32_t*)&dst' to store the
struct as one 32-bit word. This violates strict-aliasing (uint8_t
buffer accessed as uint32_t, struct accessed as uint32_t) and
silently assumes 4-byte alignment of SPRBUF + (ns << 2). Use
memcpy instead - GCC and Clang lower it to the same single
32-bit store.
2. fceu-memory.h FCEU_dwmemset macro. Same pattern every iteration:
'*(uint32_t*)& (d)[_x] = c'. Replaced with memcpy(... &v, 4) in
the macro body. Same generated code, now alias- and align-clean.
Added #include <string.h> to fceu-memory.h itself (4 callers
relied on transitive includes for memcpy).
================================================================
Pass 2: bounded string operations
================================================================
Sweep across the core and libretro driver to replace every unbounded
string function with its size-aware counterpart:
strcpy -> strlcpy (with explicit destination size)
strncpy -> strlcpy (silent truncation -> guaranteed NUL termination
and known-size semantics; behaviourally identical
at every call site here because callers either
pre-zeroed the buffer or treated truncation as
a guaranteed terminator)
strcat -> strlcpy at offset (track 'pos' across appends to avoid
rescanning the buffer with strlen and to keep
the bound explicit at every step)
sprintf -> snprintf (with sizeof(buf) as the bound)
The compat/strl.h header from libretro-common is on the include path
for every translation unit; the libretro driver files were already
using strlcpy via stdstring.h transitive include. Core files (ines.c,
unif.c, cheat.c, nsf.c, state.c, general.c) gain explicit
'#include <compat/strl.h>'.
Per-file changes:
general.c
- FCEUI_SetBaseDirectory: strncpy + manual NUL -> strlcpy
- FCEU_MakeFName: malloc(strlen+1) + strcpy -> sized strlcpy,
malloc NULL-check added (was unchecked).
ines.c
- 'gigastr' iNES-header-warning building.
Pre-existing bug fixed: every sprintf(gigastr + gigastr_len, ...)
wrote at the SAME offset captured once at the top of the block,
so when multiple 'tofix' bits were set, only the LAST fragment
survived (each sprintf clobbered the previous). Replaced with a
running 'pos' offset across snprintf and strlcpy-at-offset calls.
- 6 sprintf -> snprintf, 3 strcat -> strlcpy at offset, 1 strcpy
-> strlcpy.
unif.c
- GameInfo->name allocation: strcpy -> strlcpy with explicit size.
cheat.c
- FCEUI_AddCheat: malloc + strcpy -> sized strlcpy.
- FCEUI_SetCheat: realloc + strcpy -> sized strlcpy.
nsf.c
- FCEUI_NSFGetInfo: 3x strncpy -> strlcpy.
- Visualiser snbuf sprintf -> snprintf (the 16-byte buffer was
technically overflowable for very large song counts).
state.c
- AddExState description copy: strncpy -> strlcpy. Preserves
4-byte SFORMAT-tag semantics.
fds.c
- Disk-tag formatting: sprintf "DDT%d" -> snprintf.
boards/__serial.c
- 2 sprintf -> snprintf (Windows-only SerialOpen path).
drivers/libretro/libretro.c
- retro_cheat_set: sprintf "N/A" + strcpy literal -> strlcpy.
drivers/libretro/libretro_dipswitch.c
- VS-DIP key building: sprintf -> snprintf.
- core_key calloc + strcpy -> sized strlcpy. calloc NULL-check
added (was unchecked - dereferencing NULL on OOM).
drivers/libretro/libretro_core_options.h
- values_buf assembly: single strcpy + N strcat replaced with
strlcpy + strlcpy-at-offset using a running 'pos'. Each step
bounded by remaining buffer space.
================================================================
Pass 3: remove FCEUDEF_DEBUGGER and the unused debugger scaffolding
================================================================
The FCEUDEF_DEBUGGER macro was never defined for libretro builds, so
every block guarded by it was dead code. Removing the macro takes
out:
- src/debug.c (FCEUI_DumpMem, FCEUI_DumpVid, FCEUI_LoadMem,
FCEUI_Disassemble, FCEUI_MemDump, FCEUI_MemSafePeek,
FCEUI_MemPoke, breakpoint set/get/list, FCEUI_SetCPUCallback).
Not in Makefile.common SOURCES_C, never compiled. None of the
declared functions had any caller in any compiled .c file.
- src/debug.h (declarations for the above).
- x6502.c X6502_RunDebug. The dual-implementation pattern with a
function pointer that switched between RunNormal and RunDebug
is now a single direct X6502_Run.
- x6502.c X6502_Debug, FCEUI_NMI, FCEUI_IRQ, FCEUI_GetIVectors.
Set/get debugger hooks. No callers.
- x6502.c RdMemHook, WrMemHook, XSave, debugmode. Hook scaffolding
used only by RunDebug.
- x6502struct.h X6502 fields preexec, CPUHook, ReadHook, WriteHook.
Set only inside RunDebug, never read elsewhere.
- fceuindbg variable. Set to 1 only in FCEUI_GetIVectors and
X6502_RunDebug (both removed); was always 0 elsewhere, so every
'if (!fceuindbg)' check was a no-op. Removed both the variable
(defined in ppu.c, declared in fceu.h) and every check site
across sound.c, input.c, fds.c, nsf.c, ppu.c, mmc5.c, n106.c,
BMW8544.c, and the input drivers (arkanoid, mahjong, mouse,
pec586kb, powerpad, zapper).
- All FCEUDEF_DEBUGGER conditional declarations from driver.h.
The 'if (!fceuindbg)' checks gated side-effects (joypad-bit-counter
increments, PPU register reads, etc.) so a future debugger could peek
at memory without advancing the emulator state. With the debugger
gone, those side-effects are now unconditional - which is what they
should have been anyway in a libretro build.
If a future developer needs a debugger they should resurrect this
out of git history into a separate debugger-frontend project rather
than re-introducing a build-time toggle that nothing in the libretro
build can ever exercise.
================================================================
Build status
================================================================
Build clean on `make platform=unix` with zero errors and zero
warnings. Output binary 184 bytes smaller than upstream f2a5be3
(4,388,840 -> 4,388,656). 31 files changed, 127 insertions, 863
deletions.
Three follow-up audit passes on top of the memory-safety / leak /
savestate-portability work in 1185db8.
==============================================================
Pass 1: replace custom typedefs with C99 stdint types throughout
==============================================================
The custom uint8 / uint16 / uint32 / uint64 / int8 / int16 / int32 /
int64 typedefs in src/fceu-types.h were just simple aliases for the
C99 stdint.h types. Replace them with the standard names directly.
- 498 files modified
- ~3,400 token replacements (uint8 -> uint8_t, etc)
- fceu-types.h slimmed down to just INLINE / GINLINE / FASTAPASS
macros and the readfunc / writefunc function-pointer typedefs
(those now use uint8_t / uint32_t natively)
- Build clean on `make platform=unix` with zero new warnings
- Output binary size unchanged - confirming semantic equivalence
Mechanical replacement done with a Python script that uses word-
boundary regex to avoid false positives (e.g. 'uint32_t' was
correctly left alone because '_' is a word character so 'uint32'
is not a complete word inside it).
================================================================
Pass 2: prefer memcpy on LE hosts for endian read/write helpers
================================================================
fceu-endian.c's write32le_mem, FCEU_en32lsb, and FCEU_de32lsb
performed bytewise composition/decomposition unconditionally. On
LE hosts the in-memory representation already matches the desired
LE on-disk format, so a single memcpy is equivalent and lets the
compiler emit a single load/store rather than four byte ops.
- The bytewise path is kept inside #ifdef MSB_FIRST for BE hosts
where it implements the actual byte swap
- Both forms produce identical results; this is a code-clarity
change more than a performance one (the optimizer was already
merging the shifts on LE), but it documents the intent and
removes a strict-aliasing-flavoured cast through
*(uint32_t*)Bufo
- Added missing #include <string.h> in fceu-endian.c which was
relying on transitive includes for memcpy
Other MSB_FIRST sites in the codebase (state.c FlipByteOrder
guards, ppu.c sprite-line rendering, boards/unrom512.c flash-write-
counter access) were already optimized for LE; they were verified
correct rather than changed.
================================================================
Pass 3: frame determinism for replay and netplay
================================================================
Two libc rand() sites in core were replaced with a local xorshift32
PRNG so that NES games which read uninitialised memory or hit
hardware "weak bit" emulation produce reproducible behaviour across
runs. NES titles routinely read uninitialised RAM (variables not
zeroed before use, sprite Y-position set by junk-on-stack), so the
RAM contents at power-on subtly affect game behaviour. With libc
rand(), those contents depend on whether anyone else seeded rand()
in the same process - a different libretro frontend, a different
audio backend init order, or any frontend that does srand(time(0))
all break replay / netplay frame-determinism.
1. fceu.c FCEU_MemoryRand. Used to fill RAM (PowerNES) and CHR-RAM
(iNES_Init) at power-on when option_ramstate=2 (random init).
Replaced with a local xorshift32 PRNG, exposed via a new
FCEU_MemoryRand_Reseed(uint32_t) function called once per
power-on:
- PowerNES seeds from the first 4 bytes of GameInfo->MD5 (set
by all loaders before PowerNES runs) so identical ROMs
produce identical RAM, different ROMs differ
- iNES_Init seeds from iNESCart.PRGCRC32 before the CHR-RAM
fill so two builds of the same ROM get the same CHR-RAM
- The PRNG state advances across multiple FCEU_MemoryRand
calls within one power-on so RAM and CHR-RAM get different
content (matching NES hardware reality)
2. boards/rt-01.c UNLRT01Read. The RT-01 board has 'weak bit'
protected EPROM regions; reads of 0xCE80-0xCEFF and 0xFE80-
0xFEFF return 0xF2 with the low 3 bits randomised. Replaced
libc rand() with a local xorshift32 seeded at power-on, and
added the PRNG state to the savestate via AddExState with key
"WBKS" so save / load / rewind / netplay rollback all stay
deterministic.
In addition, two long-double-to-int truncations were changed to
double for cross-platform FP determinism:
- sound.c SetSoundVariables: soundtsinc
- boards/n106.c DoNamcoSound: inc
long double has platform-dependent precision (80-bit on x87,
64-bit with -mfpmath=sse, 128-bit on PowerPC), so the truncated
integer result varied across these platforms. double is
guaranteed 64-bit IEEE-754 portably.
After this pass, the core has no time(), clock(), gettimeofday(),
clock_gettime(), getpid(), getuid(), getgid(), getenv(), gethostid(),
pthread, std::thread, OpenMP, signal handler, or non-deterministic-
malloc dependency. Verified with a Python scanner that greps the
source for these patterns; runs clean.
The PPU / APU / CPU power-on already explicitly memset all state
buffers to 0 (deterministic), and ROM/CHR-ROM allocation already
memsets to 0xFF before partial fread (deterministic regardless of
file truncation).
Combined with the memory-safety hardening in 1185db8 (which
prevents savestate-loaded indices from going out-of-bounds and
producing unpredictable behaviour), the core now offers genuine
frame-deterministic replay across runs, builds, and host endian.
Squashed series of ~50 distinct bugs found during a multi-day
security/correctness audit, ranging from ROM-triggerable heap
corruption and savestate-triggered OOB read primitives down to
obscure cross-platform savestate breakage.
Build is clean on `make platform=unix` with zero new warnings.
CRITICAL (ROM-triggerable, exploitable on the user's machine)
=============================================================
* ines.c iNES 2.0 PRG/CHR exponent overflow leading to undersized
allocation followed by heap buffer overflow on fread (pow() with
attacker-chosen exponent up to 63). Cap exponent at 30 and
compute size in uint32 with explicit cap below 2 GiB before
storing in int.
* ines.c miscROMSize int wraparound from attacker-controlled PRG/
CHR sizes; previous '& 0x8000000' check missed common underflow
cases. Compute in int64 and reject <= 0 or > 128 MiB.
* unif.c MAPR chunk OOB heap read on chunks of size < 4. Validate
chunk size before allocating board-name buffer.
* unif.c chunk size truncation: int conversion + missing cap allowed
a 4 GiB chunk size to wrap. Cap at 16 MiB.
* unif.c FixRomSize infinite loop on size > 0x80000000. Cap input.
* unif.c DINF chunk: months[(m - 1) % 12] is UB for m==0; m comes
from the .unf file. Clamp m into [1..12] before subtracting.
* unif.c NAME chunk: GameInfo->name = malloc(...) was unchecked.
* nsf.c size underflow: FCEU_fgetsize() - 0x80 wraps to ~UINT64_MAX
on tiny files, propagating a huge size into uppow2/FCEU_malloc.
Validate size > 0x80 before subtracting.
* nsf.c NSFMaxBank * 4096 cap tightened from 1<<20 (UB on signed-int
overflow) to 1<<19 (fits in int).
* general.c uppow2 had signed-int UB (1 << 32) and wrapped to 0 for
inputs near uint32 max. Cap at 0x80000000.
* cheat.c SubCheats[256] BSS overflow when more than 256 GG/PAR
substitution cheats are active. The array is adjacent to MMapPtrs[64]
in BSS which is exposed via retro_get_memory_data, making this
overflow visible from outside the core.
* libretro.c retro_cheat_set strcpy stack overflow with arbitrary-
length cheat strings from the frontend. Use strlcpy.
CRITICAL (savestate-triggerable on a malicious .fcs file)
=========================================================
* fds.c FDS savestate OOB read primitive: InDisk loaded from
savestate is used as index into 8-element diskdata[] static
pointer array. A value 8..254 dereferences arbitrary memory as
a pointer (heap-read primitive). Also bounds-checked SelectDisk,
mapperFDS_block, mapperFDS_blockstart, mapperFDS_diskaddr,
mapperFDS_blocklen so blockstart+diskaddr stays within the 65500-
byte disk buffer.
* 11 mappers had savestate-loaded variables masked at write time
but not at restore time, used as indices into fixed arrays:
- 88.c, KS7037.c, 112.c cmd indexes reg[8]
- sachen.c (S8259, S74LS374N) cmd indexes latch[8]
- 357.c dipswitch indexes outer_bank[4]
- unrom512.c flash_state indexes erase_a/d/b[5]
- 368.c preg indexes banks[8]
- 69.c sndcmd indexes sreg[14]
- mmc2and4.c latch0/latch1 index creg[4]
None individually exploitable into RCE - the array writes corrupt
adjacent BSS with constrained data flowing in - but each is an
out-of-bounds read or write from attacker-controllable input.
HIGH (memory-safety, reachable on any load)
===========================================
* fceu-memory.c FCEU_malloc deref-of-NULL on allocation failure
('ret = 0; memset(ret, 0, size);').
* file.c multiple FCEUFILE/MakeMemWrap/MakeMemWrapBuffer unchecked
allocations and unchecked filestream_tell return.
* libretro.c GameInfo NULL-derefs in three entry points
(retro_set_controller_port_device, retro_get_memory_data,
retro_get_memory_size) reachable on operations called before a
successful load.
* libretro.c framebuffer leak ~256 KB per failed FCEUI_LoadGame
(the libretro frontend doesn't call retro_unload_game on a
failed load).
* libretro.c 3DS retro_deinit unchecked linearFree.
* libretro.c stereo / NTSC filter unchecked malloc returns.
* fceu.c FCEUI_LoadGame unchecked GameInfo malloc.
* fds.c SubLoad and FDSLoad unchecked FCEU_malloc on diskdatao
backup buffers (NULL-deref in subsequent memcpy).
* fceu.c AllocGenieRW partial-failure leak: AReadG allocated but
BWriteG malloc fails -> 256 KB leak per retry.
* input/bworld.c Update(): unbounded strcpy from attacker-supplied
data into 20-byte bdata. Replaced with length-bounded copy.
* cart.c setprg2r/4r and setchr1r/2r/4r/8r mask-underflow guards.
SetupCartPRGMapping/SetupCartCHRMapping compute (size >> N) - 1
which underflows to 0xFFFFFFFF for chips smaller than the unit.
setprg8r/16r/32r and setchr8r already had defensive size checks;
the smaller units did not. malee.c (2 KB chip) and mapper 218
(2 KB NTARAM-as-CHR) accidentally avoid OOB; the primitive is
unsafe for any future board.
* video.c FCEU_InitVirtualVideo XBuf/XDBuf partial-failure leak.
* video.c, fceu.c FCEU_DispMessage / FCEU_printf / FCEU_PrintError:
vsprintf into fixed stack buffers replaced with vsnprintf.
* core: validate magic-string read length on FDS/UNIF/NSF load
(reject files too short to contain the magic so previous static
buffer / stack garbage doesn't spuriously match).
LEAKS (every cart load/unload cycle)
====================================
* mmc5.c MMC5 cart-side: WRAM (up to 64K) + MMC5fill (1K) + ExRAM
(1K) leaked per cycle. NSFMMC5_Close existed but was only used
for NSF code path.
* onebus.c Mapper 270/436: 8 KB CHRRAM leaked per cycle.
* 330.c, 375.c, 528.c: 8 KB WRAM each, no Close at all.
CORRECTNESS (UB / ABI / endianness)
===================================
* fceu-endian.c FlipByteOrder loop bound was 'count' instead of
'count/2', making it a no-op for every even count and silently
breaking savestate portability for every FCEUSTATE_RLSB-marked
field. The '#ifndef GEKKO' workarounds scattered through the
codebase (sound.c, vrc7.c, vrc6.c) were symptoms of this root
cause.
* state.c AddExState bounds check ran AFTER writing the entry, so
when SFEXINDEX hit the 63-entry cap the next call would write
the entry then immediately overwrite it with the terminator.
* state.c FCEUSS_Save_Mem: post-save callback was guarded by
'if (SPreSave)' instead of 'if (SPostSave)'.
* Sequence-point UB in counter expressions across 4 board files,
e.g. 'x = !x ? a : --x' and 'x = ++x % n'. GCC -Wsequence-point
flags all five sites (285.c, 413.c, asic_mmc3.c, jyasic.c).
* SFORMAT size mismatches between declared variable type and
AddExState size argument:
- asic_vrc3.c VRC3_count/VRC3_reload (uint16, saved as 1 byte)
- mmc3.c m555_count (uint32, saved as 2 bytes), m555_count_-
expired (uint8, saved as 2 bytes - OOB write into adjacent
BSS).
* unrom512.c UNROM-512 mapper 30 .srm save format: host-endian
uint32 flash write counters. Now stored as LE on disk regardless
of host (Battle Kid 2, Twin Dragons, Lizard, Sole, etc.).
* ~70 multi-byte single-variable SFORMAT/AddExState entries across
36 board files were saved as host-byte-order. After the
FlipByteOrder fix, these are now byte-swapped on BE so cross-
platform savestates round-trip correctly.
* coolgirl.c new ExStateLE() macro added; 22 multi-byte sites.
* pic16c5x.c 11 multi-byte AddExState calls (m_PC, m_PREVPC,
m_CONFIG, m_WDT, m_prescaler, m_opcode, m_STACK[0/1], m_icount,
m_delay_timer, m_rtcc, m_inst_cycles, m_clock2cycle).
* onebus.c PowerJoy Supermax submapper detection used non-portable
*(uint32*)&info->MD5 cast that read different bytes on LE vs BE.
* fds.c clean up redundant FCEUSTATE_RLSB encoding in AddExState
calls that also passed type=1 (idempotent OR; readability fix).
DOCUMENTATION
=============
* input.c UpdateGP's *(uint32*)data cast looks like a typical
endian bug but is actually correct (the libretro frontend builds
JSReturn with matching host-uint32 shifts). Comment added to
prevent future "fixes" from breaking it.
Limitations not addressed
=========================
* Element-stride-aware byte swapping. The savestate byte-swap
mechanism (FlipByteOrder over the entire SFORMAT entry buffer)
is structurally wrong for arrays of multi-byte values: it
reverses the whole buffer end-to-end instead of byte-swapping
each element. Several places that need cross-platform-portable
arrays (VRC7 sound state, jyasic chr[8]) work around this by
either splitting arrays into per-element SFORMAT entries (n106
PlayIndex, bandai reg) or by skipping save entirely on BE via
#ifndef GEKKO. A proper fix would extend the size encoding with
an element-stride field. Left for a future change because it
would change the savestate format.
* Strict-aliasing UB in ppu.c (around 9 sites doing
*(uint32*)uint8_buf for fast 4-byte writes via FCEU_dwmemset).
Works in practice with all common compilers because the patterns
are byte-symmetric, but is formally UB.
* FCEU_gmalloc calls exit(1) on OOM. A libretro core should never
exit() because that takes down the whole frontend. Used by
100+ call sites; refactoring to return-NULL is out of scope here.
Testing
=======
* Build: clean on `make platform=unix` with -O2; no new warnings.
* FlipByteOrder fix verified by hand-trace and a standalone unit
test for counts 2, 4, 8.
* uppow2 fix verified by unit test across 13 boundary cases.
* SFORMAT size mismatches and missing-RLSB cases identified by
Python static-analysis scripts that cross-reference SFORMAT
entries against variable declarations.
* iNES 2.0 exponent fix verified by hand-tracing what byte 0xFF
produces post-fix: exp=30 (capped), mult=7, size=3 GiB nominal,
capped to 1 GiB, capped to 2 GiB by uppow2, FCEU_malloc returns
NULL on most systems, loader returns 0. No heap overflow for
any input byte.
* Savestate-loaded array index audit: built a Python scanner that
extracts each AddExState/SFORMAT entry and cross-references the
variable name against array-index uses in the same file. All
flagged sites covered.
* A libFuzzer harness and seed corpus generator (fuzz_main.c,
gen_seed_corpus.py) accompany this submission for ongoing
regression testing.
