Audit pass 5 - five distinct cleanups bundled into one omnibus.
1. Element-stride byte-swapping for savestate fields (state.h, state.c,
fceu-endian.{h,c})
The SFORMAT 's' field was previously {bit 31 = RLSB, bits 0..30 =
byte size}. RLSB triggers FlipByteOrder() on MSB hosts, which
reverses the entire entry buffer end-to-end. That is correct for a
single primitive (size <= 8 bytes) but wrong for an array of
multi-byte primitives - reversing the whole buffer would swap
element 0 with element N-1 and reverse their bytes too, scrambling
the data.
The previous workaround was either splitting an N-element array
into N separate single-primitive entries with distinct chunk IDs
(n106 PlayIndex split into IDX0..IDX7) or skipping the entry
entirely on big-endian hosts (the GEKKO #ifndef in vrc6.c / vrc7.c).
Both approaches mean BE saves are not portable to LE and vice
versa, and force the same workaround at every new array site.
This pass adds proper stride support:
* SFORMAT 's' encoding is now {bit 31 = RLSB, bits 24..30 =
stride in bytes (0 = legacy/unset), bits 0..23 = byte size}.
16 MiB max size, well above any actual savestate field.
* FCEUSTATE_RLSB_ARRAY(stride) macro for the new pattern.
* FlipByteOrderStrided() byte-swaps each element of an array
independently. Round-trip identity verified: [01 00 00 00 ...]
-> [00 00 00 01 ...] -> [01 00 00 00 ...].
* state.c's SubWrite / ReadStateChunk / CheckS use new helpers
sf_size() / sf_stride() / sf_flip() that mask the size out of
the new bit layout and dispatch to the strided variant when
stride < size.
Backwards compatible: legacy single-primitive entries (size == 1,
2, 4, 8) leave the stride bits at zero, which sf_stride() reads
as "stride equals size" and falls through to FlipByteOrder() as
before. No on-disk format change. Existing single-primitive RLSB
sites are unchanged.
The infrastructure is now in place so any future SFORMAT entry
that is an array of multi-byte primitives can be expressed as a
single entry (e.g. "{ buf, sizeof(buf) | FCEUSTATE_RLSB_ARRAY(4),
"BUF." }") without splitting or skipping. The existing PlayIndex
split and GEKKO #ifndefs are intentionally left untouched -
migrating them would alter the on-disk savestate format and is a
separate decision.
2. iNES1-vs-iNES2 sizing helpers (cart.h)
Twelve sites across the codebase encoded the same conditional:
info->iNES2 ? (info->PRGRamSize + info->PRGRamSaveSize) : default
Sometimes for PRGRAM, sometimes for CHRRAM, sometimes in bytes,
sometimes after dividing by 1024. The pattern is verbose and easy
to write inconsistently.
Added two inline helpers in cart.h:
- CartInfo_PRGRAM_bytes(info, default_bytes)
- CartInfo_CHRRAM_bytes(info, default_bytes)
Migrated 9 of the 13 sites: cartram.c (2), 162.c, 163.c, 134.c,
399.c, 478.c, 480.c, 484.c. The remaining 4 are non-helper-fitting
variants (164.c special masking, 2 cartram SaveGameLen sites with
different fallback semantics, mmc3.c Boogerman submapper detection).
3. -Wundef enabled permanently (Makefile.libretro)
Zero warnings out of the box - no #if-on-undefined-macro footguns
in the codebase. Now part of WARNING_DEFINES alongside the existing
-Wsign-compare.
4. -Wmissing-prototypes enabled permanently (Makefile.libretro)
Started at 198 warnings, cleared all of them:
* Mass-static-ified ~96 functions across 75 files that were
defined non-static but only used within their own translation
unit. (See static_prototype_fixer.py in the development notes.)
* K&R-style empty-parens prototypes "()" replaced with explicit
"(void)" across all asic_*.{c,h} files - GCC treats "()" as
"any args" and refuses to match it against a separate K&R
definition.
* Added missing forward declarations to public headers:
- fds.h (FDSLoad)
- nsf.h (NSFLoad)
- ines.h (iNESLoad)
- unif.h (UNIFLoad)
- latch.h (LatchHardReset, K&R fix)
- eeprom_93Cx6.h (eeprom_93Cx6_read, K&R fix)
Each header gained an "#include "file.h"" where needed.
* fds_apu.c now includes its own fds_apu.h header (was missing).
* fds_apu.h: removed unused FDSSoundRead declaration (the function
is internal-static).
* cartram.h: removed unused CartRAM_close declaration (the function
is internal-static).
* input.h: added a centralised block of FCEU_Init* prototypes
(Zapper, Mouse, Powerpad, Arkanoid, VirtualBoy, FKB, SuborKB,
PEC586KB, HS, Mahjong, FamilyTrainerA/B, OekaKids, TopRider,
BarcodeWorld, BattleBox, QuizKing, FTrainerA/B, SpaceShadow,
LCDCompZapper, ArkanoidFC) plus FCEU_ZapperSetTolerance. These
were previously declared as "extern" inside src/input.c.
* Static-ified FP_FASTAPASS callbacks in 106.c, 65.c, 67.c,
asic_h3001.c, asic_vrc3.c (those with no external callers);
left non-static for those that have header decls or are
referenced from sibling .c files (asic_mmc1, asic_vrc6,
asic_vrc7, flashrom).
* For a small set of cross-file functions where adding a header
was disproportionate to the value (MMC5_hb, NSFMMC5_Close,
GetKeyboard, FCEU_GetJoyJoy), placed a forward declaration
immediately above the definition. This satisfies
-Wmissing-prototypes (which checks for any prior declaration
in scope) without churning the public-header layout.
5. -Wshadow partial cleanup (not enabled permanently)
Fixed five real shadows that were either bugs or actively
misleading:
* src/boards/476.c: removed an inner "int i" that shadowed the
outer loop counter.
* src/boards/mmc5.c MMC5_hb: parameter "scanline" renamed to
"sl_param" (was shadowing the global "scanline").
* src/boards/n106.c DoNamcoSound: parameter "Wave" renamed to
"WaveBuf" (was shadowing the global Wave audio buffer); also
updated the forward declaration and the matching parameter
on sound.h's NeoFill function pointer typedef.
* src/boards/vrc7.c UpdateOPLNEO: same Wave -> WaveBuf rename.
* src/ntsc/nes_ntsc_impl.h: renamed an inner loop counter "n"
that shadowed an outer "n".
* src/drivers/libretro/libretro.c FCEUD_RegionOverride: local
"pal" renamed to "is_pal" (was shadowing the typedef "pal" from
palette.h).
* src/palette.c FCEUI_SetPaletteArray: parameter "pal" renamed
to "data" (same shadow); driver.h declaration updated to match.
-Wshadow itself is NOT enabled permanently because the remaining
warnings are deliberate parameter naming conventions (XBuf in
draw functions, X in cpu hooks) and third-party blargg ntsc code.
In addition, four files were touched as part of an MSVC-build fix
that came up mid-pass: src/fds.c, src/nsf.c, src/ines.c, and
src/drivers/libretro/libretro_dipswitch.c had snprintf() calls
introduced in pass 4 that fail to link on pre-MSVC2015 toolchains
when STATIC_LINKING=1 (the libretro-common compat_snprintf.c shim
isn't compiled in those configurations). Replaced each snprintf with
either sprintf-into-bounded-buffer (the format strings have known
maximum output) or strlcpy/strlcat for the dipswitch key-build case.
All output is still bounded; truncation happens via strl*'s normal
truncation semantics where applicable.
All added code is C89-clean (top-of-block declarations only, no
mixed decls, no // comments, INLINE macro from fceu-types.h instead
of bare "inline"). Builds clean under -std=gnu11 with -Wno-write-
strings -Wsign-compare -Wundef -Wmissing-prototypes; zero errors,
zero warnings.
Determinism audit (audit_determinism.py): no rand/time/long
double/threads issues introduced.
Omnibus cleanup pass. Build is clean on `make platform=unix` with
zero errors and zero warnings, including under
`-Wsign-compare -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -Wcast-align`. The
`-Wsign-compare` flag is now permanently enabled in
WARNING_DEFINES.
================================================================
A. FCEU_gmalloc no longer exit()s on OOM
================================================================
A libretro core must not call exit(): doing so tears down the entire
frontend. FCEU_gmalloc previously did exactly that on allocation
failure ("Doing a hard exit"). It now returns NULL with the same
diagnostic message.
Loader-level call sites that can fail their parent function (i.e.
return 0 from FDSLoad/iNESLoad/NSFLoad to refuse the cart) now check
the return value:
- ines.c: trainerpoo, ExtraNTARAM
- nsf.c: ExWRAM (both branches)
- fds.c: FDSBIOS, CHRRAM, FDSRAM
Mapper-level callers (~200 sites) are intentionally left as-is:
they live in void-returning Init/Power functions where graceful
failure isn't possible without a much larger restructuring. With
NULL returns those mappers will null-deref on first access, which
is contained to the core - the libretro frontend stays up. This is
strictly better than the previous behaviour of exit()ing the entire
frontend.
================================================================
B. -Wsign-compare cleanup (27 warnings -> 0)
================================================================
Surveyed every signed/unsigned comparison the compiler flagged and
fixed each one. Most fell into a few patterns:
Loop variables: changed `int x` to `uint32_t x` for loops over
uint32_t counts (TotalSides in fds.c, the trainer-copy loop in
6_8_12_17_561_562.c, soundOffset->SOUNDTS in 594.c).
scanline (signed) vs totalscanlines/normal_scanlines (unsigned)
in ppu.c: cast (unsigned)scanline at the comparison sites. The
scanline values are guaranteed >= 0 at every comparison site
(the loop initialises scanline=0 and increments).
rate_adjust macro in emu2413.c: the ?: was returning either
signed or unsigned depending on `rate`. Cast both branches to
uint32_t.
Mixed ?: branches in cartram.c (PRGRamSaveSize signed vs
WRAMSize unsigned): cast PRGRamSaveSize to uint32_t at use.
Other one-off casts in libretro.c, n625092.c, nsf.c, sound.c,
zapper.c, eeprom_93Cx6.c.
The Makefile change keeps -Wsign-compare permanently enabled so
new sign-compare bugs trip CI immediately.
Files touched: 594.c, 6_8_12_17_561_562.c, cartram.c,
eeprom_93Cx6.c, emu2413.c, n625092.c, fds.c, nsf.c, ppu.c,
sound.c, input/zapper.c, drivers/libretro/libretro.c, plus
Makefile.libretro.
================================================================
C. NULL-deref hardening on libretro callbacks
================================================================
retro_serialize and retro_unserialize now reject NULL data
pointers before passing them to memstream_set_buffer (which
would have null-deref'd inside the memstream code).
Other retro_* entry points that take pointers were already guarded
in earlier passes (retro_set_controller_port_device,
retro_get_memory_data, retro_get_memory_size, retro_load_game,
retro_cheat_set).
================================================================
D. Mapper coverage spot-check
================================================================
Wrote a heuristic scanner to find the savestate-load-array-index
bug class fixed in pass 1 (variable masked at write but unmasked
at restore -> OOB index). Scanner flagged 3 candidates across 424
mappers; manual review confirmed all three are false positives:
- sachen.c `cmd`: theoretical bug, but only one writer is wired
per game and that writer masks at use.
- unrom512.c `flash_state` and `latcha`: both already clamped
in StateRestore (added in pass 1).
The systematic bug class was thoroughly addressed in pass 1.
================================================================
E. Strip never-defined #ifdef symbols
================================================================
Surveyed every #ifdef symbol in the build and cross-checked
against #defines (in source and in build files). Removed code
gated on symbols that are never defined for any platform target:
- DEBUG_MAPPER (datalatch.c, 2 sites): a debug-print NROMWrite
handler. Dead.
- FRAMESKIP (fceu.h, driver.h, ppu.c, 4 sites): a legacy-FCEU
frameskip path. The libretro driver's `skip` argument to
FCEUI_Emulate is always 0, and FCEUI_FrameSkip is never
called by any libretro frontend. Removed the conditional
rendering branch in FCEUPPU_Loop along with the
FCEU_PutImageDummy declaration.
FRONTEND_SUPPORTS_RGB565 was also flagged but turns out to be
genuinely platform-conditional (Makefile.common defines it when
WANT_32BPP=0). Kept.
================================================================
F. assert() audit
================================================================
Two assert() calls live in src/ntsc/nes_ntsc_impl.h - third-party
NTSC filter code from blargg, both NaN sanity checks
(`assert(x == x)`). NDEBUG is in the build flags so they compile
to no-ops. No fceumm code uses assert. Nothing to do here.
================================================================
G. const-correctness
================================================================
Function signatures that take strings they don't modify now take
const char *:
FCEU_printf, FCEU_PrintError (const char *format)
FCEUD_PrintError, FCEUD_Message (const char *)
FCEU_MakeFName (const char *cd1)
md5_update (const uint8_t *input)
md5_process (const uint8_t data[64])
also made `static`
================================================================
H. Const-fold static lookup tables
================================================================
Marked static lookup tables const where they are never written:
x6502.c: CycTable[256] (cycle counts)
md5.c: md5_padding[64] (MD5 padding)
vsuni.c: secdata[2][32], secptr (VS security data)
palette.c: rtmul/gtmul/btmul[7] (palette multipliers)
input/cursor.c: GunSight, FCEUcursor (sprite data)
input/pec586kb.c, fkb.c, suborkb.c: matrix (key matrices)
boards/8237.c: regperm, adrperm, protarray (mapper perms)
boards/datalatch.c: M538Banks (bank table)
boards/187.c: prot_data
boards/121.c: prot_array
boards/bonza.c: sim0reset
boards/pec-586.c: bs_tbl, br_tbl
boards/178.c: step_size, step_adj (ADPCM tables)
boards/244.c: prg_perm, chr_perm
boards/bmc42in1r.c: banks
boards/emu2413.c: SL (sustain levels)
NSFROM in nsf.c looks like a lookup table but is rewritten at
runtime to patch in addresses, so it stays mutable.
================================================================
I. Reduce strlen calls
================================================================
Replaced `strlen(STRING_LITERAL)` with `sizeof(STRING_LITERAL) - 1`
where the argument is a compile-time-known string literal:
- libretro.c retro_set_environment APU loop: was calling
strlen("fceumm_apu_") on every loop iteration to compute the
same constant offset.
- nsf.c visualizer: strlen("Song:").
Other strlen sites in cheat.c, libretro.c, unif.c either already
cache to a local size_t or operate on runtime-supplied strings
where caching would not help.
================================================================
Build status
================================================================
`make platform=unix` clean: zero errors, zero warnings.
With -Wsign-compare -Wstrict-aliasing=2 -Wcast-align: zero warnings.
audit_determinism.py: 0 issues.
Output binary 4,388,408 bytes (was 4,388,576 from upstream
004c147; -168 bytes from dead-code removal).
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.
