elf_validit...e_secstrings(9)

💅 elf_validity_cache_secstrings — but make it make sense

okay so bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual page for elf_validity_cache_secstrings(9) — yes the title is truncated in the header, no that's not a typo, that's just how the man page gods formatted it. Anyway. Sit down, grab a strawberry 🍓, we're validating section name strings today.

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✨ NAME ✨

elf_validity_cache_secstrings — bestie, this thing caches section names if valid. That's it. That's the whole job. It looks at your section names, does a little vibe check, and if they pass, it remembers them for you. Iconic behavior honestly. 💅

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

int elf_validity_cache_secstrings(struct load_info *info);

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🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

• info — the struct load_info you want to cache section names from. 💖 Hard requirement: it must have valid sechdrs. Like, non-negotiable. If your sechdrs aren't valid, this whole thing falls apart, no cap.

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🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

So like, this function runs a full security check on your section name table before it commits to caching anything. Here's exactly what it checks, literally:

• Section name table index is inbounds of section headers ✅
• Section name table type is SHT_STRTAB ✅
• Section name table is not empty ✅
• Section name table is NUL terminated ✅
• All section name offsets are inbounds of the section ✅

Then — and this is the payoff — it updates info with a load_info->secstrings pointer, but only if it's all valid. If not? No pointer for you. 🙈

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🔥 RETURN 🔥

• 0 — it's valid, we're slaying ✨
• negative error code — validation failed, something's off, it's giving error energy 😭

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👑 SEE ALSO 👑

This function does not work alone, it's part of a whole friend group 🫶. Kernel file ./kernel/module/main.c and all these besties:

• find_any_unique_sec(9)
• is_module_percpu_address(9)
• module_refcount(9)
• verify_module_namespace(9)
• elf_validity_ehdr(9)
• elf_validity_cache_sechdrs(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index_info(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index_mod(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index_sym(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index_str(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index_versions(9)
• elf_validity_cache_index(9)
• elf_validity_cache_strtab(9)
• is_module_address(9)
• __module_address(9)
• is_module_text_address(9)
• __module_text_address(9)

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💜 that's the whole page, go forth and validate those section strings, iykyk 💜

shoutout to ./kernel/module for hosting this one, to the Kernel API Manual, and to October 2026 for the timestamp — see you in the next one bestie 😭🎀