grpc / grpc/grpc-java

binder: A Channel might check its SecurityPolicy even after declaring termination

Open
#12,937 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
Java
Stars
12.1k
Forks
4k
Avg merge
2d 17h
Merged PRs (30d)
37

Description

### What version of gRPC-Java are you using?
master/HEAD on any version of Android

### What did you expect to see?
Some reasoning/guarantee that a Channel will no longer call into its SecurityPolicy after it declares termination.

### Steps to reproduce the bug
One of many ways is to call `ManagedChannel.shutdownNow()` while it's establishing a new connection.

### Analysis
When using `AsyncSecurityPolicy`, `BinderClientTransport` calls `checkServerAuthorizationAsync()` while holding its `this` lock and only after carefully checking that it's not in state `SHUTDOWN` or `SHUTDOWN_TERMINATED`. This is safe because `clientTransportListener.transportTerminated()` is only called after transitioning into those states while holding the same lock. (We do this on the assumption that `AsyncSecurityPolicy` checks don't block)

However, when using an ordinary blocking `SecurityPolicy`, `checkServerAuthorizationAsync()` is implemented by `submit()`ing this presumably blocking work to `offloadExecutor`. We first do the same state checks, but because we release the `this` lock, the transport could shutdown and declare termination after this submission but before the offload executor actually calls `checkAuthorization()`.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reading BinderClientTransport's AsyncSecurityPolicy path, especially checkServerAuthorizationAsync(), checkAuthorization(), shutdownNow(), and the transportTerminated() callback. Trace the offloadExecutor submission and state transitions to determine whether authorization can run after termination; done means the lifecycle guarantee is established and covered by a regression test or clearly documented reasoning.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
java
Domain
backend-api-design, security
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
42/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.