From: Samuel Thibault When reading /dev/vcsa while a font with more than 256 characters is loaded, one of the attribute bits records the 9th bit of the character. But depending on the console driver (vgacon or fbcon for instance), that's bit 3 or bit 0. And there is no way for userland to know that, thus no way for userland to safely grab the screen content. So here is a (tested) patch: Add a VT_GETHIFONTMASK ioctl for knowing which bit is the 9th bit for VC text (vc_hi_font_mask field of the vc_data structure). Signed-off-by: Samuel Thibault Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton --- drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c | 2 ++ include/linux/compat_ioctl.h | 1 + include/linux/vt.h | 1 + 3 files changed, 4 insertions(+) diff -puN drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c --- a/drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask +++ a/drivers/char/vt_ioctl.c @@ -1011,6 +1011,8 @@ int vt_ioctl(struct tty_struct *tty, str return -EPERM; vt_dont_switch = 0; return 0; + case VT_GETHIFONTMASK: + return put_user(vc->vc_hi_font_mask, (unsigned short __user *)arg); default: return -ENOIOCTLCMD; } diff -puN include/linux/compat_ioctl.h~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask include/linux/compat_ioctl.h --- a/include/linux/compat_ioctl.h~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask +++ a/include/linux/compat_ioctl.h @@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(VT_RESIZE) COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(VT_RESIZEX) COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(VT_LOCKSWITCH) COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(VT_UNLOCKSWITCH) +COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(VT_GETHIFONTMASK) /* Little p (/dev/rtc, /dev/envctrl, etc.) */ COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(RTC_AIE_ON) COMPATIBLE_IOCTL(RTC_AIE_OFF) diff -puN include/linux/vt.h~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask include/linux/vt.h --- a/include/linux/vt.h~vcsa-attribute-bits-ioctlvt_gethifontmask +++ a/include/linux/vt.h @@ -60,5 +60,6 @@ struct vt_consize { #define VT_RESIZEX 0x560A /* set kernel's idea of screensize + more */ #define VT_LOCKSWITCH 0x560B /* disallow vt switching */ #define VT_UNLOCKSWITCH 0x560C /* allow vt switching */ +#define VT_GETHIFONTMASK 0x560D /* return hi font mask */ #endif /* _LINUX_VT_H */ _