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authorLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2026-09-13 12:27:00 -0700
commit22098763a10d9c1340827fcf6edab66f153b27f0 (patch)
tree3962f95a34df034652ff93686cdd156c7197f2d9 /Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst
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Merge tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-tracegrafted
Pull tracing fixes from Steven Rostedt: - Don't destroy user event fields when removal fails User event fields are destroyed before the event is removed from visibility. But that can fail leaving the still visible event with no fields. Move the destroying of the fields to after the event is successfully removed from visibility. - Initialize function graph state is fork before calling copy_exec_state() For non-CLONE_VM forks, copy_exec_state() allocates a new task_exec_state. If that allocation fails, ftrace_graph_exit_task() will free the tasks ret_stack pointer. Since that pointer is still using the parent's ret_stack, it mistakenly frees the parent's pointer too. Call ftrace_graph_init() on the task first which will NULL out the new tasks's ret_stack and if the copy fails, it will not free anything. - Remove FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX The macro FGRAPH_MAX_INDEX was added but never used. Remove it. - Save ent_size in function graph printing of nested functions The function graph tracer needs to look at the next event to see if the next event is the return of the current function entry. If it is, it prints a single line: ktime_get(); Otherwise it prints it like a nested function: tick_nohz_irq_exit() { ktime_get(); kcpustat_irq_exit(); } In order to look at the next event, it must save the current event so that it has the information to print from it. It saves the event in the iterator descriptor called "ent". What it doesn't save is the ent_size of the event which is now used to know if the function graph arguments are to be printed. The peek doesn't save the size so the size used happens to be that of the size of the last event that was seen. Save the entry event size in the iterator descriptor so that the correct size is used. - Fix several errors with freeing data in the histogram code The histogram code had a lot of leaked or or incorrect accounting when failures happen. Correct them. - Fix histogram regression of .percent and .graph modifiers Up until 6.3 histogram values could have "percent" or "graph" modifiers that changed how they were printed. But a change that added restricting histograms values from being strings, stack traces and other modifiers inadvertently prevented them from using the percent and graph modifiers, which were legal use cases for values. Put back the percent and graph modifiers. - Fix various typos in the comments - Set the trace_clock before initializing a histogram with clock argument The histogram API allows the user to specific which trace clock to use via a "clock=" string. The histogram is set up first before the clock is checked. If the passed in clock is not valid, it exits without fully fixing up the histogram leaving it on the list and a use-after-free can trigger. Update the clock argument first and if it fails then exit gracefully before the histogram trigger is placed on any lists. - Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event The function ftrace_set_clr_event() modifies the parse string and needs to put it back to what was passed in. It searches for ":mod:" via a strsep() but fails to put back the first ':' in the string. Add back the ':' in the passed in string. - Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file The options files are dynamically created and some tracers add their own options. When a tracer adds their own list of options, the trace_array holding them has an array to hold the list of options for each tracer. This array increases in size via a krealloc(), and the new entry gets a newly allocated array to hold the options of the new tracer being added. The element in each entry of the tracer's option array holds a pointer back to the trace_array, a pointer to the tracer it is associated to, a pointer to the flags of the option. The issue is that these arrays are freed when the trace_array is freed when its instance it represents is removed from the instances directory. There's a race that an open of one of these options files can happen when the instance is being removed. Add a new helper function to be called by the open function of the options file to iterate all existing trace_arrays under a lock and find the one that has the given option element in one of it's tracer arrays. If found, then update the associated trace_array's reference counter to keep it from being freed. If not found, have the open call return -ENODEV. - Disable interrupts when acquiring the lock in rb_wake_up_waiters() The function rb_wake_up_waiters() assumes it will be called in interrupt context and does not disable irqs when taking cpu_buffer->reader_lock, which can be called in hard interrupt context. The issue is in PREEMPT_RT, this function is called in thread context leaving this lock open to a deadlock. Take the lock with interrupts disabled. - Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash The tmp_ops used in update_ftrace_direct_mod() assigns its filter_hash field directly, but that field is annotated as __rcu and sparse complains. Assign it with rcu_assign_pointer() - Fix use-after-free in enable_trigger_private_data_free() The trace_event_call is accessed through the event_trigger_data's trace_event_file pointer to put the trace_event_call on freeing. The issue is that the trace_event_file data may have been freed already causing a use-after-free. Add a field to the event_trigger_data that points directly to the trace_event_call so that it can decrement its reference directly without needing to go through the trace_event_file. - Fix accounting of buffer data remote headers trace_buffer_desc_size() and trace_remote_alloc_buffer() undercount the number of pages is needed for the asked for size as it doesn't take into account the meta data on each page. Add a helper function to do the calculation properly and use that in these functions. - Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing The number of pages per remote ring buffer is capped by ring_buffer_desc::nr_page_va (32 bits). A buffer_size large enough to overflow that field would silently allocate a descriptor smaller than what was asked for. - Do not resize the subbuf order if any per_cpu buffer is disabled The mmapping of ring buffers disables resizing the subbuffers, but it is done per-cpu whereas the subbuf size change is done for all the per_cpu buffers under the buffer->mutex. It could change the size of some while the mapping is happening on others. Have the resize of the subbuf order check all the per_cpu buffers under the lock to see if any of them is disabled before starting and causing an inconsistency between buffers that are being mapped. * tag 'trace-v7.3-rc2' of git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/trace/linux-trace: (25 commits) ring-buffer: Check resize_disabled before publishing the new subbuf order tracing/remotes: Catch nr_page_va overflow in ring_buffer_desc sizing tracing/remotes: Account for ring buffer page header in size calculation tracing: Don't dereference trace_event_file in deferred trigger free ftrace: Use rcu_assign_pointer() for tmp_ops filter hash ring-buffer: Acquire the lock with irqsave in rb_wake_up_waiters() tracing: Take trace_array reference when opening a tracer options file tracing: Fix ring_buffer_read_page_size() kernel-doc tracing: Restore :mod: trailer after parsing in ftrace_set_clr_event() tracing: Fix memory corruption from a "STACKTRACE" histogram key tracing: Fix memory corruption from the histogram stacktrace modifier tracing: Undo the registration when enabling the histogram trigger fails tracing: Take the reference before publishing the named histogram trigger tracing: Set the trace clock before registering the histogram trigger tracing: Fix typo "preceeded" in comment tracing: Fix typo "availabe" in comment tracing: Let histogram values keep the percent and graph modifiers tracing: Keep the entry count when the histogram stats allocation fails tracing: Free histogram the field rejected for a bad modifier tracing: Free histogram the var ref when its initialization fails ...
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+=========
+SafeSetID
+=========
+SafeSetID is an LSM module that gates the setid family of syscalls to restrict
+UID/GID transitions from a given UID/GID to only those approved by a
+system-wide allowlist. These restrictions also prohibit the given UIDs/GIDs
+from obtaining auxiliary privileges associated with CAP_SET{U/G}ID, such as
+allowing a user to set up user namespace UID/GID mappings.
+
+
+Background
+==========
+In absence of file capabilities, processes spawned on a Linux system that need
+to switch to a different user must be spawned with CAP_SETUID privileges.
+CAP_SETUID is granted to programs running as root or those running as a non-root
+user that have been explicitly given the CAP_SETUID runtime capability. It is
+often preferable to use Linux runtime capabilities rather than file
+capabilities, since using file capabilities to run a program with elevated
+privileges opens up possible security holes since any user with access to the
+file can exec() that program to gain the elevated privileges.
+
+While it is possible to implement a tree of processes by giving full
+CAP_SET{U/G}ID capabilities, this is often at odds with the goals of running a
+tree of processes under non-root user(s) in the first place. Specifically,
+since CAP_SETUID allows changing to any user on the system, including the root
+user, it is an overpowered capability for what is needed in this scenario,
+especially since programs often only call setuid() to drop privileges to a
+lesser-privileged user -- not elevate privileges. Unfortunately, there is no
+generally feasible way in Linux to restrict the potential UIDs that a user can
+switch to through setuid() beyond allowing a switch to any user on the system.
+This SafeSetID LSM seeks to provide a solution for restricting setid
+capabilities in such a way.
+
+The main use case for this LSM is to allow a non-root program to transition to
+other untrusted uids without full blown CAP_SETUID capabilities. The non-root
+program would still need CAP_SETUID to do any kind of transition, but the
+additional restrictions imposed by this LSM would mean it is a "safer" version
+of CAP_SETUID since the non-root program cannot take advantage of CAP_SETUID to
+do any unapproved actions (e.g. setuid to uid 0 or create/enter new user
+namespace). The higher level goal is to allow for uid-based sandboxing of system
+services without having to give out CAP_SETUID all over the place just so that
+non-root programs can drop to even-lesser-privileged uids. This is especially
+relevant when one non-root daemon on the system should be allowed to spawn other
+processes as different uids, but it's undesirable to give the daemon a
+basically-root-equivalent CAP_SETUID.
+
+
+Other Approaches Considered
+===========================
+
+Solve this problem in userspace
+-------------------------------
+For candidate applications that would like to have restricted setid capabilities
+as implemented in this LSM, an alternative option would be to simply take away
+setid capabilities from the application completely and refactor the process
+spawning semantics in the application (e.g. by using a privileged helper program
+to do process spawning and UID/GID transitions). Unfortunately, there are a
+number of semantics around process spawning that would be affected by this, such
+as fork() calls where the program doesn't immediately call exec() after the
+fork(), parent processes specifying custom environment variables or command line
+args for spawned child processes, or inheritance of file handles across a
+fork()/exec(). Because of this, as solution that uses a privileged helper in
+userspace would likely be less appealing to incorporate into existing projects
+that rely on certain process-spawning semantics in Linux.
+
+Use user namespaces
+-------------------
+Another possible approach would be to run a given process tree in its own user
+namespace and give programs in the tree setid capabilities. In this way,
+programs in the tree could change to any desired UID/GID in the context of their
+own user namespace, and only approved UIDs/GIDs could be mapped back to the
+initial system user namespace, affectively preventing privilege escalation.
+Unfortunately, it is not generally feasible to use user namespaces in isolation,
+without pairing them with other namespace types, which is not always an option.
+Linux checks for capabilities based off of the user namespace that "owns" some
+entity. For example, Linux has the notion that network namespaces are owned by
+the user namespace in which they were created. A consequence of this is that
+capability checks for access to a given network namespace are done by checking
+whether a task has the given capability in the context of the user namespace
+that owns the network namespace -- not necessarily the user namespace under
+which the given task runs. Therefore spawning a process in a new user namespace
+effectively prevents it from accessing the network namespace owned by the
+initial namespace. This is a deal-breaker for any application that expects to
+retain the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability for the purpose of adjusting network
+configurations. Using user namespaces in isolation causes problems regarding
+other system interactions, including use of pid namespaces and device creation.
+
+Use an existing LSM
+-------------------
+None of the other in-tree LSMs have the capability to gate setid transitions, or
+even employ the security_task_fix_setuid hook at all. SELinux says of that hook:
+"Since setuid only affects the current process, and since the SELinux controls
+are not based on the Linux identity attributes, SELinux does not need to control
+this operation."
+
+
+Directions for use
+==================
+This LSM hooks the setid syscalls to make sure transitions are allowed if an
+applicable restriction policy is in place. Policies are configured through
+securityfs by writing to the safesetid/uid_allowlist_policy and
+safesetid/gid_allowlist_policy files at the location where securityfs is
+mounted. The format for adding a policy is '<UID>:<UID>' or '<GID>:<GID>',
+using literal numbers, and ending with a newline character such as '123:456\n'.
+Writing an empty string "" will flush the policy. Again, configuring a policy
+for a UID/GID will prevent that UID/GID from obtaining auxiliary setid
+privileges, such as allowing a user to set up user namespace UID/GID mappings.
+
+Note on GID policies and setgroups()
+====================================
+In v5.9 we are adding support for limiting CAP_SETGID privileges as was done
+previously for CAP_SETUID. However, for compatibility with common sandboxing
+related code conventions in userspace, we currently allow arbitrary
+setgroups() calls for processes with CAP_SETGID restrictions. Until we add
+support in a future release for restricting setgroups() calls, these GID
+policies add no meaningful security. setgroups() restrictions will be enforced
+once we have the policy checking code in place, which will rely on GID policy
+configuration code added in v5.9.