From 9cc63f8bcd560c760d0b12e15bba8f81c86237cf Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Paul E. McKenney" Date: Fri, 14 Aug 2026 15:43:51 -0700 Subject: Merge branches 'expcb.2026.07.24a', 'misc.2026.07.30a', 'rcu-tasks.2026.07.30a', 'srcu.2026.08.11a' and 'torture.2026.08.14a' into HEAD Changes: Make expedited grace periods expedite normal RCU callbacks Miscellaneous fixes: * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Move from kmalloc() to kmalloc_obj(). * Documentation updates. * Improve handling of RCU deferred quiescent states. * Clean up unused function arguments and structure fields. * Reduce show_rcu_gp_kthreads() stack space. Tasks RCU updates: * Clean up after SRCU re-implementation of Tasks Trace RCU. * Mark accesses to inform KCSAN of concurrency design. * Add ->lazy_timer status to diagnostic output. * Remove an unnecessary memory barrier. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Documentation updates. * Convert cond_resched_tasks_rcu_qs() from macro to static inline function. SRCU updates: * Add Rust helpers for SRCU. * Avoid losing queued work at cleanup_srcu_struct() time. Torture-test updates: * Preparation work for immediate RCU priority deboosting. * Test RCU readers from real interrupt handlers (as opposed to softirq). * Simplify code through use of cpumask_next_wrap(). * Improve diagnostic output with character task states. * Add rcutorture.nwriters parameter to allow lightweight stall testing, and rcutorture.stall_only to make doing so easier. * Test an RCU Tasks Trace grace period implying an RCU grace period. * Make RCU Tasks Trace torturing track reader batches. * Fix a data race, courtesy of KCSAN. * Plug a shuffle_tmp_mask memory leak on kthread spawn failure. --- Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst | 118 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 118 insertions(+) create mode 100644 Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst (limited to 'Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst') diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..6d439c987 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/SafeSetID.rst @@ -0,0 +1,118 @@ +========= +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 ':' or ':', +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. -- cgit v1.3.1