Re: [PATCH v1 2/4] pid: add pidctl()

From: Christian Brauner
Date: Tue Mar 26 2019 - 13:22:42 EST


On Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 01:06:01PM -0400, Joel Fernandes wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 26, 2019 at 04:55:11PM +0100, Christian Brauner wrote:
> > The pidctl() syscalls builds on, extends, and improves translate_pid() [4].
> > I quote Konstantins original patchset first that has already been acked and
> > picked up by Eric before and whose functionality is preserved in this
> > syscall:
> >
> > "Each process have different pids, one for each pid namespace it belongs.
> > When interaction happens within single pid-ns translation isn't required.
> > More complicated scenarios needs special handling.
> >
> > For example:
> > - reading pid-files or logs written inside container with pid namespace
> > - writing logs with internal pids outside container for pushing them into
> > - attaching with ptrace to tasks from different pid namespace
> >
> > Generally speaking, any cross pid-ns API with pids needs translation.
> >
> > Currently there are several interfaces that could be used here:
> >
> > Pid namespaces are identified by device and inode of /proc/[pid]/ns/pid.
> >
> > Pids for nested pid namespaces are shown in file /proc/[pid]/status.
> > In some cases pid translation could be easily done using this information.
> > Backward translation requires scanning all tasks and becomes really
> > complicated for deeper namespace nesting.
> >
> > Unix socket automatically translates pid attached to SCM_CREDENTIALS.
> > This requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN for sending arbitrary pids and entering
> > into pid namespace, this expose process and could be insecure."
> >
> > The original patchset allowed two distinct operations implicitly:
> > - discovering whether pid namespaces (pidns) have a parent-child
> > relationship
> > - translating a pid from a source pidns into a target pidns
> >
> > Both tasks are accomplished in the original patchset by passing a pid
> > along. If the pid argument is passed as 1 the relationship between two pid
> > namespaces can be discovered.
> > The syscall will gain a lot clearer syntax and will be easier to use for
> > userspace if the task it is asked to perform is passed through a
> > command argument. Additionally, it allows us to remove an intrinsic race
> > caused by using the pid argument as a way to discover the relationship
> > between pid namespaces.
> > This patch introduces three commands:
> >
> > /* PIDCMD_QUERY_PID */
> > PIDCMD_QUERY_PID allows to translate a pid between pid namespaces.
> > Given a source pid namespace fd return the pid of the process in the target
> > namespace:
>
> Could we call this PIDCMD_TRANSLATE_PID please? QUERY is confusing/ambigious
> IMO (see below).

Yes, doesn't matter to me too much what we call it.

>
> > 1. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PID, pid, source_fd, -1, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - return pid in callers pidns
> >
> > 2. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PID, pid, -1, target_fd, 0)
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in callers pidns
> > - retrieve pidns identified by target_fd
> > - return pid in pidns identified by target_fd
> >
> > 3. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PID, 1, source_fd, -1, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by init task in pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - return pid of init task of pidns identified by source_fd in callers pidns
> >
> > 4. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PID, pid, source_fd, target_fd, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve pidns identified by target_fd
> > - check whether struct pid can be found in pidns identified by target_fd
> > - return pid in pidns identified by target_fd
> >
> > /* PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS */
> > PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS allows to determine the relationship between pid
> > namespaces.
> > In the original version of the pachset passing pid as 1 would allow to
> > deterimine the relationship between the pid namespaces. This is inherhently
> > racy. If pid 1 inside a pid namespace has died it would report false
> > negatives. For example, if pid 1 inside of the target pid namespace already
> > died, it would report that the target pid namespace cannot be reached from
> > the source pid namespace because it couldn't find the pid inside of the
> > target pid namespace and thus falsely report to the user that the two pid
> > namespaces are not related. This problem is simple to avoid. In the new
> > version we simply walk the list of ancestors and check whether the
> > namespace are related to each other. By doing it this way we can reliably
> > report what the relationship between two pid namespace file descriptors
> > looks like.
> >
> > 1. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS, 0, ns_fd1, ns_fd1, 0) == 0
> > - pidns_of(ns_fd1) and pidns_of(ns_fd2) are unrelated to each other
> >
> > 2. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS, 0, ns_fd1, ns_fd2, 0) == 1
> > - pidns_of(ns_fd1) == pidns_of(ns_fd2)
> >
> > 3. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS, 0, ns_fd1, ns_fd2, 0) == 2
> > - pidns_of(ns_fd1) is ancestor of pidns_of(ns_fd2)
> >
> > 4. pidctl(PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS, 0, ns_fd1, ns_fd2, 0) == 3
> > - pidns_of(ns_fd2) is ancestor of pidns_of(ns_fd1)
>
> Why not call this PIDCMD_COMPARE_PIDNS, since a comparison is what you're doing.

Same.

>
> Again QUERY is ambigious here. Above you called QUERY to translate something,
> now you're calling QUERY to mean compare something. I suggest to be explicit
> about the operation PIDCMD_<OPERATION>_<OPERAND-TYPE>.
>
> Arguably, 2 syscalls for this is cleaner:
> pid_compare_namespaces(ns_fd1, ns_fd2);
> pid_translate(pid, ns_fd1, nds_fd2);

I don't think we want to send out pid_compare_namespaces() as a separate
syscall. If that's the consensus I'd rather just drop this functionality
completely.

>
>
> > These two commands - PIDCMD_QUERY_PID and PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS - cover and
> > improve the functionality expressed implicitly in translate_pid() before.
> >
> > /* PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD */
>
> And this can be a third syscall:
> pidfd_translate(pid, ns_fd1, ns_fd2).

Sigh, yes. But I honestly want other people other than us to come out
and say "yes, please send a PR to Linus with three separate syscalls for
very closely related functionality". There's a difference between "this
is how we would ideally like to do it" and "this is what is common
practice and will likely get accepted". But I'm really not opposed to it
per se.

>
> I am actually supportive of Daniel's view that by combining too many
> arguments into a single syscall, becomes confusing and sometimes some
> arguments have to be forced to 0 in the single shoe-horned syscall. Like you

There's a difference between an ioctl() and say seccomp() which this is
close to:
int seccomp(unsigned int operation, unsigned int flags, void *args);
The point is that the functionality is closely related not just randomly
unrelated stuff. But as I said I'm more than willing to compromise.

> don't need a pid to compare to pid-ns, so user has to set that to 0.

>
> More comments below...
>
> > This command allows to retrieve file descriptors for processes and removes
> > the dependency of pidfds and thereby the pidfd_send_signal() syscall on
> > procfs. First, multiple people have expressed a desire to do this even when
> > pidfd_send_signal() was merged. It is even recorded in the commit message
> > for pidfd_send_signal() itself
> > (cf. commit 3eb39f47934f9d5a3027fe00d906a45fe3a15fad):
> > Q-06: (Andrew Morton [1])
> > Is there a cleaner way of obtaining the fd? Another syscall perhaps.
> > A-06: Userspace can already trivially retrieve file descriptors from procfs
> > so this is something that we will need to support anyway. Hence,
> > there's no immediate need to add another syscalls just to make
> > pidfd_send_signal() not dependent on the presence of procfs. However,
> > adding a syscalls to get such file descriptors is planned for a
> > future patchset (cf. [1]).
> > Alexey made a similar request (cf. [2]).
> > Additionally, Andy made an additional, idependent argument that we should
> > go forward with non-proc-dirfd file descriptors for the sake of security
> > and extensibility (cf. [3]).
> >
> > The pidfds are not associated with a specific pid namespaces but rather
> > only with struct pid. What the pidctl() syscall enforces is that when a
> > caller wants to retrieve a pidfd file descriptor for a pid in a given
> > target pid namespace the caller
> > - must have been given access to two file descriptors referring
> > to target and source pid namespace
> > - the source pid namespace must be an ancestor of the target pid
> > namespace
> > - the pid must be translatable from the source pid namespace into the
> > target pid namespace
> >
> > 1. pidctl(PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD, pid, source_fd, -1, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - return pidfd
> >
> > 2. pidctl(PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD, pid, -1, target_fd, 0)
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in callers pidns
> > - retrieve pidns identified by target_fd
> > - return pidfd
> >
> > 3. pidctl(PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD, 1, source_fd, -1, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by init task in pidns identified by
> > source_fd
> > - retrieve callers pidns
> > - return pidfd
> >
> > 4. pidctl(PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD, pid, source_fd, target_fd, 0)
> > - retrieve pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve struct pid identifed by pid in pidns identified by source_fd
> > - retrieve pidns identified by target_fd
> > - check whether struct pid can be found in pidns identified by target_fd
> > - return pidfd
> >
> > These pidfds are allocated using anon_inode_getfd(), are O_CLOEXEC by
> > default and can be used with the pidfd_send_signal() syscall. They are not
> > dirfds and as such have the advantage that we can make them pollable or
> > readable in the future if we see a need to do so (which I'm pretty sure we
> > will eventually). Currently they do not support any advanced operations.
> >
> > /* References */
> > [1]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20181228233725.722tdfgijxcssg76@xxxxxxxxxx/
> > [2]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20190320203910.GA2842@avx2/
> > [3]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/CALCETrXO=V=+qEdLDVPf8eCgLZiB9bOTrUfe0V-U-tUZoeoRDA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx/
> > [4]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/20181109034919.GA21681@xxxxxxxxxxxx/
> [snip]
> > diff --git a/include/linux/syscalls.h b/include/linux/syscalls.h
> > index e446806a561f..a4c8c59f7c8f 100644
> > --- a/include/linux/syscalls.h
> > +++ b/include/linux/syscalls.h
> > @@ -929,6 +929,8 @@ asmlinkage long sys_clock_adjtime32(clockid_t which_clock,
> > struct old_timex32 __user *tx);
> > asmlinkage long sys_syncfs(int fd);
> > asmlinkage long sys_setns(int fd, int nstype);
> > +asmlinkage long sys_pidctl(unsigned int cmd, pid_t pid, int source, int target,
> > + unsigned int flags);
> > asmlinkage long sys_sendmmsg(int fd, struct mmsghdr __user *msg,
> > unsigned int vlen, unsigned flags);
> > asmlinkage long sys_process_vm_readv(pid_t pid,
> > diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/wait.h b/include/uapi/linux/wait.h
> > index ac49a220cf2a..e9564ec06b07 100644
> > --- a/include/uapi/linux/wait.h
> > +++ b/include/uapi/linux/wait.h
> > @@ -18,5 +18,19 @@
> > #define P_PID 1
> > #define P_PGID 2
> >
> > +/* Commands to pass to pidctl() */
> > +enum pidcmd {
> > + PIDCMD_QUERY_PID = 0, /* Get pid in target pid namespace */
> > + PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS = 1, /* Determine relationship between pid namespaces */
> > + PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD = 2, /* Get pidfd for a process */
> > +};
> > +
> > +/* Return values of PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS */
> > +enum pidcmd_query_pidns {
> > + PIDNS_UNRELATED = 0, /* The pid namespaces are unrelated */
> > + PIDNS_EQUAL = 1, /* The pid namespaces are equal */
> > + PIDNS_SOURCE_IS_ANCESTOR = 2, /* Source pid namespace is ancestor of target pid namespace */
> > + PIDNS_TARGET_IS_ANCESTOR = 3, /* Target pid namespace is ancestor of source pid namespace */
> > +};
> >
> > #endif /* _UAPI_LINUX_WAIT_H */
> > diff --git a/kernel/pid.c b/kernel/pid.c
> > index 20881598bdfa..3213a137a63e 100644
> > --- a/kernel/pid.c
> > +++ b/kernel/pid.c
> > @@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
> > *
> > */
> >
> > +#include <linux/anon_inodes.h>
> > #include <linux/mm.h>
> > #include <linux/export.h>
> > #include <linux/slab.h>
> > @@ -40,6 +41,7 @@
> > #include <linux/proc_fs.h>
> > #include <linux/sched/task.h>
> > #include <linux/idr.h>
> > +#include <linux/wait.h>
> >
> > struct pid init_struct_pid = {
> > .count = ATOMIC_INIT(1),
> > @@ -451,6 +453,165 @@ struct pid *find_ge_pid(int nr, struct pid_namespace *ns)
> > return idr_get_next(&ns->idr, &nr);
> > }
> >
> > +static int pidfd_release(struct inode *inode, struct file *file)
> > +{
> > + struct pid *pid = file->private_data;
> > +
> > + if (pid) {
> > + file->private_data = NULL;
> > + put_pid(pid);
> > + }
> > +
> > + return 0;
> > +}
> > +
> > +const struct file_operations pidfd_fops = {
> > + .release = pidfd_release,
> > +};
> > +
> > +static int pidfd_create_fd(struct pid *pid, unsigned int o_flags)
> > +{
> > + int fd;
> > +
> > + fd = anon_inode_getfd("pidfd", &pidfd_fops, get_pid(pid), O_RDWR | o_flags);
> > + if (fd < 0)
> > + put_pid(pid);
> > +
> > + return fd;
> > +}
> > +
> > +static struct pid_namespace *get_pid_ns_by_fd(int fd)
> > +{
> > + struct pid_namespace *pidns = ERR_PTR(-EINVAL);
> > +
> > + if (fd >= 0) {
> > +#ifdef CONFIG_PID_NS
> > + struct ns_common *ns;
> > + struct file *file = proc_ns_fget(fd);
> > + if (IS_ERR(file))
> > + return ERR_CAST(file);
> > +
> > + ns = get_proc_ns(file_inode(file));
> > + if (ns->ops->type == CLONE_NEWPID) {
> > + pidns = container_of(ns, struct pid_namespace, ns);
> > + get_pid_ns(pidns);
> > + }
> > +
> > + fput(file);
> > +#endif
> > + } else {
> > + pidns = task_active_pid_ns(current);
> > + get_pid_ns(pidns);
> > + }
> > +
> > + return pidns;
> > +}
> > +
> > +static int pidns_related(struct pid_namespace *source,
> > + struct pid_namespace *target)
> > +{
> > + int query;
> > +
> > + query = pidnscmp(source, target);
> > + switch (query) {
> > + case 0:
> > + return PIDNS_EQUAL;
> > + case 1:
> > + return PIDNS_SOURCE_IS_ANCESTOR;
> > + }
> > +
> > + query = pidnscmp(target, source);
> > + if (query == 1)
> > + return PIDNS_TARGET_IS_ANCESTOR;
> > +
> > + return PIDNS_UNRELATED;
> > +}
> > +
> > +/*
> > + * pidctl - perform operations on pids
> > + * @cmd: command to execute
> > + * @pid: pid for translation
> > + * @source: pid-ns file descriptor or -1 for active namespace
> > + * @target: pid-ns file descriptor or -1 for active namesapce
> > + * @flags: flags to pass
> > + *
> > + * If cmd is PIDCMD_QUERY_PID translates pid between pid namespaces
> > + * identified by @source and @target. Returns pid if process has pid in
> > + * @target, -ESRCH if process does not have a pid in @source, -ENOENT if
> > + * process has no pid in @target.
> > + *
> > + * If cmd is PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS determines the relations between two pid
> > + * namespaces. Returns 2 if @source is an ancestor pid namespace
> > + * of @target, 1 if @source and @target refer to the same pid namespace,
> > + * 3 if @target is an ancestor pid namespace of @source, 0 if they have
> > + * no parent-child relationship in either direction.
> > + *
> > + * If cmd is PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD returns pidfd for process in @target pid
> > + * namespace. Returns pidfd if process has pid in @target, -ESRCH if
> > + * process does not have a pid in @source, -ENOENT if process does not
> > + * have a pid in @target pid namespace.
> > + *
> > + */
> > +SYSCALL_DEFINE5(pidctl, unsigned int, cmd, pid_t, pid, int, source, int, target,
> > + unsigned int, flags)
>
> flags seems not needed since it is unused, but I get it that you may want to
> have flags in the future? If yes, give example of future flags?
>
> > +{
> > + struct pid_namespace *source_ns = NULL, *target_ns = NULL;
>
> Setting these to NULL is no longer needed.
>
> > + struct pid *struct_pid;
> > + pid_t result;
> > +
> > + if (flags)
> > + return -EINVAL;
> > +
> > + switch (cmd) {
> > + case PIDCMD_QUERY_PID:
> > + break;
> > + case PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS:
> > + if (pid)
> > + return -EINVAL;
> > + break;
> > + case PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD:
> > + break;
> > + default:
> > + return -EOPNOTSUPP;
> > + }
> > +
> > + source_ns = get_pid_ns_by_fd(source);
> > + if (IS_ERR(source_ns))
> > + return PTR_ERR(source_ns);
> > +
> > + target_ns = get_pid_ns_by_fd(target);
> > + if (IS_ERR(target_ns)) {
> > + put_pid_ns(source_ns);
> > + return PTR_ERR(target_ns);
> > + }
> > +
> > + if (cmd == PIDCMD_QUERY_PIDNS) {
> > + result = pidns_related(source_ns, target_ns);
> > + } else {
> > + rcu_read_lock();
> > + struct_pid = get_pid(find_pid_ns(pid, source_ns));
> > + rcu_read_unlock();
> > +
> > + if (struct_pid)
> > + result = pid_nr_ns(struct_pid, target_ns);
> > + else
> > + result = -ESRCH;
> > +
> > + if (cmd == PIDCMD_GET_PIDFD && (result > 0))
> > + result = pidfd_create_fd(struct_pid, O_CLOEXEC);
>
> pidfd_create_fd already does put_pid on errors..
>
> > +
> > + if (!result)
> > + result = -ENOENT;
> > +
> > + put_pid(struct_pid);
>
> so on error you would put_pid twice which seems odd.. I would suggest, don't
> release the pid ref from within pidfd_create_fd, release the ref from the
> caller. Speaking of which, I added to my list to convert the pid->count to
> refcount_t at some point :)
>
> > + }
> > +
> > + put_pid_ns(target_ns);
> > + put_pid_ns(source_ns);
>
> This part looks more clean than before so good.
>
> thanks,
>
> - Joel
>
>
> > + return result;
> > +}
> > +
> > void __init pid_idr_init(void)
> > {
> > /* Verify no one has done anything silly: */
> > diff --git a/kernel/pid_namespace.c b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
> > index aa6e72fb7c08..1c863fb3d55a 100644
> > --- a/kernel/pid_namespace.c
> > +++ b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
> > @@ -429,6 +429,31 @@ static struct ns_common *pidns_get_parent(struct ns_common *ns)
> > return &get_pid_ns(pid_ns)->ns;
> > }
> >
> > +/**
> > + * pidnscmp - Determine if @ancestor is ancestor of @descendant
> > + * @ancestor: pidns suspected to be the ancestor of @descendant
> > + * @descendant: pidns suspected to be the descendant of @ancestor
> > + *
> > + * Returns -1 if @ancestor is not an ancestor of @descendant,
> > + * 0 if @ancestor is the same pidns as @descendant, 1 if @ancestor
> > + * is an ancestor of @descendant.
> > + */
> > +int pidnscmp(struct pid_namespace *ancestor, struct pid_namespace *descendant)
> > +{
> > + if (ancestor == descendant)
> > + return 0;
> > +
> > + for (;;) {
> > + if (!descendant)
> > + return -1;
> > + if (descendant == ancestor)
> > + break;
> > + descendant = descendant->parent;
> > + }
> > +
> > + return 1;
> > +}
> > +
> > static struct user_namespace *pidns_owner(struct ns_common *ns)
> > {
> > return to_pid_ns(ns)->user_ns;
> > --
> > 2.21.0
> >