[PATCHv6 RFC 0/3] syscalls,x86: Add execveat() system call

From: David Drysdale
Date: Thu Nov 06 2014 - 11:08:17 EST


Here's another pass at this. Some things to discuss in particular:

1) The current approach for interpreted execs (i.e. mostly "#!" scripts)
gives them an argv[1] filename like "/dev/fd/<fd>/<path>". This
means that script execution in a /proc-less system isn't going to
work, at least until interpreters get smart enough to spot and
special-case the leading "/dev/fd/<fd>", or until there's something
to use in place of /dev/fd -> /proc/self/fd (e.g. Al's dupfs
suggestion, https://lkml.org/lkml/2014/10/19/141).

So is an execveat(2) that (currently) only works for non-interpreted
programs still useful?

2) I don't like having to add a new LOOKUP_EMPTY_NOPATH flag
just to prevent O_PATH fds from being fexecve()ed -- alternative
suggestions welcomed. (More generally, I don't have a great
feel for what O_PATH is for; how bad would it be to just allow
them to be fexecve()ed?)

.........

This patch set adds execveat(2) for x86, and is derived from Meredydd
Luff's patch from Sept 2012 (https://lkml.org/lkml/2012/9/11/528).

The primary aim of adding an execveat syscall is to allow an
implementation of fexecve(3) that does not rely on the /proc
filesystem, at least for executables (rather than scripts). The
current glibc version of fexecve(3) is implemented via /proc, which
causes problems in sandboxed or otherwise restricted environments.

Given the desire for a /proc-free fexecve() implementation, HPA
suggested (https://lkml.org/lkml/2006/7/11/556) that an execveat(2)
syscall would be an appropriate generalization.

Also, having a new syscall means that it can take a flags argument
without back-compatibility concerns. The current implementation just
defines the AT_EMPTY_PATH and AT_SYMLINK_NOFOLLOW flags, but other
flags could be added in future -- for example, flags for new namespaces
(as suggested at https://lkml.org/lkml/2006/7/11/474).

Related history:
- https://lkml.org/lkml/2006/12/27/123 is an example of someone
realizing that fexecve() is likely to fail in a chroot environment.
- http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=514043 covered
documenting the /proc requirement of fexecve(3) in its manpage, to
"prevent other people from wasting their time".
- https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=74481 documented that
it's not possible to fexecve() a file descriptor for a script with
close-on-exec set (which is possible with the implementation here).
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=241609 described a
problem where a process that did setuid() could not fexecve()
because it no longer had access to /proc/self/fd; this has since
been fixed.


Changes since v5:
- Set new flag in bprm->interp_flags for O_CLOEXEC fds, so that binfmts
that invoke an interpreter fail the exec (as they will not be able
to access the invoked file). [Andy Lutomirski]
- Don't truncate long paths. [Andy Lutomirski]
- Commonize code to open the executed file. [Eric W. Biederman]
- Mark O_PATH file descriptors so they cannot be fexecve()ed.
- Make self-test more helpful, and add additional cases:
- file offset non-zero
- binary file without execute bit
- O_CLOEXEC fds

Changes since v4, suggested by Eric W. Biederman:
- Use empty filename with AT_EMPTY_PATH flag rather than NULL
pathname to request fexecve-like behaviour.
- Build pathname as "/dev/fd/<fd>/<filename>" (or "/dev/fd/<fd>")
rather than using d_path().
- Patch against v3.17 (bfe01a5ba249)

Changes since Meredydd's v3 patch:
- Added a selftest.
- Added a man page.
- Left open_exec() signature untouched to reduce patch impact
elsewhere (as suggested by Al Viro).
- Filled in bprm->filename with d_path() into a buffer, to avoid use
of potentially-ephemeral dentry->d_name.
- Patch against v3.14 (455c6fdbd21916).


David Drysdale (2):
syscalls,x86: implement execveat() system call
syscalls,x86: add selftest for execveat(2)

arch/x86/ia32/audit.c | 1 +
arch/x86/ia32/ia32entry.S | 1 +
arch/x86/kernel/audit_64.c | 1 +
arch/x86/kernel/entry_64.S | 28 +++
arch/x86/syscalls/syscall_32.tbl | 1 +
arch/x86/syscalls/syscall_64.tbl | 2 +
arch/x86/um/sys_call_table_64.c | 1 +
fs/binfmt_em86.c | 4 +
fs/binfmt_misc.c | 4 +
fs/binfmt_script.c | 10 +
fs/exec.c | 115 ++++++++++--
fs/namei.c | 8 +-
include/linux/binfmts.h | 4 +
include/linux/compat.h | 3 +
include/linux/fs.h | 1 +
include/linux/namei.h | 1 +
include/linux/sched.h | 4 +
include/linux/syscalls.h | 4 +
include/uapi/asm-generic/unistd.h | 4 +-
kernel/sys_ni.c | 3 +
lib/audit.c | 3 +
tools/testing/selftests/Makefile | 1 +
tools/testing/selftests/exec/.gitignore | 7 +
tools/testing/selftests/exec/Makefile | 25 +++
tools/testing/selftests/exec/execveat.c | 321 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
25 files changed, 542 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/exec/.gitignore
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/exec/Makefile
create mode 100644 tools/testing/selftests/exec/execveat.c

--
2.1.0.rc2.206.gedb03e5
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