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

From: Christian Brauner
Date: Tue Mar 26 2019 - 13:08:38 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).
>
> > 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.
>
> 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);
>
>
> > 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).
>
> 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
> 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..

it also takes its own reference

>
> > +
> > + 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 :)

as i said, pidfd_create_fd takes its own reference

>
> > + }
> > +
> > + 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
> >