Re: [RFC] memcg v1: provide read access to memory.pressure_level

[Michal Hocko]

On Wed 22-03-23 14:25:25, Florian Schmidt wrote:
> cgroups v1 has a unique way of setting up memory pressure notifications:
> the user opens "memory.pressure_level" of the cgroup they want to
> monitor for pressure, then open "cgroup.event_control" and write the fd
> (among other things) to that file. memory.pressure_level has no other
> use, specifically it does not support any read or write operations.
> Consequently, no handlers are provided, and the file ends up with
> permissions 000. However, to actually use the mechanism, the subscribing
> user must have read access to the file and open the fd for reading, see
> memcg_write_event_control().
> 
> This is all fine as long as the subscribing process runs as root and is
> otherwise unconfined by further restrictions. However, if you add strict
> access controls such as selinux, the permission bits will be enforced,
> and opening memory.pressure_level for reading will fail, preventing the
> process from subscribing, even as root.
>
> 
> There are several ways around this issue, but adding a dummy read
> handler seems like the least invasive to me.

I was struggling to see how that addresses the problem because all you
need is a read permission. But then I've looked into cgroup code and
learned that permissions are constructed based on available callbacks
(cgroup_file_mode). This would have made the review easier ;)

I have no issue with the patch. It would be great to hear from cgroup
maintainers whether a concept of default permissions is something that
would be useful also for other files.

> I'd be interested to hear:
> (a) do you think there is a less invasive way? Alternatively, we could
>     add a flag in cftype in include/linux/cgroup-defs.h, but that seems
>     more invasive for what is a legacy interface.
> (b) would you be interested to take this patch, or is it too niche a fix
>     for a legacy subsystem?

After you add your s-o-b, feel free to add
Acked-by: Michal Hocko <mhocko@xxxxxxxx>

If cgroup people find a concept of default permissions for a cgroup file
sound then this could be replaced by that approach but this is really an
easy workaround.
> ---
>  mm/memcontrol.c | 11 +++++++++++
>  1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/mm/memcontrol.c b/mm/memcontrol.c
> index 5abffe6f8389..e48c749d9724 100644
> --- a/mm/memcontrol.c
> +++ b/mm/memcontrol.c
> @@ -3734,6 +3734,16 @@ static u64 mem_cgroup_read_u64(struct cgroup_subsys_state *css,
>  	}
>  }
>  
> +/*
> + * This function doesn't do anything useful. Its only job is to provide a read
> + * handler so that the file gets read permissions when it's created.

I would just reference cgroup_file_mode() in the comment to make our
lifes easier and comment more helpful.

> + */
> +static int mem_cgroup_dummy_seq_show(__always_unused struct seq_file *m,
> +				     __always_unused void *v)
> +{
> +	return -EINVAL;
> +}
> +
>  #ifdef CONFIG_MEMCG_KMEM
>  static int memcg_online_kmem(struct mem_cgroup *memcg)
>  {
> @@ -5064,6 +5074,7 @@ static struct cftype mem_cgroup_legacy_files[] = {
>  	},
>  	{
>  		.name = "pressure_level",
> +		.seq_show = mem_cgroup_dummy_seq_show,
>  	},
>  #ifdef CONFIG_NUMA
>  	{
> -- 
> 2.32.0

-- 
Michal Hocko
SUSE Labs