[PATCH RFC 3/3] pidfd: Add task path ioctls

From: Chen Linxuan via B4 Relay

Date: Thu Aug 20 2026 - 01:46:51 EST


From: Chen Linxuan <me@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Add PIDFD_GET_EXE, PIDFD_GET_CWD, and PIDFD_GET_ROOT to return
close-on-exec O_PATH file descriptors referencing the target task's
executable, working directory, and root directory.

The new ioctls use the same PTRACE_MODE_READ_FSCREDS permission check
and nonzero-argument rejection as the existing namespace ioctls. The
target is sampled while holding exec_update_lock so that the access
check and path read cannot race with execve().

This allows userspace to obtain stable path references from a pidfd
without requiring procfs.

Assisted-by: codex:glm-5.3
Signed-off-by: Chen Linxuan <me@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
fs/pidfs.c | 38 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
include/uapi/linux/pidfd.h | 7 +++++++
2 files changed, 45 insertions(+)

diff --git a/fs/pidfs.c b/fs/pidfs.c
index 39e1e7ad9b2b..95b079d0de0d 100644
--- a/fs/pidfs.c
+++ b/fs/pidfs.c
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
#include <linux/exportfs.h>
#include <linux/file.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
+#include <linux/fs_struct.h>
#include <linux/cgroup.h>
#include <linux/magic.h>
#include <linux/mount.h>
@@ -510,6 +511,9 @@ static bool pidfs_ioctl_valid(unsigned int cmd)
case PIDFD_GET_UTS_NAMESPACE:
case PIDFD_GET_USER_NAMESPACE:
case PIDFD_GET_PID_NAMESPACE:
+ case PIDFD_GET_EXE:
+ case PIDFD_GET_CWD:
+ case PIDFD_GET_ROOT:
return true;
}

@@ -682,9 +686,31 @@ static struct ns_common *pidfd_get_namespace(struct pid *pid,
return ns_common;
}

+static int pidfd_get_task_path(struct pid *pid, unsigned int cmd,
+ unsigned long arg, struct path *path)
+{
+ CLASS(pidfd_task_locked, task)(pid, arg);
+
+ if (IS_ERR(task))
+ return PTR_ERR(task);
+
+ switch (cmd) {
+ case PIDFD_GET_EXE:
+ return get_task_exe_path(task, path);
+ case PIDFD_GET_CWD:
+ return get_task_pwd(task, path);
+ case PIDFD_GET_ROOT:
+ return get_task_root(task, path);
+ }
+
+ return -EINVAL;
+}
+
static long pidfd_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
{
struct ns_common *ns_common = NULL;
+ struct path path __free(path_put) = {};
+ int error;

if (!pidfs_ioctl_valid(cmd))
return -ENOIOCTLCMD;
@@ -702,6 +728,18 @@ static long pidfd_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd, unsigned long arg)
if (_IOC_NR(cmd) == _IOC_NR(PIDFD_GET_INFO))
return pidfd_info(file, cmd, arg);

+ switch (cmd) {
+ case PIDFD_GET_EXE:
+ case PIDFD_GET_CWD:
+ case PIDFD_GET_ROOT:
+ error = pidfd_get_task_path(pidfd_pid(file), cmd, arg, &path);
+ if (error)
+ return error;
+
+ return FD_ADD(O_CLOEXEC,
+ dentry_open(&path, O_PATH, current_cred()));
+ }
+
ns_common = pidfd_get_namespace(pidfd_pid(file), cmd, arg);
if (IS_ERR(ns_common))
return PTR_ERR(ns_common);
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/pidfd.h b/include/uapi/linux/pidfd.h
index 0919246a1611..95ce1819f423 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/pidfd.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/pidfd.h
@@ -121,4 +121,11 @@ struct pidfd_info {
#define PIDFD_GET_UTS_NAMESPACE _IO(PIDFS_IOCTL_MAGIC, 10)
#define PIDFD_GET_INFO _IOWR(PIDFS_IOCTL_MAGIC, 11, struct pidfd_info)

+/* Return an O_PATH file descriptor for the target task's executable. */
+#define PIDFD_GET_EXE _IO(PIDFS_IOCTL_MAGIC, 12)
+/* Return an O_PATH file descriptor for the target task's working directory. */
+#define PIDFD_GET_CWD _IO(PIDFS_IOCTL_MAGIC, 13)
+/* Return an O_PATH file descriptor for the target task's root directory. */
+#define PIDFD_GET_ROOT _IO(PIDFS_IOCTL_MAGIC, 14)
+
#endif /* _UAPI_LINUX_PIDFD_H */

--
2.53.0