We've introduced new (somewhat subtle) behaviour regarding trailing magic-links, so it's best to make sure everyone can follow along with the reasoning behind trailing_magiclink().
Signed-off-by: Aleksa Sarai <cyp...@cyphar.com> --- Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst | 80 ++++++++++++++++++----- 1 file changed, 63 insertions(+), 17 deletions(-) diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst index 434a07b0002b..c30145b3d9ba 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/path-lookup.rst @@ -405,6 +405,10 @@ is requested. Keeping a reference in the ``nameidata`` ensures that only one root is in effect for the entire path walk, even if it races with a ``chroot()`` system call. +It should be noted that in the case of ``LOOKUP_IN_ROOT`` or +``LOOKUP_BENEATH``, the effective root becomes the directory file descriptor +passed to ``openat2()`` (which exposes these ``LOOKUP_`` flags). + The root is needed when either of two conditions holds: (1) either the pathname or a symbolic link starts with a "'/'", or (2) a "``..``" component is being handled, since "``..``" from the root must always stay @@ -1149,22 +1153,61 @@ so ``NULL`` is returned to indicate that the symlink can be released and the stack frame discarded. The other case involves things in ``/proc`` that look like symlinks but -aren't really:: +aren't really (and are therefore commonly referred to as "magic-links"):: $ ls -l /proc/self/fd/1 lrwx------ 1 neilb neilb 64 Jun 13 10:19 /proc/self/fd/1 -> /dev/pts/4 Every open file descriptor in any process is represented in ``/proc`` by -something that looks like a symlink. It is really a reference to the -target file, not just the name of it. When you ``readlink`` these -objects you get a name that might refer to the same file - unless it -has been unlinked or mounted over. When ``walk_component()`` follows -one of these, the ``->follow_link()`` method in "procfs" doesn't return -a string name, but instead calls ``nd_jump_link()`` which updates the -``nameidata`` in place to point to that target. ``->follow_link()`` then -returns ``NULL``. Again there is no final component and ``get_link()`` -reports this by leaving the ``last_type`` field of ``nameidata`` as -``LAST_BIND``. +a magic-link. It is really a reference to the target file, not just the +name of it (hence making them "magical" compared to ordinary symlinks). +When you ``readlink`` these objects you get a name that might refer to +the same file - unless it has been unlinked or mounted over. When +``walk_component()`` follows one of these, the ``->follow_link()`` method +in "procfs" doesn't return a string name, but instead calls +``nd_jump_link()`` which updates the ``nameidata`` in place to point to +that target. ``->follow_link()`` then returns ``NULL``. Again there is +no final component and ``get_link()`` reports this by leaving the +``last_type`` field of ``nameidata`` as ``LAST_BIND``. + +In order to avoid potential re-opening attacks (especially in the context +of containers), it is necessary to restrict the ability for a trailing +magic-link to be opened. The restrictions are as follows (and are +implemented in ``trailing_magiclink()``): + +* If the ``open()`` is an "ordinary open" (without ``O_PATH``), the + access-mode of the ``open()`` call must be permitted by one of the + octets in the magic-link's file mode (elsewhere in Linux, ordinary + symlinks have a file mode of ``0777`` but this doesn't apply to + magic-links). Each "ordinary" file in ``/proc/self/fd/$n`` has the user + octet of its file mode set to correspond to the access-mode it was + opened with. + + This restriction means that you cannot re-open an ``O_RDONLY`` file + descriptor through ``/proc/self/fd/$n`` with ``O_RDWR``. + +With a "half-open" (with ``O_PATH``), there is no ``-EACCES``-enforced +restrictions on ``open()``, but there are rules about the mode shown in +``/proc/self/fd/$n``: + +* If the target of the ``open()`` is not a magic-link, then the group + octet of the file mode is set to permit all access modes. + +* Otherwise, the mode of the new ``O_PATH`` descriptor is set to + effectively the same mode as the magic-link (though the permissions are + set in the group octet of the mode). This means that an ``O_PATH`` of a + magic-link gives you no more re-open permissions than the magic-link + itself. + +With these ``O_PATH`` restrictions, it is still possible to re-open an +``O_PATH`` file descriptor but you cannot use ``O_PATH`` to work around +the above restrictions on "ordinary opens" of magic-links. + +In order to avoid certain race conditions (where a file descriptor +associated with a magic-link is swapped, causing the ``link_inode`` of +``nameidata`` to become stale during magic-link traversal), +``nd_jump_link()`` stores the mode of the magic-link during traversal in +``last_magiclink``. Following the symlink in the final component -------------------------------------------- @@ -1187,7 +1230,8 @@ handles the final component. If the final component is a symlink that needs to be followed, then ``trailing_symlink()`` is called to set things up properly and the loop repeats, calling ``link_path_walk()`` again. This could loop as many as 40 times if the last component of -each symlink is another symlink. +each symlink is another symlink. ``trailing_magiclink()`` is then called to +deal with permission checks relevant to ``/proc/$pid/fd``-style "symlinks". The various functions that examine the final component and possibly report that it is a symlink are ``lookup_last()``, ``mountpoint_last()`` @@ -1310,12 +1354,14 @@ longer needed. ``LOOKUP_JUMPED`` means that the current dentry was chosen not because it had the right name but for some other reason. This happens when following "``..``", following a symlink to ``/``, crossing a mount point -or accessing a "``/proc/$PID/fd/$FD``" symlink. In this case the -filesystem has not been asked to revalidate the name (with -``d_revalidate()``). In such cases the inode may still need to be -revalidated, so ``d_op->d_weak_revalidate()`` is called if +or accessing a "``/proc/$PID/fd/$FD``" symlink (also known as a "magic +link"). In this case the filesystem has not been asked to revalidate the +name (with ``d_revalidate()``). In such cases the inode may still need +to be revalidated, so ``d_op->d_weak_revalidate()`` is called if ``LOOKUP_JUMPED`` is set when the look completes - which may be at the -final component or, when creating, unlinking, or renaming, at the penultimate component. +final component or, when creating, unlinking, or renaming, at the +penultimate component. ``LOOKUP_MAGICLINK_JUMPED`` is set alongside +``LOOKUP_JUMPED`` if a magic-link was traversed. Final-component flags ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -- 2.23.0