3.7 KiB
Name
pledge - reduce process capabilities
Synopsis
#include <unistd.h>
int pledge(const char* promises, const char* execpromises);
Description
pledge()
makes a promise to the kernel that from this moment on, the calling process will only use a subset of system functionality.
Functionality is divided into a curated set of promises (described below), which can be combined to cover the program's needs. Both arguments are space-separated lists of promises.
Note that pledge()
can be called repeatedly to remove previously-pledged promises, but it can never regain capabilities once lost.
promises
are applied to the current process, and will also be inherited by children created by fork
(2).
execpromises
are applied if/when a new process image is created with exec
(2).
If promises
or execpromises
is null, the corresponding value is unchanged.
If the process later attempts to use any system functionality it has previously promised not to use, the process is instantly terminated. Note that a process that has not ever called pledge()
is considered to not have made any promises, and is allowed use any system functionality (subject to regular permission checks).
pledge()
is intended to be used in programs that want to sandbox themselves, either to limit the impact of a possible vulnerability exploitation, or before intentionally executing untrusted code.
Promises
stdio
: Basic I/O, memory allocation, information about self, various non-destructive syscallsthread
: The POSIX threading API (*)id
: Ability to change UID/GIDtty
: TTY related functionalityproc
: Process and scheduling related functionalityexec
: Theexec
(2) syscallunix
: UNIX local domain socketsinet
: IPv4 domain socketsaccept
: May useaccept
(2) to accept incoming socket connections on already listening sockets (*)rpath
: "Read" filesystem accesswpath
: "Write" filesystem accesscpath
: "Create" filesystem accessdpath
: Creating new device fileschown
: Changing file owner/groupfattr
: Changing file attributes/permissionsvideo
: May useioctl
(2) andmmap
(2) on framebuffer video devicessettime
: Changing the system time and datesetkeymap
: Changing the system keyboard layout (*)sigaction
: Change signal handlers and dispositions (*)sendfd
: Send file descriptors over a local socketrecvfd
: Receive file descriptors over a local socketptrace
: Theptrace
(2) syscall (*)prot_exec
:mmap
(2) andmprotect
(2) withPROT_EXEC
map_fixed
:mmap
(2) withMAP_FIXED
orMAP_FIXED_NOREPLACE
(*)no_error
: Ignore requests of pledge elevation going forwards, this is useful for enforcing execpromises while the child process wants to ask for more upfront (Note that the elevation requests are not granted, merely ignored), this is similar to theerror
pledge in OpenBSD.jail
: Various jail-specific syscalls (*)
Promises marked with an asterisk (*) are SerenityOS specific extensions not supported by the original OpenBSD pledge()
.
Errors
EFAULT
:promises
and/orexecpromises
are not null and not in readable memory.EINVAL
: One or more invalid promises were specified.EPERM
: An attempt to increase capabilities was rejected.
History
The pledge()
system call was first introduced by OpenBSD. The implementation in SerenityOS differs in many ways and is by no means final.