xref: /linux/Documentation/userspace-api/landlock.rst (revision 566ab427f827b0256d3e8ce0235d088e6a9c28bd)
1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
2.. Copyright © 2017-2020 Mickaël Salaün <mic@digikod.net>
3.. Copyright © 2019-2020 ANSSI
4.. Copyright © 2021-2022 Microsoft Corporation
5
6=====================================
7Landlock: unprivileged access control
8=====================================
9
10:Author: Mickaël Salaün
11:Date: September 2024
12
13The goal of Landlock is to enable to restrict ambient rights (e.g. global
14filesystem or network access) for a set of processes.  Because Landlock
15is a stackable LSM, it makes possible to create safe security sandboxes as new
16security layers in addition to the existing system-wide access-controls. This
17kind of sandbox is expected to help mitigate the security impact of bugs or
18unexpected/malicious behaviors in user space applications.  Landlock empowers
19any process, including unprivileged ones, to securely restrict themselves.
20
21We can quickly make sure that Landlock is enabled in the running system by
22looking for "landlock: Up and running" in kernel logs (as root):
23``dmesg | grep landlock || journalctl -kb -g landlock`` .
24Developers can also easily check for Landlock support with a
25:ref:`related system call <landlock_abi_versions>`.
26If Landlock is not currently supported, we need to
27:ref:`configure the kernel appropriately <kernel_support>`.
28
29Landlock rules
30==============
31
32A Landlock rule describes an action on an object which the process intends to
33perform.  A set of rules is aggregated in a ruleset, which can then restrict
34the thread enforcing it, and its future children.
35
36The two existing types of rules are:
37
38Filesystem rules
39    For these rules, the object is a file hierarchy,
40    and the related filesystem actions are defined with
41    `filesystem access rights`.
42
43Network rules (since ABI v4)
44    For these rules, the object is a TCP port,
45    and the related actions are defined with `network access rights`.
46
47Defining and enforcing a security policy
48----------------------------------------
49
50We first need to define the ruleset that will contain our rules.
51
52For this example, the ruleset will contain rules that only allow filesystem
53read actions and establish a specific TCP connection. Filesystem write
54actions and other TCP actions will be denied.
55
56The ruleset then needs to handle both these kinds of actions.  This is
57required for backward and forward compatibility (i.e. the kernel and user
58space may not know each other's supported restrictions), hence the need
59to be explicit about the denied-by-default access rights.
60
61.. code-block:: c
62
63    struct landlock_ruleset_attr ruleset_attr = {
64        .handled_access_fs =
65            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_EXECUTE |
66            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_WRITE_FILE |
67            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_FILE |
68            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_DIR |
69            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REMOVE_DIR |
70            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REMOVE_FILE |
71            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_CHAR |
72            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_DIR |
73            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_REG |
74            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_SOCK |
75            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_FIFO |
76            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_BLOCK |
77            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_MAKE_SYM |
78            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER |
79            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE |
80            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV,
81        .handled_access_net =
82            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_BIND_TCP |
83            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_CONNECT_TCP,
84        .scoped =
85            LANDLOCK_SCOPE_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET |
86            LANDLOCK_SCOPE_SIGNAL,
87    };
88
89Because we may not know on which kernel version an application will be
90executed, it is safer to follow a best-effort security approach.  Indeed, we
91should try to protect users as much as possible whatever the kernel they are
92using.
93
94To be compatible with older Linux versions, we detect the available Landlock ABI
95version, and only use the available subset of access rights:
96
97.. code-block:: c
98
99    int abi;
100
101    abi = landlock_create_ruleset(NULL, 0, LANDLOCK_CREATE_RULESET_VERSION);
102    if (abi < 0) {
103        /* Degrades gracefully if Landlock is not handled. */
104        perror("The running kernel does not enable to use Landlock");
105        return 0;
106    }
107    switch (abi) {
108    case 1:
109        /* Removes LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER for ABI < 2 */
110        ruleset_attr.handled_access_fs &= ~LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER;
111        __attribute__((fallthrough));
112    case 2:
113        /* Removes LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE for ABI < 3 */
114        ruleset_attr.handled_access_fs &= ~LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE;
115        __attribute__((fallthrough));
116    case 3:
117        /* Removes network support for ABI < 4 */
118        ruleset_attr.handled_access_net &=
119            ~(LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_BIND_TCP |
120              LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_CONNECT_TCP);
121        __attribute__((fallthrough));
122    case 4:
123        /* Removes LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV for ABI < 5 */
124        ruleset_attr.handled_access_fs &= ~LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV;
125        __attribute__((fallthrough));
126    case 5:
127        /* Removes LANDLOCK_SCOPE_* for ABI < 6 */
128        ruleset_attr.scoped &= ~(LANDLOCK_SCOPE_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET |
129                                 LANDLOCK_SCOPE_SIGNAL);
130    }
131
132This enables to create an inclusive ruleset that will contain our rules.
133
134.. code-block:: c
135
136    int ruleset_fd;
137
138    ruleset_fd = landlock_create_ruleset(&ruleset_attr, sizeof(ruleset_attr), 0);
139    if (ruleset_fd < 0) {
140        perror("Failed to create a ruleset");
141        return 1;
142    }
143
144We can now add a new rule to this ruleset thanks to the returned file
145descriptor referring to this ruleset.  The rule will only allow reading the
146file hierarchy ``/usr``.  Without another rule, write actions would then be
147denied by the ruleset.  To add ``/usr`` to the ruleset, we open it with the
148``O_PATH`` flag and fill the &struct landlock_path_beneath_attr with this file
149descriptor.
150
151.. code-block:: c
152
153    int err;
154    struct landlock_path_beneath_attr path_beneath = {
155        .allowed_access =
156            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_EXECUTE |
157            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_FILE |
158            LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_DIR,
159    };
160
161    path_beneath.parent_fd = open("/usr", O_PATH | O_CLOEXEC);
162    if (path_beneath.parent_fd < 0) {
163        perror("Failed to open file");
164        close(ruleset_fd);
165        return 1;
166    }
167    err = landlock_add_rule(ruleset_fd, LANDLOCK_RULE_PATH_BENEATH,
168                            &path_beneath, 0);
169    close(path_beneath.parent_fd);
170    if (err) {
171        perror("Failed to update ruleset");
172        close(ruleset_fd);
173        return 1;
174    }
175
176It may also be required to create rules following the same logic as explained
177for the ruleset creation, by filtering access rights according to the Landlock
178ABI version.  In this example, this is not required because all of the requested
179``allowed_access`` rights are already available in ABI 1.
180
181For network access-control, we can add a set of rules that allow to use a port
182number for a specific action: HTTPS connections.
183
184.. code-block:: c
185
186    struct landlock_net_port_attr net_port = {
187        .allowed_access = LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_CONNECT_TCP,
188        .port = 443,
189    };
190
191    err = landlock_add_rule(ruleset_fd, LANDLOCK_RULE_NET_PORT,
192                            &net_port, 0);
193
194The next step is to restrict the current thread from gaining more privileges
195(e.g. through a SUID binary).  We now have a ruleset with the first rule
196allowing read access to ``/usr`` while denying all other handled accesses for
197the filesystem, and a second rule allowing HTTPS connections.
198
199.. code-block:: c
200
201    if (prctl(PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS, 1, 0, 0, 0)) {
202        perror("Failed to restrict privileges");
203        close(ruleset_fd);
204        return 1;
205    }
206
207The current thread is now ready to sandbox itself with the ruleset.
208
209.. code-block:: c
210
211    if (landlock_restrict_self(ruleset_fd, 0)) {
212        perror("Failed to enforce ruleset");
213        close(ruleset_fd);
214        return 1;
215    }
216    close(ruleset_fd);
217
218If the ``landlock_restrict_self`` system call succeeds, the current thread is
219now restricted and this policy will be enforced on all its subsequently created
220children as well.  Once a thread is landlocked, there is no way to remove its
221security policy; only adding more restrictions is allowed.  These threads are
222now in a new Landlock domain, merge of their parent one (if any) with the new
223ruleset.
224
225Full working code can be found in `samples/landlock/sandboxer.c`_.
226
227Good practices
228--------------
229
230It is recommended setting access rights to file hierarchy leaves as much as
231possible.  For instance, it is better to be able to have ``~/doc/`` as a
232read-only hierarchy and ``~/tmp/`` as a read-write hierarchy, compared to
233``~/`` as a read-only hierarchy and ``~/tmp/`` as a read-write hierarchy.
234Following this good practice leads to self-sufficient hierarchies that do not
235depend on their location (i.e. parent directories).  This is particularly
236relevant when we want to allow linking or renaming.  Indeed, having consistent
237access rights per directory enables to change the location of such directory
238without relying on the destination directory access rights (except those that
239are required for this operation, see ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER``
240documentation).
241
242Having self-sufficient hierarchies also helps to tighten the required access
243rights to the minimal set of data.  This also helps avoid sinkhole directories,
244i.e.  directories where data can be linked to but not linked from.  However,
245this depends on data organization, which might not be controlled by developers.
246In this case, granting read-write access to ``~/tmp/``, instead of write-only
247access, would potentially allow to move ``~/tmp/`` to a non-readable directory
248and still keep the ability to list the content of ``~/tmp/``.
249
250Layers of file path access rights
251---------------------------------
252
253Each time a thread enforces a ruleset on itself, it updates its Landlock domain
254with a new layer of policy.  Indeed, this complementary policy is stacked with
255the potentially other rulesets already restricting this thread.  A sandboxed
256thread can then safely add more constraints to itself with a new enforced
257ruleset.
258
259One policy layer grants access to a file path if at least one of its rules
260encountered on the path grants the access.  A sandboxed thread can only access
261a file path if all its enforced policy layers grant the access as well as all
262the other system access controls (e.g. filesystem DAC, other LSM policies,
263etc.).
264
265Bind mounts and OverlayFS
266-------------------------
267
268Landlock enables to restrict access to file hierarchies, which means that these
269access rights can be propagated with bind mounts (cf.
270Documentation/filesystems/sharedsubtree.rst) but not with
271Documentation/filesystems/overlayfs.rst.
272
273A bind mount mirrors a source file hierarchy to a destination.  The destination
274hierarchy is then composed of the exact same files, on which Landlock rules can
275be tied, either via the source or the destination path.  These rules restrict
276access when they are encountered on a path, which means that they can restrict
277access to multiple file hierarchies at the same time, whether these hierarchies
278are the result of bind mounts or not.
279
280An OverlayFS mount point consists of upper and lower layers.  These layers are
281combined in a merge directory, result of the mount point.  This merge hierarchy
282may include files from the upper and lower layers, but modifications performed
283on the merge hierarchy only reflects on the upper layer.  From a Landlock
284policy point of view, each OverlayFS layers and merge hierarchies are
285standalone and contains their own set of files and directories, which is
286different from bind mounts.  A policy restricting an OverlayFS layer will not
287restrict the resulted merged hierarchy, and vice versa.  Landlock users should
288then only think about file hierarchies they want to allow access to, regardless
289of the underlying filesystem.
290
291Inheritance
292-----------
293
294Every new thread resulting from a :manpage:`clone(2)` inherits Landlock domain
295restrictions from its parent.  This is similar to the seccomp inheritance (cf.
296Documentation/userspace-api/seccomp_filter.rst) or any other LSM dealing with
297task's :manpage:`credentials(7)`.  For instance, one process's thread may apply
298Landlock rules to itself, but they will not be automatically applied to other
299sibling threads (unlike POSIX thread credential changes, cf.
300:manpage:`nptl(7)`).
301
302When a thread sandboxes itself, we have the guarantee that the related security
303policy will stay enforced on all this thread's descendants.  This allows
304creating standalone and modular security policies per application, which will
305automatically be composed between themselves according to their runtime parent
306policies.
307
308Ptrace restrictions
309-------------------
310
311A sandboxed process has less privileges than a non-sandboxed process and must
312then be subject to additional restrictions when manipulating another process.
313To be allowed to use :manpage:`ptrace(2)` and related syscalls on a target
314process, a sandboxed process should have a subset of the target process rules,
315which means the tracee must be in a sub-domain of the tracer.
316
317IPC scoping
318-----------
319
320Similar to the implicit `Ptrace restrictions`_, we may want to further restrict
321interactions between sandboxes. Each Landlock domain can be explicitly scoped
322for a set of actions by specifying it on a ruleset.  For example, if a
323sandboxed process should not be able to :manpage:`connect(2)` to a
324non-sandboxed process through abstract :manpage:`unix(7)` sockets, we can
325specify such restriction with ``LANDLOCK_SCOPE_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET``.
326Moreover, if a sandboxed process should not be able to send a signal to a
327non-sandboxed process, we can specify this restriction with
328``LANDLOCK_SCOPE_SIGNAL``.
329
330A sandboxed process can connect to a non-sandboxed process when its domain is
331not scoped. If a process's domain is scoped, it can only connect to sockets
332created by processes in the same scope.
333Moreover, If a process is scoped to send signal to a non-scoped process, it can
334only send signals to processes in the same scope.
335
336A connected datagram socket behaves like a stream socket when its domain is
337scoped, meaning if the domain is scoped after the socket is connected , it can
338still :manpage:`send(2)` data just like a stream socket.  However, in the same
339scenario, a non-connected datagram socket cannot send data (with
340:manpage:`sendto(2)`) outside its scope.
341
342A process with a scoped domain can inherit a socket created by a non-scoped
343process. The process cannot connect to this socket since it has a scoped
344domain.
345
346IPC scoping does not support exceptions, so if a domain is scoped, no rules can
347be added to allow access to resources or processes outside of the scope.
348
349Truncating files
350----------------
351
352The operations covered by ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_WRITE_FILE`` and
353``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE`` both change the contents of a file and sometimes
354overlap in non-intuitive ways.  It is recommended to always specify both of
355these together.
356
357A particularly surprising example is :manpage:`creat(2)`.  The name suggests
358that this system call requires the rights to create and write files.  However,
359it also requires the truncate right if an existing file under the same name is
360already present.
361
362It should also be noted that truncating files does not require the
363``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_WRITE_FILE`` right.  Apart from the :manpage:`truncate(2)`
364system call, this can also be done through :manpage:`open(2)` with the flags
365``O_RDONLY | O_TRUNC``.
366
367The truncate right is associated with the opened file (see below).
368
369Rights associated with file descriptors
370---------------------------------------
371
372When opening a file, the availability of the ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE`` and
373``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`` rights is associated with the newly created
374file descriptor and will be used for subsequent truncation and ioctl attempts
375using :manpage:`ftruncate(2)` and :manpage:`ioctl(2)`.  The behavior is similar
376to opening a file for reading or writing, where permissions are checked during
377:manpage:`open(2)`, but not during the subsequent :manpage:`read(2)` and
378:manpage:`write(2)` calls.
379
380As a consequence, it is possible that a process has multiple open file
381descriptors referring to the same file, but Landlock enforces different things
382when operating with these file descriptors.  This can happen when a Landlock
383ruleset gets enforced and the process keeps file descriptors which were opened
384both before and after the enforcement.  It is also possible to pass such file
385descriptors between processes, keeping their Landlock properties, even when some
386of the involved processes do not have an enforced Landlock ruleset.
387
388Compatibility
389=============
390
391Backward and forward compatibility
392----------------------------------
393
394Landlock is designed to be compatible with past and future versions of the
395kernel.  This is achieved thanks to the system call attributes and the
396associated bitflags, particularly the ruleset's ``handled_access_fs``.  Making
397handled access right explicit enables the kernel and user space to have a clear
398contract with each other.  This is required to make sure sandboxing will not
399get stricter with a system update, which could break applications.
400
401Developers can subscribe to the `Landlock mailing list
402<https://subspace.kernel.org/lists.linux.dev.html>`_ to knowingly update and
403test their applications with the latest available features.  In the interest of
404users, and because they may use different kernel versions, it is strongly
405encouraged to follow a best-effort security approach by checking the Landlock
406ABI version at runtime and only enforcing the supported features.
407
408.. _landlock_abi_versions:
409
410Landlock ABI versions
411---------------------
412
413The Landlock ABI version can be read with the sys_landlock_create_ruleset()
414system call:
415
416.. code-block:: c
417
418    int abi;
419
420    abi = landlock_create_ruleset(NULL, 0, LANDLOCK_CREATE_RULESET_VERSION);
421    if (abi < 0) {
422        switch (errno) {
423        case ENOSYS:
424            printf("Landlock is not supported by the current kernel.\n");
425            break;
426        case EOPNOTSUPP:
427            printf("Landlock is currently disabled.\n");
428            break;
429        }
430        return 0;
431    }
432    if (abi >= 2) {
433        printf("Landlock supports LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER.\n");
434    }
435
436The following kernel interfaces are implicitly supported by the first ABI
437version.  Features only supported from a specific version are explicitly marked
438as such.
439
440Kernel interface
441================
442
443Access rights
444-------------
445
446.. kernel-doc:: include/uapi/linux/landlock.h
447    :identifiers: fs_access net_access scope
448
449Creating a new ruleset
450----------------------
451
452.. kernel-doc:: security/landlock/syscalls.c
453    :identifiers: sys_landlock_create_ruleset
454
455.. kernel-doc:: include/uapi/linux/landlock.h
456    :identifiers: landlock_ruleset_attr
457
458Extending a ruleset
459-------------------
460
461.. kernel-doc:: security/landlock/syscalls.c
462    :identifiers: sys_landlock_add_rule
463
464.. kernel-doc:: include/uapi/linux/landlock.h
465    :identifiers: landlock_rule_type landlock_path_beneath_attr
466                  landlock_net_port_attr
467
468Enforcing a ruleset
469-------------------
470
471.. kernel-doc:: security/landlock/syscalls.c
472    :identifiers: sys_landlock_restrict_self
473
474Current limitations
475===================
476
477Filesystem topology modification
478--------------------------------
479
480Threads sandboxed with filesystem restrictions cannot modify filesystem
481topology, whether via :manpage:`mount(2)` or :manpage:`pivot_root(2)`.
482However, :manpage:`chroot(2)` calls are not denied.
483
484Special filesystems
485-------------------
486
487Access to regular files and directories can be restricted by Landlock,
488according to the handled accesses of a ruleset.  However, files that do not
489come from a user-visible filesystem (e.g. pipe, socket), but can still be
490accessed through ``/proc/<pid>/fd/*``, cannot currently be explicitly
491restricted.  Likewise, some special kernel filesystems such as nsfs, which can
492be accessed through ``/proc/<pid>/ns/*``, cannot currently be explicitly
493restricted.  However, thanks to the `ptrace restrictions`_, access to such
494sensitive ``/proc`` files are automatically restricted according to domain
495hierarchies.  Future Landlock evolutions could still enable to explicitly
496restrict such paths with dedicated ruleset flags.
497
498Ruleset layers
499--------------
500
501There is a limit of 16 layers of stacked rulesets.  This can be an issue for a
502task willing to enforce a new ruleset in complement to its 16 inherited
503rulesets.  Once this limit is reached, sys_landlock_restrict_self() returns
504E2BIG.  It is then strongly suggested to carefully build rulesets once in the
505life of a thread, especially for applications able to launch other applications
506that may also want to sandbox themselves (e.g. shells, container managers,
507etc.).
508
509Memory usage
510------------
511
512Kernel memory allocated to create rulesets is accounted and can be restricted
513by the Documentation/admin-guide/cgroup-v1/memory.rst.
514
515IOCTL support
516-------------
517
518The ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`` right restricts the use of
519:manpage:`ioctl(2)`, but it only applies to *newly opened* device files.  This
520means specifically that pre-existing file descriptors like stdin, stdout and
521stderr are unaffected.
522
523Users should be aware that TTY devices have traditionally permitted to control
524other processes on the same TTY through the ``TIOCSTI`` and ``TIOCLINUX`` IOCTL
525commands.  Both of these require ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN`` on modern Linux systems, but
526the behavior is configurable for ``TIOCSTI``.
527
528On older systems, it is therefore recommended to close inherited TTY file
529descriptors, or to reopen them from ``/proc/self/fd/*`` without the
530``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`` right, if possible.
531
532Landlock's IOCTL support is coarse-grained at the moment, but may become more
533fine-grained in the future.  Until then, users are advised to establish the
534guarantees that they need through the file hierarchy, by only allowing the
535``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`` right on files where it is really required.
536
537Previous limitations
538====================
539
540File renaming and linking (ABI < 2)
541-----------------------------------
542
543Because Landlock targets unprivileged access controls, it needs to properly
544handle composition of rules.  Such property also implies rules nesting.
545Properly handling multiple layers of rulesets, each one of them able to
546restrict access to files, also implies inheritance of the ruleset restrictions
547from a parent to its hierarchy.  Because files are identified and restricted by
548their hierarchy, moving or linking a file from one directory to another implies
549propagation of the hierarchy constraints, or restriction of these actions
550according to the potentially lost constraints.  To protect against privilege
551escalations through renaming or linking, and for the sake of simplicity,
552Landlock previously limited linking and renaming to the same directory.
553Starting with the Landlock ABI version 2, it is now possible to securely
554control renaming and linking thanks to the new ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER``
555access right.
556
557File truncation (ABI < 3)
558-------------------------
559
560File truncation could not be denied before the third Landlock ABI, so it is
561always allowed when using a kernel that only supports the first or second ABI.
562
563Starting with the Landlock ABI version 3, it is now possible to securely control
564truncation thanks to the new ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE`` access right.
565
566Network support (ABI < 4)
567-------------------------
568
569Starting with the Landlock ABI version 4, it is now possible to restrict TCP
570bind and connect actions to only a set of allowed ports thanks to the new
571``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_BIND_TCP`` and ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_CONNECT_TCP``
572access rights.
573
574IOCTL (ABI < 5)
575---------------
576
577IOCTL operations could not be denied before the fifth Landlock ABI, so
578:manpage:`ioctl(2)` is always allowed when using a kernel that only supports an
579earlier ABI.
580
581Starting with the Landlock ABI version 5, it is possible to restrict the use of
582:manpage:`ioctl(2)` using the new ``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`` right.
583
584Abstract UNIX socket scoping (ABI < 6)
585--------------------------------------
586
587Starting with the Landlock ABI version 6, it is possible to restrict
588connections to an abstract :manpage:`unix(7)` socket by setting
589``LANDLOCK_SCOPE_ABSTRACT_UNIX_SOCKET`` to the ``scoped`` ruleset attribute.
590
591Signal scoping (ABI < 6)
592------------------------
593
594Starting with the Landlock ABI version 6, it is possible to restrict
595:manpage:`signal(7)` sending by setting ``LANDLOCK_SCOPE_SIGNAL`` to the
596``scoped`` ruleset attribute.
597
598.. _kernel_support:
599
600Kernel support
601==============
602
603Build time configuration
604------------------------
605
606Landlock was first introduced in Linux 5.13 but it must be configured at build
607time with ``CONFIG_SECURITY_LANDLOCK=y``.  Landlock must also be enabled at boot
608time as the other security modules.  The list of security modules enabled by
609default is set with ``CONFIG_LSM``.  The kernel configuration should then
610contains ``CONFIG_LSM=landlock,[...]`` with ``[...]``  as the list of other
611potentially useful security modules for the running system (see the
612``CONFIG_LSM`` help).
613
614Boot time configuration
615-----------------------
616
617If the running kernel does not have ``landlock`` in ``CONFIG_LSM``, then we can
618enable Landlock by adding ``lsm=landlock,[...]`` to
619Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.rst in the boot loader
620configuration.
621
622For example, if the current built-in configuration is:
623
624.. code-block:: console
625
626    $ zgrep -h "^CONFIG_LSM=" "/boot/config-$(uname -r)" /proc/config.gz 2>/dev/null
627    CONFIG_LSM="lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor"
628
629...and if the cmdline doesn't contain ``landlock`` either:
630
631.. code-block:: console
632
633    $ sed -n 's/.*\(\<lsm=\S\+\).*/\1/p' /proc/cmdline
634    lsm=lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor
635
636...we should configure the boot loader to set a cmdline extending the ``lsm``
637list with the ``landlock,`` prefix::
638
639  lsm=landlock,lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor
640
641After a reboot, we can check that Landlock is up and running by looking at
642kernel logs:
643
644.. code-block:: console
645
646    # dmesg | grep landlock || journalctl -kb -g landlock
647    [    0.000000] Command line: [...] lsm=landlock,lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor
648    [    0.000000] Kernel command line: [...] lsm=landlock,lockdown,yama,integrity,apparmor
649    [    0.000000] LSM: initializing lsm=lockdown,capability,landlock,yama,integrity,apparmor
650    [    0.000000] landlock: Up and running.
651
652The kernel may be configured at build time to always load the ``lockdown`` and
653``capability`` LSMs.  In that case, these LSMs will appear at the beginning of
654the ``LSM: initializing`` log line as well, even if they are not configured in
655the boot loader.
656
657Network support
658---------------
659
660To be able to explicitly allow TCP operations (e.g., adding a network rule with
661``LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_BIND_TCP``), the kernel must support TCP
662(``CONFIG_INET=y``).  Otherwise, sys_landlock_add_rule() returns an
663``EAFNOSUPPORT`` error, which can safely be ignored because this kind of TCP
664operation is already not possible.
665
666Questions and answers
667=====================
668
669What about user space sandbox managers?
670---------------------------------------
671
672Using user space process to enforce restrictions on kernel resources can lead
673to race conditions or inconsistent evaluations (i.e. `Incorrect mirroring of
674the OS code and state
675<https://www.ndss-symposium.org/ndss2003/traps-and-pitfalls-practical-problems-system-call-interposition-based-security-tools/>`_).
676
677What about namespaces and containers?
678-------------------------------------
679
680Namespaces can help create sandboxes but they are not designed for
681access-control and then miss useful features for such use case (e.g. no
682fine-grained restrictions).  Moreover, their complexity can lead to security
683issues, especially when untrusted processes can manipulate them (cf.
684`Controlling access to user namespaces <https://lwn.net/Articles/673597/>`_).
685
686Additional documentation
687========================
688
689* Documentation/security/landlock.rst
690* https://landlock.io
691
692.. Links
693.. _samples/landlock/sandboxer.c:
694   https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/tree/samples/landlock/sandboxer.c
695