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diff --git a/Documentation/security/keys.txt b/Documentation/security/keys.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..4d75931d2d79 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/keys.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1290 @@ + ============================ + KERNEL KEY RETENTION SERVICE + ============================ + +This service allows cryptographic keys, authentication tokens, cross-domain +user mappings, and similar to be cached in the kernel for the use of +filesystems and other kernel services. + +Keyrings are permitted; these are a special type of key that can hold links to +other keys. Processes each have three standard keyring subscriptions that a +kernel service can search for relevant keys. + +The key service can be configured on by enabling: + + "Security options"/"Enable access key retention support" (CONFIG_KEYS) + +This document has the following sections: + + - Key overview + - Key service overview + - Key access permissions + - SELinux support + - New procfs files + - Userspace system call interface + - Kernel services + - Notes on accessing payload contents + - Defining a key type + - Request-key callback service + - Garbage collection + + +============ +KEY OVERVIEW +============ + +In this context, keys represent units of cryptographic data, authentication +tokens, keyrings, etc.. These are represented in the kernel by struct key. + +Each key has a number of attributes: + + - A serial number. + - A type. + - A description (for matching a key in a search). + - Access control information. + - An expiry time. + - A payload. + - State. + + + (*) Each key is issued a serial number of type key_serial_t that is unique for + the lifetime of that key. All serial numbers are positive non-zero 32-bit + integers. + + Userspace programs can use a key's serial numbers as a way to gain access + to it, subject to permission checking. + + (*) Each key is of a defined "type". Types must be registered inside the + kernel by a kernel service (such as a filesystem) before keys of that type + can be added or used. Userspace programs cannot define new types directly. + + Key types are represented in the kernel by struct key_type. This defines a + number of operations that can be performed on a key of that type. + + Should a type be removed from the system, all the keys of that type will + be invalidated. + + (*) Each key has a description. This should be a printable string. The key + type provides an operation to perform a match between the description on a + key and a criterion string. + + (*) Each key has an owner user ID, a group ID and a permissions mask. These + are used to control what a process may do to a key from userspace, and + whether a kernel service will be able to find the key. + + (*) Each key can be set to expire at a specific time by the key type's + instantiation function. Keys can also be immortal. + + (*) Each key can have a payload. This is a quantity of data that represent the + actual "key". In the case of a keyring, this is a list of keys to which + the keyring links; in the case of a user-defined key, it's an arbitrary + blob of data. + + Having a payload is not required; and the payload can, in fact, just be a + value stored in the struct key itself. + + When a key is instantiated, the key type's instantiation function is + called with a blob of data, and that then creates the key's payload in + some way. + + Similarly, when userspace wants to read back the contents of the key, if + permitted, another key type operation will be called to convert the key's + attached payload back into a blob of data. + + (*) Each key can be in one of a number of basic states: + + (*) Uninstantiated. The key exists, but does not have any data attached. + Keys being requested from userspace will be in this state. + + (*) Instantiated. This is the normal state. The key is fully formed, and + has data attached. + + (*) Negative. This is a relatively short-lived state. The key acts as a + note saying that a previous call out to userspace failed, and acts as + a throttle on key lookups. A negative key can be updated to a normal + state. + + (*) Expired. Keys can have lifetimes set. If their lifetime is exceeded, + they traverse to this state. An expired key can be updated back to a + normal state. + + (*) Revoked. A key is put in this state by userspace action. It can't be + found or operated upon (apart from by unlinking it). + + (*) Dead. The key's type was unregistered, and so the key is now useless. + +Keys in the last three states are subject to garbage collection. See the +section on "Garbage collection". + + +==================== +KEY SERVICE OVERVIEW +==================== + +The key service provides a number of features besides keys: + + (*) The key service defines two special key types: + + (+) "keyring" + + Keyrings are special keys that contain a list of other keys. Keyring + lists can be modified using various system calls. Keyrings should not + be given a payload when created. + + (+) "user" + + A key of this type has a description and a payload that are arbitrary + blobs of data. These can be created, updated and read by userspace, + and aren't intended for use by kernel services. + + (*) Each process subscribes to three keyrings: a thread-specific keyring, a + process-specific keyring, and a session-specific keyring. + + The thread-specific keyring is discarded from the child when any sort of + clone, fork, vfork or execve occurs. A new keyring is created only when + required. + + The process-specific keyring is replaced with an empty one in the child on + clone, fork, vfork unless CLONE_THREAD is supplied, in which case it is + shared. execve also discards the process's process keyring and creates a + new one. + + The session-specific keyring is persistent across clone, fork, vfork and + execve, even when the latter executes a set-UID or set-GID binary. A + process can, however, replace its current session keyring with a new one + by using PR_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING. It is permitted to request an anonymous + new one, or to attempt to create or join one of a specific name. + + The ownership of the thread keyring changes when the real UID and GID of + the thread changes. + + (*) Each user ID resident in the system holds two special keyrings: a user + specific keyring and a default user session keyring. The default session + keyring is initialised with a link to the user-specific keyring. + + When a process changes its real UID, if it used to have no session key, it + will be subscribed to the default session key for the new UID. + + If a process attempts to access its session key when it doesn't have one, + it will be subscribed to the default for its current UID. + + (*) Each user has two quotas against which the keys they own are tracked. One + limits the total number of keys and keyrings, the other limits the total + amount of description and payload space that can be consumed. + + The user can view information on this and other statistics through procfs + files. The root user may also alter the quota limits through sysctl files + (see the section "New procfs files"). + + Process-specific and thread-specific keyrings are not counted towards a + user's quota. + + If a system call that modifies a key or keyring in some way would put the + user over quota, the operation is refused and error EDQUOT is returned. + + (*) There's a system call interface by which userspace programs can create and + manipulate keys and keyrings. + + (*) There's a kernel interface by which services can register types and search + for keys. + + (*) There's a way for the a search done from the kernel to call back to + userspace to request a key that can't be found in a process's keyrings. + + (*) An optional filesystem is available through which the key database can be + viewed and manipulated. + + +====================== +KEY ACCESS PERMISSIONS +====================== + +Keys have an owner user ID, a group access ID, and a permissions mask. The mask +has up to eight bits each for possessor, user, group and other access. Only +six of each set of eight bits are defined. These permissions granted are: + + (*) View + + This permits a key or keyring's attributes to be viewed - including key + type and description. + + (*) Read + + This permits a key's payload to be viewed or a keyring's list of linked + keys. + + (*) Write + + This permits a key's payload to be instantiated or updated, or it allows a + link to be added to or removed from a keyring. + + (*) Search + + This permits keyrings to be searched and keys to be found. Searches can + only recurse into nested keyrings that have search permission set. + + (*) Link + + This permits a key or keyring to be linked to. To create a link from a + keyring to a key, a process must have Write permission on the keyring and + Link permission on the key. + + (*) Set Attribute + + This permits a key's UID, GID and permissions mask to be changed. + +For changing the ownership, group ID or permissions mask, being the owner of +the key or having the sysadmin capability is sufficient. + + +=============== +SELINUX SUPPORT +=============== + +The security class "key" has been added to SELinux so that mandatory access +controls can be applied to keys created within various contexts. This support +is preliminary, and is likely to change quite significantly in the near future. +Currently, all of the basic permissions explained above are provided in SELinux +as well; SELinux is simply invoked after all basic permission checks have been +performed. + +The value of the file /proc/self/attr/keycreate influences the labeling of +newly-created keys. If the contents of that file correspond to an SELinux +security context, then the key will be assigned that context. Otherwise, the +key will be assigned the current context of the task that invoked the key +creation request. Tasks must be granted explicit permission to assign a +particular context to newly-created keys, using the "create" permission in the +key security class. + +The default keyrings associated with users will be labeled with the default +context of the user if and only if the login programs have been instrumented to +properly initialize keycreate during the login process. Otherwise, they will +be labeled with the context of the login program itself. + +Note, however, that the default keyrings associated with the root user are +labeled with the default kernel context, since they are created early in the +boot process, before root has a chance to log in. + +The keyrings associated with new threads are each labeled with the context of +their associated thread, and both session and process keyrings are handled +similarly. + + +================ +NEW PROCFS FILES +================ + +Two files have been added to procfs by which an administrator can find out +about the status of the key service: + + (*) /proc/keys + + This lists the keys that are currently viewable by the task reading the + file, giving information about their type, description and permissions. + It is not possible to view the payload of the key this way, though some + information about it may be given. + + The only keys included in the list are those that grant View permission to + the reading process whether or not it possesses them. Note that LSM + security checks are still performed, and may further filter out keys that + the current process is not authorised to view. + + The contents of the file look like this: + + SERIAL FLAGS USAGE EXPY PERM UID GID TYPE DESCRIPTION: SUMMARY + 00000001 I----- 39 perm 1f3f0000 0 0 keyring _uid_ses.0: 1/4 + 00000002 I----- 2 perm 1f3f0000 0 0 keyring _uid.0: empty + 00000007 I----- 1 perm 1f3f0000 0 0 keyring _pid.1: empty + 0000018d I----- 1 perm 1f3f0000 0 0 keyring _pid.412: empty + 000004d2 I--Q-- 1 perm 1f3f0000 32 -1 keyring _uid.32: 1/4 + 000004d3 I--Q-- 3 perm 1f3f0000 32 -1 keyring _uid_ses.32: empty + 00000892 I--QU- 1 perm 1f000000 0 0 user metal:copper: 0 + 00000893 I--Q-N 1 35s 1f3f0000 0 0 user metal:silver: 0 + 00000894 I--Q-- 1 10h 003f0000 0 0 user metal:gold: 0 + + The flags are: + + I Instantiated + R Revoked + D Dead + Q Contributes to user's quota + U Under construction by callback to userspace + N Negative key + + This file must be enabled at kernel configuration time as it allows anyone + to list the keys database. + + (*) /proc/key-users + + This file lists the tracking data for each user that has at least one key + on the system. Such data includes quota information and statistics: + + [root@andromeda root]# cat /proc/key-users + 0: 46 45/45 1/100 13/10000 + 29: 2 2/2 2/100 40/10000 + 32: 2 2/2 2/100 40/10000 + 38: 2 2/2 2/100 40/10000 + + The format of each line is + <UID>: User ID to which this applies + <usage> Structure refcount + <inst>/<keys> Total number of keys and number instantiated + <keys>/<max> Key count quota + <bytes>/<max> Key size quota + + +Four new sysctl files have been added also for the purpose of controlling the +quota limits on keys: + + (*) /proc/sys/kernel/keys/root_maxkeys + /proc/sys/kernel/keys/root_maxbytes + + These files hold the maximum number of keys that root may have and the + maximum total number of bytes of data that root may have stored in those + keys. + + (*) /proc/sys/kernel/keys/maxkeys + /proc/sys/kernel/keys/maxbytes + + These files hold the maximum number of keys that each non-root user may + have and the maximum total number of bytes of data that each of those + users may have stored in their keys. + +Root may alter these by writing each new limit as a decimal number string to +the appropriate file. + + +=============================== +USERSPACE SYSTEM CALL INTERFACE +=============================== + +Userspace can manipulate keys directly through three new syscalls: add_key, +request_key and keyctl. The latter provides a number of functions for +manipulating keys. + +When referring to a key directly, userspace programs should use the key's +serial number (a positive 32-bit integer). However, there are some special +values available for referring to special keys and keyrings that relate to the +process making the call: + + CONSTANT VALUE KEY REFERENCED + ============================== ====== =========================== + KEY_SPEC_THREAD_KEYRING -1 thread-specific keyring + KEY_SPEC_PROCESS_KEYRING -2 process-specific keyring + KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING -3 session-specific keyring + KEY_SPEC_USER_KEYRING -4 UID-specific keyring + KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING -5 UID-session keyring + KEY_SPEC_GROUP_KEYRING -6 GID-specific keyring + KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY -7 assumed request_key() + authorisation key + + +The main syscalls are: + + (*) Create a new key of given type, description and payload and add it to the + nominated keyring: + + key_serial_t add_key(const char *type, const char *desc, + const void *payload, size_t plen, + key_serial_t keyring); + + If a key of the same type and description as that proposed already exists + in the keyring, this will try to update it with the given payload, or it + will return error EEXIST if that function is not supported by the key + type. The process must also have permission to write to the key to be able + to update it. The new key will have all user permissions granted and no + group or third party permissions. + + Otherwise, this will attempt to create a new key of the specified type and + description, and to instantiate it with the supplied payload and attach it + to the keyring. In this case, an error will be generated if the process + does not have permission to write to the keyring. + + The payload is optional, and the pointer can be NULL if not required by + the type. The payload is plen in size, and plen can be zero for an empty + payload. + + A new keyring can be generated by setting type "keyring", the keyring name + as the description (or NULL) and setting the payload to NULL. + + User defined keys can be created by specifying type "user". It is + recommended that a user defined key's description by prefixed with a type + ID and a colon, such as "krb5tgt:" for a Kerberos 5 ticket granting + ticket. + + Any other type must have been registered with the kernel in advance by a + kernel service such as a filesystem. + + The ID of the new or updated key is returned if successful. + + + (*) Search the process's keyrings for a key, potentially calling out to + userspace to create it. + + key_serial_t request_key(const char *type, const char *description, + const char *callout_info, + key_serial_t dest_keyring); + + This function searches all the process's keyrings in the order thread, + process, session for a matching key. This works very much like + KEYCTL_SEARCH, including the optional attachment of the discovered key to + a keyring. + + If a key cannot be found, and if callout_info is not NULL, then + /sbin/request-key will be invoked in an attempt to obtain a key. The + callout_info string will be passed as an argument to the program. + + See also Documentation/security/keys-request-key.txt. + + +The keyctl syscall functions are: + + (*) Map a special key ID to a real key ID for this process: + + key_serial_t keyctl(KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID, key_serial_t id, + int create); + + The special key specified by "id" is looked up (with the key being created + if necessary) and the ID of the key or keyring thus found is returned if + it exists. + + If the key does not yet exist, the key will be created if "create" is + non-zero; and the error ENOKEY will be returned if "create" is zero. + + + (*) Replace the session keyring this process subscribes to with a new one: + + key_serial_t keyctl(KEYCTL_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING, const char *name); + + If name is NULL, an anonymous keyring is created attached to the process + as its session keyring, displacing the old session keyring. + + If name is not NULL, if a keyring of that name exists, the process + attempts to attach it as the session keyring, returning an error if that + is not permitted; otherwise a new keyring of that name is created and + attached as the session keyring. + + To attach to a named keyring, the keyring must have search permission for + the process's ownership. + + The ID of the new session keyring is returned if successful. + + + (*) Update the specified key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_UPDATE, key_serial_t key, const void *payload, + size_t plen); + + This will try to update the specified key with the given payload, or it + will return error EOPNOTSUPP if that function is not supported by the key + type. The process must also have permission to write to the key to be able + to update it. + + The payload is of length plen, and may be absent or empty as for + add_key(). + + + (*) Revoke a key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_REVOKE, key_serial_t key); + + This makes a key unavailable for further operations. Further attempts to + use the key will be met with error EKEYREVOKED, and the key will no longer + be findable. + + + (*) Change the ownership of a key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_CHOWN, key_serial_t key, uid_t uid, gid_t gid); + + This function permits a key's owner and group ID to be changed. Either one + of uid or gid can be set to -1 to suppress that change. + + Only the superuser can change a key's owner to something other than the + key's current owner. Similarly, only the superuser can change a key's + group ID to something other than the calling process's group ID or one of + its group list members. + + + (*) Change the permissions mask on a key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_SETPERM, key_serial_t key, key_perm_t perm); + + This function permits the owner of a key or the superuser to change the + permissions mask on a key. + + Only bits the available bits are permitted; if any other bits are set, + error EINVAL will be returned. + + + (*) Describe a key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_DESCRIBE, key_serial_t key, char *buffer, + size_t buflen); + + This function returns a summary of the key's attributes (but not its + payload data) as a string in the buffer provided. + + Unless there's an error, it always returns the amount of data it could + produce, even if that's too big for the buffer, but it won't copy more + than requested to userspace. If the buffer pointer is NULL then no copy + will take place. + + A process must have view permission on the key for this function to be + successful. + + If successful, a string is placed in the buffer in the following format: + + <type>;<uid>;<gid>;<perm>;<description> + + Where type and description are strings, uid and gid are decimal, and perm + is hexadecimal. A NUL character is included at the end of the string if + the buffer is sufficiently big. + + This can be parsed with + + sscanf(buffer, "%[^;];%d;%d;%o;%s", type, &uid, &gid, &mode, desc); + + + (*) Clear out a keyring: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_CLEAR, key_serial_t keyring); + + This function clears the list of keys attached to a keyring. The calling + process must have write permission on the keyring, and it must be a + keyring (or else error ENOTDIR will result). + + + (*) Link a key into a keyring: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_LINK, key_serial_t keyring, key_serial_t key); + + This function creates a link from the keyring to the key. The process must + have write permission on the keyring and must have link permission on the + key. + + Should the keyring not be a keyring, error ENOTDIR will result; and if the + keyring is full, error ENFILE will result. + + The link procedure checks the nesting of the keyrings, returning ELOOP if + it appears too deep or EDEADLK if the link would introduce a cycle. + + Any links within the keyring to keys that match the new key in terms of + type and description will be discarded from the keyring as the new one is + added. + + + (*) Unlink a key or keyring from another keyring: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_UNLINK, key_serial_t keyring, key_serial_t key); + + This function looks through the keyring for the first link to the + specified key, and removes it if found. Subsequent links to that key are + ignored. The process must have write permission on the keyring. + + If the keyring is not a keyring, error ENOTDIR will result; and if the key + is not present, error ENOENT will be the result. + + + (*) Search a keyring tree for a key: + + key_serial_t keyctl(KEYCTL_SEARCH, key_serial_t keyring, + const char *type, const char *description, + key_serial_t dest_keyring); + + This searches the keyring tree headed by the specified keyring until a key + is found that matches the type and description criteria. Each keyring is + checked for keys before recursion into its children occurs. + + The process must have search permission on the top level keyring, or else + error EACCES will result. Only keyrings that the process has search + permission on will be recursed into, and only keys and keyrings for which + a process has search permission can be matched. If the specified keyring + is not a keyring, ENOTDIR will result. + + If the search succeeds, the function will attempt to link the found key + into the destination keyring if one is supplied (non-zero ID). All the + constraints applicable to KEYCTL_LINK apply in this case too. + + Error ENOKEY, EKEYREVOKED or EKEYEXPIRED will be returned if the search + fails. On success, the resulting key ID will be returned. + + + (*) Read the payload data from a key: + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_READ, key_serial_t keyring, char *buffer, + size_t buflen); + + This function attempts to read the payload data from the specified key + into the buffer. The process must have read permission on the key to + succeed. + + The returned data will be processed for presentation by the key type. For + instance, a keyring will return an array of key_serial_t entries + representing the IDs of all the keys to which it is subscribed. The user + defined key type will return its data as is. If a key type does not + implement this function, error EOPNOTSUPP will result. + + As much of the data as can be fitted into the buffer will be copied to + userspace if the buffer pointer is not NULL. + + On a successful return, the function will always return the amount of data + available rather than the amount copied. + + + (*) Instantiate a partially constructed key. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE, key_serial_t key, + const void *payload, size_t plen, + key_serial_t keyring); + long keyctl(KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE_IOV, key_serial_t key, + const struct iovec *payload_iov, unsigned ioc, + key_serial_t keyring); + + If the kernel calls back to userspace to complete the instantiation of a + key, userspace should use this call to supply data for the key before the + invoked process returns, or else the key will be marked negative + automatically. + + The process must have write access on the key to be able to instantiate + it, and the key must be uninstantiated. + + If a keyring is specified (non-zero), the key will also be linked into + that keyring, however all the constraints applying in KEYCTL_LINK apply in + this case too. + + The payload and plen arguments describe the payload data as for add_key(). + + The payload_iov and ioc arguments describe the payload data in an iovec + array instead of a single buffer. + + + (*) Negatively instantiate a partially constructed key. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_NEGATE, key_serial_t key, + unsigned timeout, key_serial_t keyring); + long keyctl(KEYCTL_REJECT, key_serial_t key, + unsigned timeout, unsigned error, key_serial_t keyring); + + If the kernel calls back to userspace to complete the instantiation of a + key, userspace should use this call mark the key as negative before the + invoked process returns if it is unable to fulfil the request. + + The process must have write access on the key to be able to instantiate + it, and the key must be uninstantiated. + + If a keyring is specified (non-zero), the key will also be linked into + that keyring, however all the constraints applying in KEYCTL_LINK apply in + this case too. + + If the key is rejected, future searches for it will return the specified + error code until the rejected key expires. Negating the key is the same + as rejecting the key with ENOKEY as the error code. + + + (*) Set the default request-key destination keyring. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING, int reqkey_defl); + + This sets the default keyring to which implicitly requested keys will be + attached for this thread. reqkey_defl should be one of these constants: + + CONSTANT VALUE NEW DEFAULT KEYRING + ====================================== ====== ======================= + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_NO_CHANGE -1 No change + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_DEFAULT 0 Default[1] + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_THREAD_KEYRING 1 Thread keyring + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_PROCESS_KEYRING 2 Process keyring + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_SESSION_KEYRING 3 Session keyring + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_KEYRING 4 User keyring + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_SESSION_KEYRING 5 User session keyring + KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_GROUP_KEYRING 6 Group keyring + + The old default will be returned if successful and error EINVAL will be + returned if reqkey_defl is not one of the above values. + + The default keyring can be overridden by the keyring indicated to the + request_key() system call. + + Note that this setting is inherited across fork/exec. + + [1] The default is: the thread keyring if there is one, otherwise + the process keyring if there is one, otherwise the session keyring if + there is one, otherwise the user default session keyring. + + + (*) Set the timeout on a key. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_SET_TIMEOUT, key_serial_t key, unsigned timeout); + + This sets or clears the timeout on a key. The timeout can be 0 to clear + the timeout or a number of seconds to set the expiry time that far into + the future. + + The process must have attribute modification access on a key to set its + timeout. Timeouts may not be set with this function on negative, revoked + or expired keys. + + + (*) Assume the authority granted to instantiate a key + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY, key_serial_t key); + + This assumes or divests the authority required to instantiate the + specified key. Authority can only be assumed if the thread has the + authorisation key associated with the specified key in its keyrings + somewhere. + + Once authority is assumed, searches for keys will also search the + requester's keyrings using the requester's security label, UID, GID and + groups. + + If the requested authority is unavailable, error EPERM will be returned, + likewise if the authority has been revoked because the target key is + already instantiated. + + If the specified key is 0, then any assumed authority will be divested. + + The assumed authoritative key is inherited across fork and exec. + + + (*) Get the LSM security context attached to a key. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_GET_SECURITY, key_serial_t key, char *buffer, + size_t buflen) + + This function returns a string that represents the LSM security context + attached to a key in the buffer provided. + + Unless there's an error, it always returns the amount of data it could + produce, even if that's too big for the buffer, but it won't copy more + than requested to userspace. If the buffer pointer is NULL then no copy + will take place. + + A NUL character is included at the end of the string if the buffer is + sufficiently big. This is included in the returned count. If no LSM is + in force then an empty string will be returned. + + A process must have view permission on the key for this function to be + successful. + + + (*) Install the calling process's session keyring on its parent. + + long keyctl(KEYCTL_SESSION_TO_PARENT); + + This functions attempts to install the calling process's session keyring + on to the calling process's parent, replacing the parent's current session + keyring. + + The calling process must have the same ownership as its parent, the + keyring must have the same ownership as the calling process, the calling + process must have LINK permission on the keyring and the active LSM module + mustn't deny permission, otherwise error EPERM will be returned. + + Error ENOMEM will be returned if there was insufficient memory to complete + the operation, otherwise 0 will be returned to indicate success. + + The keyring will be replaced next time the parent process leaves the + kernel and resumes executing userspace. + + +=============== +KERNEL SERVICES +=============== + +The kernel services for key management are fairly simple to deal with. They can +be broken down into two areas: keys and key types. + +Dealing with keys is fairly straightforward. Firstly, the kernel service +registers its type, then it searches for a key of that type. It should retain +the key as long as it has need of it, and then it should release it. For a +filesystem or device file, a search would probably be performed during the open +call, and the key released upon close. How to deal with conflicting keys due to +two different users opening the same file is left to the filesystem author to +solve. + +To access the key manager, the following header must be #included: + + <linux/key.h> + +Specific key types should have a header file under include/keys/ that should be +used to access that type. For keys of type "user", for example, that would be: + + <keys/user-type.h> + +Note that there are two different types of pointers to keys that may be +encountered: + + (*) struct key * + + This simply points to the key structure itself. Key structures will be at + least four-byte aligned. + + (*) key_ref_t + + This is equivalent to a struct key *, but the least significant bit is set + if the caller "possesses" the key. By "possession" it is meant that the + calling processes has a searchable link to the key from one of its + keyrings. There are three functions for dealing with these: + + key_ref_t make_key_ref(const struct key *key, + unsigned long possession); + + struct key *key_ref_to_ptr(const key_ref_t key_ref); + + unsigned long is_key_possessed(const key_ref_t key_ref); + + The first function constructs a key reference from a key pointer and + possession information (which must be 0 or 1 and not any other value). + + The second function retrieves the key pointer from a reference and the + third retrieves the possession flag. + +When accessing a key's payload contents, certain precautions must be taken to +prevent access vs modification races. See the section "Notes on accessing +payload contents" for more information. + +(*) To search for a key, call: + + struct key *request_key(const struct key_type *type, + const char *description, + const char *callout_info); + + This is used to request a key or keyring with a description that matches + the description specified according to the key type's match function. This + permits approximate matching to occur. If callout_string is not NULL, then + /sbin/request-key will be invoked in an attempt to obtain the key from + userspace. In that case, callout_string will be passed as an argument to + the program. + + Should the function fail error ENOKEY, EKEYEXPIRED or EKEYREVOKED will be + returned. + + If successful, the key will have been attached to the default keyring for + implicitly obtained request-key keys, as set by KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING. + + See also Documentation/security/keys-request-key.txt. + + +(*) To search for a key, passing auxiliary data to the upcaller, call: + + struct key *request_key_with_auxdata(const struct key_type *type, + const char *description, + const void *callout_info, + size_t callout_len, + void *aux); + + This is identical to request_key(), except that the auxiliary data is + passed to the key_type->request_key() op if it exists, and the callout_info + is a blob of length callout_len, if given (the length may be 0). + + +(*) A key can be requested asynchronously by calling one of: + + struct key *request_key_async(const struct key_type *type, + const char *description, + const void *callout_info, + size_t callout_len); + + or: + + struct key *request_key_async_with_auxdata(const struct key_type *type, + const char *description, + const char *callout_info, + size_t callout_len, + void *aux); + + which are asynchronous equivalents of request_key() and + request_key_with_auxdata() respectively. + + These two functions return with the key potentially still under + construction. To wait for construction completion, the following should be + called: + + int wait_for_key_construction(struct key *key, bool intr); + + The function will wait for the key to finish being constructed and then + invokes key_validate() to return an appropriate value to indicate the state + of the key (0 indicates the key is usable). + + If intr is true, then the wait can be interrupted by a signal, in which + case error ERESTARTSYS will be returned. + + +(*) When it is no longer required, the key should be released using: + + void key_put(struct key *key); + + Or: + + void key_ref_put(key_ref_t key_ref); + + These can be called from interrupt context. If CONFIG_KEYS is not set then + the argument will not be parsed. + + +(*) Extra references can be made to a key by calling the following function: + + struct key *key_get(struct key *key); + + These need to be disposed of by calling key_put() when they've been + finished with. The key pointer passed in will be returned. If the pointer + is NULL or CONFIG_KEYS is not set then the key will not be dereferenced and + no increment will take place. + + +(*) A key's serial number can be obtained by calling: + + key_serial_t key_serial(struct key *key); + + If key is NULL or if CONFIG_KEYS is not set then 0 will be returned (in the + latter case without parsing the argument). + + +(*) If a keyring was found in the search, this can be further searched by: + + key_ref_t keyring_search(key_ref_t keyring_ref, + const struct key_type *type, + const char *description) + + This searches the keyring tree specified for a matching key. Error ENOKEY + is returned upon failure (use IS_ERR/PTR_ERR to determine). If successful, + the returned key will need to be released. + + The possession attribute from the keyring reference is used to control + access through the permissions mask and is propagated to the returned key + reference pointer if successful. + + +(*) To check the validity of a key, this function can be called: + + int validate_key(struct key *key); + + This checks that the key in question hasn't expired or and hasn't been + revoked. Should the key be invalid, error EKEYEXPIRED or EKEYREVOKED will + be returned. If the key is NULL or if CONFIG_KEYS is not set then 0 will be + returned (in the latter case without parsing the argument). + + +(*) To register a key type, the following function should be called: + + int register_key_type(struct key_type *type); + + This will return error EEXIST if a type of the same name is already + present. + + +(*) To unregister a key type, call: + + void unregister_key_type(struct key_type *type); + + +Under some circumstances, it may be desirable to deal with a bundle of keys. +The facility provides access to the keyring type for managing such a bundle: + + struct key_type key_type_keyring; + +This can be used with a function such as request_key() to find a specific +keyring in a process's keyrings. A keyring thus found can then be searched +with keyring_search(). Note that it is not possible to use request_key() to +search a specific keyring, so using keyrings in this way is of limited utility. + + +=================================== +NOTES ON ACCESSING PAYLOAD CONTENTS +=================================== + +The simplest payload is just a number in key->payload.value. In this case, +there's no need to indulge in RCU or locking when accessing the payload. + +More complex payload contents must be allocated and a pointer to them set in +key->payload.data. One of the following ways must be selected to access the +data: + + (1) Unmodifiable key type. + + If the key type does not have a modify method, then the key's payload can + be accessed without any form of locking, provided that it's known to be + instantiated (uninstantiated keys cannot be "found"). + + (2) The key's semaphore. + + The semaphore could be used to govern access to the payload and to control + the payload pointer. It must be write-locked for modifications and would + have to be read-locked for general access. The disadvantage of doing this + is that the accessor may be required to sleep. + + (3) RCU. + + RCU must be used when the semaphore isn't already held; if the semaphore + is held then the contents can't change under you unexpectedly as the + semaphore must still be used to serialise modifications to the key. The + key management code takes care of this for the key type. + + However, this means using: + + rcu_read_lock() ... rcu_dereference() ... rcu_read_unlock() + + to read the pointer, and: + + rcu_dereference() ... rcu_assign_pointer() ... call_rcu() + + to set the pointer and dispose of the old contents after a grace period. + Note that only the key type should ever modify a key's payload. + + Furthermore, an RCU controlled payload must hold a struct rcu_head for the + use of call_rcu() and, if the payload is of variable size, the length of + the payload. key->datalen cannot be relied upon to be consistent with the + payload just dereferenced if the key's semaphore is not held. + + +=================== +DEFINING A KEY TYPE +=================== + +A kernel service may want to define its own key type. For instance, an AFS +filesystem might want to define a Kerberos 5 ticket key type. To do this, it +author fills in a key_type struct and registers it with the system. + +Source files that implement key types should include the following header file: + + <linux/key-type.h> + +The structure has a number of fields, some of which are mandatory: + + (*) const char *name + + The name of the key type. This is used to translate a key type name + supplied by userspace into a pointer to the structure. + + + (*) size_t def_datalen + + This is optional - it supplies the default payload data length as + contributed to the quota. If the key type's payload is always or almost + always the same size, then this is a more efficient way to do things. + + The data length (and quota) on a particular key can always be changed + during instantiation or update by calling: + + int key_payload_reserve(struct key *key, size_t datalen); + + With the revised data length. Error EDQUOT will be returned if this is not + viable. + + + (*) int (*vet_description)(const char *description); + + This optional method is called to vet a key description. If the key type + doesn't approve of the key description, it may return an error, otherwise + it should return 0. + + + (*) int (*instantiate)(struct key *key, const void *data, size_t datalen); + + This method is called to attach a payload to a key during construction. + The payload attached need not bear any relation to the data passed to this + function. + + If the amount of data attached to the key differs from the size in + keytype->def_datalen, then key_payload_reserve() should be called. + + This method does not have to lock the key in order to attach a payload. + The fact that KEY_FLAG_INSTANTIATED is not set in key->flags prevents + anything else from gaining access to the key. + + It is safe to sleep in this method. + + + (*) int (*update)(struct key *key, const void *data, size_t datalen); + + If this type of key can be updated, then this method should be provided. + It is called to update a key's payload from the blob of data provided. + + key_payload_reserve() should be called if the data length might change + before any changes are actually made. Note that if this succeeds, the type + is committed to changing the key because it's already been altered, so all + memory allocation must be done first. + + The key will have its semaphore write-locked before this method is called, + but this only deters other writers; any changes to the key's payload must + be made under RCU conditions, and call_rcu() must be used to dispose of + the old payload. + + key_payload_reserve() should be called before the changes are made, but + after all allocations and other potentially failing function calls are + made. + + It is safe to sleep in this method. + + + (*) int (*match)(const struct key *key, const void *desc); + + This method is called to match a key against a description. It should + return non-zero if the two match, zero if they don't. + + This method should not need to lock the key in any way. The type and + description can be considered invariant, and the payload should not be + accessed (the key may not yet be instantiated). + + It is not safe to sleep in this method; the caller may hold spinlocks. + + + (*) void (*revoke)(struct key *key); + + This method is optional. It is called to discard part of the payload + data upon a key being revoked. The caller will have the key semaphore + write-locked. + + It is safe to sleep in this method, though care should be taken to avoid + a deadlock against the key semaphore. + + + (*) void (*destroy)(struct key *key); + + This method is optional. It is called to discard the payload data on a key + when it is being destroyed. + + This method does not need to lock the key to access the payload; it can + consider the key as being inaccessible at this time. Note that the key's + type may have been changed before this function is called. + + It is not safe to sleep in this method; the caller may hold spinlocks. + + + (*) void (*describe)(const struct key *key, struct seq_file *p); + + This method is optional. It is called during /proc/keys reading to + summarise a key's description and payload in text form. + + This method will be called with the RCU read lock held. rcu_dereference() + should be used to read the payload pointer if the payload is to be + accessed. key->datalen cannot be trusted to stay consistent with the + contents of the payload. + + The description will not change, though the key's state may. + + It is not safe to sleep in this method; the RCU read lock is held by the + caller. + + + (*) long (*read)(const struct key *key, char __user *buffer, size_t buflen); + + This method is optional. It is called by KEYCTL_READ to translate the + key's payload into something a blob of data for userspace to deal with. + Ideally, the blob should be in the same format as that passed in to the + instantiate and update methods. + + If successful, the blob size that could be produced should be returned + rather than the size copied. + + This method will be called with the key's semaphore read-locked. This will + prevent the key's payload changing. It is not necessary to use RCU locking + when accessing the key's payload. It is safe to sleep in this method, such + as might happen when the userspace buffer is accessed. + + + (*) int (*request_key)(struct key_construction *cons, const char *op, + void *aux); + + This method is optional. If provided, request_key() and friends will + invoke this function rather than upcalling to /sbin/request-key to operate + upon a key of this type. + + The aux parameter is as passed to request_key_async_with_auxdata() and + similar or is NULL otherwise. Also passed are the construction record for + the key to be operated upon and the operation type (currently only + "create"). + + This method is permitted to return before the upcall is complete, but the + following function must be called under all circumstances to complete the + instantiation process, whether or not it succeeds, whether or not there's + an error: + + void complete_request_key(struct key_construction *cons, int error); + + The error parameter should be 0 on success, -ve on error. The + construction record is destroyed by this action and the authorisation key + will be revoked. If an error is indicated, the key under construction + will be negatively instantiated if it wasn't already instantiated. + + If this method returns an error, that error will be returned to the + caller of request_key*(). complete_request_key() must be called prior to + returning. + + The key under construction and the authorisation key can be found in the + key_construction struct pointed to by cons: + + (*) struct key *key; + + The key under construction. + + (*) struct key *authkey; + + The authorisation key. + + +============================ +REQUEST-KEY CALLBACK SERVICE +============================ + +To create a new key, the kernel will attempt to execute the following command +line: + + /sbin/request-key create <key> <uid> <gid> \ + <threadring> <processring> <sessionring> <callout_info> + +<key> is the key being constructed, and the three keyrings are the process +keyrings from the process that caused the search to be issued. These are +included for two reasons: + + (1) There may be an authentication token in one of the keyrings that is + required to obtain the key, eg: a Kerberos Ticket-Granting Ticket. + + (2) The new key should probably be cached in one of these rings. + +This program should set it UID and GID to those specified before attempting to +access any more keys. It may then look around for a user specific process to +hand the request off to (perhaps a path held in placed in another key by, for +example, the KDE desktop manager). + +The program (or whatever it calls) should finish construction of the key by +calling KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE or KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE_IOV, which also permits it to +cache the key in one of the keyrings (probably the session ring) before +returning. Alternatively, the key can be marked as negative with KEYCTL_NEGATE +or KEYCTL_REJECT; this also permits the key to be cached in one of the +keyrings. + +If it returns with the key remaining in the unconstructed state, the key will +be marked as being negative, it will be added to the session keyring, and an +error will be returned to the key requestor. + +Supplementary information may be provided from whoever or whatever invoked this +service. This will be passed as the <callout_info> parameter. If no such +information was made available, then "-" will be passed as this parameter +instead. + + +Similarly, the kernel may attempt to update an expired or a soon to expire key +by executing: + + /sbin/request-key update <key> <uid> <gid> \ + <threadring> <processring> <sessionring> + +In this case, the program isn't required to actually attach the key to a ring; +the rings are provided for reference. + + +================== +GARBAGE COLLECTION +================== + +Dead keys (for which the type has been removed) will be automatically unlinked +from those keyrings that point to them and deleted as soon as possible by a +background garbage collector. + +Similarly, revoked and expired keys will be garbage collected, but only after a +certain amount of time has passed. This time is set as a number of seconds in: + + /proc/sys/kernel/keys/gc_delay |
