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[v7,0/5] userfaultfd: add /dev/userfaultfd for fine grained access control

Message ID 20220819205201.658693-1-axelrasmussen@google.com
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Series userfaultfd: add /dev/userfaultfd for fine grained access control | expand

Message

Axel Rasmussen Aug. 19, 2022, 8:51 p.m. UTC 
This series is based on torvalds/master.

The series is split up like so:
- Patch 1 is a simple fixup which we should take in any case (even by itself).
- Patches 2-5 add the feature, configurable selftest support, and docs.

Why not ...?
============

- Why not /proc/[pid]/userfaultfd? Two main points (additional discussion [1]):

    - /proc/[pid]/* files are all owned by the user/group of the process, and
      they don't really support chmod/chown. So, without extending procfs it
      doesn't solve the problem this series is trying to solve.

    - The main argument *for* this was to support creating UFFDs for remote
      processes. But, that use case clearly calls for CAP_SYS_PTRACE, so to
      support this we could just use the UFFD syscall as-is.

- Why not use a syscall? Access to syscalls is generally controlled by
  capabilities. We don't have a capability which is used for userfaultfd access
  without also granting more / other permissions as well, and adding a new
  capability was rejected [2].

    - It's possible a LSM could be used to control access instead, but I have
      some concerns. I don't think this approach would be as easy to use,
      particularly if we were to try to solve this with something heavyweight
      like SELinux. Maybe we could pursue adding a new LSM specifically for
      this user case, but it may be too narrow of a case to justify that.

Changelog
=========

v6->v7:
  - Handle misc_register() failure properly by propagating the error instead if
    just WARN_ON-ing. [Greg]
  - Remove no-op open function from file_operations, since its caller detects
    the lack of an open implementation and proceeds normally anyway. [Greg]

v5->v6:
  - Modified selftest to exit with KSFT_SKIP *only* when features are
    unsupported, exiting with 1 in other error cases. [Mike]
  - Improved wording in two spots in the documentation. [Mike]
  - Picked up some Acked-by's.

v4->v5:
  - Call userfaultfd_syscall_allowed() directly in the syscall, so we don't
    have to plumb a flag into new_userfaultfd(). [Nadav]
  - Refactored run_vmtests.sh to loop over UFFD test mods. [Nadav]
  - Reworded cover letter.
  - Picked up some Acked-by's.

v3->v4:
  - Picked up an Acked-by on 5/5.
  - Updated cover letter to cover "why not ...".
  - Refactored userfaultfd_allowed() into userfaultfd_syscall_allowed(). [Peter]
  - Removed obsolete comment from a previous version. [Peter]
  - Refactored userfaultfd_open() in selftest. [Peter]
  - Reworded admin-guide documentation. [Mike, Peter]
  - Squashed 2 commits adding /dev/userfaultfd to selftest and making selftest
    configurable. [Peter]
  - Added "syscall" test modifier (the default behavior) to selftest. [Peter]

v2->v3:
  - Rebased onto linux-next/akpm-base, in order to be based on top of the
    run_vmtests.sh refactor which was merged previously.
  - Picked up some Reviewed-by's.
  - Fixed ioctl definition (_IO instead of _IOWR), and stopped using
    compat_ptr_ioctl since it is unneeded for ioctls which don't take a pointer.
  - Removed the "handle_kernel_faults" bool, simplifying the code. The result is
    logically equivalent, but simpler.
  - Fixed userfaultfd selftest so it returns KSFT_SKIP appropriately.
  - Reworded documentation per Shuah's feedback on v2.
  - Improved example usage for userfaultfd selftest.

v1->v2:
  - Add documentation update.
  - Test *both* userfaultfd(2) and /dev/userfaultfd via the selftest.

[1]: https://patchwork.kernel.org/project/linux-mm/cover/20220719195628.3415852-1-axelrasmussen@google.com/
[2]: https://lore.kernel.org/lkml/686276b9-4530-2045-6bd8-170e5943abe4@schaufler-ca.com/T/

Axel Rasmussen (5):
  selftests: vm: add hugetlb_shared userfaultfd test to run_vmtests.sh
  userfaultfd: add /dev/userfaultfd for fine grained access control
  userfaultfd: selftests: modify selftest to use /dev/userfaultfd
  userfaultfd: update documentation to describe /dev/userfaultfd
  selftests: vm: add /dev/userfaultfd test cases to run_vmtests.sh

 Documentation/admin-guide/mm/userfaultfd.rst | 41 ++++++++++-
 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/vm.rst      |  3 +
 fs/userfaultfd.c                             | 71 +++++++++++++-----
 include/uapi/linux/userfaultfd.h             |  4 ++
 tools/testing/selftests/vm/run_vmtests.sh    | 15 ++--
 tools/testing/selftests/vm/userfaultfd.c     | 76 +++++++++++++++++---
 6 files changed, 176 insertions(+), 34 deletions(-)

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2.37.1.595.g718a3a8f04-goog