From: "Günther Noack" <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
To: Alejandro Colomar <alx@kernel.org>
Cc: linux-man@vger.kernel.org, "Günther Noack" <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH 18/24] man/man7/unix.7: SCM_SECURITY: This is not specific to SELinux
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 2026 19:31:33 +0200 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20261016173139.13076-19-gnoack3000@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20261016173139.13076-1-gnoack3000@gmail.com>
Reword the description of SCM_SECURITY to not be specific to SELinux.
The security context is populated in scm_passec() in linux.git
net/core/scm.c, through the security_secid_to_secctx() LSM hook, which
is currently implemented by SELinux, Smack and AppArmor.
Also clarify the properties of the returned string:
* There is no NAME_MAX limit on the length; SELinux contexts can be
longer than that. If the control buffer is too small, put_cmsg()
truncates the data and sets MSG_CTRUNC.
* Whether the string is null-terminated also depends on the LSM:
SELinux includes the null byte in the length, but smack_to_secctx()
in security/smack/smack_lsm.c uses strlen() and doesn't.
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Günther Noack <gnoack3000@gmail.com>
---
Notes:
I reworded the LLM phrasing slightly and rewrote the commit message.
I'm open for feedback about whether this is going into too much detail
about the properties of the returned string. Linux does indeed not
guarantee that this terminates with a NUL byte, nor that NAME_MAX is
large enough to hold it.
man/man7/unix.7 | 25 +++++++++++++++++++------
1 file changed, 19 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
diff --git a/man/man7/unix.7 b/man/man7/unix.7
index 787a48baa97a..ff5a90863378 100644
--- a/man/man7/unix.7
+++ b/man/man7/unix.7
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ and returned as the result of
is an integer boolean flag.
.TP
.B SO_PASSSEC
-Enables receiving of the SELinux security label of the peer socket
+Enables receiving of the security label of the peer socket
in an ancillary message of type
.B SCM_SECURITY
(see below).
@@ -534,13 +534,26 @@ message, the
option must be enabled on the socket.
.TP
.B SCM_SECURITY
-Receive the SELinux security context (the security label)
-of the peer socket.
-The received ancillary data is a null-terminated string containing
+Receive the security context (the security label)
+of the peer socket,
+as provided by the active Linux Security Module (LSM),
+such as SELinux or Smack.
+The received ancillary data is a string containing
the security context.
-The receiver should allocate at least
+Whether the string includes a terminating null byte
+depends on the LSM;
+the length of the data is given by the
+.I cmsg_len
+field.
+There is no fixed limit on the length of the security context;
+allocating
.B NAME_MAX
-bytes in the data portion of the ancillary message for this data.
+bytes in the data portion of the ancillary message
+is usually enough.
+If the buffer is too small,
+the data is truncated and the
+.B MSG_CTRUNC
+flag is set (see below).
.IP
To receive the security context, the
.B SO_PASSSEC
--
2.56.0
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2026-10-16 17:33 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 25+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2026-10-16 17:31 [PATCH 00/24] Documentation fixes in unix(7) Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 01/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: EINVAL: The address field is sun_family, not sun_type Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 02/24] man/man7/unix.7: Socket options: SOL_SOCKET is a level, not a family Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 03/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PASSCRED: ffix Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 04/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: Fix member order of struct unix_diag_vfs Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 05/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: udiag_wqueue: This is memory in use, not memory available Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 06/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: EPROTONOSUPPORT: Protocol 0 is also accepted Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 07/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: ETOOMANYREFS: Fix the conditions Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 08/24] man/man7/socket.7: SO_PEEK_OFF: This option is no longer specific to unix(7) Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 09/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PEERCRED: Also works for SOCK_SEQPACKET Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 10/24] man/man7/unix.7: SIOCINQ: Document behavior " Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 11/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: udiag_states: Document TCP_CLOSE Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 12/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: UNIX_DIAG_NAME: The payload is not always a pathname Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 13/24] man/man7/sock_diag.7: Document UDIAG_SHOW_UID Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 14/24] man/man7/unix.7: Several items of the same type may be sent in one message Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 15/24] man/man2/bind.2: ERRORS: EACCES: Write permission on the directory is required Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 16/24] man/man7/unix.7: Autobind: Fix when it happens, and mention SO_PASSPIDFD Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 17/24] man/man7/unix.7: SOCK_RAW is accepted as an alias for SOCK_DGRAM Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` Günther Noack [this message]
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 19/24] man/man7/unix.7: SO_PASSSEC: wfix Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 20/24] man/man7/unix.7: ERRORS: Document EACCES, EAGAIN, EMSGSIZE, ENOSPC, and EPERM Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 21/24] man/man7/unix.7: Abstract sockets are scoped to a network namespace Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 22/24] man/man7/unix.7: Remove mentions of unsupported out-of-band messaging Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 23/24] man/man7/unix.7: Document SO_PASSPIDFD, SO_PEERPIDFD, and SCM_PIDFD Günther Noack
2026-10-16 17:31 ` [PATCH 24/24] man/man7/unix.7: Document SO_PASSRIGHTS Günther Noack
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