Kernel KVM virtualization development
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Bobby Eshleman <bobbyeshleman@gmail.com>
To: Stefano Garzarella <sgarzare@redhat.com>,
	 "David S. Miller" <davem@davemloft.net>,
	Eric Dumazet <edumazet@google.com>,
	 Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>,
	Paolo Abeni <pabeni@redhat.com>,  Simon Horman <horms@kernel.org>,
	Stefan Hajnoczi <stefanha@redhat.com>,
	 Shuah Khan <shuah@kernel.org>,
	Bobby Eshleman <bobbyeshleman@meta.com>,
	 "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>,
	Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
	 Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>
Cc: virtualization@lists.linux.dev, netdev@vger.kernel.org,
	 linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, kvm@vger.kernel.org,
	 linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org, linux-doc@vger.kernel.org,
	 Daan De Meyer <daan.j.demeyer@gmail.com>
Subject: [PATCH net v2 2/3] vsock: lock down child_ns_mode as write-once
Date: Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:10:37 -0800	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260218-vsock-ns-write-once-v2-2-19e4c50d509a@meta.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260218-vsock-ns-write-once-v2-0-19e4c50d509a@meta.com>

From: Bobby Eshleman <bobbyeshleman@meta.com>

Two administrator processes may race when setting child_ns_mode as one
process sets child_ns_mode to "local" and then creates a namespace, but
another process changes child_ns_mode to "global" between the write and
the namespace creation. The first process ends up with a namespace in
"global" mode instead of "local". While this can be detected after the
fact by reading ns_mode and retrying, it is fragile and error-prone.

Make child_ns_mode write-once so that a namespace manager can set it
once and be sure it won't change. Writing a different value after the
first write returns -EBUSY. This applies to all namespaces, including
init_net, where an init process can write "local" to lock all future
namespaces into local mode.

Fixes: eafb64f40ca4 ("vsock: add netns to vsock core")
Signed-off-by: Bobby Eshleman <bobbyeshleman@meta.com>
Suggested-by: Daan De Meyer <daan.j.demeyer@gmail.com>
Suggested-by: Stefano Garzarella <sgarzare@redhat.com>
---
 include/net/af_vsock.h    | 20 +++++++++++++++++---
 include/net/netns/vsock.h |  9 ++++++++-
 net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c  | 15 ++++++++++-----
 3 files changed, 35 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/net/af_vsock.h b/include/net/af_vsock.h
index d3ff48a2fbe0..9bd42147626d 100644
--- a/include/net/af_vsock.h
+++ b/include/net/af_vsock.h
@@ -276,15 +276,29 @@ static inline bool vsock_net_mode_global(struct vsock_sock *vsk)
 	return vsock_net_mode(sock_net(sk_vsock(vsk))) == VSOCK_NET_MODE_GLOBAL;
 }
 
-static inline void vsock_net_set_child_mode(struct net *net,
+static inline bool vsock_net_set_child_mode(struct net *net,
 					    enum vsock_net_mode mode)
 {
-	WRITE_ONCE(net->vsock.child_ns_mode, mode);
+	int locked = mode + VSOCK_NET_MODE_LOCKED;
+	int cur;
+
+	cur = READ_ONCE(net->vsock.child_ns_mode);
+	if (cur == locked)
+		return true;
+	if (cur >= VSOCK_NET_MODE_LOCKED)
+		return false;
+
+	if (try_cmpxchg(&net->vsock.child_ns_mode, &cur, locked))
+		return true;
+
+	return cur == locked;
 }
 
 static inline enum vsock_net_mode vsock_net_child_mode(struct net *net)
 {
-	return READ_ONCE(net->vsock.child_ns_mode);
+	int mode = READ_ONCE(net->vsock.child_ns_mode);
+
+	return mode & (VSOCK_NET_MODE_LOCKED - 1);
 }
 
 /* Return true if two namespaces pass the mode rules. Otherwise, return false.
diff --git a/include/net/netns/vsock.h b/include/net/netns/vsock.h
index b34d69a22fa8..d20ab6269342 100644
--- a/include/net/netns/vsock.h
+++ b/include/net/netns/vsock.h
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 enum vsock_net_mode {
 	VSOCK_NET_MODE_GLOBAL,
 	VSOCK_NET_MODE_LOCAL,
+	VSOCK_NET_MODE_LOCKED,
 };
 
 struct netns_vsock {
@@ -16,6 +17,12 @@ struct netns_vsock {
 	u32 port;
 
 	enum vsock_net_mode mode;
-	enum vsock_net_mode child_ns_mode;
+
+	/* 0 (GLOBAL)
+	 * 1 (LOCAL)
+	 * 2 (GLOBAL + LOCKED)
+	 * 3 (LOCAL + LOCKED)
+	 */
+	int child_ns_mode;
 };
 #endif /* __NET_NET_NAMESPACE_VSOCK_H */
diff --git a/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c b/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c
index 9880756d9eff..50044a838c89 100644
--- a/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c
+++ b/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c
@@ -90,16 +90,20 @@
  *
  *   - /proc/sys/net/vsock/ns_mode (read-only) reports the current namespace's
  *     mode, which is set at namespace creation and immutable thereafter.
- *   - /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode (writable) controls what mode future
+ *   - /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode (write-once) controls what mode future
  *     child namespaces will inherit when created. The initial value matches
  *     the namespace's own ns_mode.
  *
  *   Changing child_ns_mode only affects newly created namespaces, not the
  *   current namespace or existing children. A "local" namespace cannot set
- *   child_ns_mode to "global". At namespace creation, ns_mode is inherited
- *   from the parent's child_ns_mode.
+ *   child_ns_mode to "global". child_ns_mode is write-once, so that it may be
+ *   configured and locked down by a namespace manager. Writing a different
+ *   value after the first write returns -EBUSY. At namespace creation, ns_mode
+ *   is inherited from the parent's child_ns_mode.
  *
- *   The init_net mode is "global" and cannot be modified.
+ *   The init_net mode is "global" and cannot be modified. The init_net
+ *   child_ns_mode is also write-once, so an init process (e.g. systemd) can
+ *   set it to "local" to ensure all new namespaces inherit local mode.
  *
  *   The modes affect the allocation and accessibility of CIDs as follows:
  *
@@ -2853,7 +2857,8 @@ static int vsock_net_child_mode_string(const struct ctl_table *table, int write,
 		    new_mode == VSOCK_NET_MODE_GLOBAL)
 			return -EPERM;
 
-		vsock_net_set_child_mode(net, new_mode);
+		if (!vsock_net_set_child_mode(net, new_mode))
+			return -EBUSY;
 	}
 
 	return 0;

-- 
2.47.3


  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-02-18 18:11 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 10+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-02-18 18:10 [PATCH net v2 0/3] vsock: add write-once semantics to child_ns_mode Bobby Eshleman
2026-02-18 18:10 ` [PATCH net v2 1/3] selftests/vsock: change tests to respect write-once child ns mode Bobby Eshleman
2026-02-19 10:35   ` Stefano Garzarella
2026-02-18 18:10 ` Bobby Eshleman [this message]
2026-02-19 10:35   ` [PATCH net v2 2/3] vsock: lock down child_ns_mode as write-once Stefano Garzarella
2026-02-19 16:20     ` Bobby Eshleman
2026-02-19 16:36       ` Stefano Garzarella
2026-02-18 18:10 ` [PATCH net v2 3/3] vsock: document write-once behavior of the child_ns_mode sysctl Bobby Eshleman
2026-02-19 10:36   ` Stefano Garzarella
2026-02-19 16:06     ` Bobby Eshleman

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=20260218-vsock-ns-write-once-v2-2-19e4c50d509a@meta.com \
    --to=bobbyeshleman@gmail.com \
    --cc=bobbyeshleman@meta.com \
    --cc=corbet@lwn.net \
    --cc=daan.j.demeyer@gmail.com \
    --cc=davem@davemloft.net \
    --cc=edumazet@google.com \
    --cc=horms@kernel.org \
    --cc=kuba@kernel.org \
    --cc=kvm@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-doc@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kselftest@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=mst@redhat.com \
    --cc=netdev@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=pabeni@redhat.com \
    --cc=sgarzare@redhat.com \
    --cc=shuah@kernel.org \
    --cc=skhan@linuxfoundation.org \
    --cc=stefanha@redhat.com \
    --cc=virtualization@lists.linux.dev \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox