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From: Michal Gorlas <michal.gorlas@9elements.com>
To: Jonathan Corbet <corbet@lwn.net>,
	 Shuah Khan <skhan@linuxfoundation.org>,
	 Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@kernel.org>,
	Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@suse.com>,
	 Daniel Gomez <da.gomez@kernel.org>,
	Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@google.com>,
	 Aaron Tomlin <atomlin@atomlin.com>
Cc: linux-doc@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	 linux-modules@vger.kernel.org,
	Michal Gorlas <michal.gorlas@9elements.com>
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] module: add CONFIG_MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD
Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 19:20:19 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260515-autoload_restrict-v1-1-40b7c03ddd04@9elements.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260515-autoload_restrict-v1-0-40b7c03ddd04@9elements.com>

Add CONFIG_MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD and modrestrict parameter
documentation.

Signed-off-by: Michal Gorlas <michal.gorlas@9elements.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt |  5 +++++
 kernel/module/Kconfig                           | 15 +++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 20 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
index 03a550630644..1013104f0943 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/kernel-parameters.txt
@@ -4185,6 +4185,11 @@ Kernel parameters
 			For details see:
 			Documentation/admin-guide/hw-vuln/processor_mmio_stale_data.rst
 
+	modrestrict=<bool>
+			Control the restriction of module auto-loading to
+			CAP_SYS_ADMIN. If no <bool> value is specified, this
+			is set to the value of CONFIG_MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD.
+
 	<module>.async_probe[=<bool>] [KNL]
 			If no <bool> value is specified or if the value
 			specified is not a valid <bool>, enable asynchronous
diff --git a/kernel/module/Kconfig b/kernel/module/Kconfig
index 43b1bb01fd27..c9e01bb848c0 100644
--- a/kernel/module/Kconfig
+++ b/kernel/module/Kconfig
@@ -337,6 +337,21 @@ config MODULE_SIG_HASH
 
 endif # MODULE_SIG || IMA_APPRAISE_MODSIG
 
+config MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD
+	bool "Restrict module auto-loading to privileged users"
+	default n
+	help
+	  Restrict module auto-loading in response to use of some feature
+	  implemented by an unloaded module to CAP_SYS_ADMIN. Enabling this
+	  option helps reducing the attack surface where unprivileged users
+	  can abuse auto-loading to cause a vulnerable module to load that is
+	  then exploited.
+
+	  Note that this option also prevents a benign use of auto-loading for
+	  a non-root users. Thus if enabled, the root user should execute
+	  modprobe manually if needed, or add the module to the list of modules
+	  loaded at the boot by modifying init scripts.
+
 config MODULE_COMPRESS
 	bool "Module compression"
 	help

-- 
2.54.0


  reply	other threads:[~2026-05-15 17:20 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 4+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-05-15 17:20 [PATCH 0/2] module: restrict module auto-loading to privileged users Michal Gorlas
2026-05-15 17:20 ` Michal Gorlas [this message]
2026-05-16  3:03   ` [PATCH 1/2] module: add CONFIG_MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD Randy Dunlap
2026-05-15 17:20 ` [PATCH 2/2] module: restrict autoload to CAP_SYS_ADMIN if CONFIG_MODULE_RESTRICT_AUTOLOAD Michal Gorlas

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