Re: [RFC] Add a prctl to disable ".." traversal in path resolution

[Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>]

On Thu, Dec 12, 2024 at 02:56:59AM +1100, Aleksa Sarai wrote:

> I think RESOLVE_BENEATH is usually more along the lines of what programs
> that are trying to restrict themselves would want (RESOLVE_IN_ROOT is
> what extraction tools want, on the other hand) as it only blocks ".."
> components that move you out of the directory you expect.
> 
> It also blocks absolute symlinks, which this proposal does nothing about
> (it even blocks magic-links, which can be an even bigger issue depending
> on what kind of program we are talking about). Alas, RESOLVE_BENEATH
> requires education...

So does this prctl, when you get to that - any references to "service manager"
that might turn it on are contradicted by the "after startup" bit in the
original posting.

IOW, I very much doubt that this problem is amenable to cargo-culting.

_If_ somebody wants to collect actual information about the use patterns,
something like prctl that would spew a stack trace when running into
.. would be an obvious approach, but I would strongly object to even
inserting a tracepoint of that sort into the mainline kernel.