[PATCH AUTOSEL 6.19-5.10] audit: add missing syscalls to read class

Sasha Levin
2026-02-10T23:31:51Z

From: Jeffrey Bencteux <jeff@bencteux.fr>

[ Upstream commit bcb90a2834c7393c26df9609b889a3097b7700cd ]

The "at" variant of getxattr() and listxattr() are missing from the
audit read class. Calling getxattrat() or listxattrat() on a file to
read its extended attributes will bypass audit rules such as:

-w /tmp/test -p rwa -k test_rwa

The current patch adds missing syscalls to the audit read class.

Signed-off-by: Jeffrey Bencteux <jeff@bencteux.fr>
Signed-off-by: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
---

LLM Generated explanations, may be completely bogus:

Now I have a complete understanding. Let me summarize the analysis.

## Analysis

### 1. Commit Message Analysis

The commit is clear: it adds `getxattrat` and `listxattrat` syscalls to
the audit "read" class. The commit message explains the concrete
consequence — calling these syscalls will **bypass** audit rules like
`-w /tmp/test -p rwa -k test_rwa`, which is a security monitoring gap.

### 2. Code Change Analysis

The change is only to `include/asm-generic/audit_read.h` — it adds 6
lines (two `#ifdef`-guarded entries). This file defines the
`read_class[]` array used by `audit_match_perm()` in `kernel/auditsc.c`
to determine whether a given syscall matches the "read" permission
class. The matching code:

```151:170:kernel/auditsc.c
static int audit_match_perm(struct audit_context *ctx, int mask)
{
unsigned n;
// ...
if ((mask & AUDIT_PERM_READ) &&
audit_match_class(AUDIT_CLASS_READ, n))
return 1;
// ...
}
```

Without `getxattrat` and `listxattrat` in the read class,
`audit_match_perm()` returns 0 for these syscalls when checking
`AUDIT_PERM_READ`, meaning audit watch rules with read (`r`) permission
never fire for these syscalls.

### 3. Root Cause — Omission in Original Syscall Introduction

The original commit `6140be90ec70c` ("fs/xattr: add *at family
syscalls") introduced all four `*xattrat` syscalls. It correctly added
`setxattrat` and `removexattrat` to `audit_change_attr.h` (the
attribute-change class), but **forgot** to add `getxattrat` and
`listxattrat` to `audit_read.h` (the read class). This is an
oversight/bug in the original commit.

### 4. Affected Stable Trees

- The `*xattrat` syscalls were introduced in **v6.13**.
- Stable trees **6.13.y through 6.18.y** all have these syscalls defined
but are **missing** the audit read class entries.
- Stable trees **6.12.y and older** do not have the syscalls, so the
`#ifdef` guards make this a safe no-op.
- I verified that 6.14.y has the syscalls AND is missing the audit
entries, confirming the bug is present.

### 5. Security Impact

This is a **security audit bypass**. Linux audit is a critical security
feature used for:
- Compliance monitoring (PCI-DSS, HIPAA, SOX)
- Intrusion detection
- Forensics

The `getxattrat()` syscall can read security-relevant extended
attributes (like `security.selinux` labels) without triggering audit
rules. An attacker or unauthorized user could use
`getxattrat()`/`listxattrat()` instead of `getxattr()`/`listxattr()` to
enumerate or read extended attributes while evading audit monitoring.
This is a concrete bypass of security controls.

### 6. Fix Quality

- **Trivially small**: 6 lines added, no lines removed, no logic changes
- **Obviously correct**: Follows the exact same `#ifdef __NR_xxx /
__NR_xxx, / #endif` pattern used by every other conditional entry in
the file
- **Safe**: The `#ifdef` guards mean it compiles cleanly even if the
syscall numbers don't exist
- **No dependencies**: This is a self-contained fix
- **Signed off by Paul Moore**: The audit subsystem maintainer
- **Zero risk of regression**: Adding entries to the read class array
cannot break anything; it only makes the audit matching more complete

### 7. Risk vs Benefit

- **Risk**: Essentially zero. The change is trivially small, obviously
correct, guarded by `#ifdef`, and touches only a static array
initializer.
- **Benefit**: Closes a security audit bypass gap for all users of audit
on kernels 6.13+.

**YES**

include/asm-generic/audit_read.h | 6 ++++++
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/include/asm-generic/audit_read.h b/include/asm-generic/audit_read.h
index 7bb7b5a83ae2e..fb9991f53fb6f 100644
--- a/include/asm-generic/audit_read.h
+++ b/include/asm-generic/audit_read.h
@@ -4,9 +4,15 @@ __NR_readlink,
#endif
__NR_quotactl,
__NR_listxattr,
+#ifdef __NR_listxattrat
+__NR_listxattrat,
+#endif
__NR_llistxattr,
__NR_flistxattr,
__NR_getxattr,
+#ifdef __NR_getxattrat
+__NR_getxattrat,
+#endif
__NR_lgetxattr,
__NR_fgetxattr,
#ifdef __NR_readlinkat
--
2.51.0