Re: [PATCH v3] sysctl: control functionality of /proc/pid/mem

Colin Walters
2012-01-24T17:34:58Z

On Mon, 2012-01-23 at 13:21 -0800, Kees Cook wrote:
> Add the "proc_pid_mem" sysctl to control whether or not /proc/pid/mem is
> allowed to work: 0: disabled, 1: read only, 2: read/write (default).

Both your git commit and the Documentation/ entry are totally missing a
rationale for this. Why would an admin want to set this on or off?
What replaces it, if anything? What are the tradeoffs with its
replacement? What userspace programs might break when this is toggled?