The setns() system call supports:
(1) namespace file descriptors (nsfd)
(2) process file descriptors (pidfd)
When using nsfds the namespaces will remain active because they are
pinned by the vfs. However, when pidfds are used things are more
complicated.
When the target task exits and passes through exit_nsproxy_namespaces()
or is reaped and thus also passes through exit_cred_namespaces() after
the setns()'ing task has called prepare_nsset() but before the active
reference count of the set of namespaces it wants to setns() to might
have been dropped already:
P1 P2
pid_p1 = clone(CLONE_NEWUSER | CLONE_NEWNET | CLONE_NEWNS)
pidfd = pidfd_open(pid_p1)
setns(pidfd, CLONE_NEWUSER | CLONE_NEWNET | CLONE_NEWNS)
prepare_nsset()
exit(0)
// ns->__ns_active_ref == 1
// parent_ns->__ns_active_ref == 1
-> exit_nsproxy_namespaces()
-> exit_cred_namespaces()
// ns_active_ref_put() will also put
// the reference on the owner of the
// namespace. If the only reason the
// owning namespace was alive was
// because it was a parent of @ns
// it's active reference count now goes
// to zero... --------------------------------
// |
// ns->__ns_active_ref == 0 |
// parent_ns->__ns_active_ref == 0 |
| commit_nsset()
-----------------> // If setns()
// now manages to install the namespaces
// it will call ns_active_ref_get()
// on them thus bumping the active reference
// count from zero again but without also
// taking the required reference on the owner.
// Thus we get:
//
// ns->__ns_active_ref == 1
// parent_ns->__ns_active_ref == 0
When later someone does ns_active_ref_put() on @ns it will underflow
parent_ns->__ns_active_ref leading to a splat from our asserts
thinking there are still active references when in fact the counter
just underflowed.
So resurrect the ownership chain if necessary as well. If the caller
succeeded to grab passive references to the set of namespaces the
setns() should simply succeed even if the target task exists or gets
reaped in the meantime and thus has dropped all active references to its
namespaces.
The race is rare and can only be triggered when using pidfs to setns()
to namespaces. Also note that active reference on initial namespaces are
nops.
Since we now always handle parent references directly we can drop
ns_ref_active_get_owner() when adding a namespace to a namespace tree.
This is now all handled uniformly in the places where the new namespaces
actually become active.
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251109-namespace-6-19-fixes-v1-5-ae8a4ad5a3b3@kernel.org
Fixes: 3c9820d5c64a ("ns: add active reference count")
Reported-by: syzbot+1957b26299cf3ff7890c@syzkaller.appspotmail.com
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Add a new listns() system call that allows userspace to iterate through
namespaces in the system. This provides a programmatic interface to
discover and inspect namespaces, enhancing existing namespace apis.
Currently, there is no direct way for userspace to enumerate namespaces
in the system. Applications must resort to scanning /proc/<pid>/ns/
across all processes, which is:
1. Inefficient - requires iterating over all processes
2. Incomplete - misses inactive namespaces that aren't attached to any
running process but are kept alive by file descriptors, bind mounts,
or parent namespace references
3. Permission-heavy - requires access to /proc for many processes
4. No ordering or ownership.
5. No filtering per namespace type: Must always iterate and check all
namespaces.
The list goes on. The listns() system call solves these problems by
providing direct kernel-level enumeration of namespaces. It is similar
to listmount() but obviously tailored to namespaces.
/*
* @req: Pointer to struct ns_id_req specifying search parameters
* @ns_ids: User buffer to receive namespace IDs
* @nr_ns_ids: Size of ns_ids buffer (maximum number of IDs to return)
* @flags: Reserved for future use (must be 0)
*/
ssize_t listns(const struct ns_id_req *req, u64 *ns_ids,
size_t nr_ns_ids, unsigned int flags);
Returns:
- On success: Number of namespace IDs written to ns_ids
- On error: Negative error code
/*
* @size: Structure size
* @ns_id: Starting point for iteration; use 0 for first call, then
* use the last returned ID for subsequent calls to paginate
* @ns_type: Bitmask of namespace types to include (from enum ns_type):
* 0: Return all namespace types
* MNT_NS: Mount namespaces
* NET_NS: Network namespaces
* USER_NS: User namespaces
* etc. Can be OR'd together
* @user_ns_id: Filter results to namespaces owned by this user namespace:
* 0: Return all namespaces (subject to permission checks)
* LISTNS_CURRENT_USER: Namespaces owned by caller's user namespace
* Other value: Namespaces owned by the specified user namespace ID
*/
struct ns_id_req {
__u32 size; /* sizeof(struct ns_id_req) */
__u32 spare; /* Reserved, must be 0 */
__u64 ns_id; /* Last seen namespace ID (for pagination) */
__u32 ns_type; /* Filter by namespace type(s) */
__u32 spare2; /* Reserved, must be 0 */
__u64 user_ns_id; /* Filter by owning user namespace */
};
Example 1: List all namespaces
void list_all_namespaces(void)
{
struct ns_id_req req = {
.size = sizeof(req),
.ns_id = 0, /* Start from beginning */
.ns_type = 0, /* All types */
.user_ns_id = 0, /* All user namespaces */
};
uint64_t ids[100];
ssize_t ret;
printf("All namespaces in the system:\n");
do {
ret = listns(&req, ids, 100, 0);
if (ret < 0) {
perror("listns");
break;
}
for (ssize_t i = 0; i < ret; i++)
printf(" Namespace ID: %llu\n", (unsigned long long)ids[i]);
/* Continue from last seen ID */
if (ret > 0)
req.ns_id = ids[ret - 1];
} while (ret == 100); /* Buffer was full, more may exist */
}
Example 2: List network namespaces only
void list_network_namespaces(void)
{
struct ns_id_req req = {
.size = sizeof(req),
.ns_id = 0,
.ns_type = NET_NS, /* Only network namespaces */
.user_ns_id = 0,
};
uint64_t ids[100];
ssize_t ret;
ret = listns(&req, ids, 100, 0);
if (ret < 0) {
perror("listns");
return;
}
printf("Network namespaces: %zd found\n", ret);
for (ssize_t i = 0; i < ret; i++)
printf(" netns ID: %llu\n", (unsigned long long)ids[i]);
}
Example 3: List namespaces owned by current user namespace
void list_owned_namespaces(void)
{
struct ns_id_req req = {
.size = sizeof(req),
.ns_id = 0,
.ns_type = 0, /* All types */
.user_ns_id = LISTNS_CURRENT_USER, /* Current userns */
};
uint64_t ids[100];
ssize_t ret;
ret = listns(&req, ids, 100, 0);
if (ret < 0) {
perror("listns");
return;
}
printf("Namespaces owned by my user namespace: %zd\n", ret);
for (ssize_t i = 0; i < ret; i++)
printf(" ns ID: %llu\n", (unsigned long long)ids[i]);
}
Example 4: List multiple namespace types
void list_network_and_mount_namespaces(void)
{
struct ns_id_req req = {
.size = sizeof(req),
.ns_id = 0,
.ns_type = NET_NS | MNT_NS, /* Network and mount */
.user_ns_id = 0,
};
uint64_t ids[100];
ssize_t ret;
ret = listns(&req, ids, 100, 0);
printf("Network and mount namespaces: %zd found\n", ret);
}
Example 5: Pagination through large namespace sets
void list_all_with_pagination(void)
{
struct ns_id_req req = {
.size = sizeof(req),
.ns_id = 0,
.ns_type = 0,
.user_ns_id = 0,
};
uint64_t ids[50];
size_t total = 0;
ssize_t ret;
printf("Enumerating all namespaces with pagination:\n");
while (1) {
ret = listns(&req, ids, 50, 0);
if (ret < 0) {
perror("listns");
break;
}
if (ret == 0)
break; /* No more namespaces */
total += ret;
printf(" Batch: %zd namespaces\n", ret);
/* Last ID in this batch becomes start of next batch */
req.ns_id = ids[ret - 1];
if (ret < 50)
break; /* Partial batch = end of results */
}
printf("Total: %zu namespaces\n", total);
}
Permission Model
listns() respects namespace isolation and capabilities:
(1) Global listing (user_ns_id = 0):
- Requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the namespace's owning user namespace
- OR the namespace must be in the caller's namespace context (e.g.,
a namespace the caller is currently using)
- User namespaces additionally allow listing if the caller has
CAP_SYS_ADMIN in that user namespace itself
(2) Owner-filtered listing (user_ns_id != 0):
- Requires CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the specified owner user namespace
- OR the namespace must be in the caller's namespace context
- This allows unprivileged processes to enumerate namespaces they own
(3) Visibility:
- Only "active" namespaces are listed
- A namespace is active if it has a non-zero __ns_ref_active count
- This includes namespaces used by running processes, held by open
file descriptors, or kept active by bind mounts
- Inactive namespaces (kept alive only by internal kernel
references) are not visible via listns()
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251029-work-namespace-nstree-listns-v4-19-2e6f823ebdc0@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
The namespace tree doesn't express the ownership concept of namespace
appropriately. Maintain a list of directly owned namespaces per user
namespace. This will allow userspace and the kernel to use the listns()
system call to walk the namespace tree by owning user namespace. The
rbtree is used to find the relevant namespace entry point which allows
to continue iteration and the owner list can be used to walk the tree
completely lock free.
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251029-work-namespace-nstree-listns-v4-16-2e6f823ebdc0@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
The namespace tree is, among other things, currently used to support
file handles for namespaces. When a namespace is created it is placed on
the namespace trees and when it is destroyed it is removed from the
namespace trees.
While a namespace is on the namespace trees with a valid reference count
it is possible to reopen it through a namespace file handle. This is all
fine but has some issues that should be addressed.
On current kernels a namespace is visible to userspace in the
following cases:
(1) The namespace is in use by a task.
(2) The namespace is persisted through a VFS object (namespace file
descriptor or bind-mount).
Note that (2) only cares about direct persistence of the namespace
itself not indirectly via e.g., file->f_cred file references or
similar.
(3) The namespace is a hierarchical namespace type and is the parent of
a single or multiple child namespaces.
Case (3) is interesting because it is possible that a parent namespace
might not fulfill any of (1) or (2), i.e., is invisible to userspace but
it may still be resurrected through the NS_GET_PARENT ioctl().
Currently namespace file handles allow much broader access to namespaces
than what is currently possible via (1)-(3). The reason is that
namespaces may remain pinned for completely internal reasons yet are
inaccessible to userspace.
For example, a user namespace my remain pinned by get_cred() calls to
stash the opener's credentials into file->f_cred. As it stands file
handles allow to resurrect such a users namespace even though this
should not be possible via (1)-(3). This is a fundamental uapi change
that we shouldn't do if we don't have to.
Consider the following insane case: Various architectures support the
CONFIG_MMU_LAZY_TLB_REFCOUNT option which uses lazy TLB destruction.
When this option is set a userspace task's struct mm_struct may be used
for kernel threads such as the idle task and will only be destroyed once
the cpu's runqueue switches back to another task. But because of ptrace()
permission checks struct mm_struct stashes the user namespace of the
task that struct mm_struct originally belonged to. The kernel thread
will take a reference on the struct mm_struct and thus pin it.
So on an idle system user namespaces can be persisted for arbitrary
amounts of time which also means that they can be resurrected using
namespace file handles. That makes no sense whatsoever. The problem is
of course excarabted on large systems with a huge number of cpus.
To handle this nicely we introduce an active reference count which
tracks (1)-(3). This is easy to do as all of these things are already
managed centrally. Only (1)-(3) will count towards the active reference
count and only namespaces which are active may be opened via namespace
file handles.
The problem is that namespaces may be resurrected. Which means that they
can become temporarily inactive and will be reactived some time later.
Currently the only example of this is the SIOGCSKNS socket ioctl. The
SIOCGSKNS ioctl allows to open a network namespace file descriptor based
on a socket file descriptor.
If a socket is tied to a network namespace that subsequently becomes
inactive but that socket is persisted by another process in another
network namespace (e.g., via SCM_RIGHTS of pidfd_getfd()) then the
SIOCGSKNS ioctl will resurrect this network namespace.
So calls to open_related_ns() and open_namespace() will end up
resurrecting the corresponding namespace tree.
Note that the active reference count does not regulate the lifetime of
the namespace itself. This is still done by the normal reference count.
The active reference count can only be elevated if the regular reference
count is elevated.
The active reference count also doesn't regulate the presence of a
namespace on the namespace trees. It only regulates its visiblity to
namespace file handles (and in later patches to listns()).
A namespace remains on the namespace trees from creation until its
actual destruction. This will allow the kernel to always reach any
namespace trivially and it will also enable subsystems like bpf to walk
the namespace lists on the system for tracing or general introspection
purposes.
Note that different namespaces have different visibility lifetimes on
current kernels. While most namespace are immediately released when the
last task using them exits, the user- and pid namespace are persisted
and thus both remain accessible via /proc/<pid>/ns/<ns_type>.
The user namespace lifetime is aliged with struct cred and is only
released through exit_creds(). However, it becomes inaccessible to
userspace once the last task using it is reaped, i.e., when
release_task() is called and all proc entries are flushed. Similarly,
the pid namespace is also visible until the last task using it has been
reaped and the associated pid numbers are freed.
The active reference counts of the user- and pid namespace are
decremented once the task is reaped.
Link: https://patch.msgid.link/20251029-work-namespace-nstree-listns-v4-11-2e6f823ebdc0@kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Otherwise we warn when e.g., no namespaces are configured but the
initial namespace for is still around.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
It's misplaced in struct proc_ns_operations and ns->ops might be NULL if
the namespace is compiled out but we still want to know the type of the
namespace for the initial namespace struct.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Add ns_debug() that asserts that the correct operations are used for the
namespace type.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
And drop ns_free_inum(). Anything common that can be wasted centrally
should be wasted in the new common helper.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
There's a lot of information that namespace implementers don't need to
know about at all. Encapsulate this all in the initialization helper.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Assign the reserved MNT_NS_ANON_INO sentinel to anonymous mount
namespaces and cleanup the initial mount ns allocation. This is just a
preparatory patch and the ns->inum check in ns_common_init() will be
dropped in the next patch.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
It's really awkward spilling the ns common infrastructure into multiple
headers. Move it to a separate file.
Reviewed-by: Jan Kara <jack@suse.cz>
Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Christian Brauner