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PROCCTL(2) System Calls Manual PROCCTL(2) NAME procctl -- control processes LIBRARY Standard C Library (libc, -lc) SYNOPSIS #include <sys/procctl.h> int procctl(idtype_t idtype, id_t id, int cmd, void *data); DESCRIPTION The procctl() system call provides for control over processes. The idtype and id arguments specify the set of processes to control. If multiple processes match the identifier, procctl will make a "best effort" to control as many of the selected processes as possible. An error is only returned if no selected processes successfully complete the request. The following identifier types are supported: P_PID Control the process with the process ID id. id zero is a shortcut for the calling process ID. P_PGID Control processes belonging to the process group with the ID id. The control request to perform is specified by the cmd argument. All status changing requests *_CTL require the caller to have the right to debug the target. All status query requests require the caller to have the right to observe the target. The following commands are supported: PROC_ASLR_CTL Controls the Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) in the program images created by execve(2) in the specified process or its descendants that did not changed the control nor modified it by other means. The data parameter must point to the integer variable holding one of the following val- ues: PROC_ASLR_FORCE_ENABLE Request that ASLR is en- abled after execution, even if it is disabled system-wide. The image flag and set-uid might prevent ASLR enablement still. PROC_ASLR_FORCE_DISABLE Request that ASLR is dis- abled after execution. Same notes as for PROC_ASLR_FORCE_ENABLE apply. PROC_ASLR_NOFORCE Use the system-wide con- figured policy for ASLR. PROC_ASLR_STATUS Returns the current status of ASLR enablement for the target process. The data parameter must point to the integer variable, where one of the follow- ing values is written: PROC_ASLR_FORCE_ENABLE PROC_ASLR_FORCE_DISABLE PROC_ASLR_NOFORCE If the currently executed image in the process it- self has ASLR enabled, the PROC_ASLR_ACTIVE flag is or-ed with the value listed above. PROC_PROTMAX_CTL Controls implicit application of PROT_MAX protec- tion equal to the prot argument of the mmap(2) syscall, in the target process. The data parame- ter must point to the integer variable holding one of the following values: PROC_PROTMAX_FORCE_ENABLE Enables implicit PROT_MAX application, even if it is disabled system-wide by the sysctl vm.imply_prot_max. The image flag might still prevent the en- ablement. PROC_PROTMAX_FORCE_DISABLE Request that implicit application of PROT_MAX be disabled. Same notes as for PROC_PROTMAX_FORCE_ENABLE apply. PROC_PROTMAX_NOFORCE Use the system-wide configured policy for PROT_MAX. PROC_PROTMAX_STATUS Returns the current status of implicit PROT_MAX enablement for the target process. The data para- meter must point to the integer variable, where one of the following values is written: PROC_PROTMAX_FORCE_ENABLE PROC_PROTMAX_FORCE_DISABLE PROC_PROTMAX_NOFORCE If the currently executed image in the process it- self has implicit PROT_MAX application enabled, the PROC_PROTMAX_ACTIVE flag is or-ed with the value listed above. PROC_SPROTECT Set process protection state. This is used to mark a process as protected from being killed if the system exhausts the available memory and swap. The data parameter must point to an integer con- taining an operation and zero or more optional flags. The following operations are supported: PPROT_SET Mark the selected processes as pro- tected. PPROT_CLEAR Clear the protected state of selected processes. The following optional flags are supported: PPROT_DESCEND Apply the requested operation to all child processes of each se- lected process in addition to each selected process. PPROT_INHERIT When used with PPROT_SET, mark all future child processes of each se- lected process as protected. Fu- ture child processes will also mark all of their future child processes. PROC_REAP_ACQUIRE Acquires the reaper status for the current process. Reaper status means that children or- phaned by the reaper's descendants that were forked after the acquisition of reaper status are reparented to the reaper process. After system initialization, init(8) is the default reaper. PROC_REAP_RELEASE Release the reaper state for the current process. The reaper of the current process becomes the new reaper of the current process's descendants. PROC_REAP_STATUS Provides information about the reaper of the spec- ified process, or the process itself when it is a reaper. The data argument must point to a procctl_reaper_status structure which is filled in by the syscall on successful return. struct procctl_reaper_status { u_int rs_flags; u_int rs_children; u_int rs_descendants; pid_t rs_reaper; pid_t rs_pid; }; The rs_flags may have the following flags re- turned: REAPER_STATUS_OWNED The specified process has acquired reaper status and has not released it. When the flag is returned, the specified process id, pid, identifies the reaper, otherwise the rs_reaper field of the structure is set to the pid of the reaper for the specified process id. REAPER_STATUS_REALINIT The specified process is the root of the reaper tree, i.e., init(8). The rs_children field returns the number of chil- dren of the reaper among the descendants. It is possible to have a child whose reaper is not the specified process, since the reaper for any exist- ing children is not reset on the PROC_REAP_ACQUIRE operation. The rs_descendants field returns the total number of descendants of the reaper(s), not counting descendants of the reaper in the subtree. The rs_reaper field returns the reaper pid. The rs_pid returns the pid of one reaper child if there are any descendants. PROC_REAP_GETPIDS Queries the list of descendants of the reaper of the specified process. The request takes a pointer to a procctl_reaper_pids structure in the data parameter. struct procctl_reaper_pids { u_int rp_count; struct procctl_reaper_pidinfo *rp_pids; }; When called, the rp_pids field must point to an array of procctl_reaper_pidinfo structures, to be filled in on return, and the rp_count field must specify the size of the array, into which no more than rp_count elements will be filled in by the kernel. The struct procctl_reaper_pidinfo structure pro- vides some information about one of the reaper's descendants. Note that for a descendant that is not a child, it may be incorrectly identified be- cause of a race in which the original child process exited and the exited process's pid was reused for an unrelated process. struct procctl_reaper_pidinfo { pid_t pi_pid; pid_t pi_subtree; u_int pi_flags; }; The pi_pid field is the process id of the descen- dant. The pi_subtree field provides the pid of the child of the reaper, which is the (grand-)par- ent of the process. The pi_flags field returns the following flags, further describing the de- scendant: REAPER_PIDINFO_VALID Set to indicate that the procctl_reaper_pidinfo structure was filled in by the kernel. Zero-filling the rp_pids array and testing the REAPER_PIDINFO_VALID flag allows the caller to de- tect the end of the re- turned array. REAPER_PIDINFO_CHILD The pi_pid field identi- fies the direct child of the reaper. REAPER_PIDINFO_REAPER The reported process is itself a reaper. The de- scendants of the subordi- nate reaper are not re- ported. REAPER_PIDINFO_ZOMBIE The reported process is in the zombie state, ready to be reaped. REAPER_PIDINFO_STOPPED The reported process is stopped by a SIGSTOP/SIGT- STP signal. REAPER_PIDINFO_EXITING The reported process is in the process of exiting (but not yet a zombie). PROC_REAP_KILL Request to deliver a signal to some subset of the descendants of the reaper. The data parameter must point to a procctl_reaper_kill structure, which is used both for parameters and status re- turn. struct procctl_reaper_kill { int rk_sig; u_int rk_flags; pid_t rk_subtree; u_int rk_killed; pid_t rk_fpid; }; The rk_sig field specifies the signal to be deliv- ered. Zero is not a valid signal number, unlike for kill(2). The rk_flags field further directs the operation. It is or-ed from the following flags: REAPER_KILL_CHILDREN Deliver the specified signal only to direct children of the reaper. REAPER_KILL_SUBTREE Deliver the specified signal only to descendants that were forked by the direct child with pid specified in the rk_subtree field. If neither the REAPER_KILL_CHILDREN nor the REAPER_KILL_SUBTREE flags are specified, all cur- rent descendants of the reaper are signalled. If a signal was delivered to any process, the re- turn value from the request is zero. In this case, the rk_killed field identifies the number of processes signalled. The rk_fpid field is set to the pid of the first process for which signal de- livery failed, e.g., due to permission problems. If no such process exists, the rk_fpid field is set to -1. PROC_TRACE_CTL Enable or disable tracing of the specified process(es), according to the value of the integer argument. Tracing includes attachment to the process using the ptrace(2) and ktrace(2), debug- ging sysctls, hwpmc(4), dtrace(1), and core dump- ing. Possible values for the data argument are: PROC_TRACE_CTL_ENABLE Enable tracing, after it was disabled by PROC_TRACE_CTL_DISABLE. Only allowed for self. PROC_TRACE_CTL_DISABLE Disable tracing for the specified process. Tracing is re-enabled when the process changes the executing program with the execve(2) syscall. A child in- herits the trace set- tings from the parent on fork(2). PROC_TRACE_CTL_DISABLE_EXEC Same as PROC_TRACE_CTL_DISABLE, but the setting per- sists for the process even after execve(2). PROC_TRACE_STATUS Returns the current tracing status for the speci- fied process in the integer variable pointed to by data. If tracing is disabled, data is set to -1. If tracing is enabled, but no debugger is attached by the ptrace(2) syscall, data is set to 0. If a debugger is attached, data is set to the pid of the debugger process. PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL Controls the capability mode sandbox actions for the specified sandboxed processes, on a return from any syscall which gives either a ENOTCAPABLE or ECAPMODE error. If the control is enabled, such errors from the syscalls cause delivery of the synchronous SIGTRAP signal to the thread imme- diately before returning from the syscalls. Possible values for the data argument are: PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL_ENABLE Enable the SIGTRAP sig- nal delivery on capabil- ity mode access viola- tions. The enabled mode is inherited by the children of the process, and is kept after fexecve(2) calls. PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL_DISABLE Disable the signal de- livery on capability mode access violations. Note that the global sysctl kern.trap_enotcap might still cause the signal to be delivered. See capsicum(4). On signal delivery, the si_errno member of the siginfo signal handler parameter is set to the syscall error value, and the si_code member is set to TRAP_CAP. The system call number is stored in the si_syscall field of the siginfo signal handler parameter. The other system call parameters can be read from the ucontext_t but the system call number is typically stored in the register that also contains the return value and so is unavail- able in the signal handler. See capsicum(4) for more information about the ca- pability mode. PROC_TRAPCAP_STATUS Return the current status of signalling capability mode access violations for the specified process. The integer value pointed to by the data argument is set to the PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL_ENABLE value if the process control enables signal delivery, and to PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL_DISABLE otherwise. See the note about sysctl kern.trap_enotcap above, which gives independent global control of signal delivery. PROC_PDEATHSIG_CTL Request the delivery of a signal when the parent of the calling process exits. idtype must be P_PID and id must be the either caller's pid or zero, with no difference in effect. The value is cleared for child processes and when executing set-user-ID or set-group-ID binaries. data must point to a value of type int indicating the signal that should be delivered to the caller. Use zero to cancel a previously requested signal delivery. PROC_PDEATHSIG_STATUS Query the current signal number that will be de- livered when the parent of the calling process ex- its. idtype must be P_PID and id must be the ei- ther caller's pid or zero, with no difference in effect. data must point to a memory location that can hold a value of type int. If signal delivery has not been requested, it will contain zero on return. PROC_STACKGAP_CTL Controls the stack gaps in the specified process. A stack gap is the part of the growth area for a MAP_STACK mapped region that is reserved and never filled by memory. Instead, the process is guaran- teed to receive a SIGSEGV signal on accessing pages in the gap. Gaps protect against stack overflow corrupting memory adjacent to the stack. The data argument must point to an integer vari- able containing flags. The following flags are allowed: PROC_STACKGAP_ENABLE This flag is only ac- cepted for consistency with PROC_STACKGAP_STATUS. If stack gaps are en- abled, the flag is ig- nored. If disabled, the flag causes an EINVAL error to be re- turned. After gaps are disabled in a process, they can only be re-enabled when an execve(2) is per- formed. PROC_STACKGAP_DISABLE Disable stack gaps for the process. For ex- isting stacks, the gap is no longer a re- served part of the growth area and can be filled by memory on access. PROC_STACKGAP_ENABLE_EXEC Enable stack gaps for programs started after an execve(2) by the specified process. PROC_STACKGAP_DISABLE_EXEC Inherit disabled stack gaps state after execve(2). In other words, if the cur- rently executing pro- gram has stack gaps disabled, they are kept disabled on exec. If gaps were enabled, they are kept enabled after exec. The stack gap state is inherited from the parent on fork(2). PROC_STACKGAP_STATUS Returns the current stack gap state for the speci- fied process. data must point to an integer vari- able, which is used to return a bitmask consisting of the following flags: PROC_STACKGAP_ENABLE Stack gaps are en- abled. PROC_STACKGAP_DISABLE Stack gaps are dis- abled. PROC_STACKGAP_ENABLE_EXEC Stack gaps are enabled in the process after execve(2). PROC_STACKGAP_DISABLE_EXEC Stack gaps are dis- abled in the process after execve(2). PROC_NO_NEW_PRIVS_CTL Allows one to ignore the SUID and SGID bits on the program images activated by execve(2) in the spec- ified process and its future descendants. The data parameter must point to the integer variable holding the following value: PROC_NO_NEW_PRIVS_ENABLE Request SUID and SGID bits to be ignored. It is not possible to disable it once it has been enabled. PROC_NO_NEW_PRIVS_STATUS Returns the current status of SUID/SGID enablement for the target process. The data parameter must point to the integer variable, where one of the following values is written: PROC_NO_NEW_PRIVS_ENABLE PROC_NO_NEW_PRIVS_DISABLE PROC_WXMAP_CTL Controls the 'write exclusive against execution' permissions for the mappings in the process ad- dress space. It overrides the global settings es- tablished by the kern.elf{32/64}.allow_wx sysctl, and the corresponding bit in the ELF control note, see elfctl(1). The data parameter must point to the integer vari- able holding one of the following values: PROC_WX_MAPPINGS_PERMIT Enable creation of mappings that have both write and ex- ecute protection attributes, in the specified process' address space. PROC_WX_MAPPINGS_DISALLOW_EXEC In the new address space created by execve(2), disal- low creation of mappings that have both write and ex- ecute permissions. Once creation of writeable and executable mappings is allowed, it is impossible (and pointless) to disallow it. The only way to ensure the absence of such mappings after they were enabled in a given process, is to set the PROC_WX_MAPPINGS_DISALLOW_EXEC flag and execve(2) an image. PROC_WXMAP_STATUS Returns the current status of the 'write exclusive against execution' enforcement for the specified process. The data parameter must point to the in- teger variable, where one of the following values is written: PROC_WX_MAPPINGS_PERMIT Creation of simul- taneously writable and executable mapping is permit- ted, otherwise the process cannot create such map- pings. PROC_WX_MAPPINGS_DISALLOW_EXEC After execve(2), the new address space should dis- allow creation of simultaneously writable and exe- cutable mappings. Additionally, if the address space of the process disallows creation of simultaneously writable and executable mappings and it is guaranteed that no such mapping was created since address space cre- ation, the PROC_WXORX_ENFORCE flag is set in the returned value. x86 MACHINE-SPECIFIC REQUESTS PROC_KPTI_CTL AMD64 only. Controls the Kernel Page Table Isolation (KPTI) option for the children of the specified process. For the command to work, the vm.pmap.kpti tunable must be enabled on boot. It is not possible to change the KPTI setting for a running process, ex- cept at the execve(2), where the address space is reinitialized. The data parameter must point to an integer variable containing one of the following commands: PROC_KPTI_CTL_ENABLE_ON_EXEC Enable KPTI after execve(2). PROC_KPTI_CTL_DISABLE_ON_EXEC Disable KPTI after execve(2). Only root or a process having the PRIV_IO privilege might use this option. PROC_KPTI_STATUS Returns the current KPTI status for the specified process. data must point to the integer variable, which returns the following statuses: PROC_KPTI_CTL_ENABLE_ON_EXEC PROC_KPTI_CTL_DISABLE_ON_EXEC The status is or-ed with the PROC_KPTI_STATUS_ACTIVE in case KPTI is active for the current address space of the process. NOTES Disabling tracing on a process should not be considered a security fea- ture, as it is bypassable both by the kernel and privileged processes, and via other system mechanisms. As such, it should not be utilized to reliably protect cryptographic keying material or other confidential data. Note that processes can trivially bypass the 'no simultaneously writable and executable mappings' policy by first marking some mapping as writeable and write code to it, then removing write and adding exe- cute permission. This may be legitimately required by some programs, such as JIT compilers. RETURN VALUES If an error occurs, a value of -1 is returned and errno is set to indi- cate the error. ERRORS The procctl() system call will fail if: [EFAULT] The data parameter points outside the process's al- located address space. [EINVAL] The cmd argument specifies an unsupported command. The idtype argument specifies an unsupported identi- fier type. [EPERM] The calling process does not have permission to per- form the requested operation on any of the selected processes. [ESRCH] No processes matched the requested idtype and id. [EINVAL] An invalid operation or flag was passed in data for a PROC_SPROTECT command. [EPERM] The idtype argument is not equal to P_PID, or id is not equal to the pid of the calling process, for PROC_REAP_ACQUIRE or PROC_REAP_RELEASE requests. [EINVAL] Invalid or undefined flags were passed to a PROC_REAP_KILL request. [EINVAL] An invalid or zero signal number was requested for a PROC_REAP_KILL request. [EINVAL] The PROC_REAP_RELEASE request was issued by the init(8) process. [EBUSY] The PROC_REAP_ACQUIRE request was issued by a process that had already acquired reaper status and has not yet released it. [EBUSY] The PROC_TRACE_CTL request was issued for a process already being traced. [EPERM] The PROC_TRACE_CTL request to re-enable tracing of the process (PROC_TRACE_CTL_ENABLE), or to disable persistence of PROC_TRACE_CTL_DISABLE on execve(2) was issued for a non-current process. [EINVAL] The value of the integer data parameter for the PROC_TRACE_CTL or PROC_TRAPCAP_CTL request is in- valid. [EINVAL] The PROC_PDEATHSIG_CTL or PROC_PDEATHSIG_STATUS re- quest referenced an unsupported id, idtype or in- valid signal number. SEE ALSO dtrace(1), proccontrol(1), protect(1), cap_enter(2), kill(2), ktrace(2), mmap(2), mprotect(2), ptrace(2), wait(2), capsicum(4), hwpmc(4), init(8) HISTORY The procctl() function appeared in FreeBSD 10.0. The reaper facility is based on a similar feature of Linux and Dragon- flyBSD, and first appeared in FreeBSD 10.2. The PROC_PDEATHSIG_CTL facility is based on the prctl(PR_SET_PDEATHSIG, ...) feature of Linux, and first appeared in FreeBSD 11.2. The ASLR support was added to system for the checklists compliance in FreeBSD 13.0. FreeBSD 13.2 April 15, 2023 PROCCTL(2)
NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | x86 MACHINE-SPECIFIC REQUESTS | NOTES | RETURN VALUES | ERRORS | SEE ALSO | HISTORY
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