proc: relax /proc/<tid>/timerslack_ns capability requirements
authorJohn Stultz <john.stultz@linaro.org>
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 10:34:17 +0000 (20:34 +1000)
committerStephen Rothwell <sfr@canb.auug.org.au>
Sat, 10 Sep 2016 10:34:17 +0000 (20:34 +1000)
commitf7195eff9273cca41f3775d89dc3a4e083e3aa98
tree0a1b9277e18e2cbfed95549110254bed0fddcbaa
parent6f27afcd55e8893aa34e974bf422a893c773dfa5
proc: relax /proc/<tid>/timerslack_ns capability requirements

When an interface to allow a task to change another tasks timerslack was
first proposed, it was suggested that something greater then CAP_SYS_NICE
would be needed, as a task could be delayed further then what normally
could be done with nice adjustments.

So CAP_SYS_PTRACE was adopted instead for what became the
/proc/<tid>/timerslack_ns interface.  However, for Android (where this
feature originates), giving the system_server CAP_SYS_PTRACE would allow
it to observe and modify all tasks memory.  This is considered too high a
privilege level for only needing to change the timerslack.

After some discussion, it was realized that a CAP_SYS_NICE process can set
a task as SCHED_FIFO, so they could fork some spinning processes and set
them all SCHED_FIFO 99, in effect delaying all other tasks for an infinite
amount of time.

So as a CAP_SYS_NICE task can already cause trouble for other tasks, using
it as a required capability for accessing and modifying
/proc/<tid>/timerslack_ns seems sufficient.

Thus, this patch loosens the capability requirements to CAP_SYS_NICE and
removes CAP_SYS_PTRACE, simplifying some of the code flow as well.

This is technically an ABI change, but as the feature just landed in 4.6,
I suspect no one is yet using it.

Link: http://lkml.kernel.org/r/1469132667-17377-1-git-send-email-john.stultz@linaro.org
Signed-off-by: John Stultz <john.stultz@linaro.org>
Reviewed-by: Nick Kralevich <nnk@google.com>
Acked-by: Serge Hallyn <serge@hallyn.com>
Acked-by: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: Kees Cook <keescook@chromium.org>
Cc: "Serge E. Hallyn" <serge@hallyn.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Cc: Arjan van de Ven <arjan@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Oren Laadan <orenl@cellrox.com>
Cc: Ruchi Kandoi <kandoiruchi@google.com>
Cc: Rom Lemarchand <romlem@android.com>
Cc: Todd Kjos <tkjos@google.com>
Cc: Colin Cross <ccross@android.com>
Cc: Nick Kralevich <nnk@google.com>
Cc: Dmitry Shmidt <dimitrysh@google.com>
Cc: Elliott Hughes <enh@google.com>
Cc: Android Kernel Team <kernel-team@android.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
fs/proc/base.c
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