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diff --git a/Documentation/watch_queue.rst b/Documentation/watch_queue.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..54f13ad5f --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/watch_queue.rst @@ -0,0 +1,343 @@ +============================== +General notification mechanism +============================== + +The general notification mechanism is built on top of the standard pipe driver +whereby it effectively splices notification messages from the kernel into pipes +opened by userspace. This can be used in conjunction with:: + + * Key/keyring notifications + + +The notifications buffers can be enabled by: + + "General setup"/"General notification queue" + (CONFIG_WATCH_QUEUE) + +This document has the following sections: + +.. contents:: :local: + + +Overview +======== + +This facility appears as a pipe that is opened in a special mode. The pipe's +internal ring buffer is used to hold messages that are generated by the kernel. +These messages are then read out by read(). Splice and similar are disabled on +such pipes due to them wanting to, under some circumstances, revert their +additions to the ring - which might end up interleaved with notification +messages. + +The owner of the pipe has to tell the kernel which sources it would like to +watch through that pipe. Only sources that have been connected to a pipe will +insert messages into it. Note that a source may be bound to multiple pipes and +insert messages into all of them simultaneously. + +Filters may also be emplaced on a pipe so that certain source types and +subevents can be ignored if they're not of interest. + +A message will be discarded if there isn't a slot available in the ring or if +no preallocated message buffer is available. In both of these cases, read() +will insert a WATCH_META_LOSS_NOTIFICATION message into the output buffer after +the last message currently in the buffer has been read. + +Note that when producing a notification, the kernel does not wait for the +consumers to collect it, but rather just continues on. This means that +notifications can be generated whilst spinlocks are held and also protects the +kernel from being held up indefinitely by a userspace malfunction. + + +Message Structure +================= + +Notification messages begin with a short header:: + + struct watch_notification { + __u32 type:24; + __u32 subtype:8; + __u32 info; + }; + +"type" indicates the source of the notification record and "subtype" indicates +the type of record from that source (see the Watch Sources section below). The +type may also be "WATCH_TYPE_META". This is a special record type generated +internally by the watch queue itself. There are two subtypes: + + * WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION + * WATCH_META_LOSS_NOTIFICATION + +The first indicates that an object on which a watch was installed was removed +or destroyed and the second indicates that some messages have been lost. + +"info" indicates a bunch of things, including: + + * The length of the message in bytes, including the header (mask with + WATCH_INFO_LENGTH and shift by WATCH_INFO_LENGTH__SHIFT). This indicates + the size of the record, which may be between 8 and 127 bytes. + + * The watch ID (mask with WATCH_INFO_ID and shift by WATCH_INFO_ID__SHIFT). + This indicates that caller's ID of the watch, which may be between 0 + and 255. Multiple watches may share a queue, and this provides a means to + distinguish them. + + * A type-specific field (WATCH_INFO_TYPE_INFO). This is set by the + notification producer to indicate some meaning specific to the type and + subtype. + +Everything in info apart from the length can be used for filtering. + +The header can be followed by supplementary information. The format of this is +at the discretion is defined by the type and subtype. + + +Watch List (Notification Source) API +==================================== + +A "watch list" is a list of watchers that are subscribed to a source of +notifications. A list may be attached to an object (say a key or a superblock) +or may be global (say for device events). From a userspace perspective, a +non-global watch list is typically referred to by reference to the object it +belongs to (such as using KEYCTL_NOTIFY and giving it a key serial number to +watch that specific key). + +To manage a watch list, the following functions are provided: + + * :: + + void init_watch_list(struct watch_list *wlist, + void (*release_watch)(struct watch *wlist)); + + Initialise a watch list. If ``release_watch`` is not NULL, then this + indicates a function that should be called when the watch_list object is + destroyed to discard any references the watch list holds on the watched + object. + + * ``void remove_watch_list(struct watch_list *wlist);`` + + This removes all of the watches subscribed to a watch_list and frees them + and then destroys the watch_list object itself. + + +Watch Queue (Notification Output) API +===================================== + +A "watch queue" is the buffer allocated by an application that notification +records will be written into. The workings of this are hidden entirely inside +of the pipe device driver, but it is necessary to gain a reference to it to set +a watch. These can be managed with: + + * ``struct watch_queue *get_watch_queue(int fd);`` + + Since watch queues are indicated to the kernel by the fd of the pipe that + implements the buffer, userspace must hand that fd through a system call. + This can be used to look up an opaque pointer to the watch queue from the + system call. + + * ``void put_watch_queue(struct watch_queue *wqueue);`` + + This discards the reference obtained from ``get_watch_queue()``. + + +Watch Subscription API +====================== + +A "watch" is a subscription on a watch list, indicating the watch queue, and +thus the buffer, into which notification records should be written. The watch +queue object may also carry filtering rules for that object, as set by +userspace. Some parts of the watch struct can be set by the driver:: + + struct watch { + union { + u32 info_id; /* ID to be OR'd in to info field */ + ... + }; + void *private; /* Private data for the watched object */ + u64 id; /* Internal identifier */ + ... + }; + +The ``info_id`` value should be an 8-bit number obtained from userspace and +shifted by WATCH_INFO_ID__SHIFT. This is OR'd into the WATCH_INFO_ID field of +struct watch_notification::info when and if the notification is written into +the associated watch queue buffer. + +The ``private`` field is the driver's data associated with the watch_list and +is cleaned up by the ``watch_list::release_watch()`` method. + +The ``id`` field is the source's ID. Notifications that are posted with a +different ID are ignored. + +The following functions are provided to manage watches: + + * ``void init_watch(struct watch *watch, struct watch_queue *wqueue);`` + + Initialise a watch object, setting its pointer to the watch queue, using + appropriate barriering to avoid lockdep complaints. + + * ``int add_watch_to_object(struct watch *watch, struct watch_list *wlist);`` + + Subscribe a watch to a watch list (notification source). The + driver-settable fields in the watch struct must have been set before this + is called. + + * :: + + int remove_watch_from_object(struct watch_list *wlist, + struct watch_queue *wqueue, + u64 id, false); + + Remove a watch from a watch list, where the watch must match the specified + watch queue (``wqueue``) and object identifier (``id``). A notification + (``WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION``) is sent to the watch queue to + indicate that the watch got removed. + + * ``int remove_watch_from_object(struct watch_list *wlist, NULL, 0, true);`` + + Remove all the watches from a watch list. It is expected that this will be + called preparatory to destruction and that the watch list will be + inaccessible to new watches by this point. A notification + (``WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION``) is sent to the watch queue of each + subscribed watch to indicate that the watch got removed. + + +Notification Posting API +======================== + +To post a notification to watch list so that the subscribed watches can see it, +the following function should be used:: + + void post_watch_notification(struct watch_list *wlist, + struct watch_notification *n, + const struct cred *cred, + u64 id); + +The notification should be preformatted and a pointer to the header (``n``) +should be passed in. The notification may be larger than this and the size in +units of buffer slots is noted in ``n->info & WATCH_INFO_LENGTH``. + +The ``cred`` struct indicates the credentials of the source (subject) and is +passed to the LSMs, such as SELinux, to allow or suppress the recording of the +note in each individual queue according to the credentials of that queue +(object). + +The ``id`` is the ID of the source object (such as the serial number on a key). +Only watches that have the same ID set in them will see this notification. + + +Watch Sources +============= + +Any particular buffer can be fed from multiple sources. Sources include: + + * WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY + + Notifications of this type indicate changes to keys and keyrings, including + the changes of keyring contents or the attributes of keys. + + See Documentation/security/keys/core.rst for more information. + + +Event Filtering +=============== + +Once a watch queue has been created, a set of filters can be applied to limit +the events that are received using:: + + struct watch_notification_filter filter = { + ... + }; + ioctl(fd, IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_FILTER, &filter) + +The filter description is a variable of type:: + + struct watch_notification_filter { + __u32 nr_filters; + __u32 __reserved; + struct watch_notification_type_filter filters[]; + }; + +Where "nr_filters" is the number of filters in filters[] and "__reserved" +should be 0. The "filters" array has elements of the following type:: + + struct watch_notification_type_filter { + __u32 type; + __u32 info_filter; + __u32 info_mask; + __u32 subtype_filter[8]; + }; + +Where: + + * ``type`` is the event type to filter for and should be something like + "WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY" + + * ``info_filter`` and ``info_mask`` act as a filter on the info field of the + notification record. The notification is only written into the buffer if:: + + (watch.info & info_mask) == info_filter + + This could be used, for example, to ignore events that are not exactly on + the watched point in a mount tree. + + * ``subtype_filter`` is a bitmask indicating the subtypes that are of + interest. Bit 0 of subtype_filter[0] corresponds to subtype 0, bit 1 to + subtype 1, and so on. + +If the argument to the ioctl() is NULL, then the filters will be removed and +all events from the watched sources will come through. + + +Userspace Code Example +====================== + +A buffer is created with something like the following:: + + pipe2(fds, O_TMPFILE); + ioctl(fds[1], IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_SIZE, 256); + +It can then be set to receive keyring change notifications:: + + keyctl(KEYCTL_WATCH_KEY, KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING, fds[1], 0x01); + +The notifications can then be consumed by something like the following:: + + static void consumer(int rfd, struct watch_queue_buffer *buf) + { + unsigned char buffer[128]; + ssize_t buf_len; + + while (buf_len = read(rfd, buffer, sizeof(buffer)), + buf_len > 0 + ) { + void *p = buffer; + void *end = buffer + buf_len; + while (p < end) { + union { + struct watch_notification n; + unsigned char buf1[128]; + } n; + size_t largest, len; + + largest = end - p; + if (largest > 128) + largest = 128; + memcpy(&n, p, largest); + + len = (n->info & WATCH_INFO_LENGTH) >> + WATCH_INFO_LENGTH__SHIFT; + if (len == 0 || len > largest) + return; + + switch (n.n.type) { + case WATCH_TYPE_META: + got_meta(&n.n); + case WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY: + saw_key_change(&n.n); + break; + } + + p += len; + } + } + } |