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| 1 | +============================== |
| 2 | +General notification mechanism |
| 3 | +============================== |
| 4 | + |
| 5 | +The general notification mechanism is built on top of the standard pipe driver |
| 6 | +whereby it effectively splices notification messages from the kernel into pipes |
| 7 | +opened by userspace. This can be used in conjunction with:: |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | + * Key/keyring notifications |
| 10 | + |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +The notifications buffers can be enabled by: |
| 13 | + |
| 14 | + "General setup"/"General notification queue" |
| 15 | + (CONFIG_WATCH_QUEUE) |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +This document has the following sections: |
| 18 | + |
| 19 | +.. contents:: :local: |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +Overview |
| 23 | +======== |
| 24 | + |
| 25 | +This facility appears as a pipe that is opened in a special mode. The pipe's |
| 26 | +internal ring buffer is used to hold messages that are generated by the kernel. |
| 27 | +These messages are then read out by read(). Splice and similar are disabled on |
| 28 | +such pipes due to them wanting to, under some circumstances, revert their |
| 29 | +additions to the ring - which might end up interleaved with notification |
| 30 | +messages. |
| 31 | + |
| 32 | +The owner of the pipe has to tell the kernel which sources it would like to |
| 33 | +watch through that pipe. Only sources that have been connected to a pipe will |
| 34 | +insert messages into it. Note that a source may be bound to multiple pipes and |
| 35 | +insert messages into all of them simultaneously. |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +Filters may also be emplaced on a pipe so that certain source types and |
| 38 | +subevents can be ignored if they're not of interest. |
| 39 | + |
| 40 | +A message will be discarded if there isn't a slot available in the ring or if |
| 41 | +no preallocated message buffer is available. In both of these cases, read() |
| 42 | +will insert a WATCH_META_LOSS_NOTIFICATION message into the output buffer after |
| 43 | +the last message currently in the buffer has been read. |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +Note that when producing a notification, the kernel does not wait for the |
| 46 | +consumers to collect it, but rather just continues on. This means that |
| 47 | +notifications can be generated whilst spinlocks are held and also protects the |
| 48 | +kernel from being held up indefinitely by a userspace malfunction. |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | + |
| 51 | +Message Structure |
| 52 | +================= |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +Notification messages begin with a short header:: |
| 55 | + |
| 56 | + struct watch_notification { |
| 57 | + __u32 type:24; |
| 58 | + __u32 subtype:8; |
| 59 | + __u32 info; |
| 60 | + }; |
| 61 | + |
| 62 | +"type" indicates the source of the notification record and "subtype" indicates |
| 63 | +the type of record from that source (see the Watch Sources section below). The |
| 64 | +type may also be "WATCH_TYPE_META". This is a special record type generated |
| 65 | +internally by the watch queue itself. There are two subtypes: |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | + * WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION |
| 68 | + * WATCH_META_LOSS_NOTIFICATION |
| 69 | + |
| 70 | +The first indicates that an object on which a watch was installed was removed |
| 71 | +or destroyed and the second indicates that some messages have been lost. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +"info" indicates a bunch of things, including: |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | + * The length of the message in bytes, including the header (mask with |
| 76 | + WATCH_INFO_LENGTH and shift by WATCH_INFO_LENGTH__SHIFT). This indicates |
| 77 | + the size of the record, which may be between 8 and 127 bytes. |
| 78 | + |
| 79 | + * The watch ID (mask with WATCH_INFO_ID and shift by WATCH_INFO_ID__SHIFT). |
| 80 | + This indicates that caller's ID of the watch, which may be between 0 |
| 81 | + and 255. Multiple watches may share a queue, and this provides a means to |
| 82 | + distinguish them. |
| 83 | + |
| 84 | + * A type-specific field (WATCH_INFO_TYPE_INFO). This is set by the |
| 85 | + notification producer to indicate some meaning specific to the type and |
| 86 | + subtype. |
| 87 | + |
| 88 | +Everything in info apart from the length can be used for filtering. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +The header can be followed by supplementary information. The format of this is |
| 91 | +at the discretion is defined by the type and subtype. |
| 92 | + |
| 93 | + |
| 94 | +Watch List (Notification Source) API |
| 95 | +==================================== |
| 96 | + |
| 97 | +A "watch list" is a list of watchers that are subscribed to a source of |
| 98 | +notifications. A list may be attached to an object (say a key or a superblock) |
| 99 | +or may be global (say for device events). From a userspace perspective, a |
| 100 | +non-global watch list is typically referred to by reference to the object it |
| 101 | +belongs to (such as using KEYCTL_NOTIFY and giving it a key serial number to |
| 102 | +watch that specific key). |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +To manage a watch list, the following functions are provided: |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | + * ``void init_watch_list(struct watch_list *wlist, |
| 107 | + void (*release_watch)(struct watch *wlist));`` |
| 108 | + |
| 109 | + Initialise a watch list. If ``release_watch`` is not NULL, then this |
| 110 | + indicates a function that should be called when the watch_list object is |
| 111 | + destroyed to discard any references the watch list holds on the watched |
| 112 | + object. |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | + * ``void remove_watch_list(struct watch_list *wlist);`` |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | + This removes all of the watches subscribed to a watch_list and frees them |
| 117 | + and then destroys the watch_list object itself. |
| 118 | + |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +Watch Queue (Notification Output) API |
| 121 | +===================================== |
| 122 | + |
| 123 | +A "watch queue" is the buffer allocated by an application that notification |
| 124 | +records will be written into. The workings of this are hidden entirely inside |
| 125 | +of the pipe device driver, but it is necessary to gain a reference to it to set |
| 126 | +a watch. These can be managed with: |
| 127 | + |
| 128 | + * ``struct watch_queue *get_watch_queue(int fd);`` |
| 129 | + |
| 130 | + Since watch queues are indicated to the kernel by the fd of the pipe that |
| 131 | + implements the buffer, userspace must hand that fd through a system call. |
| 132 | + This can be used to look up an opaque pointer to the watch queue from the |
| 133 | + system call. |
| 134 | + |
| 135 | + * ``void put_watch_queue(struct watch_queue *wqueue);`` |
| 136 | + |
| 137 | + This discards the reference obtained from ``get_watch_queue()``. |
| 138 | + |
| 139 | + |
| 140 | +Watch Subscription API |
| 141 | +====================== |
| 142 | + |
| 143 | +A "watch" is a subscription on a watch list, indicating the watch queue, and |
| 144 | +thus the buffer, into which notification records should be written. The watch |
| 145 | +queue object may also carry filtering rules for that object, as set by |
| 146 | +userspace. Some parts of the watch struct can be set by the driver:: |
| 147 | + |
| 148 | + struct watch { |
| 149 | + union { |
| 150 | + u32 info_id; /* ID to be OR'd in to info field */ |
| 151 | + ... |
| 152 | + }; |
| 153 | + void *private; /* Private data for the watched object */ |
| 154 | + u64 id; /* Internal identifier */ |
| 155 | + ... |
| 156 | + }; |
| 157 | + |
| 158 | +The ``info_id`` value should be an 8-bit number obtained from userspace and |
| 159 | +shifted by WATCH_INFO_ID__SHIFT. This is OR'd into the WATCH_INFO_ID field of |
| 160 | +struct watch_notification::info when and if the notification is written into |
| 161 | +the associated watch queue buffer. |
| 162 | + |
| 163 | +The ``private`` field is the driver's data associated with the watch_list and |
| 164 | +is cleaned up by the ``watch_list::release_watch()`` method. |
| 165 | + |
| 166 | +The ``id`` field is the source's ID. Notifications that are posted with a |
| 167 | +different ID are ignored. |
| 168 | + |
| 169 | +The following functions are provided to manage watches: |
| 170 | + |
| 171 | + * ``void init_watch(struct watch *watch, struct watch_queue *wqueue);`` |
| 172 | + |
| 173 | + Initialise a watch object, setting its pointer to the watch queue, using |
| 174 | + appropriate barriering to avoid lockdep complaints. |
| 175 | + |
| 176 | + * ``int add_watch_to_object(struct watch *watch, struct watch_list *wlist);`` |
| 177 | + |
| 178 | + Subscribe a watch to a watch list (notification source). The |
| 179 | + driver-settable fields in the watch struct must have been set before this |
| 180 | + is called. |
| 181 | + |
| 182 | + * ``int remove_watch_from_object(struct watch_list *wlist, |
| 183 | + struct watch_queue *wqueue, |
| 184 | + u64 id, false);`` |
| 185 | + |
| 186 | + Remove a watch from a watch list, where the watch must match the specified |
| 187 | + watch queue (``wqueue``) and object identifier (``id``). A notification |
| 188 | + (``WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION``) is sent to the watch queue to |
| 189 | + indicate that the watch got removed. |
| 190 | + |
| 191 | + * ``int remove_watch_from_object(struct watch_list *wlist, NULL, 0, true);`` |
| 192 | + |
| 193 | + Remove all the watches from a watch list. It is expected that this will be |
| 194 | + called preparatory to destruction and that the watch list will be |
| 195 | + inaccessible to new watches by this point. A notification |
| 196 | + (``WATCH_META_REMOVAL_NOTIFICATION``) is sent to the watch queue of each |
| 197 | + subscribed watch to indicate that the watch got removed. |
| 198 | + |
| 199 | + |
| 200 | +Notification Posting API |
| 201 | +======================== |
| 202 | + |
| 203 | +To post a notification to watch list so that the subscribed watches can see it, |
| 204 | +the following function should be used:: |
| 205 | + |
| 206 | + void post_watch_notification(struct watch_list *wlist, |
| 207 | + struct watch_notification *n, |
| 208 | + const struct cred *cred, |
| 209 | + u64 id); |
| 210 | + |
| 211 | +The notification should be preformatted and a pointer to the header (``n``) |
| 212 | +should be passed in. The notification may be larger than this and the size in |
| 213 | +units of buffer slots is noted in ``n->info & WATCH_INFO_LENGTH``. |
| 214 | + |
| 215 | +The ``cred`` struct indicates the credentials of the source (subject) and is |
| 216 | +passed to the LSMs, such as SELinux, to allow or suppress the recording of the |
| 217 | +note in each individual queue according to the credentials of that queue |
| 218 | +(object). |
| 219 | + |
| 220 | +The ``id`` is the ID of the source object (such as the serial number on a key). |
| 221 | +Only watches that have the same ID set in them will see this notification. |
| 222 | + |
| 223 | + |
| 224 | +Watch Sources |
| 225 | +============= |
| 226 | + |
| 227 | +Any particular buffer can be fed from multiple sources. Sources include: |
| 228 | + |
| 229 | + * WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY |
| 230 | + |
| 231 | + Notifications of this type indicate changes to keys and keyrings, including |
| 232 | + the changes of keyring contents or the attributes of keys. |
| 233 | + |
| 234 | + See Documentation/security/keys/core.rst for more information. |
| 235 | + |
| 236 | + |
| 237 | +Event Filtering |
| 238 | +=============== |
| 239 | + |
| 240 | +Once a watch queue has been created, a set of filters can be applied to limit |
| 241 | +the events that are received using:: |
| 242 | + |
| 243 | + struct watch_notification_filter filter = { |
| 244 | + ... |
| 245 | + }; |
| 246 | + ioctl(fd, IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_FILTER, &filter) |
| 247 | + |
| 248 | +The filter description is a variable of type:: |
| 249 | + |
| 250 | + struct watch_notification_filter { |
| 251 | + __u32 nr_filters; |
| 252 | + __u32 __reserved; |
| 253 | + struct watch_notification_type_filter filters[]; |
| 254 | + }; |
| 255 | + |
| 256 | +Where "nr_filters" is the number of filters in filters[] and "__reserved" |
| 257 | +should be 0. The "filters" array has elements of the following type:: |
| 258 | + |
| 259 | + struct watch_notification_type_filter { |
| 260 | + __u32 type; |
| 261 | + __u32 info_filter; |
| 262 | + __u32 info_mask; |
| 263 | + __u32 subtype_filter[8]; |
| 264 | + }; |
| 265 | + |
| 266 | +Where: |
| 267 | + |
| 268 | + * ``type`` is the event type to filter for and should be something like |
| 269 | + "WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY" |
| 270 | + |
| 271 | + * ``info_filter`` and ``info_mask`` act as a filter on the info field of the |
| 272 | + notification record. The notification is only written into the buffer if:: |
| 273 | + |
| 274 | + (watch.info & info_mask) == info_filter |
| 275 | + |
| 276 | + This could be used, for example, to ignore events that are not exactly on |
| 277 | + the watched point in a mount tree. |
| 278 | + |
| 279 | + * ``subtype_filter`` is a bitmask indicating the subtypes that are of |
| 280 | + interest. Bit 0 of subtype_filter[0] corresponds to subtype 0, bit 1 to |
| 281 | + subtype 1, and so on. |
| 282 | + |
| 283 | +If the argument to the ioctl() is NULL, then the filters will be removed and |
| 284 | +all events from the watched sources will come through. |
| 285 | + |
| 286 | + |
| 287 | +Userspace Code Example |
| 288 | +====================== |
| 289 | + |
| 290 | +A buffer is created with something like the following:: |
| 291 | + |
| 292 | + pipe2(fds, O_TMPFILE); |
| 293 | + ioctl(fds[1], IOC_WATCH_QUEUE_SET_SIZE, 256); |
| 294 | + |
| 295 | +It can then be set to receive keyring change notifications:: |
| 296 | + |
| 297 | + keyctl(KEYCTL_WATCH_KEY, KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING, fds[1], 0x01); |
| 298 | + |
| 299 | +The notifications can then be consumed by something like the following:: |
| 300 | + |
| 301 | + static void consumer(int rfd, struct watch_queue_buffer *buf) |
| 302 | + { |
| 303 | + unsigned char buffer[128]; |
| 304 | + ssize_t buf_len; |
| 305 | + |
| 306 | + while (buf_len = read(rfd, buffer, sizeof(buffer)), |
| 307 | + buf_len > 0 |
| 308 | + ) { |
| 309 | + void *p = buffer; |
| 310 | + void *end = buffer + buf_len; |
| 311 | + while (p < end) { |
| 312 | + union { |
| 313 | + struct watch_notification n; |
| 314 | + unsigned char buf1[128]; |
| 315 | + } n; |
| 316 | + size_t largest, len; |
| 317 | + |
| 318 | + largest = end - p; |
| 319 | + if (largest > 128) |
| 320 | + largest = 128; |
| 321 | + memcpy(&n, p, largest); |
| 322 | + |
| 323 | + len = (n->info & WATCH_INFO_LENGTH) >> |
| 324 | + WATCH_INFO_LENGTH__SHIFT; |
| 325 | + if (len == 0 || len > largest) |
| 326 | + return; |
| 327 | + |
| 328 | + switch (n.n.type) { |
| 329 | + case WATCH_TYPE_META: |
| 330 | + got_meta(&n.n); |
| 331 | + case WATCH_TYPE_KEY_NOTIFY: |
| 332 | + saw_key_change(&n.n); |
| 333 | + break; |
| 334 | + } |
| 335 | + |
| 336 | + p += len; |
| 337 | + } |
| 338 | + } |
| 339 | + } |
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