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NAME | LIBRARY | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | ERRORS | VERSIONS | STANDARDS | HISTORY | EXAMPLES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON |
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keyctl(2) System Calls Manual keyctl(2)
keyctl - manipulate the kernel's key management facility
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
Alternatively, Linux Key Management Utilities (libkeyutils,
-lkeyutils); see VERSIONS.
#include <linux/keyctl.h> /* Definition of KEY* constants */
#include <sys/syscall.h> /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>
long syscall(SYS_keyctl, int operation, unsigned long arg2,
unsigned long arg3, unsigned long arg4,
unsigned long arg5);
Note: glibc provides no wrapper for keyctl(), necessitating the
use of syscall(2).
keyctl() allows user-space programs to perform key manipulation.
The operation performed by keyctl() is determined by the value of
the operation argument. Each of these operations is wrapped by
the libkeyutils library (provided by the keyutils package) into
individual functions (noted below) to permit the compiler to
check types.
The permitted values for operation are:
KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID (since Linux 2.6.10)
Map a special key ID to a real key ID for this process.
This operation looks up the special key whose ID is
provided in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). If the special
key is found, the ID of the corresponding real key is
returned as the function result. The following values may
be specified in arg2:
KEY_SPEC_THREAD_KEYRING
This specifies the calling thread's thread-specific
keyring. See thread-keyring(7).
KEY_SPEC_PROCESS_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's process-specific
keyring. See process-keyring(7).
KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's session-specific
keyring. See session-keyring(7).
KEY_SPEC_USER_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's UID-specific keyring.
See user-keyring(7).
KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's UID-session keyring.
See user-session-keyring(7).
KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY (since Linux 2.6.16)
This specifies the authorization key created by
request_key(2) and passed to the process it spawns
to generate a key. This key is available only in a
request-key(8)-style program that was passed an
authorization key by the kernel and ceases to be
available once the requested key has been
instantiated; see request_key(2).
KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING (since Linux 2.6.29)
This specifies the key ID for the request_key(2)
destination keyring. This keyring is available
only in a request-key(8)-style program that was
passed an authorization key by the kernel and
ceases to be available once the requested key has
been instantiated; see request_key(2).
The behavior if the key specified in arg2 does not exist
depends on the value of arg3 (cast to int). If arg3
contains a nonzero value, then—if it is appropriate to do
so (e.g., when looking up the user, user-session, or
session key)—a new key is created and its real key ID
returned as the function result. Otherwise, the operation
fails with the error ENOKEY.
If a valid key ID is specified in arg2, and the key
exists, then this operation simply returns the key ID. If
the key does not exist, the call fails with error ENOKEY.
The caller must have search permission on a keyring in
order for it to be found.
The arguments arg4 and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_get_keyring_ID(3).
KEYCTL_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING (since Linux 2.6.10)
Replace the session keyring this process subscribes to
with a new session keyring.
If arg2 is NULL, an anonymous keyring with the description
"_ses" is created and the process is subscribed to that
keyring as its session keyring, displacing the previous
session keyring.
Otherwise, arg2 (cast to char *) is treated as the
description (name) of a keyring, and the behavior is as
follows:
• If a keyring with a matching description exists, the
process will attempt to subscribe to that keyring as
its session keyring if possible; if that is not
possible, an error is returned. In order to subscribe
to the keyring, the caller must have search permission
on the keyring.
• If a keyring with a matching description does not
exist, then a new keyring with the specified
description is created, and the process is subscribed
to that keyring as its session keyring.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_join_session_keyring(3).
KEYCTL_UPDATE (since Linux 2.6.10)
Update a key's data payload.
The arg2 argument (cast to key_serial_t) specifies the ID
of the key to be updated. The arg3 argument (cast to
void *) points to the new payload and arg4 (cast to
size_t) contains the new payload size in bytes.
The caller must have write permission on the key specified
and the key type must support updating.
A negatively instantiated key (see the description of
KEYCTL_REJECT) can be positively instantiated with this
operation.
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_update(3).
KEYCTL_REVOKE (since Linux 2.6.10)
Revoke the key with the ID provided in arg2 (cast to
key_serial_t). The key is scheduled for garbage
collection; it will no longer be findable, and will be
unavailable for further operations. Further attempts to
use the key will fail with the error EKEYREVOKED.
The caller must have write or setattr permission on the
key.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_revoke(3).
KEYCTL_CHOWN (since Linux 2.6.10)
Change the ownership (user and group ID) of a key.
The arg2 argument (cast to key_serial_t) contains the key
ID. The arg3 argument (cast to uid_t) contains the new
user ID (or -1 in case the user ID shouldn't be changed).
The arg4 argument (cast to gid_t) contains the new group
ID (or -1 in case the group ID shouldn't be changed).
The key must grant the caller setattr permission.
For the UID to be changed, or for the GID to be changed to
a group the caller is not a member of, the caller must
have the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability (see capabilities(7)).
If the UID is to be changed, the new user must have
sufficient quota to accept the key. The quota deduction
will be removed from the old user to the new user should
the UID be changed.
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_chown(3).
KEYCTL_SETPERM (since Linux 2.6.10)
Change the permissions of the key with the ID provided in
the arg2 argument (cast to key_serial_t) to the
permissions provided in the arg3 argument (cast to
key_perm_t).
If the caller doesn't have the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability,
it can change permissions only for the keys it owns.
(More precisely: the caller's filesystem UID must match
the UID of the key.)
The key must grant setattr permission to the caller
regardless of the caller's capabilities.
The permissions in arg3 specify masks of available
operations for each of the following user categories:
possessor (since Linux 2.6.14)
This is the permission granted to a process that
possesses the key (has it attached searchably to
one of the process's keyrings); see keyrings(7).
user This is the permission granted to a process whose
filesystem UID matches the UID of the key.
group This is the permission granted to a process whose
filesystem GID or any of its supplementary GIDs
matches the GID of the key.
other This is the permission granted to other processes
that do not match the user and group categories.
The user, group, and other categories are exclusive: if a
process matches the user category, it will not receive
permissions granted in the group category; if a process
matches the user or group category, then it will not
receive permissions granted in the other category.
The possessor category grants permissions that are
cumulative with the grants from the user, group, or other
category.
Each permission mask is eight bits in size, with only six
bits currently used. The available permissions are:
view This permission allows reading attributes of a key.
This permission is required for the KEYCTL_DESCRIBE
operation.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_VIEW, KEY_USR_VIEW, KEY_GRP_VIEW, and
KEY_OTH_VIEW.
read This permission allows reading a key's payload.
This permission is required for the KEYCTL_READ
operation.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_READ, KEY_USR_READ, KEY_GRP_READ, and
KEY_OTH_READ.
write This permission allows update or instantiation of a
key's payload. For a keyring, it allows keys to be
linked and unlinked from the keyring,
This permission is required for the KEYCTL_UPDATE,
KEYCTL_REVOKE, KEYCTL_CLEAR, KEYCTL_LINK, and
KEYCTL_UNLINK operations.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_WRITE, KEY_USR_WRITE, KEY_GRP_WRITE, and
KEY_OTH_WRITE.
search This permission allows keyrings to be searched and
keys to be found. Searches can recurse only into
nested keyrings that have search permission set.
This permission is required for the
KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID, KEYCTL_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING,
KEYCTL_SEARCH, and KEYCTL_INVALIDATE operations.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_SEARCH, KEY_USR_SEARCH, KEY_GRP_SEARCH, and
KEY_OTH_SEARCH.
link This permission allows a key or keyring to be
linked to.
This permission is required for the KEYCTL_LINK and
KEYCTL_SESSION_TO_PARENT operations.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_LINK, KEY_USR_LINK, KEY_GRP_LINK, and
KEY_OTH_LINK.
setattr (since Linux 2.6.15).
This permission allows a key's UID, GID, and
permissions mask to be changed.
This permission is required for the KEYCTL_REVOKE,
KEYCTL_CHOWN, and KEYCTL_SETPERM operations.
The permission bits for each category are
KEY_POS_SETATTR, KEY_USR_SETATTR, KEY_GRP_SETATTR,
and KEY_OTH_SETATTR.
As a convenience, the following macros are defined as
masks for all of the permission bits in each of the user
categories: KEY_POS_ALL, KEY_USR_ALL, KEY_GRP_ALL, and
KEY_OTH_ALL.
The arg4 and arg5 arguments are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_setperm(3).
KEYCTL_DESCRIBE (since Linux 2.6.10)
Obtain a string describing the attributes of a specified
key.
The ID of the key to be described is specified in arg2
(cast to key_serial_t). The descriptive string is
returned in the buffer pointed to by arg3 (cast to
char *); arg4 (cast to size_t) specifies the size of that
buffer in bytes.
The key must grant the caller view permission.
The returned string is null-terminated and contains the
following information about the key:
type;uid;gid;perm;description
In the above, type and description are strings, uid and
gid are decimal strings, and perm is a hexadecimal
permissions mask. The descriptive string is written with
the following format:
%s;%d;%d;%08x;%s
Note: the intention is that the descriptive string should
be extensible in future kernel versions. In particular,
the description field will not contain semicolons; it
should be parsed by working backwards from the end of the
string to find the last semicolon. This allows future
semicolon-delimited fields to be inserted in the
descriptive string in the future.
Writing to the buffer is attempted only when arg3 is non-
NULL and the specified buffer size is large enough to
accept the descriptive string (including the terminating
null byte). In order to determine whether the buffer size
was too small, check to see if the return value of the
operation is greater than arg4.
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_describe(3).
KEYCTL_CLEAR
Clear the contents of (i.e., unlink all keys from) a
keyring.
The ID of the key (which must be of keyring type) is
provided in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t).
The caller must have write permission on the keyring.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_clear(3).
KEYCTL_LINK (since Linux 2.6.10)
Create a link from a keyring to a key.
The key to be linked is specified in arg2 (cast to
key_serial_t); the keyring is specified in arg3 (cast to
key_serial_t).
If a key with the same type and description is already
linked in the keyring, then that key is displaced from the
keyring.
Before creating the link, the kernel checks the nesting of
the keyrings and returns appropriate errors if the link
would produce a cycle or if the nesting of keyrings would
be too deep (The limit on the nesting of keyrings is
determined by the kernel constant
KEYRING_SEARCH_MAX_DEPTH, defined with the value 6, and is
necessary to prevent overflows on the kernel stack when
recursively searching keyrings).
The caller must have link permission on the key being
added and write permission on the keyring.
The arguments arg4 and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_link(3).
KEYCTL_UNLINK (since Linux 2.6.10)
Unlink a key from a keyring.
The ID of the key to be unlinked is specified in arg2
(cast to key_serial_t); the ID of the keyring from which
it is to be unlinked is specified in arg3 (cast to
key_serial_t).
If the key is not currently linked into the keyring, an
error results.
The caller must have write permission on the keyring from
which the key is being removed.
If the last link to a key is removed, then that key will
be scheduled for destruction.
The arguments arg4 and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_unlink(3).
KEYCTL_SEARCH (since Linux 2.6.10)
Search for a key in a keyring tree, returning its ID and
optionally linking it to a specified keyring.
The tree to be searched is specified by passing the ID of
the head keyring in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). The
search is performed breadth-first and recursively.
The arg3 and arg4 arguments specify the key to be searched
for: arg3 (cast as char *) contains the key type (a null-
terminated character string up to 32 bytes in size,
including the terminating null byte), and arg4 (cast as
char *) contains the description of the key (a null-
terminated character string up to 4096 bytes in size,
including the terminating null byte).
The source keyring must grant search permission to the
caller. When performing the recursive search, only
keyrings that grant the caller search permission will be
searched. Only keys with for which the caller has search
permission can be found.
If the key is found, its ID is returned as the function
result.
If the key is found and arg5 (cast to key_serial_t) is
nonzero, then, subject to the same constraints and rules
as KEYCTL_LINK, the key is linked into the keyring whose
ID is specified in arg5. If the destination keyring
specified in arg5 already contains a link to a key that
has the same type and description, then that link will be
displaced by a link to the key found by this operation.
Instead of valid existing keyring IDs, the source (arg2)
and destination (arg5) keyrings can be one of the special
keyring IDs listed under KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_search(3).
KEYCTL_READ (since Linux 2.6.10)
Read the payload data of a key.
The ID of the key whose payload is to be read is specified
in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). This can be the ID of an
existing key, or any of the special key IDs listed for
KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID.
The payload is placed in the buffer pointed by arg3 (cast
to char *); the size of that buffer must be specified in
arg4 (cast to size_t).
The returned data will be processed for presentation
according to the key type. For example, a keyring will
return an array of key_serial_t entries representing the
IDs of all the keys that are linked to it. The user key
type will return its data as is. If a key type does not
implement this function, the operation fails with the
error EOPNOTSUPP.
If arg3 is not NULL, as much of the payload data as will
fit is copied into the buffer. On a successful return,
the return value is always the total size of the payload
data. To determine whether the buffer was of sufficient
size, check to see that the return value is less than or
equal to the value supplied in arg4.
The key must either grant the caller read permission, or
grant the caller search permission when searched for from
the process keyrings (i.e., the key is possessed).
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_read(3).
KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE (since Linux 2.6.10)
(Positively) instantiate an uninstantiated key with a
specified payload.
The ID of the key to be instantiated is provided in arg2
(cast to key_serial_t).
The key payload is specified in the buffer pointed to by
arg3 (cast to void *); the size of that buffer is
specified in arg4 (cast to size_t).
The payload may be a null pointer and the buffer size may
be 0 if this is supported by the key type (e.g., it is a
keyring).
The operation may be fail if the payload data is in the
wrong format or is otherwise invalid.
If arg5 (cast to key_serial_t) is nonzero, then, subject
to the same constraints and rules as KEYCTL_LINK, the
instantiated key is linked into the keyring whose ID
specified in arg5.
The caller must have the appropriate authorization key,
and once the uninstantiated key has been instantiated, the
authorization key is revoked. In other words, this
operation is available only from a request-key(8)-style
program. See request_key(2) for an explanation of
uninstantiated keys and key instantiation.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_instantiate(3).
KEYCTL_NEGATE (since Linux 2.6.10)
Negatively instantiate an uninstantiated key.
This operation is equivalent to the call:
keyctl(KEYCTL_REJECT, arg2, arg3, ENOKEY, arg4);
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_negate(3).
KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING (since Linux 2.6.13)
Set the default keyring to which implicitly requested keys
will be linked for this thread, and return the previous
setting. Implicit key requests are those made by internal
kernel components, such as can occur when, for example,
opening files on an AFS or NFS filesystem. Setting the
default keyring also has an effect when requesting a key
from user space; see request_key(2) for details.
The arg2 argument (cast to int) should contain one of the
following values, to specify the new default keyring:
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_NO_CHANGE
Don't change the default keyring. This can be used
to discover the current default keyring (without
changing it).
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_DEFAULT
This selects the default behaviour, which is to use
the thread-specific keyring if there is one,
otherwise the process-specific keyring if there is
one, otherwise the session keyring if there is one,
otherwise the UID-specific session keyring,
otherwise the user-specific keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_THREAD_KEYRING
Use the thread-specific keyring (thread-keyring(7))
as the new default keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_PROCESS_KEYRING
Use the process-specific keyring
(process-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_SESSION_KEYRING
Use the session-specific keyring
(session-keyring(7)) as the new default keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_KEYRING
Use the UID-specific keyring (user-keyring(7)) as
the new default keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_SESSION_KEYRING
Use the UID-specific session keyring
(user-session-keyring(7)) as the new default
keyring.
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_REQUESTOR_KEYRING (since Linux 2.6.29)
Use the requestor keyring.
All other values are invalid.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
The setting controlled by this operation is inherited by
the child of fork(2) and preserved across execve(2).
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3).
KEYCTL_SET_TIMEOUT (since Linux 2.6.16)
Set a timeout on a key.
The ID of the key is specified in arg2 (cast to
key_serial_t). The timeout value, in seconds from the
current time, is specified in arg3 (cast to unsigned int).
The timeout is measured against the realtime clock.
Specifying the timeout value as 0 clears any existing
timeout on the key.
The /proc/keys file displays the remaining time until each
key will expire. (This is the only method of discovering
the timeout on a key.)
The caller must either have the setattr permission on the
key or hold an instantiation authorization token for the
key (see request_key(2)).
The key and any links to the key will be automatically
garbage collected after the timeout expires. Subsequent
attempts to access the key will then fail with the error
EKEYEXPIRED.
This operation cannot be used to set timeouts on revoked,
expired, or negatively instantiated keys.
The arguments arg4 and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_set_timeout(3).
KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY (since Linux 2.6.16)
Assume (or divest) the authority for the calling thread to
instantiate a key.
The arg2 argument (cast to key_serial_t) specifies either
a nonzero key ID to assume authority, or the value 0 to
divest authority.
If arg2 is nonzero, then it specifies the ID of an
uninstantiated key for which authority is to be assumed.
That key can then be instantiated using one of
KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE, KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE_IOV, KEYCTL_REJECT,
or KEYCTL_NEGATE. Once the key has been instantiated, the
thread is automatically divested of authority to
instantiate the key.
Authority over a key can be assumed only if the calling
thread has present in its keyrings the authorization key
that is associated with the specified key. (In other
words, the KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY operation is available
only from a request-key(8)-style program; see
request_key(2) for an explanation of how this operation is
used.) The caller must have search permission on the
authorization key.
If the specified key has a matching authorization key,
then the ID of that key is returned. The authorization
key can be read (KEYCTL_READ) to obtain the callout
information passed to request_key(2).
If the ID given in arg2 is 0, then the currently assumed
authority is cleared (divested), and the value 0 is
returned.
The KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY mechanism allows a program
such as request-key(8) to assume the necessary authority
to instantiate a new uninstantiated key that was created
as a consequence of a call to request_key(2). For further
information, see request_key(2) and the kernel source file
Documentation/security/keys-request-key.txt.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_assume_authority(3).
KEYCTL_GET_SECURITY (since Linux 2.6.26)
Get the LSM (Linux Security Module) security label of the
specified key.
The ID of the key whose security label is to be fetched is
specified in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). The security
label (terminated by a null byte) will be placed in the
buffer pointed to by arg3 argument (cast to char *); the
size of the buffer must be provided in arg4 (cast to
size_t).
If arg3 is specified as NULL or the buffer size specified
in arg4 is too small, the full size of the security label
string (including the terminating null byte) is returned
as the function result, and nothing is copied to the
buffer.
The caller must have view permission on the specified key.
The returned security label string will be rendered in a
form appropriate to the LSM in force. For example, with
SELinux, it may look like:
unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023
If no LSM is currently in force, then an empty string is
placed in the buffer.
The arg5 argument is ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the functions
keyctl_get_security(3) and keyctl_get_security_alloc(3).
KEYCTL_SESSION_TO_PARENT (since Linux 2.6.32)
Replace the session keyring to which the parent of the
calling process subscribes with the session keyring of the
calling process.
The keyring will be replaced in the parent process at the
point where the parent next transitions from kernel space
to user space.
The keyring must exist and must grant the caller link
permission. The parent process must be single-threaded
and have the same effective ownership as this process and
must not be set-user-ID or set-group-ID. The UID of the
parent process's existing session keyring (f it has one),
as well as the UID of the caller's session keyring much
match the caller's effective UID.
The fact that it is the parent process that is affected by
this operation allows a program such as the shell to start
a child process that uses this operation to change the
shell's session keyring. (This is what the keyctl(1)
new_session command does.)
The arguments arg2, arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_session_to_parent(3).
KEYCTL_REJECT (since Linux 2.6.39)
Mark a key as negatively instantiated and set an
expiration timer on the key. This operation provides a
superset of the functionality of the earlier KEYCTL_NEGATE
operation.
The ID of the key that is to be negatively instantiated is
specified in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). The arg3 (cast
to unsigned int) argument specifies the lifetime of the
key, in seconds. The arg4 argument (cast to unsigned int)
specifies the error to be returned when a search hits this
key; typically, this is one of EKEYREJECTED, EKEYREVOKED,
or EKEYEXPIRED.
If arg5 (cast to key_serial_t) is nonzero, then, subject
to the same constraints and rules as KEYCTL_LINK, the
negatively instantiated key is linked into the keyring
whose ID is specified in arg5.
The caller must have the appropriate authorization key.
In other words, this operation is available only from a
request-key(8)-style program. See request_key(2).
The caller must have the appropriate authorization key,
and once the uninstantiated key has been instantiated, the
authorization key is revoked. In other words, this
operation is available only from a request-key(8)-style
program. See request_key(2) for an explanation of
uninstantiated keys and key instantiation.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_reject(3).
KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE_IOV (since Linux 2.6.39)
Instantiate an uninstantiated key with a payload specified
via a vector of buffers.
This operation is the same as KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE, but the
payload data is specified as an array of iovec structures
(see iovec(3type)).
The pointer to the payload vector is specified in arg3
(cast as const struct iovec *). The number of items in
the vector is specified in arg4 (cast as unsigned int).
The arg2 (key ID) and arg5 (keyring ID) are interpreted as
for KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_instantiate_iov(3).
KEYCTL_INVALIDATE (since Linux 3.5)
Mark a key as invalid.
The ID of the key to be invalidated is specified in arg2
(cast to key_serial_t).
To invalidate a key, the caller must have search
permission on the key.
This operation marks the key as invalid and schedules
immediate garbage collection. The garbage collector
removes the invalidated key from all keyrings and deletes
the key when its reference count reaches zero. After this
operation, the key will be ignored by all searches, even
if it is not yet deleted.
Keys that are marked invalid become invisible to normal
key operations immediately, though they are still visible
in /proc/keys (marked with an 'i' flag) until they are
actually removed.
The arguments arg3, arg4, and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_invalidate(3).
KEYCTL_GET_PERSISTENT (since Linux 3.13)
Get the persistent keyring (persistent-keyring(7)) for a
specified user and link it to a specified keyring.
The user ID is specified in arg2 (cast to uid_t). If the
value -1 is specified, the caller's real user ID is used.
The ID of the destination keyring is specified in arg3
(cast to key_serial_t).
The caller must have the CAP_SETUID capability in its user
namespace in order to fetch the persistent keyring for a
user ID that does not match either the real or effective
user ID of the caller.
If the call is successful, a link to the persistent
keyring is added to the keyring whose ID was specified in
arg3.
The caller must have write permission on the keyring.
The persistent keyring will be created by the kernel if it
does not yet exist.
Each time the KEYCTL_GET_PERSISTENT operation is
performed, the persistent keyring will have its expiration
timeout reset to the value in:
/proc/sys/kernel/keys/persistent_keyring_expiry
Should the timeout be reached, the persistent keyring will
be removed and everything it pins can then be garbage
collected.
Persistent keyrings were added in Linux 3.13.
The arguments arg4 and arg5 are ignored.
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils via the function
keyctl_get_persistent(3).
KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE (since Linux 4.7)
Compute a Diffie-Hellman shared secret or public key,
optionally applying key derivation function (KDF) to the
result.
The arg2 argument is a pointer to a set of parameters
containing serial numbers for three "user" keys used in
the Diffie-Hellman calculation, packaged in a structure of
the following form:
struct keyctl_dh_params {
int32_t private; /* The local private key */
int32_t prime; /* The prime, known to both parties */
int32_t base; /* The base integer: either a shared
generator or the remote public key */
};
Each of the three keys specified in this structure must
grant the caller read permission. The payloads of these
keys are used to calculate the Diffie-Hellman result as:
base ^ private mod prime
If the base is the shared generator, the result is the
local public key. If the base is the remote public key,
the result is the shared secret.
The arg3 argument (cast to char *) points to a buffer
where the result of the calculation is placed. The size
of that buffer is specified in arg4 (cast to size_t).
The buffer must be large enough to accommodate the output
data, otherwise an error is returned. If arg4 is
specified zero, in which case the buffer is not used and
the operation returns the minimum required buffer size
(i.e., the length of the prime).
Diffie-Hellman computations can be performed in user
space, but require a multiple-precision integer (MPI)
library. Moving the implementation into the kernel gives
access to the kernel MPI implementation, and allows access
to secure or acceleration hardware.
Adding support for DH computation to the keyctl() system
call was considered a good fit due to the DH algorithm's
use for deriving shared keys; it also allows the type of
the key to determine which DH implementation (software or
hardware) is appropriate.
If the arg5 argument is NULL, then the DH result itself is
returned. Otherwise (since Linux 4.12), it is a pointer
to a structure which specifies parameters of the KDF
operation to be applied:
struct keyctl_kdf_params {
char *hashname; /* Hash algorithm name */
char *otherinfo; /* SP800-56A OtherInfo */
__u32 otherinfolen; /* Length of otherinfo data */
__u32 __spare[8]; /* Reserved */
};
The hashname field is a null-terminated string which
specifies a hash name (available in the kernel's crypto
API; the list of the hashes available is rather tricky to
observe; please refer to the "Kernel Crypto API
Architecture"
⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/crypto/architecture.html⟩
documentation for the information regarding how hash names
are constructed and your kernel's source and configuration
regarding what ciphers and templates with type
CRYPTO_ALG_TYPE_SHASH are available) to be applied to DH
result in KDF operation.
The otherinfo field is an OtherInfo data as described in
SP800-56A section 5.8.1.2 and is algorithm-specific. This
data is concatenated with the result of DH operation and
is provided as an input to the KDF operation. Its size is
provided in the otherinfolen field and is limited by
KEYCTL_KDF_MAX_OI_LEN constant that defined in
security/keys/internal.h to a value of 64.
The __spare field is currently unused. It was ignored
until Linux 4.13 (but still should be user-addressable
since it is copied to the kernel), and should contain
zeros since Linux 4.13.
The KDF implementation complies with SP800-56A as well as
with SP800-108 (the counter KDF).
This operation is exposed by libkeyutils (from libkeyutils
1.5.10 onwards) via the functions keyctl_dh_compute(3) and
keyctl_dh_compute_alloc(3).
KEYCTL_RESTRICT_KEYRING (since Linux 4.12)
Apply a key-linking restriction to the keyring with the ID
provided in arg2 (cast to key_serial_t). The caller must
have setattr permission on the key. If arg3 is NULL, any
attempt to add a key to the keyring is blocked; otherwise
it contains a pointer to a string with a key type name and
arg4 contains a pointer to string that describes the type-
specific restriction. As of Linux 4.12, only the type
"asymmetric" has restrictions defined:
builtin_trusted
Allows only keys that are signed by a key linked to
the built-in keyring (".builtin_trusted_keys").
builtin_and_secondary_trusted
Allows only keys that are signed by a key linked to
the secondary keyring (".secondary_trusted_keys")
or, by extension, a key in a built-in keyring, as
the latter is linked to the former.
key_or_keyring:key
key_or_keyring:key:chain
If key specifies the ID of a key of type
"asymmetric", then only keys that are signed by
this key are allowed.
If key specifies the ID of a keyring, then only
keys that are signed by a key linked to this
keyring are allowed.
If ":chain" is specified, keys that are signed by a
keys linked to the destination keyring (that is,
the keyring with the ID specified in the arg2
argument) are also allowed.
Note that a restriction can be configured only once for
the specified keyring; once a restriction is set, it can't
be overridden.
The argument arg5 is ignored.
For a successful call, the return value depends on the operation:
KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID
The ID of the requested keyring.
KEYCTL_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING
The ID of the joined session keyring.
KEYCTL_DESCRIBE
The size of the description (including the terminating
null byte), irrespective of the provided buffer size.
KEYCTL_SEARCH
The ID of the key that was found.
KEYCTL_READ
The amount of data that is available in the key,
irrespective of the provided buffer size.
KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING
The ID of the previous default keyring to which implicitly
requested keys were linked (one of
KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_*).
KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY
Either 0, if the ID given was 0, or the ID of the
authorization key matching the specified key, if a nonzero
key ID was provided.
KEYCTL_GET_SECURITY
The size of the LSM security label string (including the
terminating null byte), irrespective of the provided
buffer size.
KEYCTL_GET_PERSISTENT
The ID of the persistent keyring.
KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE
The number of bytes copied to the buffer, or, if arg4 is
0, the required buffer size.
All other operations
Zero.
On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error.
EACCES The requested operation wasn't permitted.
EAGAIN operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and there was an error
during crypto module initialization.
EDEADLK
operation was KEYCTL_LINK and the requested link would
result in a cycle.
EDEADLK
operation was KEYCTL_RESTRICT_KEYRING and the requested
keyring restriction would result in a cycle.
EDQUOT The key quota for the caller's user would be exceeded by
creating a key or linking it to the keyring.
EEXIST operation was KEYCTL_RESTRICT_KEYRING and keyring provided
in arg2 argument already has a restriction set.
EFAULT operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and one of the following
has failed:
• copying of the struct keyctl_dh_params, provided in the
arg2 argument, from user space;
• copying of the struct keyctl_kdf_params, provided in
the non-NULL arg5 argument, from user space (in case
kernel supports performing KDF operation on DH
operation result);
• copying of data pointed by the hashname field of the
struct keyctl_kdf_params from user space;
• copying of data pointed by the otherinfo field of the
struct keyctl_kdf_params from user space if the
otherinfolen field was nonzero;
• copying of the result to user space.
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_SETPERM and an invalid permission bit
was specified in arg3.
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_SEARCH and the size of the
description in arg4 (including the terminating null byte)
exceeded 4096 bytes.
EINVAL size of the string (including the terminating null byte)
specified in arg3 (the key type) or arg4 (the key
description) exceeded the limit (32 bytes and 4096 bytes
respectively).
EINVAL (before Linux 4.12)
operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE, argument arg5 was non-
NULL.
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE And the digest size of the
hashing algorithm supplied is zero.
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the buffer size
provided is not enough to hold the result. Provide 0 as a
buffer size in order to obtain the minimum buffer size.
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the hash name provided
in the hashname field of the struct keyctl_kdf_params
pointed by arg5 argument is too big (the limit is
implementation-specific and varies between kernel
versions, but it is deemed big enough for all valid
algorithm names).
EINVAL operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the __spare field of
the struct keyctl_kdf_params provided in the arg5 argument
contains nonzero values.
EKEYEXPIRED
An expired key was found or specified.
EKEYREJECTED
A rejected key was found or specified.
EKEYREVOKED
A revoked key was found or specified.
ELOOP operation was KEYCTL_LINK and the requested link would
cause the maximum nesting depth for keyrings to be
exceeded.
EMSGSIZE
operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the buffer length
exceeds KEYCTL_KDF_MAX_OUTPUT_LEN (which is 1024
currently) or the otherinfolen field of the struct
keyctl_kdf_parms passed in arg5 exceeds
KEYCTL_KDF_MAX_OI_LEN (which is 64 currently).
ENFILE (before Linux 3.13)
operation was KEYCTL_LINK and the keyring is full.
(Before Linux 3.13, the available space for storing
keyring links was limited to a single page of memory;
since Linux 3.13, there is no fixed limit.)
ENOENT operation was KEYCTL_UNLINK and the key to be unlinked
isn't linked to the keyring.
ENOENT operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the hashing algorithm
specified in the hashname field of the struct
keyctl_kdf_params pointed by arg5 argument hasn't been
found.
ENOENT operation was KEYCTL_RESTRICT_KEYRING and the type
provided in arg3 argument doesn't support setting key
linking restrictions.
ENOKEY No matching key was found or an invalid key was specified.
ENOKEY The value KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID was specified in
operation, the key specified in arg2 did not exist, and
arg3 was zero (meaning don't create the key if it didn't
exist).
ENOMEM One of kernel memory allocation routines failed during the
execution of the syscall.
ENOTDIR
A key of keyring type was expected but the ID of a key
with a different type was provided.
EOPNOTSUPP
operation was KEYCTL_READ and the key type does not
support reading (e.g., the type is "login").
EOPNOTSUPP
operation was KEYCTL_UPDATE and the key type does not
support updating.
EOPNOTSUPP
operation was KEYCTL_RESTRICT_KEYRING, the type provided
in arg3 argument was "asymmetric", and the key specified
in the restriction specification provided in arg4 has type
other than "asymmetric" or "keyring".
EPERM operation was KEYCTL_GET_PERSISTENT, arg2 specified a UID
other than the calling thread's real or effective UID, and
the caller did not have the CAP_SETUID capability.
EPERM operation was KEYCTL_SESSION_TO_PARENT and either: all of
the UIDs (GIDs) of the parent process do not match the
effective UID (GID) of the calling process; the UID of the
parent's existing session keyring or the UID of the
caller's session keyring did not match the effective UID
of the caller; the parent process is not single-thread; or
the parent process is init(1) or a kernel thread.
ETIMEDOUT
operation was KEYCTL_DH_COMPUTE and the initialization of
crypto modules has timed out.
A wrapper is provided in the libkeyutils library. (The
accompanying package provides the <keyutils.h> header file.)
However, rather than using this system call directly, you
probably want to use the various library functions mentioned in
the descriptions of individual operations above.
Linux.
Linux 2.6.10.
The program below provide subset of the functionality of the
request-key(8) program provided by the keyutils package. For
informational purposes, the program records various information
in a log file.
As described in request_key(2), the request-key(8) program is
invoked with command-line arguments that describe a key that is
to be instantiated. The example program fetches and logs these
arguments. The program assumes authority to instantiate the
requested key, and then instantiates that key.
The following shell session demonstrates the use of this program.
In the session, we compile the program and then use it to
temporarily replace the standard request-key(8) program. (Note
that temporarily disabling the standard request-key(8) program
may not be safe on some systems.) While our example program is
installed, we use the example program shown in request_key(2) to
request a key.
$ cc -o key_instantiate key_instantiate.c -lkeyutils
$ sudo mv /sbin/request-key /sbin/request-key.backup
$ sudo cp key_instantiate /sbin/request-key
$ ./t_request_key user mykey somepayloaddata
Key ID is 20d035bf
$ sudo mv /sbin/request-key.backup /sbin/request-key
Looking at the log file created by this program, we can see the
command-line arguments supplied to our example program:
$ cat /tmp/key_instantiate.log
Time: Mon Nov 7 13:06:47 2016
Command line arguments:
argv[0]: /sbin/request-key
operation: create
key_to_instantiate: 20d035bf
UID: 1000
GID: 1000
thread_keyring: 0
process_keyring: 0
session_keyring: 256e6a6
Key description: user;1000;1000;3f010000;mykey
Auth key payload: somepayloaddata
Destination keyring: 256e6a6
Auth key description: .request_key_auth;1000;1000;0b010000;20d035bf
The last few lines of the above output show that the example
program was able to fetch:
• the description of the key to be instantiated, which included
the name of the key (mykey);
• the payload of the authorization key, which consisted of the
data (somepayloaddata) passed to request_key(2);
• the destination keyring that was specified in the call to
request_key(2); and
• the description of the authorization key, where we can see
that the name of the authorization key matches the ID of the
key that is to be instantiated (20d035bf).
The example program in request_key(2) specified the destination
keyring as KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING. By examining the contents
of /proc/keys, we can see that this was translated to the ID of
the destination keyring (0256e6a6) shown in the log output above;
we can also see the newly created key with the name mykey and ID
20d035bf.
$ cat /proc/keys | egrep 'mykey|256e6a6'
0256e6a6 I--Q--- 194 perm 3f030000 1000 1000 keyring _ses: 3
20d035bf I--Q--- 1 perm 3f010000 1000 1000 user mykey: 16
Program source
/* key_instantiate.c */
#include <errno.h>
#include <keyutils.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <sys/types.h>
#include <time.h>
#ifndef KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING
#define KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING (-8)
#endif
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int akp_size; /* Size of auth_key_payload */
int auth_key;
char dbuf[256];
char auth_key_payload[256];
char *operation;
FILE *fp;
gid_t gid;
uid_t uid;
time_t t;
key_serial_t key_to_instantiate, dest_keyring;
key_serial_t thread_keyring, process_keyring, session_keyring;
if (argc != 8) {
fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s op key uid gid thread_keyring "
"process_keyring session_keyring\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fp = fopen("/tmp/key_instantiate.log", "w");
if (fp == NULL)
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
setbuf(fp, NULL);
t = time(NULL);
fprintf(fp, "Time: %s\n", ctime(&t));
/*
* The kernel passes a fixed set of arguments to the program
* that it execs; fetch them.
*/
operation = argv[1];
key_to_instantiate = atoi(argv[2]);
uid = atoi(argv[3]);
gid = atoi(argv[4]);
thread_keyring = atoi(argv[5]);
process_keyring = atoi(argv[6]);
session_keyring = atoi(argv[7]);
fprintf(fp, "Command line arguments:\n");
fprintf(fp, " argv[0]: %s\n", argv[0]);
fprintf(fp, " operation: %s\n", operation);
fprintf(fp, " key_to_instantiate: %jx\n",
(uintmax_t) key_to_instantiate);
fprintf(fp, " UID: %jd\n", (intmax_t) uid);
fprintf(fp, " GID: %jd\n", (intmax_t) gid);
fprintf(fp, " thread_keyring: %jx\n",
(uintmax_t) thread_keyring);
fprintf(fp, " process_keyring: %jx\n",
(uintmax_t) process_keyring);
fprintf(fp, " session_keyring: %jx\n",
(uintmax_t) session_keyring);
fprintf(fp, "\n");
/*
* Assume the authority to instantiate the key named in argv[2].
*/
if (keyctl(KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY, key_to_instantiate) == -1) {
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY failed: %s\n",
strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/*
* Fetch the description of the key that is to be instantiated.
*/
if (keyctl(KEYCTL_DESCRIBE, key_to_instantiate,
dbuf, sizeof(dbuf)) == -1) {
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_DESCRIBE failed: %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fprintf(fp, "Key description: %s\n", dbuf);
/*
* Fetch the payload of the authorization key, which is
* actually the callout data given to request_key().
*/
akp_size = keyctl(KEYCTL_READ, KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY,
auth_key_payload, sizeof(auth_key_payload));
if (akp_size == -1) {
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_READ failed: %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
auth_key_payload[akp_size] = '\0';
fprintf(fp, "Auth key payload: %s\n", auth_key_payload);
/*
* For interest, get the ID of the authorization key and
* display it.
*/
auth_key = keyctl(KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID,
KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY);
if (auth_key == -1) {
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID failed: %s\n",
strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fprintf(fp, "Auth key ID: %jx\n", (uintmax_t) auth_key);
/*
* Fetch key ID for the request_key(2) destination keyring.
*/
dest_keyring = keyctl(KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID,
KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING);
if (dest_keyring == -1) {
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID failed: %s\n",
strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fprintf(fp, "Destination keyring: %jx\n", (uintmax_t) dest_keyring);
/*
* Fetch the description of the authorization key. This
* allows us to see the key type, UID, GID, permissions,
* and description (name) of the key. Among other things,
* we will see that the name of the key is a hexadecimal
* string representing the ID of the key to be instantiated.
*/
if (keyctl(KEYCTL_DESCRIBE, KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY,
dbuf, sizeof(dbuf)) == -1)
{
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_DESCRIBE failed: %s\n", strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
fprintf(fp, "Auth key description: %s\n", dbuf);
/*
* Instantiate the key using the callout data that was supplied
* in the payload of the authorization key.
*/
if (keyctl(KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE, key_to_instantiate,
auth_key_payload, akp_size + 1, dest_keyring) == -1)
{
fprintf(fp, "KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE failed: %s\n",
strerror(errno));
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
keyctl(1), add_key(2), request_key(2), keyctl(3),
keyctl_assume_authority(3), keyctl_chown(3), keyctl_clear(3),
keyctl_describe(3), keyctl_describe_alloc(3),
keyctl_dh_compute(3), keyctl_dh_compute_alloc(3),
keyctl_get_keyring_ID(3), keyctl_get_persistent(3),
keyctl_get_security(3), keyctl_get_security_alloc(3),
keyctl_instantiate(3), keyctl_instantiate_iov(3),
keyctl_invalidate(3), keyctl_join_session_keyring(3),
keyctl_link(3), keyctl_negate(3), keyctl_read(3),
keyctl_read_alloc(3), keyctl_reject(3), keyctl_revoke(3),
keyctl_search(3), keyctl_session_to_parent(3),
keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3), keyctl_set_timeout(3),
keyctl_setperm(3), keyctl_unlink(3), keyctl_update(3),
recursive_key_scan(3), recursive_session_key_scan(3),
capabilities(7), credentials(7), keyrings(7), keyutils(7),
persistent-keyring(7), process-keyring(7), session-keyring(7),
thread-keyring(7), user-keyring(7), user_namespaces(7),
user-session-keyring(7), request-key(8)
The kernel source files under Documentation/security/keys/ (or,
before Linux 4.13, in the file Documentation/security/keys.txt).
This page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library
user-space interface documentation) project. Information about
the project can be found at
⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/⟩. If you have a bug report
for this manual page, see
⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING⟩.
This page was obtained from the tarball man-pages-6.9.1.tar.gz
fetched from
⟨https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/⟩ on
2024-06-26. If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML
version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-
to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or
improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not
part of the original manual page), send a mail to
[email protected]
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-06-15 keyctl(2)
Pages that refer to this page: keyctl(1), add_key(2), request_key(2), syscalls(2), keyctl(3), keyctl_capabilities(3), keyctl_chown(3), keyctl_clear(3), keyctl_describe(3), keyctl_dh_compute(3), keyctl_get_keyring_ID(3), keyctl_get_persistent(3), keyctl_get_security(3), keyctl_instantiate(3), keyctl_invalidate(3), keyctl_join_session_keyring(3), keyctl_link(3), keyctl_move(3), keyctl_pkey_encrypt(3), keyctl_pkey_query(3), keyctl_pkey_sign(3), keyctl_read(3), keyctl_restrict_keyring(3), keyctl_revoke(3), keyctl_search(3), keyctl_session_to_parent(3), keyctl_setperm(3), keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3), keyctl_set_timeout(3), keyctl_update(3), keyctl_watch_key(3), systemd.exec(5), address_families(7), capabilities(7), keyrings(7), keyutils(7), persistent-keyring(7), session-keyring(7)
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