[PATCH net] vsock: lock down child_ns_mode as write-once
From: Bobby Eshleman <hidden>
Date: 2026-02-18 01:45:17
Also in:
kvm, linux-kselftest, lkml, virtualization
Subsystem:
kernel selftest framework, networking [general], the rest, virtio and vhost vsock driver, vm sockets (af_vsock) · Maintainers:
Shuah Khan, "David S. Miller", Eric Dumazet, Jakub Kicinski, Paolo Abeni, Linus Torvalds, Stefan Hajnoczi, Stefano Garzarella
From: Bobby Eshleman <redacted>
To improve the security posture of vsock namespacing, this patch locks
down the vsock child_ns_mode sysctl setting with a write-once policy.
The user may write to child_ns_mode only once in each namespace, making
changes to either local or global mode be irreversible.
This avoids security breaches where a process in a local namespace may
attempt to jailbreak into the global vsock ns space by setting
child_ns_mode to "global", creating a new namespace, and accessing the
global space through the new namespace.
Additionally, fix the test functions that this change would otherwise
break by adding "global-parent" and "local-parent" namespaces and using
them as intermediaries to spawn namespaces in the given modes. This
avoids the need to change "child_ns_mode" in the init_ns. nsenter must
be used because ip netns unshares the mount namespace so nested "ip
netns add" breaks exec calls from the init ns.
Test run:
1..25
ok 1 vm_server_host_client
ok 2 vm_client_host_server
ok 3 vm_loopback
ok 4 ns_host_vsock_ns_mode_ok
ok 5 ns_host_vsock_child_ns_mode_ok
ok 6 ns_global_same_cid_fails
ok 7 ns_local_same_cid_ok
ok 8 ns_global_local_same_cid_ok
ok 9 ns_local_global_same_cid_ok
ok 10 ns_diff_global_host_connect_to_global_vm_ok
ok 11 ns_diff_global_host_connect_to_local_vm_fails
ok 12 ns_diff_global_vm_connect_to_global_host_ok
ok 13 ns_diff_global_vm_connect_to_local_host_fails
ok 14 ns_diff_local_host_connect_to_local_vm_fails
ok 15 ns_diff_local_vm_connect_to_local_host_fails
ok 16 ns_diff_global_to_local_loopback_local_fails
ok 17 ns_diff_local_to_global_loopback_fails
ok 18 ns_diff_local_to_local_loopback_fails
ok 19 ns_diff_global_to_global_loopback_ok
ok 20 ns_same_local_loopback_ok
ok 21 ns_same_local_host_connect_to_local_vm_ok
ok 22 ns_same_local_vm_connect_to_local_host_ok
ok 23 ns_delete_vm_ok
ok 24 ns_delete_host_ok
ok 25 ns_delete_both_ok
SUMMARY: PASS=25 SKIP=0 FAIL=0
Fixes: eafb64f40ca4 ("vsock: add netns to vsock core")
Signed-off-by: Bobby Eshleman <redacted>
Suggested-by: Daan De Meyer <redacted>
Suggested-by: Stefano Garzarella <sgarzare@redhat.com>
---
include/net/af_vsock.h | 6 +++++-
include/net/netns/vsock.h | 1 +
net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c | 10 ++++++----
tools/testing/selftests/vsock/vmtest.sh | 35 +++++++++++++++------------------
4 files changed, 28 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-)
diff --git a/include/net/af_vsock.h b/include/net/af_vsock.h
index d3ff48a2fbe0..c7de33039907 100644
--- a/include/net/af_vsock.h
+++ b/include/net/af_vsock.h@@ -276,10 +276,14 @@ static inline bool vsock_net_mode_global(struct vsock_sock *vsk) return vsock_net_mode(sock_net(sk_vsock(vsk))) == VSOCK_NET_MODE_GLOBAL; } -static inline void vsock_net_set_child_mode(struct net *net, +static inline bool vsock_net_set_child_mode(struct net *net, enum vsock_net_mode mode) { + if (xchg(&net->vsock.child_ns_mode_locked, 1)) + return false; + WRITE_ONCE(net->vsock.child_ns_mode, mode); + return true; } static inline enum vsock_net_mode vsock_net_child_mode(struct net *net)
diff --git a/include/net/netns/vsock.h b/include/net/netns/vsock.h
index b34d69a22fa8..8c855fff8039 100644
--- a/include/net/netns/vsock.h
+++ b/include/net/netns/vsock.h@@ -17,5 +17,6 @@ struct netns_vsock { enum vsock_net_mode mode; enum vsock_net_mode child_ns_mode; + int child_ns_mode_locked; }; #endif /* __NET_NET_NAMESPACE_VSOCK_H */
diff --git a/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c b/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c
index 9880756d9eff..35e097f4fde8 100644
--- a/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c
+++ b/net/vmw_vsock/af_vsock.c@@ -90,14 +90,15 @@ * * - /proc/sys/net/vsock/ns_mode (read-only) reports the current namespace's * mode, which is set at namespace creation and immutable thereafter. - * - /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode (writable) controls what mode future + * - /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode (write-once) controls what mode future * child namespaces will inherit when created. The initial value matches * the namespace's own ns_mode. * * Changing child_ns_mode only affects newly created namespaces, not the * current namespace or existing children. A "local" namespace cannot set - * child_ns_mode to "global". At namespace creation, ns_mode is inherited - * from the parent's child_ns_mode. + * child_ns_mode to "global". child_ns_mode is write-once, so that it may + * be configured and locked down by a namespace manager. At namespace + * creation, ns_mode is inherited from the parent's child_ns_mode. * * The init_net mode is "global" and cannot be modified. *
@@ -2853,7 +2854,8 @@ static int vsock_net_child_mode_string(const struct ctl_table *table, int write, new_mode == VSOCK_NET_MODE_GLOBAL) return -EPERM; - vsock_net_set_child_mode(net, new_mode); + if (!vsock_net_set_child_mode(net, new_mode)) + return -EPERM; } return 0;
diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/vsock/vmtest.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/vsock/vmtest.sh
index dc8dbe74a6d0..e1e78b295e41 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/vsock/vmtest.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/vsock/vmtest.sh@@ -210,16 +210,17 @@ check_result() { } add_namespaces() { - local orig_mode - orig_mode=$(cat /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode) + ip netns add "global-parent" 2>/dev/null + echo "global" | ip netns exec "global-parent" \ + tee /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode &>/dev/null + ip netns add "local-parent" 2>/dev/null + echo "local" | ip netns exec "local-parent" \ + tee /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode &>/dev/null - for mode in "${NS_MODES[@]}"; do - echo "${mode}" > /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode - ip netns add "${mode}0" 2>/dev/null - ip netns add "${mode}1" 2>/dev/null - done - - echo "${orig_mode}" > /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode + nsenter --net=/var/run/netns/global-parent ip netns add "global0" 2>/dev/null + nsenter --net=/var/run/netns/global-parent ip netns add "global1" 2>/dev/null + nsenter --net=/var/run/netns/local-parent ip netns add "local0" 2>/dev/null + nsenter --net=/var/run/netns/local-parent ip netns add "local1" 2>/dev/null } init_namespaces() {
@@ -237,6 +238,8 @@ del_namespaces() { log_host "removed ns ${mode}0" log_host "removed ns ${mode}1" done + ip netns del "global-parent" &>/dev/null + ip netns del "local-parent" &>/dev/null } vm_ssh() {
@@ -287,7 +290,7 @@ check_args() { } check_deps() { - for dep in vng ${QEMU} busybox pkill ssh ss socat; do + for dep in vng ${QEMU} busybox pkill ssh ss socat nsenter; do if [[ ! -x $(command -v "${dep}") ]]; then echo -e "skip: dependency ${dep} not found!\n" exit "${KSFT_SKIP}"
@@ -1231,12 +1234,8 @@ test_ns_local_same_cid_ok() { } test_ns_host_vsock_child_ns_mode_ok() { - local orig_mode - local rc - - orig_mode=$(cat /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode) + local rc="${KSFT_PASS}" - rc="${KSFT_PASS}" for mode in "${NS_MODES[@]}"; do local ns="${mode}0"
@@ -1246,15 +1245,13 @@ test_ns_host_vsock_child_ns_mode_ok() { continue fi - if ! echo "${mode}" > /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode; then - log_host "child_ns_mode should be writable to ${mode}" + if ! echo "${mode}" | ip netns exec "${ns}" \ + tee /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode &>/dev/null; then rc="${KSFT_FAIL}" continue fi done - echo "${orig_mode}" > /proc/sys/net/vsock/child_ns_mode - return "${rc}" }
--- base-commit: 77c5e3fdd2793f478e6fdae55c9ea85b21d06f8f change-id: 20260217-vsock-ns-write-once-8834d684e0a2 Best regards, -- Bobby Eshleman [off-list ref]