[PATCH 16/60] doc/admin-guide: update kernel.rst with CAP_PERFMON information

Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo acme at kernel.org
Mon Apr 20 11:52:32 UTC 2020


From: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov at linux.intel.com>

Update the kernel.rst documentation file with the information related to
usage of CAP_PERFMON capability to secure performance monitoring and
observability operations in system.

Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov at linux.intel.com>
Cc: Alexei Starovoitov <ast at kernel.org>
Cc: Andi Kleen <ak at linux.intel.com>
Cc: Igor Lubashev <ilubashe at akamai.com>
Cc: James Morris <jmorris at namei.org>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa at redhat.com>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung at kernel.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz at infradead.org>
Cc: Serge Hallyn <serge at hallyn.com>
Cc: Song Liu <songliubraving at fb.com>
Cc: Stephane Eranian <eranian at google.com>
Cc: Thomas Gleixner <tglx at linutronix.de>
Cc: intel-gfx at lists.freedesktop.org
Cc: linux-doc at vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-man at vger.kernel.org
Cc: linux-security-module at vger.kernel.org
Cc: selinux at vger.kernel.org
Link: http://lore.kernel.org/lkml/84c32383-14a2-fa35-16b6-f9e59bd37240@linux.intel.com
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme at redhat.com>
---
 Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst | 16 +++++++++++-----
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
index 39c95c0e13d3..7e4c28dfc9ca 100644
--- a/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
+++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/sysctl/kernel.rst
@@ -730,7 +730,13 @@ perf_event_paranoid
 ===================
 
 Controls use of the performance events system by unprivileged
-users (without CAP_SYS_ADMIN).  The default value is 2.
+users (without CAP_PERFMON).  The default value is 2.
+
+For backward compatibility reasons access to system performance
+monitoring and observability remains open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN
+privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN usage for secure system
+performance monitoring and observability operations is discouraged
+with respect to CAP_PERFMON use cases.
 
 ===  ==================================================================
  -1  Allow use of (almost) all events by all users.
@@ -739,13 +745,13 @@ users (without CAP_SYS_ADMIN).  The default value is 2.
      ``CAP_IPC_LOCK``.
 
 >=0  Disallow ftrace function tracepoint by users without
-     ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN``.
+     ``CAP_PERFMON``.
 
-     Disallow raw tracepoint access by users without ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN``.
+     Disallow raw tracepoint access by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``.
 
->=1  Disallow CPU event access by users without ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN``.
+>=1  Disallow CPU event access by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``.
 
->=2  Disallow kernel profiling by users without ``CAP_SYS_ADMIN``.
+>=2  Disallow kernel profiling by users without ``CAP_PERFMON``.
 ===  ==================================================================
 
 
-- 
2.21.1



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