[RFC PATCH v1 01/11] security: add LSM blob and hooks for namespaces

[Christian Brauner]

On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 03:28:44PM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 24, 2026 at 2:56 PM Mickaël Salaün <mic at digikod.net> wrote:
> > On Wed, Apr 22, 2026 at 08:19:59PM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
> > > On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 6:05 AM Mickaël Salaün <mic at digikod.net> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > From: Christian Brauner <brauner at kernel.org>
> > > >
> > > > All namespace types now share the same ns_common infrastructure. Extend
> > > > this to include a security blob so LSMs can start managing namespaces
> > > > uniformly without having to add one-off hooks or security fields to
> > > > every individual namespace type.
> > > >
> > > > Add a ns_security pointer to ns_common and the corresponding lbs_ns
> > > > blob size to lsm_blob_sizes. Allocation and freeing hooks are called
> > > > from the common __ns_common_init() and __ns_common_free() paths so
> > > > every namespace type gets covered in one go. All information about the
> > > > namespace type and the appropriate casting helpers to get at the
> > > > containing namespace are available via ns_common making it
> > > > straightforward for LSMs to differentiate when they need to.
> > > >
> > > > A namespace_install hook is called from validate_ns() during setns(2)
> > > > giving LSMs a chance to enforce policy on namespace transitions.
> > > >
> > > > Individual namespace types can still have their own specialized security
> > > > hooks when needed. This is just the common baseline that makes it easy
> > > > to track and manage namespaces from the security side without requiring
> > > > every namespace type to reinvent the wheel.
> > > >
> > > > Cc: Günther Noack <gnoack at google.com>
> > > > Cc: Paul Moore <paul at paul-moore.com>
> > > > Cc: Serge E. Hallyn <serge at hallyn.com>
> > > > Signed-off-by: Christian Brauner <brauner at kernel.org>
> > > > Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20260216-work-security-namespace-v1-1-075c28758e1f@kernel.org
> > > > ---
> > > >  include/linux/lsm_hook_defs.h      |  3 ++
> > > >  include/linux/lsm_hooks.h          |  1 +
> > > >  include/linux/ns/ns_common_types.h |  3 ++
> > > >  include/linux/security.h           | 20 ++++++++
> > > >  kernel/nscommon.c                  | 12 +++++
> > > >  kernel/nsproxy.c                   |  8 +++-
> > > >  security/lsm_init.c                |  2 +
> > > >  security/security.c                | 76 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> > > >  8 files changed, 124 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
> 
> ...
> 
> > > > diff --git a/kernel/nsproxy.c b/kernel/nsproxy.c
> > > > index 259c4b4f1eeb..f0b30d1907e7 100644
> > > > --- a/kernel/nsproxy.c
> > > > +++ b/kernel/nsproxy.c
> > > > @@ -379,7 +379,13 @@ static int prepare_nsset(unsigned flags, struct nsset *nsset)
> > > >
> > > >  static inline int validate_ns(struct nsset *nsset, struct ns_common *ns)
> > > >  {
> > > > -       return ns->ops->install(nsset, ns);
> > > > +       int ret;
> > > > +
> > > > +       ret = ns->ops->install(nsset, ns);
> > > > +       if (ret)
> > > > +               return ret;
> > > > +
> > > > +       return security_namespace_install(nsset, ns);
> > > >  }
> > >
> > > Do we also want a security_namespace_switch() called from within
> > > switch_task_namespaces()?  Of course LSMs would not be able to fail or
> > > return an error at that point, but it seems reasonable that LSMs might
> > > want to update LSM state associated with the current task once the
> > > namespaces have been changed.  This is similar to all the "_post_" LSM
> > > hooks we have for various operations in the VFS and network layers.
> >
> > What cannot be infered from security_namespace_install()?
> 
> We don't actually know if the namespace is attached to a process until
> we get to switch_task_namespaces().
> 
> Now that I'm looking at this again, why is the
> security_namespace_install() call placed after the ns->ops->install()
> call?  From an access control perspective we want the LSM hook before

See https://lore.kernel.org/20260325-filmverleih-auffressen-e897fcf8d3f2@brauner
where I requested the order to be changed.