Re: [PATCH 2/2] selinux: add capability checks for TIOCSTI ioctl

From: Greg KH
Date: Mon Jun 23 2025 - 01:14:18 EST


On Sun, Jun 22, 2025 at 07:41:08PM -0600, Abhinav Saxena via B4 Relay wrote:
> From: Abhinav Saxena <xandfury@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> The TIOCSTI ioctl currently only checks the current process's
> credentials, creating a TOCTOU vulnerability where an unprivileged
> process can open a TTY fd and pass it to a privileged process via
> SCM_RIGHTS.

If a priviliged process has a fd, what is the problem with it using this
ioctl in the firstplace?

>
> Fix by requiring BOTH the file opener (file->f_cred) AND the current
> process to have CAP_SYS_ADMIN. This prevents privilege escalation
> while ensuring legitimate use cases continue to work.
>
> Link: https://github.com/KSPP/linux/issues/156
>
> Signed-off-by: Abhinav Saxena <xandfury@xxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> security/selinux/hooks.c | 6 ++++++
> 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/security/selinux/hooks.c b/security/selinux/hooks.c
> index 595ceb314aeb..a628551873ab 100644
> --- a/security/selinux/hooks.c
> +++ b/security/selinux/hooks.c
> @@ -3847,6 +3847,12 @@ static int selinux_file_ioctl(struct file *file, unsigned int cmd,
> CAP_OPT_NONE, true);
> break;
>
> + case TIOCSTI:
> + if (!file_ns_capable(file, &init_user_ns, CAP_SYS_ADMIN) ||
> + !capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
> + error = -EPERM;
> + break;

Are you sure this type of policy should be in the selinux core code?
Wouldn't you need a "rule" for selinux to follow (or not follow) for
this type of thing and not just a blanket change to the logic?

Also, have you looked at what userspace tools actually use this ioctl to
see if this change would break anything?

thanks,

greg k-h