[PATCH RFC 1/4] pidns: move is-ancestor logic to helper

From: Aleksa Sarai
Date: Mon Jul 21 2025 - 04:45:22 EST


This check will be needed in later patches, and there's no point
open-coding it each time.

Signed-off-by: Aleksa Sarai <cyphar@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
include/linux/pid_namespace.h | 9 +++++++++
kernel/pid_namespace.c | 21 ++++++++++++++-------
2 files changed, 23 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/include/linux/pid_namespace.h b/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
index 7c67a5811199..df421a1e3e0b 100644
--- a/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
+++ b/include/linux/pid_namespace.h
@@ -84,6 +84,9 @@ extern void zap_pid_ns_processes(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns);
extern int reboot_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns, int cmd);
extern void put_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *ns);

+extern bool pidns_is_ancestor(struct pid_namespace *child,
+ struct pid_namespace *ancestor);
+
#else /* !CONFIG_PID_NS */
#include <linux/err.h>

@@ -118,6 +121,12 @@ static inline int reboot_pid_ns(struct pid_namespace *pid_ns, int cmd)
{
return 0;
}
+
+bool pidns_is_ancestor(struct pid_namespace *child,
+ struct pid_namespace *ancestor)
+{
+ return false;
+}
#endif /* CONFIG_PID_NS */

extern struct pid_namespace *task_active_pid_ns(struct task_struct *tsk);
diff --git a/kernel/pid_namespace.c b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
index 7098ed44e717..5719b1f679ad 100644
--- a/kernel/pid_namespace.c
+++ b/kernel/pid_namespace.c
@@ -390,6 +390,19 @@ static void pidns_put(struct ns_common *ns)
put_pid_ns(to_pid_ns(ns));
}

+bool pidns_is_ancestor(struct pid_namespace *child,
+ struct pid_namespace *ancestor)
+{
+ struct pid_namespace *ns;
+
+ if (child->level < ancestor->level)
+ return false;
+ for (ns = child; ns->level > ancestor->level; ns = ns->parent)
+ ;
+ return ns == ancestor;
+}
+EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL(pidns_is_ancestor);
+
static int pidns_install(struct nsset *nsset, struct ns_common *ns)
{
struct nsproxy *nsproxy = nsset->nsproxy;
@@ -408,13 +421,7 @@ static int pidns_install(struct nsset *nsset, struct ns_common *ns)
* this maintains the property that processes and their
* children can not escape their current pid namespace.
*/
- if (new->level < active->level)
- return -EINVAL;
-
- ancestor = new;
- while (ancestor->level > active->level)
- ancestor = ancestor->parent;
- if (ancestor != active)
+ if (!pidns_is_ancestor(new, active))
return -EINVAL;

put_pid_ns(nsproxy->pid_ns_for_children);

--
2.50.0