selinux_status_open(3) SELinux API documentation selinux_status_open(3)NAME
selinux_status_open, selinux_status_close, selinux_status_updated,
selinux_status_getenforce, selinux_status_policyload and selinux_sta‐
tus_deny_unknown - reference the SELinux kernel status without invoca‐
tion of system calls.
SYNOPSIS
#include <selinux/avc.h>
int selinux_status_open(int fallback,);
void selinux_status_close(void);
int selinux_status_updated(void);
int selinux_status_getenforce(void);
int selinux_status_policyload(void);
int selinux_status_deny_unknown(void);
DESCRIPTION
Linux 2.6.37 or later provides a SELinux kernel status page; being
mostly placed on /selinux/status entry. It enables userspace applica‐
tions to mmap this page with read-only mode, then it informs some sta‐
tus without system call invocations.
In some cases that a userspace application tries to apply heavy fre‐
quest access control; such as row-level security in databases, it will
face unignorable cost to communicate with kernel space to check invali‐
dation of userspace avc.
These functions provides applications a way to know some kernel events
without system-call invocation or worker thread for monitoring.
selinux_status_open tries to open(2) /selinux/status and mmap(2) it in
read-only mode. The file-descriptor and pointer to the page shall be
stored internally; Don't touch them directly. Set 1 on the fallback
argument to handle a case of older kernels without kernel status page
support. In this case, this function tries to open a netlink socket
using avc_netlink_open(3) and overwrite corresponding callbacks (
setenforce and policyload). Thus, we need to pay attention to the
interaction with these interfaces, when fallback mode is enabled.
selinux_status_close unmap the kernel status page and close its file
descriptor, or close the netlink socket if fallbacked.
selinux_status_updated informs us whether something has been updated
since the last call. It returns 0 if nothing was happened, however, 1
if something has been updated in this duration, or -1 on error.
selinux_status_getenforce returns 0 if SELinux is running in permissive
mode, 1 if enforcing mode, or -1 on error. Same as security_geten‐
force(3) except with or without system call invocation.
selinux_status_policyload returns times of policy reloaded on the run‐
ning system, or -1 on error. Note that it is not a reliable value on
fallback-mode until it receive the first event message via netlink
socket. Thus, don't use this value to know actual times of policy
reloaded.
selinux_status_deny_unknown returns 0 if SELinux treats policy queries
on undefined object classes or permissions as being allowed, 1 if such
queries are denied, or -1 on error.
Also note that these interfaces are not thread-safe, so you have to
protect them from concurrent calls using exclusive locks when multiple
threads are performing.
RETURN VALUE
selinux_status_open returns 0 or 1 on success. 1 means we are ready to
use these interfaces, but netlink socket was opened as fallback instead
of the kernel status page. On error, -1 shall be returned.
Any other functions with a return value shall return its characteristic
value as described above, or -1 on errors.
SEE ALSOmmap(2)avc_netlink_open(3)security_getenforce(3) secu‐
rity_deny_unknown(3)kaigai@ak.jp.nec.com 22 January 2011 selinux_status_open(3)
