[PATCH v4 0/2] PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO: add support for seccomp syscall skipping
Renzo Davoli
renzo at cs.unibo.it
Wed Jul 8 09:06:53 UTC 2026
PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO is a generic ptrace API that complements
PTRACE_GET_SYSCALL_INFO by allowing a tracer to modify details of a
system call in which the tracee is currently blocked.
The API is designed to let tracers inspect and modify system call
information in a simple, architecture-agnostic manner.
The current implementation only supports modifying the subset of
system call information needed by strace: the system call number,
arguments, and return value.
This patch set extends PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO with support for
skipping a system call.
When a seccomp filter returns SECCOMP_RET_TRACE, the tracer receives,
via PTRACE_GET_SYSCALL_INFO, a struct ptrace_syscall_info with
op == PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_SECCOMP.
The tracer can skip the system call by setting the system call number
to -1. However, the current PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO interface does not
provide a way to specify the return value or error code that should be
reported to the tracee after skipping the call.
This patchset extends PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO to support skipping a system call
triggered via seccomp.
When a tracer retrieves a ptrace_syscall_info structure with 'op' set to
PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_SECCOMP, it can now choose to skip the system call. To do
this, the tracer changes 'op' to PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_EXIT and populates the
exit union fields (rval and is_error) to define the return value and error
status for the tracee.
System call suppression for PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_ENTRY is currently omitted
because its implementation is architecture-dependent. On some architectures,
the system call number and return value share the same register, making it
difficult to suppress a system call without altering the return value. A
portable implementation would require an audit of all supported architectures.
This patchset is a new version of the proposed patchset entitled:
ptrace_set_syscall_info: add support for seccomp syscall skipping and
instruction pointer modification
The patchset has been split in two:
syscall skipping(this)
instruction pointer modification (it will be updated soon)
Changes in v4:
* Reworded the commit messages for clarity.
* Renamed the local variable child_op to op in ptrace_set_syscall_info()
* Clean up and improve the coding style of selftests/ptrace/set_syscall_info.c
(suggested by Dmitry V. Levin)
Changes in v3:
* restrict the syscall skipping feature to PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_SECCOMP
Changes in v2:
bugfix: _NONE -> _EXIT transition was erroneously permitted
Changes since the previous patchset v2:
* bugfix: skip_syscall init value
* fix comments
Changes in (previous patchset) v2:
* use PTRACE_SYSCALL_INFO_EXIT instead of a new tag
* fixed most of the comments from sashiko.dev
Renzo Davoli (2):
ptrace: add PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO syscall skipping support
selftests/ptrace: add a test case for PTRACE_SET_SYSCALL_INFO syscall
skipping
kernel/ptrace.c | 27 ++-
.../selftests/ptrace/set_syscall_info.c | 175 +++++++++++++++++-
2 files changed, 196 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)
--
2.53.0
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