Sandbox: the socket ioctls that notify another process, too

apps/gridcraft-cli/tests/it/sandbox.rs

@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ fn the_self_test_finds_every_denial() {
     ] {
         assert!(out.contains(line), "missing `{line}` in:\n{out}");
     }
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    assert!(out.contains("denied: switch a descriptor's notifications on"), "missing the notification switch in:\n{out}");
     std::fs::remove_dir_all(home).unwrap();
 }
 
@@ -181,7 +183,9 @@ fn system_python() -> Option<(String, String)> {
 /// Confined, a program can't signal another process (this test, signal 0 delivering nothing), but can
 /// still signal itself and its own threads. On Linux, where the filter names them, it also can't
 /// change another process's limits or priority, or type into a terminal: no call here reaches a real
-/// terminal, since its standard input isn't one.
+/// terminal, since its standard input isn't one. Linux also refuses the `fcntl` commands that would
+/// have the kernel signal a process for it: naming the owner, choosing the signal, or switching the
+/// notification on.
 #[test]
 fn a_confined_program_leaves_other_processes_alone() {
     if !confines() {
@@ -226,6 +230,13 @@ if sys.platform == "linux":
     assert refused(os.setpriority, os.PRIO_USER, 0, 0), "every process's priority"
     assert refused(os.sched_setaffinity, other, {0}), "another process's processors"
     assert refused(os.pidfd_open, other), "a handle on another process"
+    read, write = os.pipe()
+    assert refused(fcntl.fcntl, write, fcntl.F_SETOWN, other), "giving a descriptor's notifications to another process"
+    # 15 is F_SETOWN_EX and 10 is F_SETSIG, which Python's fcntl doesn't name; the filter refuses
+    # them whatever owner or signal they name, so the argument doesn't matter.
+    assert refused(fcntl.fcntl, write, 15), "naming a descriptor's owner the extended way"
+    assert refused(fcntl.fcntl, write, 10), "choosing a descriptor's notification signal"
+    assert refused(fcntl.fcntl, write, fcntl.F_SETFL, fcntl.fcntl(write, fcntl.F_GETFL) | os.O_ASYNC), "switching a descriptor's notifications on"
     resource.prlimit(0, resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
     resource.prlimit(os.getpid(), resource.RLIMIT_NOFILE)
     os.setpriority(os.PRIO_PROCESS, 0, os.getpriority(os.PRIO_PROCESS, 0))
@@ -240,6 +251,47 @@ print("left alone")
     assert!(String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout).contains("left alone"), "{}", text(&o));
 }
 
+/// A socket the parent made, which the program inherited as a standard stream, can't be pointed at
+/// another process through the ioctls that do what `fcntl`'s notification commands do: `FIOSETOWN`
+/// (0x8901) and `FIOASYNC` (0x5452), which Python's `fcntl` passes straight through. Linux only:
+/// macOS's profile has no rule for them, and its standard streams here are pipes.
+#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+#[test]
+fn a_confined_program_cant_point_an_inherited_socket_at_another_process() {
+    if !confines() {
+        return;
+    }
+    let Some((python, prefix)) = system_python() else {
+        return;
+    };
+    let code = r#"
+import fcntl, sys
+other = int(sys.argv[1])
+def refused(call, *args):
+    try:
+        call(*args)
+    except PermissionError:
+        return True
+    except OSError as e:
+        print("other error", e)
+    return False
+assert refused(fcntl.ioctl, 0, 0x8901, other), "giving a socket's notifications to another process"
+assert refused(fcntl.ioctl, 0, 0x5452, 1), "switching a socket's notifications on"
+print("socket quiet")
+"#;
+    let (mine, _) = std::os::unix::net::UnixStream::pair().unwrap();
+    let socket: std::os::fd::OwnedFd = mine.into();
+    let me = std::process::id().to_string();
+    let o = Command::new(env!("CARGO_BIN_EXE_gridcraft-cli"))
+        .args(["sandbox-check", "--read", &prefix, "--", &python, "-I", "-c", code, &me])
+        .stdin(std::process::Stdio::from(socket))
+        .output()
+        .unwrap();
+    let out = text(&o);
+    assert!(o.status.success(), "{out}");
+    assert!(String::from_utf8_lossy(&o.stdout).contains("socket quiet"), "{out}");
+}
+
 /// Confined, a program changes no file, whether the policy lets it read that file or not, by path or
 /// by a descriptor: not its contents, permissions, owner, extended attributes, times or flags.
 /// Skipped when there is no `python3`.

crates/sandbox/src/linux.rs

@@ -268,12 +268,38 @@ const TIOCLINUX: u64 = libc::TIOCLINUX as u64;
 const IOC_WRITE: u64 = 0x4000_0000;
 /// Changes a directory, though its number says it only reads, as the kernel's headers have it.
 const FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY: u64 = 0x800C_6613;
+#[allow(clippy::unnecessary_cast)]
+const F_SETOWN: u64 = libc::F_SETOWN as u64;
+#[allow(clippy::unnecessary_cast)]
+const F_SETFL: u64 = libc::F_SETFL as u64;
+#[allow(clippy::unnecessary_cast)]
+const O_ASYNC: u64 = libc::O_ASYNC as u64;
+/// The two `fcntl` commands of the same family that the kernel's headers name and `libc` doesn't;
+/// the numbers are the same on every architecture (`asm-generic/fcntl.h`).
+const F_SETOWN_EX: u64 = 15;
+const F_SETSIG: u64 = 10;
+/// Socket ioctls that do what those commands do: `FIOSETOWN` and `SIOCSPGRP` name the process to
+/// notify, and `FIOASYNC` switches the notification on. Their requests carry no data-direction
+/// bit, so the [`IOC_WRITE`] rule doesn't name them. `libc` doesn't name them; the numbers are
+/// the kernel's, the same on every architecture (`asm-generic/sockios.h`).
+const FIOSETOWN: u64 = 0x8901;
+const SIOCSPGRP: u64 = 0x8902;
+const FIOASYNC: u64 = 0x5452;
 
 /// What the main filter refuses with `EPERM`: the calls above, and these when their arguments match.
 /// - `clone` without `CLONE_THREAD`: a new process.
 /// - A signal to any process but `me`, whose ID `exec` keeps. Landlock's signal scope needs a newer
 ///   kernel than the rest (ABI 6), and `kill(-1, 9)` must not get through on an older one.
 /// - A change to the limits, priority or scheduling of any process but `me`.
+/// - The `fcntl` commands that arrange asynchronous notification: naming the process to notify
+///   (`F_SETOWN`, `F_SETOWN_EX`), choosing its signal (`F_SETSIG`), and `F_SETFL` when it sets
+///   `O_ASYNC`, the switch without which nothing is sent. None is a signal call, and the only rule
+///   that would cover them is Landlock's signal scope, which needs ABI 6, newer than a launch
+///   requires; without these a confined program could have the kernel signal any process of its
+///   user. `F_SETFL` itself still works, as `O_NONBLOCK` comes from it. A socket answers the same
+///   arrangement through ioctls — `FIOSETOWN` and `SIOCSPGRP` to name the process, `FIOASYNC` to
+///   switch the notification on — and those requests carry no data-direction bit, so they are
+///   named alongside the others.
 /// - `TIOCSTI` and `TIOCLINUX`, which type into a terminal the program inherited, as when
 ///   `gridcraft-cli sandbox-check` runs a program from a shell.
 /// - An `ioctl` that hands the kernel data ([`IOC_WRITE`]), as those that change a file's flags or
@@ -307,10 +333,22 @@ fn main_rules(me: u32) -> Result<BTreeMap<i64, Vec<SeccompRule>>> {
         vec![
             rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, TIOCSTI)?])?,
             rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, TIOCLINUX)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, FIOSETOWN)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, SIOCSPGRP)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, FIOASYNC)?])?,
             rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::MaskedEq(IOC_WRITE), IOC_WRITE)?])?,
             rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, FS_IOC_SET_ENCRYPTION_POLICY)?])?,
         ],
     );
+    rules.insert(
+        libc::SYS_fcntl,
+        vec![
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, F_SETOWN)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, F_SETOWN_EX)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, F_SETSIG)?])?,
+            rule(vec![word(1, SeccompCmpOp::Eq, F_SETFL)?, word(2, SeccompCmpOp::MaskedEq(O_ASYNC), O_ASYNC)?])?,
+        ],
+    );
     Ok(rules)
 }
 
@@ -378,6 +416,9 @@ mod tests {
     #[test]
     fn the_calls_that_reach_another_process_have_rules() {
         let rules = main_rules(4242).unwrap();
+        // `fcntl`'s notification commands: naming the owner to notify, both ways, choosing its
+        // signal, and the switch itself.
+        assert_eq!(rules.get(&libc::SYS_fcntl).map(Vec::len), Some(4), "the asynchronous-notification commands");
         for nr in [
             libc::SYS_kill,
             libc::SYS_tkill,
@@ -415,7 +456,9 @@ mod tests {
         ] {
             assert_eq!(rules.get(&nr).map(Vec::len), Some(0), "{nr} is refused outright");
         }
-        assert_eq!(rules.get(&libc::SYS_ioctl).map(Vec::len), Some(4));
+        // The terminal rules, the socket notification ioctls (`FIOSETOWN`, `SIOCSPGRP`,
+        // `FIOASYNC`), the data-carrying rule and the encryption rule.
+        assert_eq!(rules.get(&libc::SYS_ioctl).map(Vec::len), Some(7));
     }
 
     #[test]

crates/sandbox/src/probe.rs

@@ -44,6 +44,8 @@ pub fn enforcement(canary: &Path, exe: &Path, target: u32) -> Vec<Check> {
         Check { name: "TCP connection", outcome: denied(tcp_probe()) },
         Check { name: "start a process", outcome: spawn_probe(exe) },
         Check { name: "signal another process", outcome: signal_probe(target) },
+        #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+        Check { name: "switch a descriptor's notifications on", outcome: async_probe() },
     ]
 }
 
@@ -128,6 +130,20 @@ fn write_probe(dir: &Path) -> Outcome {
     denied(r.map(drop))
 }
 
+/// `O_ASYNC` on a descriptor of the program's own: the switch that has the kernel signal the
+/// descriptor's owner when its state changes. The owner may be a process the program didn't name, a
+/// standard stream the parent made, so on Linux the filter refuses setting it, the same way it
+/// refuses the commands that name another owner. Naming one can't be asked here without `fcntl`'s
+/// variable-argument form, which no safe API wraps; the rules refuse those commands, and the
+/// confined-program test covers them.
+#[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+fn async_probe() -> Outcome {
+    let r = nix::unistd::pipe().map_err(std::io::Error::from).and_then(|(_, write)| {
+        nix::fcntl::fcntl(write, nix::fcntl::FcntlArg::F_SETFL(nix::fcntl::OFlag::O_ASYNC)).map(drop).map_err(std::io::Error::from)
+    });
+    denied(r)
+}
+
 fn tcp_probe() -> std::io::Result<()> {
     TcpStream::connect_timeout(&SocketAddr::from(TCP_TARGET), Duration::from_secs(2)).map(drop)
 }
@@ -216,6 +232,15 @@ mod tests {
         }
     }
 
+    /// Unconfined, the notification probe reports what the system allows; confined, the launch
+    /// check needs it `Denied`. Either way it comes out of the same three calls, so this proves
+    /// the probe runs and classifies rather than failing outright.
+    #[cfg(target_os = "linux")]
+    #[test]
+    fn the_notification_probe_classifies() {
+        assert!(matches!(async_probe(), Outcome::Allowed(_)), "unconfined the switch can be set");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn the_checks_on_the_canary_change_nothing_where_they_are_allowed() {
         let canary = crate::Canary::create().unwrap();

docs/sandbox.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # The sandbox for helper processes
 
-> **Last updated:** 2026-11-07 · **Change:** minor (no file changes by any route on Linux: Landlock's truncation right is required, and seccomp refuses what Landlock has no right for; earlier: more is refused on Linux: other processes, System V and POSIX queues, the terminal; earlier: first version: the `sandbox` crate and `gridcraft-cli sandbox-check`)
+> **Last updated:** 2026-11-12 · **Change:** minor (no signals to another process on Linux, not even indirectly: `fcntl`'s notification commands and the socket ioctls that do the same are refused; earlier: no file changes by any route on Linux: Landlock's truncation right is required, and seccomp refuses what Landlock has no right for; earlier: more is refused on Linux: other processes, System V and POSIX queues, the terminal; earlier: first version: the `sandbox` crate and `gridcraft-cli sandbox-check`)
 
 The sandbox is the layer GridCraft is to run code it doesn't trust in, such as a workbook's
 Python cells: a separate process that confines itself before the code starts. Here only
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ other programs. The sandbox's job is that it can do none of these:
 - **Network:** no sockets, no connections and no listeners. The exception is a standard stream the
   parent made a socket (see below).
 - **Other processes and the system:** no debugging or reading another process, no System V shared
-  memory, message queues or semaphores, no POSIX message queues, no signals to another process, no typing into a terminal it inherited, no mounts or namespaces, no kernel
+  memory, message queues or semaphores, no POSIX message queues, no signals to another process — on Linux not even indirectly, as the `fcntl` commands and socket ioctls that have the kernel send one are refused — no typing into a terminal it inherited, no mounts or namespaces, no kernel
   modules, BPF, keyrings or performance counters. On Linux it also can't change another process's
   limits, priority or scheduling.