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SETNS(2) Linux Programmer's Manual SETNS(2)
setns - reassociate thread with a namespace
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <sched.h>
int setns(int fd, int nstype);
The setns() system call allows the calling thread to move into
different namespaces. The fd argument is one of the following:
· a file descriptor referring to one of the magic links in a
/proc/[pid]/ns/ directory (or a bind mount to such a link);
· a PID file descriptor (see pidfd_open(2)).
The nstype argument is interpreted differently in each case.
fd refers to a /proc/[pid]/ns/ link
If fd refers to a /proc/[pid]/ns/ link, then setns() reassociates the
calling thread with the namespace associated with that link, subject
to any constraints imposed by the nstype argument. In this usage,
each call to setns() changes just one of the caller's namespace
memberships.
The nstype argument specifies which type of namespace the calling
thread may be reassociated with. This argument can have one of the
following values:
0 Allow any type of namespace to be joined.
CLONE_NEWCGROUP (since Linux 4.6)
fd must refer to a cgroup namespace.
CLONE_NEWIPC (since Linux 3.0)
fd must refer to an IPC namespace.
CLONE_NEWNET (since Linux 3.0)
fd must refer to a network namespace.
CLONE_NEWNS (since Linux 3.8)
fd must refer to a mount namespace.
CLONE_NEWPID (since Linux 3.8)
fd must refer to a descendant PID namespace.
CLONE_NEWTIME (since Linux 5.6)
fd must refer to a time namespace.
CLONE_NEWUSER (since Linux 3.8)
fd must refer to a user namespace.
CLONE_NEWUTS (since Linux 3.0)
fd must refer to a UTS namespace.
Specifying nstype as 0 suffices if the caller knows (or does not
care) what type of namespace is referred to by fd. Specifying a
nonzero value for nstype is useful if the caller does not know what
type of namespace is referred to by fd and wants to ensure that the
namespace is of a particular type. (The caller might not know the
type of the namespace referred to by fd if the file descriptor was
opened by another process and, for example, passed to the caller via
a UNIX domain socket.)
fd is a PID file descriptor
Since Linux 5.8, fd may refer to a PID file descriptor obtained from
pidfd_open(2) or clone(3). In this usage, setns(2) atomically moves
the calling thread into one or more of the same namespaces as the
thread referred to by fd.
The nstype argument is a bit mask specified by ORing together one or
more of the CLONE_NEW* namespace constants listed above. The caller
is moved into each of the target thread's namespaces that is
specified in nstype; the caller's memberships in the remaining
namespaces are left unchanged.
For example, the following code would move the caller into the same
user, network, and UTS namespaces as PID 1234, but would leave the
caller's other namespace memberships unchanged:
int fd = pidfd_open(1234, 0);
setns(fd, CLONE_NEWUSER | CLONE_NEWNET | CLONE_NEWUTS);
Details for specific namespace types
Note the following details and restrictions when reassociating with
specific namespace types:
User namespaces
A process reassociating itself with a user namespace must have
the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in the target user namespace.
(This necessarily implies that it is only possible to join a
descendant user namespace.) Upon successfully joining a user
namespace, a process is granted all capabilities in that
namespace, regardless of its user and group IDs.
A multithreaded process may not change user namespace with
setns().
It is not permitted to use setns() to reenter the caller's
current user namespace. This prevents a caller that has
dropped capabilities from regaining those capabilities via a
call to setns().
For security reasons, a process can't join a new user names‐
pace if it is sharing filesystem-related attributes (the
attributes whose sharing is controlled by the clone(2)
CLONE_FS flag) with another process.
For further details on user namespaces, see
user_namespaces(7).
Mount namespaces
Changing the mount namespace requires that the caller possess
both CAP_SYS_CHROOT and CAP_SYS_ADMIN capabilities in its own
user namespace and CAP_SYS_ADMIN in the user namespace that
owns the target mount namespace.
A process can't join a new mount namespace if it is sharing
filesystem-related attributes (the attributes whose sharing is
controlled by the clone(2) CLONE_FS flag) with another
process.
See user_namespaces(7) for details on the interaction of user
namespaces and mount namespaces.
PID namespaces
In order to reassociate itself with a new PID namespace, the
caller must have the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability both in its own
user namespace and in the user namespace that owns the target
PID namespace.
Reassociating the PID namespace has somewhat different from
other namespace types. Reassociating the calling thread with
a PID namespace changes only the PID namespace that subse‐
quently created child processes of the caller will be placed
in; it does not change the PID namespace of the caller itself.
Reassociating with a PID namespace is allowed only if the tar‐
get PID namespace is a descendant (child, grandchild, etc.)
of, or is the same as, the current PID namespace of the call‐
er.
For further details on PID namespaces, see pid_namespaces(7).
Cgroup namespaces
In order to reassociate itself with a new cgroup namespace,
the caller must have the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability both in its
own user namespace and in the user namespace that owns the
target cgroup namespace.
Using setns() to change the caller's cgroup namespace does not
change the caller's cgroup memberships.
Network, IPC, time, and UTS namespaces
In order to reassociate itself with a new network, IPC, time,
or UTS namespace, the caller must have the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capa‐
bility both in its own user namespace and in the user names‐
pace that owns the target namespace.
On success, setns() returns 0. On failure, -1 is returned and errno
is set to indicate the error.
EBADF fd is not a valid file descriptor.
EINVAL fd refers to a namespace whose type does not match that
specified in nstype.
EINVAL There is problem with reassociating the thread with the
specified namespace.
EINVAL The caller tried to join an ancestor (parent, grandparent, and
so on) PID namespace.
EINVAL The caller attempted to join the user namespace in which it is
already a member.
EINVAL The caller shares filesystem (CLONE_FS) state (in particular,
the root directory) with other processes and tried to join a
new user namespace.
EINVAL The caller is multithreaded and tried to join a new user
namespace.
EINVAL fd is a PID file descriptor and nstype is invalid (e.g., it is
0).
ENOMEM Cannot allocate sufficient memory to change the specified
namespace.
EPERM The calling thread did not have the required capability for
this operation.
ESRCH fd is a PID file descriptor but the process it refers to no
longer exists (i.e., it has terminated and been waited on).
The setns() system call first appeared in Linux in kernel 3.0;
library support was added to glibc in version 2.14.
The setns() system call is Linux-specific.
For further information on the /proc/[pid]/ns/ magic links, see
namespaces(7).
Not all of the attributes that can be shared when a new thread is
created using clone(2) can be changed using setns().
The program below takes two or more arguments. The first argument
specifies the pathname of a namespace file in an existing
/proc/[pid]/ns/ directory. The remaining arguments specify a command
and its arguments. The program opens the namespace file, joins that
namespace using setns(), and executes the specified command inside
that namespace.
The following shell session demonstrates the use of this program
(compiled as a binary named ns_exec) in conjunction with the
CLONE_NEWUTS example program in the clone(2) man page (complied as a
binary named newuts).
We begin by executing the example program in clone(2) in the
background. That program creates a child in a separate UTS
namespace. The child changes the hostname in its namespace, and then
both processes display the hostnames in their UTS namespaces, so that
we can see that they are different.
$ su # Need privilege for namespace operations
Password:
# ./newuts bizarro &
[1] 3549
clone() returned 3550
uts.nodename in child: bizarro
uts.nodename in parent: antero
# uname -n # Verify hostname in the shell
antero
We then run the program shown below, using it to execute a shell.
Inside that shell, we verify that the hostname is the one set by the
child created by the first program:
# ./ns_exec /proc/3550/ns/uts /bin/bash
# uname -n # Executed in shell started by ns_exec
bizarro
Program source
#define _GNU_SOURCE
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <sched.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#define errExit(msg) do { perror(msg); exit(EXIT_FAILURE); \
} while (0)
int
main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int fd;
if (argc < 3) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s /proc/PID/ns/FILE cmd args...\n", argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
/* Get file descriptor for namespace; the file descriptor is opened with
O_CLOEXEC so as to ensure that it is not inherited by the program that
is later executed. */
fd = open(argv[1], O_RDONLY | O_CLOEXEC);
if (fd == -1)
errExit("open");
if (setns(fd, 0) == -1) /* Join that namespace */
errExit("setns");
execvp(argv[2], &argv[2]); /* Execute a command in namespace */
errExit("execvp");
}
nsenter(1), clone(2), fork(2), unshare(2), vfork(2), namespaces(7),
unix(7)
This page is part of release 5.08 of the Linux man-pages project. A
description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the
latest version of this page, can be found at
https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.
Linux 2020-08-13 SETNS(2)
Pages that refer to this page: nsenter(1) , clone2(2) , __clone2(2) , clone(2) , clone3(2) , pidfd_open(2) , setns(2) , syscalls(2) , unshare(2) , proc(5) , procfs(5) , systemd.exec(5) , capabilities(7) , cgroup_namespaces(7) , ipc_namespaces(7) , mount_namespaces(7) , namespaces(7) , pid_namespaces(7) , time_namespaces(7) , user_namespaces(7) , uts_namespaces(7) , ip-netns(8)
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