[PATCH v9 4/5] Add system-wide tunables: Filters

Arjun Shankar arjun@redhat.com
Tue Jun 30 15:46:04 GMT 2026


Hi DJ,

> Add support for [proc:*] syntax where * matches /proc/self/exe
> (fallback: argv[0] unless AT_SECURE).  Tunables after such a
> line are limited to matching processes.
>
> Note that this filter is reset when including a file or at
> end of file.
>
> If the filename starts with a slash (example: [proc:/bin/foo]) the
> full path must match.  If not (example: [proc:foo]) the basename is
> matched.
>
> Add support for filtering out AT_SECURE or non-AT_SECURE binaries:
>
>   $glibc.only-for.nonsecure-binaries=1
>   @glibc.only-for.secure-binaries=1

Changes look good to me.
Reviewed-by: Arjun Shankar <arjun@redhat.com>

> ---
>  csu/libc-start.c                        |   2 +-
>  elf/Makefile                            |   4 +
>  elf/cache.c                             |  22 ++++
>  elf/dl-tunables.c                       |  81 +++++++++++++-
>  elf/dl-tunables.h                       |   2 +-
>  elf/ldconfig-parse.c                    |   6 +-
>  elf/ldconfig.c                          |   3 +
>  elf/tst-tunconf1.c                      |  36 ++++++
>  elf/tst-tunconf1.root/etc/tunables.conf |  14 +++
>  elf/tst-tunconf1.root/ldconfig.run      |   0
>  elf/tst-tunconf1.root/postclean.req     |   0
>  elf/tunconf.c                           | 143 +++++++++++++++++++++++-
>  elf/tunconf.h                           |   3 +
>  sysdeps/mach/hurd/dl-sysdep.c           |   2 +-
>  sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/dl-sysdep.c     |   2 +-
>  15 files changed, 309 insertions(+), 11 deletions(-)
>  create mode 100644 elf/tst-tunconf1.c
>  create mode 100644 elf/tst-tunconf1.root/etc/tunables.conf
>  create mode 100644 elf/tst-tunconf1.root/ldconfig.run
>  create mode 100644 elf/tst-tunconf1.root/postclean.req
>
> diff --git a/csu/libc-start.c b/csu/libc-start.c
> index 67aa981246..ec42f23981 100644
> --- a/csu/libc-start.c
> +++ b/csu/libc-start.c
> @@ -264,7 +264,7 @@ LIBC_START_MAIN (int (*main) (int, char **, char ** MAIN_AUXVEC_DECL),
>    _dl_aux_init (auxvec);
>  # endif
>
> -  __tunables_init (__environ);
> +  __tunables_init (__environ, argv);
>
>    ARCH_INIT_CPU_FEATURES ();
>
> diff --git a/elf/Makefile b/elf/Makefile
> index f5625c8986..789c504da9 100644
> --- a/elf/Makefile
> +++ b/elf/Makefile
> @@ -336,6 +336,7 @@ tests-internal := \
>    $(tests-static-internal) \
>    tst-tls1 \
>    tst-tls_tp_offset \
> +  tst-tunconf1 \
>    # tests-internal
>
>  tests-static := $(tests-static-normal) $(tests-static-internal)
> @@ -346,6 +347,8 @@ tests-static += \
>    tst-tls9-static \
>    # tests-static
>
> +tst-tunconf1-TUNABLES-only = glibc.malloc.tcache_count=5
> +
>  static-dlopen-environment = \
>    LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$(ld-library-path):$(common-objpfx)dlfcn
>  tst-tls9-static-ENV = $(static-dlopen-environment)
> @@ -583,6 +586,7 @@ tests-container += \
>    tst-preload-pthread-libc \
>    tst-ptrguard-static-dlopen \
>    tst-rootdir \
> +  tst-tunconf1 \
>    # tests-container
>
>  test-srcs = \
> diff --git a/elf/cache.c b/elf/cache.c
> index 58b1412b32..d46ab02ad6 100644
> --- a/elf/cache.c
> +++ b/elf/cache.c
> @@ -318,6 +318,28 @@ print_extensions (struct cache_extension_all_loaded *ext,
>             printf ("overridable");
>           else
>             printf ("nonoverridable");
> +         switch (tec[i].flags & (TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE
> +                                 | TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE))
> +           {
> +           case TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE:
> +             printf(",nonsecure");
> +             break;
> +           case TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE:
> +             printf(",onlysecure");
> +             break;
> +           case TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE | TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE:
> +             printf(",ignore");
> +             break;
> +           case 0:
> +             printf(",anysecure");
> +             break;
> +           }
> +         switch (tec[i].flags & TUNCONF_FLAG_FILTER)
> +           {
> +           case TUNCONF_FILTER_PERPROC:
> +             printf(",[proc]");
> +             break;
> +           }
>           if (tec[i].flag_offset != 0)
>             printf (",'%s'", cache_data + tec[i].flag_offset);
>           printf (")]\n");
> diff --git a/elf/dl-tunables.c b/elf/dl-tunables.c
> index f183e99855..197d940d38 100644
> --- a/elf/dl-tunables.c
> +++ b/elf/dl-tunables.c
> @@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ parse_tunables (const char *valstring)
>     ENV_ALIAS to find values.  Later we will also use the tunable names to find
>     values.  */
>  void
> -__tunables_init (char **envp)
> +__tunables_init (char **envp, char **argv)
>  {
>    char *envname = NULL;
>    char *envval = NULL;
> @@ -304,6 +304,14 @@ __tunables_init (char **envp)
>      TUNABLE_SET (glibc, malloc, hugetlb, 1);
>
>  #if defined(SHARED) && defined (USE_LDCONFIG)
> +  const char *prog_name = (argv && argv[0]) ? argv[0] : "";
> +  int prog_name_len = -1;
> +  const char *base_name = NULL;
> +#ifdef PATH_MAX
> +  char exebuf[PATH_MAX];
> +#else
> +  char exebuf[256];
> +#endif
>    const struct tunable_header_cached *thc;
>    const char *td;
>
> @@ -336,9 +344,72 @@ __tunables_init (char **envp)
>               if (tid == -1)
>                 continue;
>             }
> -         /* At this point, TID is valid for the tunable we want.  See
> -            if the parsed type matches the desired type.  */
> -
> +         /* At this point, TID is valid for the tunable we want.  */
> +
> +         if (tec->flags & TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE && __libc_enable_secure)
> +           goto skip_due_to_filter;
> +         if (tec->flags & TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE && !__libc_enable_secure)
> +           goto skip_due_to_filter;
> +
> +         /* Apply selected filter, if any.  */
> +         switch (tec->flags & TUNCONF_FLAG_FILTER) {
> +         case TUNCONF_FILTER_NONE:
> +           break;

OK. This new case matches and applies filter-less tunables. In v8,
filter-less tunables and tunables with unknown filters were processed
together as "default," so tunables with unknown filters were applied.
We now handle unknown filters separately below.

> +         case TUNCONF_FILTER_PERPROC:
> +           /* Perform one-time calculations that aren't needed if we
> +              don't use this filter.  */
> +           if (prog_name_len == -1)
> +             {
> +               ssize_t n = readlink ("/proc/self/exe",
> +                                     exebuf, sizeof (exebuf) - 1);
> +               if (n > 0 && n < sizeof(exebuf)-1)
> +                 {
> +                   /* If /proc/self/exe exists and we can read it,
> +                      it's more reliable than argv[] so use it.  */
> +                   exebuf[n] = '\0';
> +                   prog_name = exebuf;
> +                 }
> +               else if (__libc_enable_secure)
> +                 prog_name = NULL;
> +               if (prog_name != NULL)
> +                 {
> +                   const char *slash = NULL, *cp;
> +                   for (cp = prog_name; *cp; ++ cp)
> +                     if (*cp == '/')
> +                       slash = cp;
> +                   if (slash)
> +                     base_name = slash + 1;
> +                   else
> +                     base_name = prog_name;
> +                   prog_name_len = strlen (prog_name);
> +                 }
> +             }
> +           /* prog_name and the cached string are both NUL terminated.  */
> +           if (prog_name)
> +             {
> +               if (((const char *)(td + tec->flag_offset))[0] == '/')
> +                 {
> +                   if (strcmp (prog_name, td + tec->flag_offset) != 0)
> +                     goto skip_due_to_filter;
> +                 }
> +               else
> +                 {
> +                   if (strcmp (base_name, td + tec->flag_offset) != 0)
> +                     goto skip_due_to_filter;
> +                 }
> +             }
> +           else
> +             /* Program is AT_SECURE but the only source of program
> +                name is argv[0], which is not secure, so we do not
> +                match any name-based filter.  */
> +             goto skip_due_to_filter;
> +           break;
> +         default:
> +           /* Unknown filter.  */
> +           goto skip_due_to_filter;

OK. Now, tunables with unknown filters are skipped.

> +         }
> +
> +         /* See if the parsed type matches the desired type.  */
>           if (tunable_list[tid].type.type_code == TUNABLE_TYPE_STRING)
>             {
>               /* This is a memory leak but there's no easy way around
> @@ -363,6 +434,8 @@ __tunables_init (char **envp)
>                                       value, strlen (value));
>                 }
>             }
> +
> +       skip_due_to_filter:;
>         }
>      }
>  #endif /* defined(SHARED) && defined (USE_LDCONFIG) */
> diff --git a/elf/dl-tunables.h b/elf/dl-tunables.h
> index 45aeed47bc..3f34329614 100644
> --- a/elf/dl-tunables.h
> +++ b/elf/dl-tunables.h
> @@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ typedef void (*tunable_callback_t) (tunable_val_t *);
>
>  #include "dl-tunable-list.h"
>
> -extern void __tunables_init (char **);
> +extern void __tunables_init (char **, char **);
>  extern void __tunables_print (void);
>  extern bool __tunable_is_initialized (tunable_id_t);
>  extern void __tunable_get_val (tunable_id_t, void *, tunable_callback_t);
> diff --git a/elf/ldconfig-parse.c b/elf/ldconfig-parse.c
> index b7bb664eb5..baddfdbac0 100644
> --- a/elf/ldconfig-parse.c
> +++ b/elf/ldconfig-parse.c
> @@ -47,8 +47,10 @@ ldconfig_parse_config_1 (const char *filename, bool do_chroot,
>
>       opt_chroot - If non-NULL, all paths are relative to this.
>
> -     callback - for each non-blank line in the file, this function is called
> -       with the line and it's location.
> +     callback - for each non-blank line in the file, this function is
> +       called with the line and it's location.  Will also be called
> +       with a NULL line at the start and end of each file, for
> +       file-scoped config items.
>   */
>
>  void
> diff --git a/elf/ldconfig.c b/elf/ldconfig.c
> index 11b063eb5c..1ea55400f3 100644
> --- a/elf/ldconfig.c
> +++ b/elf/ldconfig.c
> @@ -435,6 +435,9 @@ add_dir_1 (const char *line, const char *from_file, int from_line)
>  static void
>  add_dir_callback (char *line, const char *from_file, int from_line)
>  {
> +  /* Denotes file boundaries.  Not needed here.  */
> +  if (line == NULL)
> +    return;
>    if (!strncasecmp (line, "hwcap", 5) && isblank (line[5]))
>      error (0, 0, _("%s:%u: hwcap directive ignored"), from_file, from_line);
>    else
> diff --git a/elf/tst-tunconf1.c b/elf/tst-tunconf1.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..c95a7cb8ba
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/elf/tst-tunconf1.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
> +/* Test that the tunables cache can override env vars.
> +   Copyright (C) 2026 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
> +   This file is part of the GNU C Library.
> +
> +   The GNU C Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
> +   modify it under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public
> +   License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either
> +   version 2.1 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
> +
> +   The GNU C Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> +   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> +   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
> +   Lesser General Public License for more details.
> +
> +   You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public
> +   License along with the GNU C Library; if not, see
> +   <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.  */
> +
> +#include <stdio.h>
> +#include <support/check.h>
> +
> +#include "dl-tunables.h"
> +
> +static int
> +do_test (void)
> +{
> +  size_t tcache_count = TUNABLE_GET_FULL (glibc, malloc, tcache_count, size_t, NULL);
> +  size_t tcache_max = TUNABLE_GET_FULL (glibc, malloc, tcache_max, size_t, NULL);
> +  printf("tcache count is %ld (should be 5, from env)\n", (long)tcache_count);
> +  TEST_COMPARE ((long)tcache_count, 5);
> +  printf("tcache max is %ld (should be 4, from /etc)\n", (long)tcache_max);
> +  TEST_COMPARE ((long)tcache_max, 4);
> +  return 0;
> +}
> +
> +#include <support/test-driver.c>
> diff --git a/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/etc/tunables.conf b/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/etc/tunables.conf
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..f373a67902
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/etc/tunables.conf
> @@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
> +# These test the parser for both the overridability characters as well as
> +# tunables that either never exist, or only exist on some platforms.
> +-glibc.cpu.cached_memopt=1
> ++glibc.cpu.hwcaps=some,random,string
> +@glibc.test_secure=1
> +$glibc.test_unsecure=1
> +
> +# These are checked inside the test case
> +glibc.malloc.tcache_max=6
> +$glibc.malloc.tcache_count=3
> +[proc:/bin/ls]
> +glibc.malloc.tcache_max=7
> +[proc:tst-tunconf1]
> +glibc.malloc.tcache_max=4
> diff --git a/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/ldconfig.run b/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/ldconfig.run
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
> diff --git a/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/postclean.req b/elf/tst-tunconf1.root/postclean.req
> new file mode 100644
> index 0000000000..e69de29bb2
> diff --git a/elf/tunconf.c b/elf/tunconf.c
> index 5e77729e22..a5ca755abd 100644
> --- a/elf/tunconf.c
> +++ b/elf/tunconf.c
> @@ -61,20 +61,100 @@ typedef enum {
>  struct tunable_entry_int {
>    struct stringtable_entry *name;
>    struct stringtable_entry *value;
> +  struct stringtable_entry *filter;
>    TOP top;
> +  bool exclude_secure:1;
> +  bool exclude_nonsecure:1;
>    int tunable_id;
>    int value_is_negative:1;
>    int value_was_parsed:1;
>    unsigned long long value_ull;
>    signed long long value_sll;
> +  long filter_flags;
>
>    struct tunable_entry_int *next;
>  };
>
>  struct tunable_entry_int *entry_list;
>
> +static int filter_flags = 0;
> +static char *filter_string = NULL;
> +
>  /*----------------------------------------------------------------------*/
>
> +static void
> +clear_filter (void)
> +{
> +  free (filter_string);
> +  filter_string = NULL;
> +  filter_flags = 0;
> +}
> +
> +/* Filters are lines the are bracketed, like
> +   [prog:foo]
> +*/
> +static void
> +parse_filter (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
> +{
> +  const char *colon = NULL;
> +  const char *right_bracket = NULL;
> +  const char *cp;
> +
> +  for (cp = line; *cp != 0; ++cp)
> +    {
> +      if (*cp == ':')
> +       colon = cp;
> +      if (*cp == ']')
> +       {
> +         right_bracket = cp;
> +         break;
> +       }
> +    }
> +  /* Special case: [] means "no filter" */
> +  if (right_bracket != NULL && right_bracket == line + 1)
> +    {
> +      clear_filter ();
> +      return;
> +    }
> +  if (colon == NULL)
> +    {
> +      error_at_line (0, 0, filename, lineno,
> +                    "syntax error, filter line ignored: `%s' (missing ':')\n",
> +                    line);
> +      return;
> +    }
> +  if (right_bracket == NULL)
> +    {
> +      error_at_line (0, 0, filename, lineno,
> +                    "syntax error, filter line ignored: `%s' (missing ']')\n",
> +                    line);
> +      return;
> +    }
> +
> +  if (filter_string != NULL)
> +    {
> +      clear_filter ();
> +    }
> +
> +  if (colon - line - 1 == 4 && memcmp ("proc", line + 1, 4) == 0)
> +    {
> +      /* Consider this example: [proc:foo] ..."  */
> +      /* We allocate 4 bytes, [0] through [3].  */
> +      filter_string = (char *) xmalloc (right_bracket - colon);

OK. Checked malloc.

> +      /* We copy "foo" for 3 bytes, [0] through [2].  */
> +      memcpy (filter_string, colon + 1, right_bracket - colon - 1);
> +      /*  [3] = 0 so now "foo\0".  */
> +      filter_string [right_bracket - colon - 1] = 0;
> +      filter_flags = TUNCONF_FILTER_PERPROC;
> +    }
> +
> +  else
> +    error_at_line (0, 0, filename, lineno,
> +                  "unrecognized filter `%.*s', ignored\n",
> +                  (int)(colon - line - 1), line + 1);
> +}
> +
> +
>  static void
>  add_tunable (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
>  {
> @@ -86,6 +166,14 @@ add_tunable (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
>    struct tunable_entry_int *entry;
>    int i, id;
>    static struct tunable_entry_int **entry_list_next = &entry_list;
> +  bool exclude_secure = 1, exclude_nonsecure = 0;
> +
> +  /* Denotes file boundaries.  */
> +  if (line == NULL)
> +    {
> +      clear_filter();
> +      return;
> +    }
>
>    orig_line = line;
>
> @@ -117,6 +205,24 @@ add_tunable (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
>           top = TOP_DENY;
>           line += 15;
>         }
> +      else if (strncmp (line, "onlysecure ", 11) == 0)

OK. Correct length.

> +       {
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 1;
> +         exclude_secure = 0;
> +         line += 10;
> +       }
> +      else if (strncmp (line, "nonsecure ", 10) == 0)
> +       {
> +         exclude_secure = 1;
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 0;
> +         line += 9;
> +       }
> +      else if (strncmp (line, "anysecure ", 10) == 0)
> +       {
> +         exclude_secure = 0;
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 0;
> +         line += 9;
> +       }
>        else switch (*line)
>         {
>         case '+':
> @@ -125,6 +231,21 @@ add_tunable (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
>         case '-':
>           top = TOP_DENY;
>           break;
> +       case '@':
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 1;
> +         exclude_secure = 0;
> +         break;
> +       case '$':
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 0;
> +         exclude_secure = 1;
> +         break;
> +       case '*':
> +         exclude_nonsecure = 0;
> +         exclude_secure = 0;
> +         break;
> +       case '[':
> +         parse_filter (line, filename, lineno);
> +         return;
>         case ' ':
>           break;
>
> @@ -197,6 +318,14 @@ add_tunable (char *line, const char *filename, int lineno)
>    entry->value = cache_store_string (value);
>    entry->tunable_id = id;
>    entry->top = top;
> +  entry->exclude_secure = exclude_secure;
> +  entry->exclude_nonsecure = exclude_nonsecure;
> +
> +  if (filter_flags)
> +    {
> +      entry->filter_flags = filter_flags;
> +      entry->filter = cache_store_string (filter_string);
> +    }
>
>    if (value[0] == '-')
>      {
> @@ -274,11 +403,23 @@ get_tunconf_ext (uint32_t string_table_offset)
>           tec->flags |= TUNCONF_OVERRIDE_DENY;
>           break;
>         }
> +      if (tei->exclude_secure)
> +       tec->flags |= TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE;
> +      if (tei->exclude_nonsecure)
> +       tec->flags |= TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE;
>
>        tec->tunable_id = tei->tunable_id;
>        tec->name_offset = tei->name->offset + string_table_offset;
>        tec->value_offset = tei->value->offset + string_table_offset;
> -      tec->flag_offset = 0;
> +
> +      if (tei->filter_flags != 0)
> +       {
> +         tec->flag_offset = tei->filter->offset + string_table_offset;
> +         tec->flags |= tei->filter_flags;
> +       }
> +      else
> +       tec->flag_offset = 0;
> +
>        tec->unused_1 = 0;
>        if (tei->value_is_negative)
>         tec->parsed_value = (uint64_t) tei->value_sll;
> diff --git a/elf/tunconf.h b/elf/tunconf.h
> index 81c0dd6b06..016120ac3a 100644
> --- a/elf/tunconf.h
> +++ b/elf/tunconf.h
> @@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
>  #define TUNCONF_OVERRIDE_DENY          0x00000004
>  #define TUNCONF_OVERRIDE_ALLOW         0x00000000
>
> +#define TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_SECURE         0x00000010
> +#define TUNCONF_EXCLUDE_UNSECURE       0x00000020
> +
>  #define TUNCONF_FLAG_FILTER            0x0000ff00
>  #define TUNCONF_FILTER_NONE            0x00000000
>  #define TUNCONF_FILTER_PERPROC         0x00000100
> diff --git a/sysdeps/mach/hurd/dl-sysdep.c b/sysdeps/mach/hurd/dl-sysdep.c
> index 0e348d6440..fe6d453756 100644
> --- a/sysdeps/mach/hurd/dl-sysdep.c
> +++ b/sysdeps/mach/hurd/dl-sysdep.c
> @@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ _dl_sysdep_start (void **start_argptr,
>
>        __libc_enable_secure = _dl_hurd_data->flags & EXEC_SECURE;
>
> -      __tunables_init (_environ);
> +      __tunables_init (_environ, _dl_argv);
>
>        /* Initialize DSO sorting algorithm after tunables.  */
>        _dl_sort_maps_init ();
> diff --git a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/dl-sysdep.c b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/dl-sysdep.c
> index cb1f94ee23..c2701f274c 100644
> --- a/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/dl-sysdep.c
> +++ b/sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/dl-sysdep.c
> @@ -107,7 +107,7 @@ _dl_sysdep_start (void **start_argptr,
>
>    dl_hwcap_check ();
>
> -  __tunables_init (_environ);
> +  __tunables_init (_environ, (char **) (start_argptr + 1));
>
>    /* Initialize DSO sorting algorithm after tunables.  */
>    _dl_sort_maps_init ();
> --
> 2.47.3
>



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