cap_get_file(3) — Linux manual page

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | RETURN VALUE | CONFORMING TO | NOTES | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

CAP_GET_FILE(3)         Linux Programmer's Manual         CAP_GET_FILE(3)

NAME         top

       cap_get_file, cap_set_file, cap_get_fd, cap_set_fd,
       cap_get_nsowner, cap_set_nsowner - capability manipulation on
       files

SYNOPSIS         top

       #include <sys/capability.h>

       cap_t cap_get_file(const char *path_p);
       int cap_set_file(const char *path_p, cap_t cap_p);
       cap_t cap_get_fd(int fd);
       int cap_set_fd(int fd, cap_t caps);
       uid_t cap_get_nsowner(cap_t caps);
       int cap_set_nsowner(cap_t caps, uid_t rootuid);

       Link with -lcap.

DESCRIPTION         top

       cap_get_file() and cap_get_fd() allocate a capability state in
       working storage and set it to represent the capability state of
       the pathname pointed to by path_p or the file open on descriptor
       fd.  These functions return a pointer to the newly created
       capability state.  The effects of reading the capability state
       from any file other than a regular file is undefined.  The caller
       should free any releasable memory, when the capability state in
       working storage is no longer required, by calling cap_free() with
       the used cap_t as an argument.

       cap_set_file() and cap_set_fd() set the values for all capability
       flags for all capabilities for the pathname pointed to by path_p
       or the file open on descriptor fd, with the capability state
       identified by cap_p.  The new capability state of the file is
       completely determined by the contents of cap_p.  A NULL value for
       cap_p is used to indicate that capabilities for the file should be
       deleted.  For these functions to succeed, the calling process must
       have the CAP_SETFCAP capability in its effective set and either
       the effective user ID of the process must match the file owner or
       the calling process must have the CAP_FOWNER capability in its
       effective capability set.  The effects of writing the capability
       state to any file type other than a regular file are undefined.

       A capability set held in memory can be associated with the root
       user ID in use in a specific user namespace. It is possible to get
       and set this value (in the memory copy) with cap_get_nsowner() and
       cap_set_nsowner() respectively. The root user ID is ignored by the
       libcap library in all cases other than when the capability is
       written to a file. Only if the value is non-zero will the library
       attempt to include it in the written file capability set.

RETURN VALUE         top

       cap_get_file() and cap_get_fd() return a non-NULL value on
       success, and NULL on failure.

       cap_set_file() and cap_set_fd() return zero on success, and -1 on
       failure.

       On failure, errno is set to EACCES, EBADFD, ENAMETOOLONG, ENOENT,
       ENOMEM, ENOTDIR, EPERM, or EROFS.

CONFORMING TO         top

       These functions are specified by withdrawn POSIX.1e draft
       specification.

NOTES         top

       Support for file capabilities is provided on Linux since version
       2.6.24.

       On Linux, the file Effective set is a single bit.  If it is
       enabled, then all Permitted capabilities are enabled in the
       Effective set of the calling process when the file is executed;
       otherwise, no capabilities are enabled in the process's Effective
       set following an execve(2).  Because the file Effective set is a
       single bit, if any capability is enabled in the Effective set of
       the cap_t given to cap_set_file() or cap_set_fd(), then all
       capabilities whose Permitted or Inheritable flag is enabled must
       also have the Effective flag enabled.  Conversely, if the
       Effective bit is enabled on a file, then the cap_t returned by
       cap_get_file() and cap_get_fd() will have the Effective flag
       enabled for each capability that has the Permitted or Inheritable
       flag enabled.

SEE ALSO         top

       libcap(3), cap_clear(3), cap_copy_ext(3), cap_from_text(3),
       cap_get_proc(3), cap_init(3), capabilities(7), user_namespaces(7)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the libcap (capabilities commands and
       library) project.  Information about the project can be found at
       ⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/libcap/libcap.git/⟩.  If you
       have a bug report for this manual page, send it to
       morgan@kernel.org (please put "libcap" in the Subject line).  This
       page was obtained from the project's upstream Git repository
       ⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/libs/libcap/libcap.git/⟩ on
       2025-02-02.  (At that time, the date of the most recent commit
       that was found in the repository was 2025-02-01.)  If you discover
       any rendering problems in this HTML version of the page, or you
       believe there is a better or more up-to-date source for the page,
       or you have corrections or improvements to the information in this
       COLOPHON (which is not part of the original manual page), send a
       mail to man-pages@man7.org

                                2022-10-16                CAP_GET_FILE(3)

Pages that refer to this page: cap_clear(3)cap_copy_ext(3)cap_from_text(3)cap_get_proc(3)cap_init(3)libcap(3)capabilities(7)getcap(8)setcap(8)