Hi list, BPF_OBJ_GET allows specifying BPF_F_RDONLY or BPF_F_WRONLY for file_flags. They are used to check that the current user has the necessary permissions in bpf_obj_do_get: ret = path_permission(&path, ACC_MODE(flags)); if (ret) goto out; The map code additionally uses the flags in bpf_map_new_fd to attach the permissions to the fd. Programs and links ignore flags (from bpf_obj_get_user): if (type == BPF_TYPE_PROG) ret = bpf_prog_new_fd(raw); else if (type == BPF_TYPE_MAP) ret = bpf_map_new_fd(raw, f_flags); else if (type == BPF_TYPE_LINK) ret = bpf_link_new_fd(raw); else return -ENOENT; For programs this probably isn't too exciting, since AFAIK they are immutable from the user space. The same isn't true for links. Given a link that is pinned to a bpffs for which my user only has read access, I can call BPF_LINK_UPDATE and BPF_LINK_DETACH. To me this seems to break the privilege model. This is a real issue in our code base since we pin a link with 0664, which means that anybody on the system can detach our link. I can work around this by using 0660 mode for links, but I think there are several issues that need fixing: 1. BPF_OBJ_GET doesn't return an error when flags aren't useful, like in the program case. 2. BPF_OBJ_GET returns an fd that allows destructive actions even if BPF_F_RDONLY is passed. Based on some git archaeology I think we are in luck: the code in question was introduced in commit 70ed506c3bbc ("bpf: Introduce pinnable bpf_link abstraction") and has changed very little from what I can see, so backporting should be doable. Additionally, it seems like libbpf doesn't provide a way to specify file_flags when loading pinned objects. So the likelihood of breaking users is very low. I'd like to propose the following changes: 1. Return an error from BPF_OBJ_GET If file_flags is not 0 for programs and links. This we can backport. 2. (optional) Add code to respect BPF_F_RDONLY, etc. for links. This requires adding a new interface to libbpf. Opinions? -- Lorenz Bauer | Systems Engineer 6th Floor, County Hall/The Riverside Building, SE1 7PB, UK www.cloudflare.com