linux/kernel/time
Wojtek Wasko 7d9aa9032d ptp: Add PHC file mode checks. Allow RO adjtime() without FMODE_WRITE.
[ Upstream commit b4e53b15c0 ]

Many devices implement highly accurate clocks, which the kernel manages
as PTP Hardware Clocks (PHCs). Userspace applications rely on these
clocks to timestamp events, trace workload execution, correlate
timescales across devices, and keep various clocks in sync.

The kernel’s current implementation of PTP clocks does not enforce file
permissions checks for most device operations except for POSIX clock
operations, where file mode is verified in the POSIX layer before
forwarding the call to the PTP subsystem. Consequently, it is common
practice to not give unprivileged userspace applications any access to
PTP clocks whatsoever by giving the PTP chardevs 600 permissions. An
example of users running into this limitation is documented in [1].
Additionally, POSIX layer requires WRITE permission even for readonly
adjtime() calls which are used in PTP layer to return current frequency
offset applied to the PHC.

Add permission checks for functions that modify the state of a PTP
device. Continue enforcing permission checks for POSIX clock operations
(settime, adjtime) in the POSIX layer. Only require WRITE access for
dynamic clocks adjtime() if any flags are set in the modes field.

[1] https://lists.nwtime.org/sympa/arc/linuxptp-users/2024-01/msg00036.html

Changes in v4:
- Require FMODE_WRITE in ajtime() only for calls modifying the clock in
  any way.

Acked-by: Richard Cochran <richardcochran@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Vadim Fedorenko <vadim.fedorenko@linux.dev>
Signed-off-by: Wojtek Wasko <wwasko@nvidia.com>
Reviewed-by: Thomas Gleixner <tglx@linutronix.de>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
Signed-off-by: Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org>
History 2026-02-06 16:41:51 +01:00
..
alarmtimer.c alarmtimer: Prevent starvation by small intervals and SIG_IGN 2023-02-22 12:57:11 +01:00
clockevents.c clockevents: Use list_move() instead of list_del()/list_add() 2021-06-22 17:16:46 +02:00
clocksource-wdtest.c clocksource: Scale the watchdog read retries automatically 2024-08-19 05:45:45 +02:00
clocksource.c clocksource: Fix the CPUs' choice in the watchdog per CPU verification 2025-06-27 11:05:27 +01:00
hrtimer.c hrtimer: Fix softirq base check in update_needs_ipi() 2026-02-06 16:41:48 +01:00
itimer.c time: Prevent undefined behaviour in timespec64_to_ns() 2020-10-26 11:48:11 +01:00
jiffies.c clocksource: Make clocksource watchdog test safe for slow-HZ systems 2021-08-28 17:01:32 +02:00
Kconfig -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- 2021-06-29 12:31:16 -07:00
Makefile time: Improve performance of time64_to_tm() 2021-06-24 11:51:59 +02:00
namespace.c memcg: enable accounting for new namesapces and struct nsproxy 2021-09-03 09:58:12 -07:00
ntp.c ntp: Safeguard against time_constant overflow 2024-08-19 05:45:45 +02:00
ntp_internal.h ntp: Make the RTC synchronization more reliable 2020-12-11 10:40:52 +01:00
posix-clock.c ptp: Add PHC file mode checks. Allow RO adjtime() without FMODE_WRITE. 2026-02-06 16:41:51 +01:00
posix-cpu-timers.c posix-cpu-timers: fix race between handle_posix_cpu_timers() and posix_cpu_timer_del() 2025-06-27 11:05:21 +01:00
posix-stubs.c timers: Prevent union confusion from unexpected restart_syscall() 2023-03-10 09:39:48 +01:00
posix-timers.c posix-timers: Add cond_resched() to posix_timer_add() search loop 2025-06-04 14:37:57 +02:00
posix-timers.h posix-clocks: Introduce clock_get_ktime() callback 2020-01-14 12:20:51 +01:00
sched_clock.c seqlock/latch: Provide raw_read_seqcount_latch_retry() 2024-12-14 19:50:46 +01:00
test_udelay.c time/debug: Fix memory leak with using debugfs_lookup() 2023-03-10 09:39:51 +01:00
tick-broadcast-hrtimer.c timekeeping, clocksource: Fix various typos in comments 2021-03-22 23:06:48 +01:00
tick-broadcast.c tick/broadcast: Move per CPU pointer access into the atomic section 2024-08-19 05:45:44 +02:00
tick-common.c tick/nohz_full: Don't abuse smp_call_function_single() in tick_setup_device() 2024-07-05 09:14:22 +02:00
tick-internal.h clocksource: Make clocksource watchdog test safe for slow-HZ systems 2021-08-28 17:01:32 +02:00
tick-legacy.c timekeeping: remove xtime_update 2020-10-30 21:57:07 +01:00
tick-oneshot.c timekeeping, clocksource: Fix various typos in comments 2021-03-22 23:06:48 +01:00
tick-sched.c tick/sched: Preserve number of idle sleeps across CPU hotplug events 2024-02-23 08:54:36 +01:00
tick-sched.h tick: Detect and fix jiffies update stall 2023-08-16 18:22:04 +02:00
time.c time: Fix references to _msecs_to_jiffies() handling of values 2024-12-14 19:50:45 +01:00
time_test.c time: test: Fix incorrect format specifier 2024-03-26 18:21:15 -04:00
timeconst.bc time: Add SPDX license identifiers 2018-11-23 11:51:20 +01:00
timeconv.c time: Improve performance of time64_to_tm() 2021-06-24 11:51:59 +02:00
timecounter.c time/timecounter: Mark 1st argument of timecounter_cyc2time() as const 2021-04-16 21:03:50 +02:00
timekeeping.c seqlock/latch: Provide raw_read_seqcount_latch_retry() 2024-12-14 19:50:46 +01:00
timekeeping.h asm-generic: cross-architecture timer cleanup 2020-12-16 00:07:17 -08:00
timekeeping_debug.c timekeeping/debug: No need to check return value of debugfs_create functions 2019-01-29 20:08:41 +01:00
timekeeping_internal.h timekeeping/vsyscall: Provide vdso_update_begin/end() 2020-08-06 10:57:30 +02:00
timer.c timers: Rename del_timer_sync() to timer_delete_sync() 2024-04-10 16:18:33 +02:00
timer_list.c timer_list: Don't use %pK through printk() 2025-06-04 14:37:57 +02:00
vsyscall.c timekeeping, clocksource: Fix various typos in comments 2021-03-22 23:06:48 +01:00