KEYCTL(1)		Linux Key Management Utilities		     KEYCTL(1)



NAME
       keyctl - Key management facility control

SYNOPSIS
       keyctl --version
       keyctl show [-x] [<keyring>]
       keyctl add <type> <desc> <data> <keyring>
       keyctl padd <type> <desc> <keyring>
       keyctl request <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl request2 <type> <desc> <info> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl prequest2 <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl update <key> <data>
       keyctl pupdate <key>
       keyctl newring <name> <keyring>
       keyctl revoke <key>
       keyctl clear <keyring>
       keyctl link <key> <keyring>
       keyctl unlink <key> [<keyring>]
       keyctl search <keyring> <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl read <key>
       keyctl pipe <key>
       keyctl print <key>
       keyctl list <keyring>
       keyctl rlist <keyring>
       keyctl describe <keyring>
       keyctl rdescribe <keyring> [sep]
       keyctl chown <key> <uid>
       keyctl chgrp <key> <gid>
       keyctl setperm <key> <mask>
       keyctl session
       keyctl session - [<prog> <arg1> <arg2> ...]
       keyctl session <name> [<prog> <arg1> <arg2> ...]
       keyctl instantiate <key> <data> <keyring>
       keyctl pinstantiate <key> <keyring>
       keyctl negate <key> <timeout> <keyring>
       keyctl reject <key> <timeout> <error> <keyring>
       keyctl timeout <key> <timeout>
       keyctl security <key>
       keyctl reap [-v]
       keyctl purge <type>
       keyctl purge [-i] [-p] <type> <desc>
       keyctl purge -s <type> <desc>

DESCRIPTION
       This  program is used to control the key management facility in various
       ways using a variety of subcommands.

KEY IDENTIFIERS
       The key identifiers passed to or returned from keyctl are, in  general,
       positive integers. There are, however, some special values with special
       meanings that can be passed as arguments:

       (*) No key: 0

       (*) Thread keyring: @t or -1

       Each thread may have its own keyring. This is  searched	first,	before
       all others. The thread keyring is replaced by (v)fork, exec and clone.

       (*) Process keyring: @p or -2

       Each  process  (thread  group) may have its own keyring. This is shared
       between all members of a group and will be searched  after  the	thread
       keyring. The process keyring is replaced by (v)fork and exec.

       (*) Session keyring: @s or -3

       Each  process  subscribes to a session keyring that is inherited across
       (v)fork, exec and clone. This is searched after	the  process  keyring.
       Session	keyrings  can  be named and an extant keyring can be joined in
       place of a process's current session keyring.

       (*) User specific keyring: @u or -4

       This keyring is shared between all the processes owned by a  particular
       user.  It  isn't	 searched directly, but is normally linked to from the
       session keyring.

       (*) User default session keyring: @us or -5

       This is the default session keyring for a particular user.  Login  pro-
       cesses that change to a particular user will bind to this session until
       another session is set.

       (*) Group specific keyring: @g or -6

       This is a place holder for a group specific keyring, but is  not	 actu-
       ally implemented yet in the kernel.

       (*) Assumed request_key authorisation key: @a or -7

       This selects the authorisation key provided to the request_key() helper
       to permit it to access the callers keyrings and instantiate the	target
       key.

       (*) Keyring by name: %:<name>

       A  named	 keyring.  This will be searched for in the process's keyrings
       and in /proc/keys.

       (*) Key by name: %<type>:<name>

       A named key of the given type.	This  will  be	searched  for  in  the
       process's keyrings and in /proc/keys.

COMMAND SYNTAX
       Any  non-ambiguous  shortening of a command name may be used in lieu of
       the full command name. This facility should not be used in scripting as
       new commands may be added in future that then cause ambiguity.

       (*) Display the package version number

       keyctl --version

       This  command  prints  the  package  version  number and build date and
       exits:

	      testbox>keyctl --version
	      keyctl from keyutils-1.5.3 (Built 2011-08-24)

       (*) Show process keyrings

       keyctl show [-x] [<keyring>]

       By default this command recursively shows what keyrings	a  process  is
       subscribed to and what keys and keyrings they contain.  If a keyring is
       specified then that keyring will be dumped instead.  If -x is specified
       then the keyring IDs will be dumped in hex instead of decimal.

       (*) Add a key to a keyring

       keyctl add <type> <desc> <data> <keyring>
       keyctl padd <type> <desc> <keyring>

       This  command  creates  a  key  of  the specified type and description;
       instantiates it with the given data and attaches it  to	the  specified
       keyring. It then prints the new key's ID on stdout:

	      testbox>keyctl add user mykey stuff @u
	      26

       The  padd  variant of the command reads the data from stdin rather than
       taking it from the command line:

	      testbox>echo -n stuff | keyctl padd user mykey @u
	      26

       (*) Request a key

       keyctl request <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl request2 <type> <desc> <info> [<dest_keyring>]
       keyctl prequest2 <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]

       These three commands request the lookup of a key of the given type  and
       description. The process's keyrings will be searched, and if a match is
       found the matching key's ID will be printed to stdout; and if a	desti-
       nation keyring is given, the key will be added to that keyring also.

       If  there  is  no  key,	the first command will simply return the error
       ENOKEY and fail. The second and third commands will  create  a  partial
       key  with  the  type and description, and call out to /sbin/request-key
       with that key and  the  extra  information  supplied.  This  will  then
       attempt to instantiate the key in some manner, such that a valid key is
       obtained.

       The third command is like the second, except that the callout  informa-
       tion is read from stdin rather than being passed on the command line.

       If a valid key is obtained, the ID will be printed and the key attached
       as if the original search had succeeded.

       If there wasn't a valid key obtained, a temporary negative key will  be
       attached	 to  the destination keyring if given and the error "Requested
       key not available" will be given.

	      testbox>keyctl request2 user debug:hello wibble
	      23
	      testbox>echo -n wibble | keyctl prequest2 user debug:hello
	      23
	      testbox>keyctl request user debug:hello
	      23

       (*) Update a key

       keyctl update <key> <data>
       keyctl pupdate <key>

       This command replaces the data attached to a key	 with  a  new  set  of
       data.  If the type of the key doesn't support update then error "Opera-
       tion not supported" will be returned.

	      testbox>keyctl update 23 zebra

       The pupdate variant of the command reads the  data  from	 stdin	rather
       than taking it from the command line:

	      testbox>echo -n zebra | keyctl pupdate 23

       (*) Create a keyring

       keyctl newring <name> <keyring>

       This  command  creates a new keyring of the specified name and attaches
       it to the specified keyring. The ID of the new keyring will be  printed
       to stdout if successful.

	      testbox>keyctl newring squelch @us
	      27

       (*) Revoke a key

       keyctl revoke <key>

       This  command  marks  a key as being revoked. Any further operations on
       that key (apart from unlinking it) will	return	error  "Key  has  been
       revoked".

	      testbox>keyctl revoke 26
	      testbox>keyctl describe 26
	      keyctl_describe: Key has been revoked

       (*) Clear a keyring

       keyctl clear <keyring>

       This  command  unlinks  all the keys attached to the specified keyring.
       Error "Not a directory" will be returned if the key specified is not  a
       keyring.

	      testbox>keyctl clear 27

       (*) Link a key to a keyring

       keyctl link <key> <keyring>

       This command makes a link from the key to the keyring if there's enough
       capacity to do so. Error "Not a directory" will be returned if the des-
       tination	 is  not a keyring. Error "Permission denied" will be returned
       if the key doesn't have link permission or  the	keyring	 doesn't  have
       write  permission.  Error "File table overflow" will be returned if the
       keyring is full. Error "Resource deadlock avoided" will be returned  if
       an attempt was made to introduce a recursive link.

	      testbox>keyctl link 23 27
	      testbox>keyctl link 27 27
	      keyctl_link: Resource deadlock avoided

       (*) Unlink a key from a keyring or the session keyring tree

       keyctl unlink <key> [<keyring>]

       If  the	keyring	 is  specified, this command removes a link to the key
       from the keyring. Error "Not a directory" will be returned if the  des-
       tination	 is  not a keyring. Error "Permission denied" will be returned
       if the keyring doesn't have write permission. Error "No	such  file  or
       directory" will be returned if the key is not linked to by the keyring.

       If  the	keyring	 is not specified, this command performs a depth-first
       search of the session keyring tree and removes all  the	links  to  the
       nominated  key  that it finds (and that it is permitted to remove).  It
       prints the number of successful unlinks before exiting.

	      testbox>keyctl unlink 23 27

       (*) Search a keyring

       keyctl search <keyring> <type> <desc> [<dest_keyring>]

       This command non-recursively searches a keyring for a key of a particu-
       lar  type  and description. If found, the ID of the key will be printed
       on stdout and the key will be attached to the  destination  keyring  if
       present.	 Error	"Requested  key not available" will be returned if the
       key is not found.

	      testbox>keyctl search @us user debug:hello
	      23
	      testbox>keyctl search @us user debug:bye
	      keyctl_search: Requested key not available

       (*) Read a key

       keyctl read <key>
       keyctl pipe <key>
       keyctl print <key>

       These commands read the payload of a key. "read" prints it on stdout as
       a hex dump, "pipe" dumps the raw data to stdout and "print" dumps it to
       stdout directly if it's entirely printable or as a hexdump preceded  by
       ":hex:" if not.

       If  the	key  type  does not support reading of the payload, then error
       "Operation not supported" will be returned.

	      testbox>keyctl read 26
	      1 bytes of data in key:
	      62
	      testbox>keyctl print 26
	      b
	      testbox>keyctl pipe 26
	      btestbox>

       (*) List a keyring

       keyctl list <keyring>
       keyctl rlist <keyring>

       These commands list the contents of a key as a keyring.	"list"	pretty
       prints the contents and "rlist" just produces a space-separated list of
       key IDs.

       No attempt is made to check that the specified keyring is a keyring.

	      testbox>keyctl list @us
	      2 keys in keyring:
		     22: vrwsl----------  4043	  -1 keyring: _uid.4043
		     23: vrwsl----------  4043	4043 user: debug:hello
	      testbox>keyctl rlist @us
	      22 23

       (*) Describe a key

       keyctl describe <keyring>
       keyctl rdescribe <keyring> [sep]

       These commands fetch a description  of  a  keyring.  "describe"	pretty
       prints the description in the same fashion as the "list" command; "rde-
       scribe" prints the raw data returned from the kernel.

	      testbox>keyctl describe @us
		     -5: vrwsl----------  4043	   -1  keyring:	 _uid_ses.4043
	      testbox>keyctl		       rdescribe		   @us
	      keyring;4043;-1;3f1f0000;_uid_ses.4043

       The raw string is "<type>;<uid>;<gid>;<perms>;<description>", where uid
       and  gid	 are  the decimal user and group IDs, perms is the permissions
       mask in hex, type and description are the  type	name  and  description
       strings (neither of which will contain semicolons).

       (*) Change the access controls on a key

       keyctl chown <key> <uid>
       keyctl chgrp <key> <gid>

       These  two commands change the UID and GID associated with evaluating a
       key's permissions mask. The UID also governs which quota a key is taken
       out of.

       The  chown  command is not currently supported; attempting it will earn
       the error "Operation not supported" at best.

       For non-superuser users, the GID may only be set to the	process's  GID
       or a GID in the process's groups list. The superuser may set any GID it
       likes.

	      testbox>sudo keyctl chown 27 0
	      keyctl_chown: Operation not supported
	      testbox>sudo keyctl chgrp 27 0

       (*) Set the permissions mask on a key

       keyctl setperm <key> <mask>

       This command changes the permission control mask on a key. The mask may
       be  specified  as a hex number if it begins "0x", an octal number if it
       begins "0" or a decimal number otherwise.

       The hex numbers are a combination of:

	      Possessor UID	  GID	    Other     Permission Granted
	      ========	========  ========  ========  ==================
	      01000000	00010000  00000100  00000001  View
	      02000000	00020000  00000200  00000002  Read
	      04000000	00040000  00000400  00000004  Write
	      08000000	00080000  00000800  00000008  Search
	      10000000	00100000  00001000  00000010  Link
	      20000000	00200000  00002000  00000020  Set Attribute
	      3f000000	003f0000  00003f00  0000003f  All

       View permits the type, description and other parameters of a key to  be
       viewed.

       Read  permits  the payload (or keyring list) to be read if supported by
       the type.

       Write permits the payload (or keyring list) to be modified or updated.

       Search on a key permits it to be found when a keyring to	 which	it  is
       linked is searched.

       Link permits a key to be linked to a keyring.

       Set  Attribute  permits a key to have its owner, group membership, per-
       missions mask and timeout changed.

	      testbox>keyctl setperm 27 0x1f1f1f00

       (*) Start a new session with fresh keyrings

       keyctl session
       keyctl session - [<prog> <arg1> <arg2> ...]
       keyctl session <name> [<prog> <arg1> <arg2> ...]

       These commands join or create a new keyring and then  run  a  shell  or
       other program with that keyring as the session key.

       The  variation  with  no	 arguments  just  creates an anonymous session
       keyring and attaches that  as  the  session  keyring;  it  then	exec's
       $SHELL.

       The  variation with a dash in place of a name creates an anonymous ses-
       sion keyring and attaches that as the session keyring; it  then	exec's
       the supplied command, or $SHELL if one isn't supplied.

       The  variation  with a name supplied creates or joins the named keyring
       and attaches that as the session keyring; it then exec's	 the  supplied
       command, or $SHELL if one isn't supplied.

	      testbox>keyctl rdescribe @s
	      keyring;4043;-1;3f1f0000;_uid_ses.4043

	      testbox>keyctl session
	      Joined session keyring: 28
	      testbox>keyctl rdescribe @s
	      keyring;4043;4043;3f1f0000;_ses.24082

	      testbox>keyctl session -
	      Joined session keyring: 29
	      testbox>keyctl rdescribe @s
	      keyring;4043;4043;3f1f0000;_ses.24139

	      testbox>keyctl session - keyctl rdescribe @s
	      Joined session keyring: 30
	      keyring;4043;4043;3f1f0000;_ses.24185

	      testbox>keyctl session fish
	      Joined session keyring: 34
	      testbox>keyctl rdescribe @s
	      keyring;4043;4043;3f1f0000;fish

	      testbox>keyctl session fish keyctl rdesc @s
	      Joined session keyring: 35
	      keyring;4043;4043;3f1f0000;fish

       (*) Instantiate a key

       keyctl instantiate <key> <data> <keyring>
       keyctl pinstantiate <key> <keyring>
       keyctl negate <key> <timeout> <keyring>
       keyctl reject <key> <timeout> <error> <keyring>

       These  commands	are  used to attach data to a partially set up key (as
       created by the kernel and passed to /sbin/request-key).	 "instantiate"
       marks  a	 key  as  being	 valid	and  attaches the data as the payload.
       "negate" and "reject" mark a key as invalid and sets a timeout on it so
       that  it'll  go	away  after  a	while.	This prevents a lot of quickly
       sequential requests from slowing the system down overmuch when they all
       fail,  as  all subsequent requests will then fail with error "Requested
       key not found" (if negated) or the specified error (if rejected)	 until
       the negative key has expired.

       Reject's	 error	argument  can  either be a UNIX error number or one of
       'rejected', 'expired' or 'revoked'.

       The newly instantiated key will be attached to the specified keyring.

       These commands may only be run from the program run by request-key -  a
       special	authorisation  key is set up by the kernel and attached to the
       request-key's session keyring. This special key is revoked once the key
       to which it refers has been instantiated one way or another.

	      testbox>keyctl instantiate $1 "Debug $3" $4
	      testbox>keyctl negate $1 30 $4
	      testbox>keyctl reject $1 30 64 $4

       The  pinstantiate  variant  of  the  command  reads the data from stdin
       rather than taking it from the command line:

	      testbox>echo -n "Debug $3" | keyctl pinstantiate $1 $4

       (*) Set the expiry time on a key

       keyctl timeout <key> <timeout>

       This command is used to set the timeout on a key, or clear an  existing
       timeout	if the value specified is zero. The timeout is given as a num-
       ber of seconds into the future.

	      testbox>keyctl timeout $1 45

       (*) Retrieve a key's security context

       keyctl security <key>

       This command is used to retrieve a key's	 LSM  security	context.   The
       label is printed on stdout.

	      testbox>keyctl security @s
	      unconfined_u:unconfined_r:unconfined_t:s0-s0:c0.c1023

       (*) Give the parent process a new session keyring

       keyctl new_session

       This command is used to give the invoking process (typically a shell) a
       new session keyring, discarding its old session keyring.

	      testbox> keyctl session foo
	      Joined session keyring: 723488146
	      testbox> keyctl show
	      Session Keyring
		     -3 --alswrv      0	    0  keyring: foo
	      testbox> keyctl new_session
	      490511412
	      testbox> keyctl show
	      Session Keyring
		     -3 --alswrv      0	    0  keyring: _ses

       Note that this affects the parent of the process that invokes the  sys-
       tem  call,  and so may only affect processes with matching credentials.
       Furthermore, the change does not take effect till  the  parent  process
       next  transitions  from kernel space to user space - typically when the
       wait() system call returns.

       (*) Remove dead keys from the session keyring tree

       keyctl reap

       This command performs a depth-first  search  of	the  caller's  session
       keyring tree and attempts to unlink any key that it finds that is inac-
       cessible due to expiry, revocation, rejection or negation.  It does not
       attempt	to  remove live keys that are unavailable simply due to a lack
       of granted permission.

       A key that is designated reapable will only be removed from  a  keyring
       if  the	caller has Write permission on that keyring, and only keyrings
       that grant Search permission to the caller will be searched.

       The command prints the number of keys reaped before it exits.   If  the
       -v  flag	 is  passed  then  the reaped keys are listed as they're being
       reaped, together with the success or failure of the unlink.

       (*) Remove matching keys from the session keyring tree

       keyctl purge <type>
       keyctl purge [-i] [-p] <type> <desc>
       keyctl purge -s <type> <desc>

       These commands perform a depth-first search to find  matching  keys  in
       the  caller's  session  keyring	tree and attempts to unlink them.  The
       number of keys successfully unlinked is printed at the end.

       The keyrings must grant Read and View permission to the	caller	to  be
       searched,  and  the keys to be removed must also grant View permission.
       Keys can only be removed from keyrings that grant Write permission.

       The first variant purges all keys of the specified type.

       The second variant purges all keys of  the  specified  type  that  also
       match the given description literally.  The -i flag allows a case-inde-
       pendent match and the -p flag allows a prefix match.

       The third variant purges all keys of the specified  type	 and  matching
       description  using the key type's comparator in the kernel to match the
       description.  This permits the key type to match a key with  a  variety
       of descriptions.

ERRORS
       There are a number of common errors returned by this program:

       "Not a directory" - a key wasn't a keyring.

       "Requested key not found" - the looked for key isn't available.

       "Key has been revoked" - a revoked key was accessed.

       "Key has expired" - an expired key was accessed.

       "Permission  denied" - permission was denied by a UID/GID/mask combina-
       tion.


SEE ALSO
       keyctl(1), request-key.conf(5)



Linux				  10 Sep 2013			     KEYCTL(1)