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NAME

       request_key - request a key from the kernel's key management facility

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <keyutils.h>

       key_serial_t request_key(const char *type, const char *description,
                                const char *callout_info,
                                key_serial_t dest_keyring);

       No glibc wrapper is provided for this system call; see NOTES.

DESCRIPTION

       request_key()  attempts  to  find  a  key of the given type with a description (name) that
       matches the specified description.  If such a key could not be  found,  then  the  key  is
       optionally  created.   If  the  key  is found or created, request_key() attaches it to the
       keyring whose ID is specified in dest_keyring and returns the key's serial number.

       request_key() first recursively searches for  a  matching  key  in  all  of  the  keyrings
       attached  to the calling process.  The keyrings are searched in the order: thread-specific
       keyring, process-specific keyring, and then session keyring.

       If request_key() is called from a program invoked by request_key() on behalf of some other
       process  to generate a key, then the keyrings of that other process will be searched next,
       using that other process's user ID,  group  ID,  supplementary  group  IDs,  and  security
       context to determine access.

       The  search  of  the  keyring tree is breadth-first: the keys in each keyring searched are
       checked for a match before any child keyrings are recursed into.  Only keys for which  the
       caller  has  search permission be found, and only keyrings for which the caller has search
       permission may be searched.

       If the key is not found and callout is NULL, then the call fails with the error ENOKEY.

       If the key is not found and callout is not NULL, then the  kernel  attempts  to  invoke  a
       user-space program to instantiate the key.  The details are given below.

       The  dest_keyring  serial  number  may be that of a valid keyring for which the caller has
       write permission, or it may be one of the following special keyring IDs:

       KEY_SPEC_THREAD_KEYRING
              This specifies the caller's thread-specific keyring (see thread-keyring(7)).

       KEY_SPEC_PROCESS_KEYRING
              This specifies the caller's process-specific keyring (see process-keyring(7)).

       KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING
              This specifies the caller's session-specific keyring (see session-keyring(7)).

       KEY_SPEC_USER_KEYRING
              This specifies the caller's UID-specific keyring (see user-keyring(7)).

       KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING
              This specifies the caller's UID-session keyring (see user-session-keyring(7)).

       When the dest_keyring is specified as 0 and no key construction has been  performed,  then
       no additional linking is done.

       Otherwise,  if  dest_keyring is 0 and a new key is constructed, the new key will be linked
       to the "default" keyring.  More precisely, when the kernel tries  to  determine  to  which
       keyring  the  newly  constructed  key  should  be linked, it tries the following keyrings,
       beginning with the keyring set via the keyctl(2) KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING  operation  and
       continuing in the order shown below until it finds the first keyring that exists:

       •  The requestor keyring (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_REQUESTOR_KEYRING, since Linux 2.6.29).

       •  The thread-specific keyring (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_THREAD_KEYRING; see thread-keyring(7)).

       •  The process-specific keyring (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_PROCESS_KEYRING; see process-keyring(7)).

       •  The session-specific keyring (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_SESSION_KEYRING; see session-keyring(7)).

       •  The  session  keyring  for the process's user ID (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_SESSION_KEYRING;
          see user-session-keyring(7)).  This keyring is expected to always exist.

       •  The UID-specific keyring  (KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_USER_KEYRING;  see  user-keyring(7)).   This
          keyring is also expected to always exist.

       If the keyctl(2) KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING operation specifies KEY_REQKEY_DEFL_DEFAULT (or
       no KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING operation is performed), then the kernel looks for a  keyring
       starting from the beginning of the list.

   Requesting user-space instantiation of a key
       If  the  kernel  cannot find a key matching type and description, and callout is not NULL,
       then the kernel attempts to invoke a user-space program to  instantiate  a  key  with  the
       given type and description.  In this case, the following steps are performed:

       a)  The kernel creates an uninstantiated key, U, with the requested type and description.

       b)  The  kernel  creates an authorization key, V, that refers to the key U and records the
           facts that the caller of request_key() is:

           (1) the context in which the key U should be instantiated and secured, and

           (2) the context from which associated key requests may be satisfied.

           The authorization key is constructed as follows:

           *  The key type is ".request_key_auth".

           *  The key's UID and GID are the same as  the  corresponding  filesystem  IDs  of  the
              requesting process.

           *  The  key  grants view, read, and search permissions to the key possessor as well as
              view permission for the key user.

           *  The description (name) of the key is the hexadecimal string representing the ID  of
              the key that is to be instantiated in the requesting program.

           *  The payload of the key is taken from the data specified in callout_info.

           *  Internally,   the   kernel  also  records  the  PID  of  the  process  that  called
              request_key().

       c)  The kernel creates a process that executes a user-space service such as request-key(8)
           with a new session keyring that contains a link to the authorization key, V.

           This program is supplied with the following command-line arguments:

           [0] The string "/sbin/request-key".

           [1] The string "create" (indicating that a key is to be created).

           [2] The ID of the key that is to be instantiated.

           [3] The filesystem UID of the caller of request_key().

           [4] The filesystem GID of the caller of request_key().

           [5] The  ID of the thread keyring of the caller of request_key().  This may be zero if
               that keyring hasn't been created.

           [6] The ID of the process keyring of the caller of request_key().  This may be zero if
               that keyring hasn't been created.

           [7] The ID of the session keyring of the caller of request_key().

           Note:  each  of  the  command-line  arguments  that  is a key ID is encoded in decimal
           (unlike the key IDs shown in /proc/keys, which are shown as hexadecimal values).

       d)  The program spawned in the previous step:

           *  Assumes  the  authority  to   instantiate   the   key   U   using   the   keyctl(2)
              KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY  operation  (typically  via  the keyctl_assume_authority(3)
              function).

           *  Obtains the callout data from the payload of the authorization  key  V  (using  the
              keyctl(2)  KEYCTL_READ  operation  (or, more commonly, the keyctl_read(3) function)
              with a key ID value of KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY).

           *  Instantiates the key (or execs another program that performs that task), specifying
              the  payload  and destination keyring.  (The destination keyring that the requestor
              specified when calling request_key() can be  accessed  using  the  special  key  ID
              KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING.)    Instantiation  is  performed  using  the  keyctl(2)
              KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE  operation  (or,  more   commonly,   the   keyctl_instantiate(3)
              function).   At  this  point,  the request_key() call completes, and the requesting
              program can continue execution.

       If these steps are unsuccessful, then an ENOKEY error will be returned to  the  caller  of
       request_key()  and  a  temporary,  negatively  instantiated  key  will be installed in the
       keyring specified by dest_keyring.  This will expire after a few seconds, but  will  cause
       subsequent  calls  to request_key() to fail until it does.  The purpose of this negatively
       instantiated key is to prevent (possibly different)  processes  making  repeated  requests
       (that  require  expensive  request-key(8) upcalls) for a key that can't (at the moment) be
       positively instantiated.

       Once the key has been instantiated, the authorization  key  (KEY_SPEC_REQKEY_AUTH_KEY)  is
       revoked,  and the destination keyring (KEY_SPEC_REQUESTOR_KEYRING) is no longer accessible
       from the request-key(8) program.

       If a key is created, then—regardless of  whether  it  is  a  valid  key  or  a  negatively
       instantiated  key—it  will  displace any other key with the same type and description from
       the keyring specified in dest_keyring.

RETURN VALUE

       On success, request_key() returns the serial number of the key it found or  caused  to  be
       created.  On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate the cause of the error.

ERRORS

       EACCES The keyring wasn't available for modification by the user.

       EDQUOT The key quota for this user would be exceeded by creating this key or linking it to
              the keyring.

       EFAULT One of type, description, or callout_info points outside the  process's  accessible
              address space.

       EINTR  The request was interrupted by a signal; see signal(7).

       EINVAL The  size  of the string (including the terminating null byte) specified in type or
              description exceeded the limit (32 bytes and 4096 bytes respectively).

       EINVAL The size  of  the  string  (including  the  terminating  null  byte)  specified  in
              callout_info exceeded the system page size.

       EKEYEXPIRED
              An expired key was found, but no replacement could be obtained.

       EKEYREJECTED
              The attempt to generate a new key was rejected.

       EKEYREVOKED
              A revoked key was found, but no replacement could be obtained.

       ENOKEY No matching key was found.

       ENOMEM Insufficient memory to create a key.

       EPERM  The type argument started with a period ('.').

VERSIONS

       This  system  call  first  appeared in Linux 2.6.10.  The ability to instantiate keys upon
       request was added in Linux 2.6.13.

CONFORMING TO

       This system call is a nonstandard Linux extension.

NOTES

       No wrapper for this system call is provided in  glibc.   A  wrapper  is  provided  in  the
       libkeyutils package.  When employing the wrapper in that library, link with -lkeyutils.

EXAMPLES

       The  program  below  demonstrates  the  use  of request_key().  The type, description, and
       callout_info arguments for the system call are taken  from  the  values  supplied  in  the
       command-line arguments.  The call specifies the session keyring as the target keyring.

       In  order  to  demonstrate  this  program,  we  first  create a suitable entry in the file
       /etc/request-key.conf.

           $ sudo sh
           # echo 'create user mtk:* *   /bin/keyctl instantiate %k %c %S' \
                     > /etc/request-key.conf
           # exit

       This entry specifies  that  when  a  new  "user"  key  with  the  prefix  "mtk:"  must  be
       instantiated,  that  task  should  be  performed  via  the keyctl(1) command's instantiate
       operation.  The arguments supplied to  the  instantiate  operation  are:  the  ID  of  the
       uninstantiated key (%k); the callout data supplied to the request_key() call (%c); and the
       session  keyring  (%S)  of  the  requestor  (i.e.,  the  caller  of  request_key()).   See
       request-key.conf(5) for details of these % specifiers.

       Then  we run the program and check the contents of /proc/keys to verify that the requested
       key has been instantiated:

           $ ./t_request_key user mtk:key1 "Payload data"
           $ grep '2dddaf50' /proc/keys
           2dddaf50 I--Q---  1 perm 3f010000  1000  1000 user  mtk:key1: 12

       For another example of the use of this program, see keyctl(2).

   Program source

       /* t_request_key.c */

       #include <sys/types.h>
       #include <keyutils.h>
       #include <stdint.h>
       #include <stdio.h>
       #include <stdlib.h>
       #include <string.h>

       int
       main(int argc, char *argv[])
       {
           key_serial_t key;

           if (argc != 4) {
               fprintf(stderr, "Usage: %s type description callout-data\n",
                       argv[0]);
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           key = request_key(argv[1], argv[2], argv[3],
                             KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING);
           if (key == -1) {
               perror("request_key");
               exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
           }

           printf("Key ID is %jx\n", (uintmax_t) key);

           exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
       }

SEE ALSO

       keyctl(1), add_key(2), keyctl(2), keyctl(3), capabilities(7), keyrings(7), keyutils(7),
       persistent-keyring(7), process-keyring(7), session-keyring(7), thread-keyring(7),
       user-keyring(7), user-session-keyring(7), request-key(8)

       The kernel source files Documentation/security/keys/core.rst and
       Documentation/keys/request-key.rst (or, before Linux 4.13, in the files
       Documentation/security/keys.txt and Documentation/security/keys-request-key.txt).

COLOPHON

       This page is part of release 5.10 of the Linux man-pages project.  A description of the
       project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be
       found at https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.