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NAME

       prctl - operations on a process

SYNOPSIS

       #include <sys/prctl.h>

       int prctl(int option, unsigned long arg2, unsigned long arg3,
                 unsigned long arg4, unsigned long arg5);

DESCRIPTION

       prctl()  is  called  with  a  first argument describing what to do (with values defined in
       <linux/prctl.h>), and further arguments with a significance depending on  the  first  one.
       The first argument can be:

       PR_CAP_AMBIENT (since Linux 4.3)
              Reads  or changes the ambient capability set, according to the value of arg2, which
              must be one of the following:

              PR_CAP_AMBIENT_RAISE
                     The capability specified in arg3 is added to the ambient set.  The specified
                     capability must already be present in both the permitted and the inheritable
                     sets  of  the  process.   This   operation   is   not   permitted   if   the
                     SECBIT_NO_CAP_AMBIENT_RAISE securebit is set.

              PR_CAP_AMBIENT_LOWER
                     The capability specified in arg3 is removed from the ambient set.

              PR_CAP_AMBIENT_IS_SET
                     The  prctl(2) call returns 1 if the capability in arg3 is in the ambient set
                     and 0 if it is not.

              PR_CAP_AMBIENT_CLEAR_ALL
                     All capabilities will be removed  from  the  ambient  set.   This  operation
                     requires setting arg3 to zero.

              In all of the above operations, arg4 and arg5 must be specified as 0.

       PR_CAPBSET_READ (since Linux 2.6.25)
              Return  (as  the  function  result) 1 if the capability specified in arg2 is in the
              calling thread's capability bounding set, or 0  if  it  is  not.   (The  capability
              constants  are  defined  in  <linux/capability.h>.)   The  capability  bounding set
              dictates whether the process can receive the capability through a file's  permitted
              capability set on a subsequent call to execve(2).

              If  the  capability  specified  in  arg2 is not valid, then the call fails with the
              error EINVAL.

       PR_CAPBSET_DROP (since Linux 2.6.25)
              If the calling thread has the CAP_SETPCAP  capability,  then  drop  the  capability
              specified  by arg2 from the calling thread's capability bounding set.  Any children
              of the calling thread will inherit the newly reduced bounding set.

              The call fails with the error: EPERM if  the  calling  thread  does  not  have  the
              CAP_SETPCAP;  EINVAL  if  arg2  does not represent a valid capability; or EINVAL if
              file capabilities are not enabled in the kernel, in which case  bounding  sets  are
              not supported.

       PR_SET_CHILD_SUBREAPER (since Linux 3.4)
              If  arg2 is nonzero, set the "child subreaper" attribute of the calling process; if
              arg2 is zero, unset the attribute.  When a process is marked as a child  subreaper,
              all  of  the  children  that  it  creates, and their descendants, will be marked as
              having a subreaper.  In effect, a subreaper fulfills the role of  init(1)  for  its
              descendant  processes.   Upon  termination of a process that is orphaned (i.e., its
              immediate parent has already terminated) and marked  as  having  a  subreaper,  the
              nearest  still  living ancestor subreaper will receive a SIGCHLD signal and be able
              to wait(2) on the process to discover its termination status.

       PR_GET_CHILD_SUBREAPER (since Linux 3.4)
              Return the "child subreaper" setting of the caller, in the location pointed  to  by
              (int *) arg2.

       PR_SET_DUMPABLE (since Linux 2.3.20)
              Set  the  state  of  the  "dumpable"  flag, which determines whether core dumps are
              produced for the calling process upon delivery of a signal whose  default  behavior
              is to produce a core dump.

              In  kernels  up  to and including 2.6.12, arg2 must be either 0 (SUID_DUMP_DISABLE,
              process is not dumpable) or  1  (SUID_DUMP_USER,  process  is  dumpable).   Between
              kernels  2.6.13 and 2.6.17, the value 2 was also permitted, which caused any binary
              which normally would not be dumped to be dumped readable by root only; for security
              reasons, this feature has been removed.  (See also the description of /proc/sys/fs/
              suid_dumpable in proc(5).)

              Normally, this flag is set to 1.   However,  it  is  reset  to  the  current  value
              contained  in  the  file /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable (which by default has the value
              0), if any of the following attributes of the process are changed by the operations
              listed below:

              *  The effective user or group ID is changed.

              *  The filesystem user or group ID is changed (see credentials(7)).

              *  The  process's  set  of  permitted capabilities (see capabilities(7)) is changed
                 such that its new set of capabilities is not a subset of  its  previous  set  of
                 capabilities.

              The operations that may trigger changes to the dumpable flag include:

              *  execution  (execve(2))  of  a  set-user-ID or set-group-ID program, or a program
                 that has capabilities (see capabilities(7));

              *  capset(2); and

              *  system calls that change process credentials (setuid(2) setgid(2), setresuid(2),
                 setresgid(2), setgroups(2), and so on).

              Processes that are not dumpable can not be attached via ptrace(2) PTRACE_ATTACH.

       PR_GET_DUMPABLE (since Linux 2.3.20)
              Return (as the function result) the current state of the calling process's dumpable
              flag.

       PR_SET_ENDIAN (since Linux 2.6.18, PowerPC only)
              Set the endian-ness of the calling process to the value given in arg2, which should
              be  one  of the following: PR_ENDIAN_BIG, PR_ENDIAN_LITTLE, or PR_ENDIAN_PPC_LITTLE
              (PowerPC pseudo little endian).

       PR_GET_ENDIAN (since Linux 2.6.18, PowerPC only)
              Return the endian-ness of the calling  process,  in  the  location  pointed  to  by
              (int *) arg2.

       PR_SET_FPEMU (since Linux 2.4.18, 2.5.9, only on ia64)
              Set  floating-point  emulation  control  bits  to  arg2.   Pass PR_FPEMU_NOPRINT to
              silently emulate floating-point  operation  accesses,  or  PR_FPEMU_SIGFPE  to  not
              emulate floating-point operations and send SIGFPE instead.

       PR_GET_FPEMU (since Linux 2.4.18, 2.5.9, only on ia64)
              Return floating-point emulation control bits, in the location pointed to by (int *)
              arg2.

       PR_SET_FPEXC (since Linux 2.4.21, 2.5.32, only on PowerPC)
              Set floating-point exception mode to arg2.  Pass PR_FP_EXC_SW_ENABLE to  use  FPEXC
              for  FP  exception  enables,  PR_FP_EXC_DIV  for  floating-point  divide  by  zero,
              PR_FP_EXC_OVF  for  floating-point  overflow,  PR_FP_EXC_UND   for   floating-point
              underflow,  PR_FP_EXC_RES  for  floating-point  inexact  result,  PR_FP_EXC_INV for
              floating-point invalid operation, PR_FP_EXC_DISABLED for  FP  exceptions  disabled,
              PR_FP_EXC_NONRECOV  for  async  nonrecoverable  exception mode, PR_FP_EXC_ASYNC for
              async recoverable exception mode, PR_FP_EXC_PRECISE for precise exception mode.

       PR_GET_FPEXC (since Linux 2.4.21, 2.5.32, only on PowerPC)
              Return floating-point exception mode, in the location pointed to by (int *) arg2.

       PR_SET_KEEPCAPS (since Linux 2.2.18)
              Set the state of the thread's "keep capabilities" flag,  which  determines  whether
              the  threads's  permitted  capability  set  is cleared when a change is made to the
              threads's user IDs such that the threads's real UID, effective UID, and saved  set-
              user-ID  all  become  nonzero when at least one of them previously had the value 0.
              By default, the permitted capability set is cleared when such  a  change  is  made;
              setting  the "keep capabilities" flag prevents it from being cleared.  arg2 must be
              either 0 (permitted capabilities are cleared)  or  1  (permitted  capabilities  are
              kept).   (A  thread's  effective  capability  set  is  always  cleared  when such a
              credential change is made, regardless of the setting  of  the  "keep  capabilities"
              flag.)   The  "keep  capabilities"  value will be reset to 0 on subsequent calls to
              execve(2).

       PR_GET_KEEPCAPS (since Linux 2.2.18)
              Return (as the function result) the current state of the  calling  threads's  "keep
              capabilities" flag.

       PR_MCE_KILL (since Linux 2.6.32)
              Set  the  machine  check  memory corruption kill policy for the current thread.  If
              arg2 is PR_MCE_KILL_CLEAR, clear the thread memory corruption kill policy  and  use
              the    system-wide    default.     (The   system-wide   default   is   defined   by
              /proc/sys/vm/memory_failure_early_kill; see proc(5).)  If arg2 is  PR_MCE_KILL_SET,
              use  a  thread-specific  memory corruption kill policy.  In this case, arg3 defines
              whether the policy is early kill (PR_MCE_KILL_EARLY), late kill (PR_MCE_KILL_LATE),
              or the system-wide default (PR_MCE_KILL_DEFAULT).  Early kill means that the thread
              receives a SIGBUS signal as soon as hardware memory corruption is  detected  inside
              its  address space.  In late kill mode, the process is killed only when it accesses
              a corrupted page.  See sigaction(2) for more information on the SIGBUS signal.  The
              policy  is  inherited  by children.  The remaining unused prctl() arguments must be
              zero for future compatibility.

       PR_MCE_KILL_GET (since Linux 2.6.32)
              Return the current per-process machine  check  kill  policy.   All  unused  prctl()
              arguments must be zero.

       PR_SET_MM (since Linux 3.3)
              Modify certain kernel memory map descriptor fields of the calling process.  Usually
              these fields are set by the kernel  and  dynamic  loader  (see  ld.so(8)  for  more
              information) and a regular application should not use this feature.  However, there
              are cases, such as self-modifying programs, where a program might find it useful to
              change  its  own memory map.  This feature is available only if the kernel is built
              with the CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE option enabled.  The calling process  must  have
              the  CAP_SYS_RESOURCE  capability.   The value in arg2 is one of the options below,
              while arg3 provides a new value for the option.

              PR_SET_MM_START_CODE
                     Set the address above which the program text  can  run.   The  corresponding
                     memory  area  must  be readable and executable, but not writable or sharable
                     (see mprotect(2) and mmap(2) for more information).

              PR_SET_MM_END_CODE
                     Set the address below which the program text  can  run.   The  corresponding
                     memory area must be readable and executable, but not writable or sharable.

              PR_SET_MM_START_DATA
                     Set  the  address  above  which initialized and uninitialized (bss) data are
                     placed.  The corresponding memory area must be readable  and  writable,  but
                     not executable or sharable.

              PR_SET_MM_END_DATA
                     Set  the  address  below  which initialized and uninitialized (bss) data are
                     placed.  The corresponding memory area must be readable  and  writable,  but
                     not executable or sharable.

              PR_SET_MM_START_STACK
                     Set  the  start address of the stack.  The corresponding memory area must be
                     readable and writable.

              PR_SET_MM_START_BRK
                     Set the address above which the program heap can  be  expanded  with  brk(2)
                     call.   The  address  must be greater than the ending address of the current
                     program data segment.  In addition, the combined size of the resulting  heap
                     and the size of the data segment can't exceed the RLIMIT_DATA resource limit
                     (see setrlimit(2)).

              PR_SET_MM_BRK
                     Set the current brk(2) value.  The requirements for the address are the same
                     as for the PR_SET_MM_START_BRK option.

              The following options are available since Linux 3.5.

              PR_SET_MM_ARG_START
                     Set the address above which the program command line is placed.

              PR_SET_MM_ARG_END
                     Set the address below which the program command line is placed.

              PR_SET_MM_ENV_START
                     Set the address above which the program environment is placed.

              PR_SET_MM_ENV_END
                     Set the address below which the program environment is placed.

                     The    address    passed    with   PR_SET_MM_ARG_START,   PR_SET_MM_ARG_END,
                     PR_SET_MM_ENV_START, and PR_SET_MM_ENV_END should belong to a process  stack
                     area.   Thus,  the corresponding memory area must be readable, writable, and
                     (depending on the kernel configuration) have the MAP_GROWSDOWN attribute set
                     (see mmap(2)).

              PR_SET_MM_AUXV
                     Set a new auxiliary vector.  The arg3 argument should provide the address of
                     the vector.  The arg4 is the size of the vector.

              PR_SET_MM_EXE_FILE
                     Supersede the /proc/pid/exe symbolic link with a new one pointing to  a  new
                     executable file identified by the file descriptor provided in arg3 argument.
                     The file descriptor should be obtained with a regular open(2) call.

                     To change the symbolic link, one needs  to  unmap  all  existing  executable
                     memory  areas, including those created by the kernel itself (for example the
                     kernel usually creates at least one executable memory area for the ELF .text
                     section).

                     The  second  limitation  is that such transitions can be done only once in a
                     process life time.  Any further attempts will be rejected.  This should help
                     system  administrators  monitor  unusual  symbolic-link transitions over all
                     processes running on a system.

       PR_MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT, PR_MPX_DISABLE_MANAGEMENT (since Linux 3.19)
              Enable or disable kernel management of Memory Protection  eXtensions  (MPX)  bounds
              tables.  The arg2, arg3, arg4, and arg5 arguments must be zero.

              MPX  is  a  hardware-assisted mechanism for performing bounds checking on pointers.
              It consists of a set of registers storing bounds information and a set  of  special
              instruction  prefixes  that  tell the CPU on which instructions it should do bounds
              enforcement.  There is a limited number of these registers and when there are  more
              pointers  than  registers,  their  contents must be "spilled" into a set of tables.
              These tables are called "bounds tables" and  the  MPX  prctl()  operations  control
              whether the kernel manages their allocation and freeing.

              When management is enabled, the kernel will take over allocation and freeing of the
              bounds tables.  It does this by trapping the #BR exceptions that  result  at  first
              use of missing bounds tables and instead of delivering the exception to user space,
              it allocates the table and populates the bounds directory with the location of  the
              new  table.  For freeing, the kernel checks to see if bounds tables are present for
              memory which is not allocated, and frees them if so.

              Before enabling MPX management using PR_MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT, the application must
              first  have  allocated  a user-space buffer for the bounds directory and placed the
              location of that directory in the bndcfgu register.

              These calls will fail if the CPU or kernel does not support  MPX.   Kernel  support
              for  MPX  is  enabled  via  the CONFIG_X86_INTEL_MPX configuration option.  You can
              check whether the CPU supports MPX by looking for the 'mpx' CPUID  bit,  like  with
              the following command:

                   cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep ' mpx '

              A thread may not switch in or out of long (64-bit) mode while MPX is enabled.

              All threads in a process are affected by these calls.

              The child of a fork(2) inherits the state of MPX management.  During execve(2), MPX
              management is reset to a state as if PR_MPX_DISABLE_MANAGEMENT had been called.

              For  further   information   on   Intel   MPX,   see   the   kernel   source   file
              Documentation/x86/intel_mpx.txt.

       PR_SET_NAME (since Linux 2.6.9)
              Set  the  name of the calling thread, using the value in the location pointed to by
              (char *) arg2.  The name can be up to 16 bytes long, including the terminating null
              byte.   (If  the length of the string, including the terminating null byte, exceeds
              16 bytes, the string is silently truncated.)  This is the same attribute  that  can
              be  set  via  pthread_setname_np(3) and retrieved using pthread_getname_np(3).  The
              attribute is likewise accessible via /proc/self/task/[tid]/comm, where tid  is  the
              name of the calling thread.

       PR_GET_NAME (since Linux 2.6.11)
              Return  the  name of the calling thread, in the buffer pointed to by (char *) arg2.
              The buffer should allow space for up to 16 bytes; the returned string will be null-
              terminated.

       PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS (since Linux 3.5)
              Set the calling process's no_new_privs bit to the value in arg2.  With no_new_privs
              set to 1, execve(2) promises not to grant privileges to do anything that could  not
              have  been  done without the execve(2) call (for example, rendering the set-user-ID
              and set-group-ID mode bits, and file capabilities non-functional).  Once set,  this
              bit  cannot  be unset.  The setting of this bit is inherited by children created by
              fork(2) and clone(2), and preserved across execve(2).

              For      more      information,      see      the      kernel      source      file
              Documentation/prctl/no_new_privs.txt.

       PR_GET_NO_NEW_PRIVS (since Linux 3.5)
              Return  (as  the function result) the value of the no_new_privs bit for the current
              process.  A value of 0 indicates the regular execve(2)  behavior.   A  value  of  1
              indicates execve(2) will operate in the privilege-restricting mode described above.

       PR_SET_PDEATHSIG (since Linux 2.1.57)
              Set  the  parent death signal of the calling process to arg2 (either a signal value
              in the range 1..maxsig, or 0 to clear).   This  is  the  signal  that  the  calling
              process  will  get  when its parent dies.  This value is cleared for the child of a
              fork(2) and (since Linux 2.4.36 / 2.6.23) when  executing  a  set-user-ID  or  set-
              group-ID   binary,   or   a   binary   that   has   associated   capabilities  (see
              capabilities(7)).  This value is preserved across execve(2).

              Warning: the "parent" in this case is considered to be the thread that created this
              process.  In other words, the signal will be sent when that thread terminates (via,
              for example, pthread_exit(3)), rather than after all of the threads in  the  parent
              process terminate.

       PR_GET_PDEATHSIG (since Linux 2.3.15)
              Return  the  current  value  of  the  parent  process death signal, in the location
              pointed to by (int *) arg2.

       PR_SET_PTRACER (since Linux 3.4)
              This is meaningful only when the Yama LSM is enabled and  in  mode  1  ("restricted
              ptrace",  visible via /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope).  When a "ptracer process
              ID" is passed in arg2, the  caller  is  declaring  that  the  ptracer  process  can
              ptrace(2)  the  calling  process  as  if  it  were a direct process ancestor.  Each
              PR_SET_PTRACER operation replaces the previous  "ptracer  process  ID".   Employing
              PR_SET_PTRACER  with  arg2  set  to 0 clears the caller's "ptracer process ID".  If
              arg2  is  PR_SET_PTRACER_ANY,  the  ptrace  restrictions  introduced  by  Yama  are
              effectively disabled for the calling process.

              For      further      information,      see      the     kernel     source     file
              Documentation/security/Yama.txt.

       PR_SET_SECCOMP (since Linux 2.6.23)
              Set the secure computing (seccomp) mode  for  the  calling  thread,  to  limit  the
              available system calls.  The more recent seccomp(2) system call provides a superset
              of the functionality of PR_SET_SECCOMP.

              The seccomp mode is selected via arg2.   (The  seccomp  constants  are  defined  in
              <linux/seccomp.h>.)

              With  arg2  set  to  SECCOMP_MODE_STRICT,  the only system calls that the thread is
              permitted to make are read(2), write(2),  _exit(2)  (but  not  exit_group(2)),  and
              sigreturn(2).   Other  system  calls  result  in  the delivery of a SIGKILL signal.
              Strict secure computing mode is useful for number-crunching applications  that  may
              need  to  execute  untrusted  byte code, perhaps obtained by reading from a pipe or
              socket.  This operation  is  available  only  if  the  kernel  is  configured  with
              CONFIG_SECCOMP enabled.

              With  arg2  set  to SECCOMP_MODE_FILTER (since Linux 3.5), the system calls allowed
              are defined by a pointer to a Berkeley Packet Filter passed in arg3.  This argument
              is  a  pointer  to struct sock_fprog; it can be designed to filter arbitrary system
              calls and system call arguments.  This mode is available  only  if  the  kernel  is
              configured with CONFIG_SECCOMP_FILTER enabled.

              If  SECCOMP_MODE_FILTER  filters permit fork(2), then the seccomp mode is inherited
              by children created by fork(2); if execve(2) is permitted, then the seccomp mode is
              preserved  across  execve(2).  If the filters permit prctl() calls, then additional
              filters can be added; they are run in order until the  first  non-allow  result  is
              seen.

              For      further      information,      see      the     kernel     source     file
              Documentation/prctl/seccomp_filter.txt.

       PR_GET_SECCOMP (since Linux 2.6.23)
              Return (as the function result) the secure computing mode of  the  calling  thread.
              If  the  caller  is  not in secure computing mode, this operation returns 0; if the
              caller is in strict secure computing mode, then  the  prctl()  call  will  cause  a
              SIGKILL  signal  to  be  sent to the process.  If the caller is in filter mode, and
              this system call is allowed by the seccomp filters, it returns  2;  otherwise,  the
              process  is  killed with a SIGKILL signal.  This operation is available only if the
              kernel is configured with CONFIG_SECCOMP enabled.

              Since Linux 3.8, the Seccomp field of the /proc/[pid]/status file provides a method
              of obtaining the same information, without the risk that the process is killed; see
              proc(5).

       PR_SET_SECUREBITS (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Set the "securebits" flags of the calling thread to the  value  supplied  in  arg2.
              See capabilities(7).

       PR_GET_SECUREBITS (since Linux 2.6.26)
              Return  (as the function result) the "securebits" flags of the calling thread.  See
              capabilities(7).

       PR_SET_THP_DISABLE (since Linux 3.15)
              Set the state of the "THP disable" flag for the calling  thread.   If  arg2  has  a
              nonzero  value,  the  flag  is  set,  otherwise  it  is cleared.  Setting this flag
              provides a method for disabling transparent huge pages  for  jobs  where  the  code
              cannot be modified, and using a malloc hook with madvise(2) is not an option (i.e.,
              statically allocated data).  The setting of the "THP disable" flag is inherited  by
              a child created via fork(2) and is preserved across execve(2).

       PR_TASK_PERF_EVENTS_DISABLE (since Linux 2.6.31)
              Disable  all  performance  counters  attached to the calling process, regardless of
              whether the counters were created by this process or another process.   Performance
              counters  created  by  the calling process for other processes are unaffected.  For
              more information  on  performance  counters,  see  the  Linux  kernel  source  file
              tools/perf/design.txt.

              Originally  called  PR_TASK_PERF_COUNTERS_DISABLE;  renamed  (with  same  numerical
              value) in Linux 2.6.32.

       PR_TASK_PERF_EVENTS_ENABLE (since Linux 2.6.31)
              The converse of PR_TASK_PERF_EVENTS_DISABLE; enable performance  counters  attached
              to the calling process.

              Originally called PR_TASK_PERF_COUNTERS_ENABLE; renamed in Linux 2.6.32.

       PR_GET_THP_DISABLE (since Linux 3.15)
              Return  (via the function result) the current setting of the "THP disable" flag for
              the calling thread: either 1, if the flag is set, or 0, if it is not.

       PR_GET_TID_ADDRESS (since Linux 3.5)
              Retrieve the clear_child_tid address set by  set_tid_address(2)  and  the  clone(2)
              CLONE_CHILD_CLEARTID  flag,  in  the  location  pointed  to by (int **) arg2.  This
              feature is available only if the kernel is built with the CONFIG_CHECKPOINT_RESTORE
              option enabled.

       PR_SET_TIMERSLACK (since Linux 2.6.28)
              Set the current timer slack for the calling thread to the nanosecond value supplied
              in arg2.  If arg2 is less than or equal to zero, reset the current timer  slack  to
              the  thread's  default timer slack value.  The timer slack is used by the kernel to
              group timer expirations for the calling thread that are close to one another; as  a
              consequence,  timer expirations for the thread may be up to the specified number of
              nanoseconds late (but will never expire early).   Grouping  timer  expirations  can
              help reduce system power consumption by minimizing CPU wake-ups.

              The  timer  expirations  affected  by  timer  slack  are  those  set  by select(2),
              pselect(2), poll(2), ppoll(2), epoll_wait(2),  epoll_pwait(2),  clock_nanosleep(2),
              nanosleep(2), and futex(2) (and thus the library functions implemented via futexes,
              including          pthread_cond_timedwait(3),           pthread_mutex_timedlock(3),
              pthread_rwlock_timedrdlock(3),          pthread_rwlock_timedwrlock(3),          and
              sem_timedwait(3)).

              Timer slack is not  applied  to  threads  that  are  scheduled  under  a  real-time
              scheduling policy (see sched_setscheduler(2)).

              Each  thread  has  two  associated  timer  slack  values:  a "default" value, and a
              "current" value.  The current value is the  one  that  governs  grouping  of  timer
              expirations.  When a new thread is created, the two timer slack values are made the
              same as the current value of the creating thread.  Thereafter, a thread can  adjust
              its  current  timer  slack  value via PR_SET_TIMERSLACK (the default value can't be
              changed).  The timer slack values of init (PID 1), the ancestor of  all  processes,
              are  50,000  nanoseconds  (50  microseconds).  The timer slack values are preserved
              across execve(2).

       PR_GET_TIMERSLACK (since Linux 2.6.28)
              Return (as the function result) the  current  timer  slack  value  of  the  calling
              thread.

       PR_SET_TIMING (since Linux 2.6.0-test4)
              Set  whether  to  use  (normal, traditional) statistical process timing or accurate
              timestamp-based   process   timing,    by    passing    PR_TIMING_STATISTICAL    or
              PR_TIMING_TIMESTAMP  to  arg2.   PR_TIMING_TIMESTAMP  is  not currently implemented
              (attempting to set this mode will yield the error EINVAL).

       PR_GET_TIMING (since Linux 2.6.0-test4)
              Return (as the function result) which process timing method is currently in use.

       PR_SET_TSC (since Linux 2.6.26, x86 only)
              Set the state of the flag determining whether the timestamp counter can be read  by
              the  process.  Pass PR_TSC_ENABLE to arg2 to allow it to be read, or PR_TSC_SIGSEGV
              to generate a SIGSEGV when the process tries to read the timestamp counter.

       PR_GET_TSC (since Linux 2.6.26, x86 only)
              Return the state of the flag determining whether the timestamp counter can be read,
              in the location pointed to by (int *) arg2.

       PR_SET_UNALIGN
              (Only  on:  ia64,  since  Linux  2.3.48; parisc, since Linux 2.6.15; PowerPC, since
              Linux 2.6.18; Alpha, since Linux 2.6.22) Set unaligned access control bits to arg2.
              Pass   PR_UNALIGN_NOPRINT   to   silently   fix  up  unaligned  user  accesses,  or
              PR_UNALIGN_SIGBUS to generate SIGBUS on unaligned user access.

       PR_GET_UNALIGN
              (see PR_SET_UNALIGN for information on versions and architectures) Return unaligned
              access control bits, in the location pointed to by (int *) arg2.

RETURN VALUE

       On  success,  PR_GET_DUMPABLE,  PR_GET_KEEPCAPS,  PR_GET_NO_NEW_PRIVS, PR_GET_THP_DISABLE,
       PR_CAPBSET_READ,  PR_GET_TIMING,  PR_GET_TIMERSLACK,  PR_GET_SECUREBITS,  PR_MCE_KILL_GET,
       PR_CAP_AMBIENT+PR_CAP_AMBIENT_IS_SET,  and  (if  it  returns)  PR_GET_SECCOMP  return  the
       nonnegative values described above.  All other option values  return  0  on  success.   On
       error, -1 is returned, and errno is set appropriately.

ERRORS

       EACCES option is PR_SET_MM, and arg3 is PR_SET_MM_EXE_FILE, the file is not executable.

       EBADF  option  is PR_SET_MM, arg3 is PR_SET_MM_EXE_FILE, and the file descriptor passed in
              arg4 is not valid.

       EBUSY  option is PR_SET_MM, arg3 is PR_SET_MM_EXE_FILE, and this  the  second  attempt  to
              change the /proc/pid/exe symbolic link, which is prohibited.

       EFAULT arg2 is an invalid address.

       EFAULT option  is  PR_SET_SECCOMP,  arg2 is SECCOMP_MODE_FILTER, the system was built with
              CONFIG_SECCOMP_FILTER, and arg3 is an invalid address.

       EINVAL The value of option is not recognized.

       EINVAL option is PR_MCE_KILL or PR_MCE_KILL_GET or PR_SET_MM, and unused prctl() arguments
              were not specified as zero.

       EINVAL arg2 is not valid value for this option.

       EINVAL option  is PR_SET_SECCOMP or PR_GET_SECCOMP, and the kernel was not configured with
              CONFIG_SECCOMP.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_SECCOMP, arg2 is  SECCOMP_MODE_FILTER,  and  the  kernel  was  not
              configured with CONFIG_SECCOMP_FILTER.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_MM, and one of the following is true

              *  arg4 or arg5 is nonzero;

              *  arg3  is greater than TASK_SIZE (the limit on the size of the user address space
                 for this architecture);

              *  arg2   is   PR_SET_MM_START_CODE,   PR_SET_MM_END_CODE,    PR_SET_MM_START_DATA,
                 PR_SET_MM_END_DATA,   or  PR_SET_MM_START_STACK,  and  the  permissions  of  the
                 corresponding memory area are not as required;

              *  arg2 is PR_SET_MM_START_BRK or PR_SET_MM_BRK, and arg3 is less than or equal  to
                 the  end  of  the  data  segment  or  specifies  a  value  that  would cause the
                 RLIMIT_DATA resource limit to be exceeded.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_PTRACER and arg2 is not 0, PR_SET_PTRACER_ANY, or the  PID  of  an
              existing process.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_PDEATHSIG and arg2 is not a valid signal number.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_DUMPABLE and arg2 is neither SUID_DUMP_DISABLE nor SUID_DUMP_USER.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_TIMING and arg2 is not PR_TIMING_STATISTICAL.

       EINVAL option  is PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS and arg2 is not equal to 1 or arg3, arg4, or arg5 is
              nonzero.

       EINVAL option is PR_GET_NO_NEW_PRIVS and arg2, arg3, arg4, or arg5 is nonzero.

       EINVAL option is PR_SET_THP_DISABLE and arg3, arg4, or arg5 is nonzero.

       EINVAL option is PR_GET_THP_DISABLE and arg2, arg3, arg4, or arg5 is nonzero.

       EINVAL option is PR_CAP_AMBIENT and an unused argument (arg4, arg5, or,  in  the  case  of
              PR_CAP_AMBIENT_CLEAR_ALL,  arg3)  is nonzero; or arg2 has an invalid value; or arg2
              is PR_CAP_AMBIENT_LOWER, PR_CAP_AMBIENT_RAISE, or  PR_CAP_AMBIENT_IS_SET  and  arg3
              does not specify a valid capability.

       ENXIO  option  was PR_MPX_ENABLE_MANAGEMENT or PR_MPX_DISABLE_MANAGEMENT and the kernel or
              the CPU does not support MPX management.  Check that the kernel and processor  have
              MPX support.

       EPERM  option  is  PR_SET_SECUREBITS,  and  the  caller  does  not  have  the  CAP_SETPCAP
              capability, or tried to unset a "locked"  flag,  or  tried  to  set  a  flag  whose
              corresponding locked flag was set (see capabilities(7)).

       EPERM  option  is  PR_SET_KEEPCAPS,  and  the caller's SECURE_KEEP_CAPS_LOCKED flag is set
              (see capabilities(7)).

       EPERM  option is PR_CAPBSET_DROP, and the caller does not have the CAP_SETPCAP capability.

       EPERM  option is PR_SET_MM, and the caller does not have the CAP_SYS_RESOURCE capability.

       EPERM  option  is  PR_CAP_AMBIENT  and  arg2  is  PR_CAP_AMBIENT_RAISE,  but  either   the
              capability  specified  in  arg3  is  not  present  in  the  process's permitted and
              inheritable capability sets, or the PR_CAP_AMBIENT_LOWER securebit has been set.

VERSIONS

       The prctl() system call was introduced in Linux 2.1.57.

CONFORMING TO

       This call is Linux-specific.  IRIX has a prctl() system call  (also  introduced  in  Linux
       2.1.44 as irix_prctl on the MIPS architecture), with prototype

       ptrdiff_t prctl(int option, int arg2, int arg3);

       and  options  to  get  the maximum number of processes per user, get the maximum number of
       processors the calling process can use, find out whether a specified process is  currently
       blocked, get or set the maximum stack size, and so on.

SEE ALSO

       signal(2), core(5)

COLOPHON

       This  page  is  part of release 4.04 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 http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.