add_key(2) System Calls Manual add_key(2)
NAME
add_key - add a key to the kernel's key management facility
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#include <keyutils.h>
key_serial_t add_key(const char *type, const char *description,
const void payload[.plen], size_t plen,
key_serial_t keyring);
Note: There is no glibc wrapper for this system call; see NOTES.
DESCRIPTION
add_key() creates or updates a key of the given type and description,
instantiates it with the payload of length plen, attaches it to the
nominated keyring, and returns the key's serial number.
The key may be rejected if the provided data is in the wrong format or
it is invalid in some other way.
If the destination keyring already contains a key that matches the
specified type and description, then, if the key type supports it, that
key will be updated rather than a new key being created; if not, a new
key (with a different ID) will be created and it will displace the link
to the extant key from the keyring.
The destination keyring serial number may be that of a valid keyring
for which the caller has write permission. Alternatively, it may be
one of the following special keyring IDs:
KEY_SPEC_THREAD_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's thread-specific keyring
(thread-keyring(7)).
KEY_SPEC_PROCESS_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's process-specific keyring
(process-keyring(7)).
KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's session-specific keyring (ses-
sion-keyring(7)).
KEY_SPEC_USER_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's UID-specific keyring
(user-keyring(7)).
KEY_SPEC_USER_SESSION_KEYRING
This specifies the caller's UID-session keyring (user-ses-
sion-keyring(7)).
Key types
The key type is a string that specifies the key's type. Internally,
the kernel defines a number of key types that are available in the core
key management code. Among the types that are available for user-space
use and can be specified as the type argument to add_key() are the fol-
lowing:
"keyring"
Keyrings are special key types that may contain links to se-
quences of other keys of any type. If this interface is used to
create a keyring, then payload should be NULL and plen should be
zero.
"user" This is a general purpose key type whose payload may be read and
updated by user-space applications. The key is kept entirely
within kernel memory. The payload for keys of this type is a
blob of arbitrary data of up to 32,767 bytes.
"logon" (since Linux 3.3)
This key type is essentially the same as "user", but it does not
permit the key to read. This is suitable for storing payloads
that you do not want to be readable from user space.
This key type vets the description to ensure that it is qualified by a
"service" prefix, by checking to ensure that the description contains a
':' that is preceded by other characters.
"big_key" (since Linux 3.13)
This key type is similar to "user", but may hold a payload of up
to 1 MiB. If the key payload is large enough, then it may be
stored encrypted in tmpfs (which can be swapped out) rather than
kernel memory.
For further details on these key types, see keyrings(7).
RETURN VALUE
On success, add_key() returns the serial number of the key it created
or updated. On error, -1 is returned and errno is set to indicate 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 or more of type, description, and payload points outside
process's accessible address space.
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 payload data was invalid.
EINVAL type was "logon" and the description was not qualified with a
prefix string of the form "service:".
EKEYEXPIRED
The keyring has expired.
EKEYREVOKED
The keyring has been revoked.
ENOKEY The keyring doesn't exist.
ENOMEM Insufficient memory to create a key.
EPERM The type started with a period ('.'). Key types that begin with
a period are reserved to the implementation.
EPERM type was "keyring" and the description started with a period
('.'). Keyrings with descriptions (names) that begin with a pe-
riod are reserved to the implementation.
VERSIONS
This system call first appeared in Linux 2.6.10.
STANDARDS
This system call is a nonstandard Linux extension.
NOTES
glibc does not provide a wrapper for this system call. A wrapper is
provided in the libkeyutils library. (The accompanying package pro-
vides the <keyutils.h> header file.) When employing the wrapper in
that library, link with -lkeyutils.
EXAMPLES
The program below creates a key with the type, description, and payload
specified in its command-line arguments, and links that key into the
session keyring. The following shell session demonstrates the use of
the program:
$ ./a.out user mykey "Some payload"
Key ID is 64a4dca
$ grep '64a4dca' /proc/keys
064a4dca I--Q--- 1 perm 3f010000 1000 1000 user mykey: 12
Program source
#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 payload\n",
argv[0]);
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
key = add_key(argv[1], argv[2], argv[3], strlen(argv[3]),
KEY_SPEC_SESSION_KEYRING);
if (key == -1) {
perror("add_key");
exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
}
printf("Key ID is %jx\n", (uintmax_t) key);
exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
}
SEE ALSO
keyctl(1), keyctl(2), request_key(2), keyctl(3), keyrings(7),
keyutils(7), persistent-keyring(7), process-keyring(7),
session-keyring(7), thread-keyring(7), user-keyring(7),
user-session-keyring(7)
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).
Linux man-pages 6.03 2023-02-05 add_key(2)
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