diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'stap.1.in')
| -rw-r--r-- | stap.1.in | 43 |
1 files changed, 33 insertions, 10 deletions
@@ -754,7 +754,9 @@ Any run-time error encountered by the probe handlers, such as running out of memory, division by zero, exceeding nesting or runtime limits, results in a soft error indication. Soft errors in excess of MAXERRORS block of all subsequent probes, and terminate the session. -Finally, staprun unloads the module, and cleans up. +Finally, +.I staprun +unloads the module, and cleans up. .SH EXAMPLES See the @@ -773,20 +775,42 @@ directory, which may be periodically cleaned/erased by the user. .SH SAFETY AND SECURITY Systemtap is an administrative tool. It exposes kernel internal data -structures and potentially private user information. It acquires root -privileges to actually run the kernel objects it builds using the -.IR sudo -command applied to the +structures and potentially private user information. +It acquires +either root privileges + +To actually run the kernel objects it builds, a user must be one of +the following: +.IP \(bu 4 +the root user; +.IP \(bu 4 +a member of the +.I stapdev +group; or +.IP \(bu 4 +a member of the +.I stapusr +group. Members of the +.I stapusr +group can only use modules located in +the /lib/modules/VERSION/systemtap directory. This directory +must be owned by root and not be world writable. +.PP +The kernel modules generated by +.I stap +program are run by the .IR staprun program. The latter is a part of the Systemtap package, dedicated to module loading and unloading (but only in the white zone), and kernel-to-user data transfer. Since .IR staprun does not perform any additional security checks on the kernel objects -it is given, it would be unwise for a system administrator to give -even targeted -.IR sudo -privileges to untrusted users. +it is given, it would be unwise for a system administrator to add +untrusted users to the +.I stapdev +or +.I stapusr +groups. .PP The translator asserts certain safety constraints. It aims to ensure that no handler routine can run for very long, allocate memory, @@ -897,7 +921,6 @@ unloading. .IR stapex (5), .IR lket (5), .IR awk (1), -.IR sudo (8), .IR gdb (1) .SH BUGS |