[patch 1/2] sysctl: move the "cad_pid" entry from pid_table[] to kern_reboot_table[]

[patch 1/2] sysctl: move the "cad_pid" entry from pid_table[] to kern_reboot_table[]

[Andrew Morton]

From: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Subject: sysctl: move the "cad_pid" entry from pid_table[] to kern_reboot_table[]
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2026 13:13:43 +0200

cad_pid is global, and kill_cad_pid() is only used in the root namespace.

However, due to pid_table_root_permissions(), a non-root user can unshare
pid/user namespaces and modify it from the child namespace.  This makes no
sense and is simply wrong.

Move it to kern_reboot_table[] where it logically belongs; this ensures
that only GLOBAL_ROOT_UID can read/modify this sysctl.

Note that this patch doesn't preserve "#ifdef CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL" around
the "cad_pid"; CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL selects CONFIG_SYSCTL, so it is always
set when kern_reboot_table[] is compiled.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/al4C572uhLdBvyzH@redhat.com
Fixes: e054bcbe7e7a ("sysctl: move cad_pid into kernel/pid.c")
Signed-off-by: Oleg Nesterov <oleg@redhat.com>
Acked-by: Alexey Gladkov <legion@kernel.org>
Reviewed-by: Bradley Morgan <include@grrlz.net>
Reviewed-by: Pavel Tikhomirov <ptikhomirov@virtuozzo.com>
Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Cc: Eric Biederman <ebiederm@xmission.com>
Cc: Mateusz Guzik <mjguzik@gmail.com>
"Cen Zhang (Microsoft)" <blbllhy@gmail.com>
Cc: <stable@vger.kernel.org>
Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>
---

 kernel/pid.c    |   31 -------------------------------
 kernel/reboot.c |   29 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 29 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)

--- a/kernel/pid.c~sysctl-move-the-cad_pid-entry-from-pid_table-to-kern_reboot_table
+++ a/kernel/pid.c
@@ -764,29 +764,6 @@ static struct ctl_table_root pid_table_r
 	.set_ownership	= pid_table_root_set_ownership,
 };
 
-static int proc_do_cad_pid(const struct ctl_table *table, int write, void *buffer,
-		size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
-{
-	struct pid *new_pid;
-	pid_t tmp_pid;
-	int r;
-	struct ctl_table tmp_table = *table;
-
-	tmp_pid = pid_vnr(cad_pid);
-	tmp_table.data = &tmp_pid;
-
-	r = proc_dointvec(&tmp_table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
-	if (r || !write)
-		return r;
-
-	new_pid = find_get_pid(tmp_pid);
-	if (!new_pid)
-		return -ESRCH;
-
-	put_pid(xchg(&cad_pid, new_pid));
-	return 0;
-}
-
 static const struct ctl_table pid_table[] = {
 	{
 		.procname	= "pid_max",
@@ -797,14 +774,6 @@ static const struct ctl_table pid_table[
 		.extra1		= &pid_max_min,
 		.extra2		= &pid_max_max,
 	},
-#ifdef CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL
-	{
-		.procname	= "cad_pid",
-		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
-		.mode		= 0600,
-		.proc_handler	= proc_do_cad_pid,
-	},
-#endif
 };
 #endif
 
--- a/kernel/reboot.c~sysctl-move-the-cad_pid-entry-from-pid_table-to-kern_reboot_table
+++ a/kernel/reboot.c
@@ -1366,6 +1366,29 @@ static struct attribute *reboot_attrs[]
 };
 
 #ifdef CONFIG_SYSCTL
+static int proc_do_cad_pid(const struct ctl_table *table, int write, void *buffer,
+			   size_t *lenp, loff_t *ppos)
+{
+	struct ctl_table tmp_table = *table;
+	struct pid *new_pid;
+	pid_t tmp_pid;
+	int r;
+
+	tmp_pid = pid_vnr(cad_pid);
+	tmp_table.data = &tmp_pid;
+
+	r = proc_dointvec(&tmp_table, write, buffer, lenp, ppos);
+	if (r || !write)
+		return r;
+
+	new_pid = find_get_pid(tmp_pid);
+	if (!new_pid)
+		return -ESRCH;
+
+	put_pid(xchg(&cad_pid, new_pid));
+	return 0;
+}
+
 static const struct ctl_table kern_reboot_table[] = {
 	{
 		.procname       = "poweroff_cmd",
@@ -1381,6 +1404,12 @@ static const struct ctl_table kern_reboo
 		.mode           = 0644,
 		.proc_handler   = proc_dointvec,
 	},
+	{
+		.procname	= "cad_pid",
+		.maxlen		= sizeof(int),
+		.mode		= 0600,
+		.proc_handler	= proc_do_cad_pid,
+	},
 };
 
 static void __init kernel_reboot_sysctls_init(void)
_