pkey_alloc(2) System Calls Manual pkey_alloc(2)
NAME
pkey_alloc, pkey_free - allocate or free a protection key
LIBRARY
Standard C library (libc, -lc)
SYNOPSIS
#define _GNU_SOURCE /* See feature_test_macros(7) */
#include <sys/mman.h>
int pkey_alloc(unsigned int flags, unsigned int access_rights);
int pkey_free(int pkey);
DESCRIPTION
pkey_alloc() allocates a protection key (pkey) and allows it to be
passed to pkey_mprotect(2).
The pkey_alloc() flags is reserved for future use and currently must al-
ways be specified as 0.
The pkey_alloc() access_rights argument may contain zero or more disable
operations:
PKEY_DISABLE_ACCESS
Disable all data access to memory covered by the returned protec-
tion key.
PKEY_DISABLE_WRITE
Disable write access to memory covered by the returned protection
key.
pkey_free() frees a protection key and makes it available for later al-
locations. After a protection key has been freed, it may no longer be
used in any protection-key-related operations.
An application should not call pkey_free() on any protection key which
has been assigned to an address range by pkey_mprotect(2) and which is
still in use. The behavior in this case is undefined and may result in
an error.
RETURN VALUE
On success, pkey_alloc() returns a positive protection key value. On
success, pkey_free() returns zero. On error, -1 is returned, and errno
is set to indicate the error.
ERRORS
EINVAL pkey, flags, or access_rights is invalid.
ENOSPC (pkey_alloc()) All protection keys available for the current
process have been allocated. The number of keys available is ar-
chitecture-specific and implementation-specific and may be re-
duced by kernel-internal use of certain keys. There are cur-
rently 15 keys available to user programs on x86.
This error will also be returned if the processor or operating
system does not support protection keys. Applications should al-
ways be prepared to handle this error, since factors outside of
the application's control can reduce the number of available
pkeys.
STANDARDS
Linux.
HISTORY
Linux 4.9, glibc 2.27.
NOTES
pkey_alloc() is always safe to call regardless of whether or not the op-
erating system supports protection keys. It can be used in lieu of any
other mechanism for detecting pkey support and will simply fail with the
error ENOSPC if the operating system has no pkey support.
The kernel guarantees that the contents of the hardware rights register
(PKRU) will be preserved only for allocated protection keys. Any time a
key is unallocated (either before the first call returning that key from
pkey_alloc() or after it is freed via pkey_free()), the kernel may make
arbitrary changes to the parts of the rights register affecting access
to that key.
EXAMPLES
See pkeys(7).
SEE ALSO
pkey_mprotect(2), pkeys(7)
Linux man-pages 6.9.1 2024-05-02 pkey_alloc(2)
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