Opened 3 years ago

Last modified 16 months ago

#20337 new enhancement

Support abstract namespace AF_UNIX sockets.

Reported by: yawning Owned by:
Priority: Low Milestone: Tor: unspecified
Component: Core Tor/Tor Version: Tor: unspecified
Severity: Normal Keywords: linux, af-unix, tor-client unix-socket, intro
Cc: brade, mcs, richard@… Actual Points:
Parent ID: Points: 3
Reviewer: Sponsor:

Description

Linux has a notion of abstract AF_UNIX sockets. This should be supported both for the control and socks port, as they are convenient and useful, as long as they are used correctly.

Benefits:

  • Easier to bundle. sun_path length limitations are dumb, being able to use an abstract identifier is simpler.
  • No need to mess around with creating a directory, arguing over what permissions the directory and the socket file has.
  • The socket goes away when the last reference to the socekt is closed, removing the need to unlink it.

Downsides:

  • There is no access control, at all. Primarily relevant for the ControlPort, but that has separate mechanisms for restricting access.
  • Not wildly useful for sandboxes, since most sandboxing approaches will unshare/create a new IPC namespace.
  • Non-portable.

(0.2.0.3-alpha was the first time we supported AF_UNIX at all)

Child Tickets

Change History (5)

comment:1 Changed 3 years ago by mcs

Cc: brade mcs added

comment:2 Changed 3 years ago by arma

I'm a fan! Looks like it should be easy to support in Tor, and then the external applications can decide for themselves if it's the right answer for them.

comment:3 Changed 2 years ago by nickm

Component: Core Tor → Core Tor/Tor

comment:4 Changed 2 years ago by nickm

Keywords: linux af-unix tor-client unix-socket intro added
Points: → 3

comment:5 Changed 16 months ago by pospeselr

Cc: richard@… added

This change will need to take the patch for #22794 into account when we get to this.

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