How does ptrace work in Linux?

Question

The ptrace system call allows the parent process to inspect the attached child. For example, in Linux, strace (which is implemented with the ptrace system call) can inspect the system calls invoked by the child process.

When the attached child process invokes a system call, the ptracing parent process can be notified. But how exactly does that happen? I want to know the technical details behind this mechanism.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

When the attached child process invokes a system call, the ptracing parent process can be notified. But how exactly does that happen?

Parent process calls ptrace with PTRACE_ATTACH, and his child calls ptrace with PTRACE_TRACEME option. This pair will connect two processes by filling some fields inside their task_struct (kernel/ptrace.c: sys_ptrace, child will have PT_PTRACED flag in ptrace field of struct task_struct, and pid of ptracer process as parent and in ptrace_entry list - __ptrace_link; parent will record child's pid in ptraced list).

Then strace will call ptrace with PTRACE_SYSCALL flag to register itself as syscall debugger, setting thread_flag TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE in child process's struct thread_info (by something like set_tsk_thread_flag(child, TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE);). arch/x86/include/asm/thread_info.h:

 67 /*
 68  * thread information flags
 69  * - these are process state flags that various assembly files
 70  *   may need to access   ...*/

 75 #define TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE       0       /* syscall trace active */
 99 #define _TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE      (1 << TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE)

On every syscall entry or exit, architecture-specific syscall entry code will check this _TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE flag (directly in assembler implementation of syscall, for example x86 arch/x86/kernel/entry_32.S: jnz syscall_trace_entry in ENTRY(system_call) and similar code in syscall_exit_work), and if it is set, ptracer will be notified with signal (SIGTRAP) and child will be temporary stopped. This is done usually in syscall_trace_enter and syscall_trace_leave :

1457 long syscall_trace_enter(struct pt_regs *regs)

1483         if ((ret || test_thread_flag(TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE)) &&
1484             tracehook_report_syscall_entry(regs))
1485                 ret = -1L;

1507 void syscall_trace_leave(struct pt_regs *regs)

1531         if (step || test_thread_flag(TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE))
1532                 tracehook_report_syscall_exit(regs, step);

The tracehook_report_syscall_* are actual workers here, they will call ptrace_report_syscall. include/linux/tracehook.h:

 80 /**
 81  * tracehook_report_syscall_entry - task is about to attempt a system call
 82  * @regs:               user register state of current task
 83  *
 84  * This will be called if %TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE has been set, when the
 85  * current task has just entered the kernel for a system call.
 86  * Full user register state is available here.  Changing the values
 87  * in @regs can affect the system call number and arguments to be tried.
 88  * It is safe to block here, preventing the system call from beginning.
 89  *
 90  * Returns zero normally, or nonzero if the calling arch code should abort
 91  * the system call.  That must prevent normal entry so no system call is
 92  * made.  If @task ever returns to user mode after this, its register state
 93  * is unspecified, but should be something harmless like an %ENOSYS error
 94  * return.  It should preserve enough information so that syscall_rollback()
 95  * can work (see asm-generic/syscall.h).
 96  *
 97  * Called without locks, just after entering kernel mode.
 98  */
 99 static inline __must_check int tracehook_report_syscall_entry(
100         struct pt_regs *regs)
101 {
102         return ptrace_report_syscall(regs);
103 }
104 
105 /**
106  * tracehook_report_syscall_exit - task has just finished a system call
107  * @regs:               user register state of current task
108  * @step:               nonzero if simulating single-step or block-step
109  *
110  * This will be called if %TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE has been set, when the
111  * current task has just finished an attempted system call.  Full
112  * user register state is available here.  It is safe to block here,
113  * preventing signals from being processed.
114  *
115  * If @step is nonzero, this report is also in lieu of the normal
116  * trap that would follow the system call instruction because
117  * user_enable_block_step() or user_enable_single_step() was used.
118  * In this case, %TIF_SYSCALL_TRACE might not be set.
119  *
120  * Called without locks, just before checking for pending signals.
121  */
122 static inline void tracehook_report_syscall_exit(struct pt_regs *regs, int step)
123 {
...
130 
131         ptrace_report_syscall(regs);
132 }

And ptrace_report_syscall generates SIGTRAP for debugger or strace via ptrace_notify/ptrace_do_notify:

 55 /*
 56  * ptrace report for syscall entry and exit looks identical.
 57  */
 58 static inline int ptrace_report_syscall(struct pt_regs *regs)
 59 {
 60         int ptrace = current->ptrace;
 61 
 62         if (!(ptrace & PT_PTRACED))
 63                 return 0;
 64 
 65         ptrace_notify(SIGTRAP | ((ptrace & PT_TRACESYSGOOD) ? 0x80 : 0));
 66 
 67         /*
 68          * this isn't the same as continuing with a signal, but it will do
 69          * for normal use.  strace only continues with a signal if the
 70          * stopping signal is not SIGTRAP.  -brl
 71          */
 72         if (current->exit_code) {
 73                 send_sig(current->exit_code, current, 1);
 74                 current->exit_code = 0;
 75         }
 76 
 77         return fatal_signal_pending(current);
 78 }

ptrace_notify is implemented in kernel/signal.c, it stops the child and pass sig_info to ptracer:

1961 static void ptrace_do_notify(int signr, int exit_code, int why)
1962 {
1963         siginfo_t info;
1964 
1965         memset(&info, 0, sizeof info);
1966         info.si_signo = signr;
1967         info.si_code = exit_code;
1968         info.si_pid = task_pid_vnr(current);
1969         info.si_uid = from_kuid_munged(current_user_ns(), current_uid());
1970 
1971         /* Let the debugger run.  */
1972         ptrace_stop(exit_code, why, 1, &info);
1973 }
1974 
1975 void ptrace_notify(int exit_code)
1976 {
1977         BUG_ON((exit_code & (0x7f | ~0xffff)) != SIGTRAP);
1978         if (unlikely(current->task_works))
1979                 task_work_run();
1980 
1981         spin_lock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
1982         ptrace_do_notify(SIGTRAP, exit_code, CLD_TRAPPED);
1983         spin_unlock_irq(&current->sighand->siglock);
1984 }

ptrace_stop is in the same signal.c file, line 1839 for 3.13.