uretprobe(2)

💅 uretprobe — the manual page, bestie edition ✨

okay so. this is uretprobe(2), straight out of the System Calls Manual. it's a lil syscall, it's got exactly zero arguments, and it's about to make your return uprobes go brrr. let's get into it 🫶

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🌸 NAME 🌸

uretprobe — execute pending return uprobes

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

int uretprobe(void);

she's small. she's mighty. that's the whole signature, no cap 💖

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so uretprobe() is the alternative to breakpoint instructions when you wanna trigger return uprobe consumers. like, instead of yeeting a breakpoint instruction in there, you just… call this. iconic behaviour tbh.

⚠️ but bestie, listen — calls to uretprobe() are only made from the user-space trampoline provided by the kernel. that's the only valid caller. and if you call it from literally any other place?? SIGILL. immediate. no warning, no vibes check, just signal 💀

🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

the return value is architecture-specific. so like… don't assume, okay? it depends on the architecture, periodt.

🍓 ERRORS 🍓

• SIGILL — uretprobe() was called by a user-space program. yeah. that's the error. that's the whole list. she does not play 🙈

🧚 VERSIONS 🧚

the behavior varies across systems. so what happens on one machine might not be what happens on another. keep that in mind, girlies.

⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

None. 💀 no POSIX, no nothing. she's built different, she's free-range, she answers to no standard.

👑 HISTORY 👑

Linux 6.11. that's when she showed up 🎀

and here's the tea: uretprobe() was initially introduced for the x86_64 architecture, where it was shown to be faster than breakpoint traps. ate and left no crumbs fr fr. and it might be extended to other architectures — so watch this space, iykyk 👀

💜 CAVEATS 💜

this is the big one, bestie, read it twice:

uretprobe() exists only to allow the invocation of return uprobe consumers. it should never be called directly.

like. do not. i am begging you. do not just call this thing in your own code. she has ONE job and it is not being your little helper 😭

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🌸 that's the whole page, babe. written up in Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2026-02-08, and this little uretprobe(2) page is officially closed. go forth and do not call it directly 💅✨🫶