KEYCTL_REVOKE(2const)

💅 KEYCTL_REVOKE — revoke a key

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Linux man-pages (that's the manual name, mwah) and it's all about KEYCTL_REVOKE. yes it's a keyctl thing. yes it's iconic. let's go 🦋

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✨ LIBRARY ✨

Standard C library (libc, -lc) — the moment you link -lc, she's there for you 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <linux/keyctl.h>  /* Definition of KEY* constants */
#include <sys/syscall.h>   /* Definition of SYS_* constants */
#include <unistd.h>

long syscall(SYS_keyctl, KEYCTL_REVOKE, key_serial_t key);

like… that's the whole vibe. one syscall, one key_serial_t key, and the deed is done 🔥

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👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

So here's the tea: KEYCTL_REVOKE revokes the key with the ID you hand over in key. That key is getting scheduled for garbage collection — it is no longer findable, bestie, it's unavailable for further operations, it said "I'm leaving and I'm not coming back" 💀

And if anybody tries to use that key afterwards? They get hit with the error EKEYREVOKED. that's the vibe check failing fr fr 😭

Also, lowkey important: the caller must have write or setattr permission on the key. no permission, no revoke, no cap.

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🌈 RETURN VALUE 🌈

• On success, 0 is returned. slay ✨
• On error, -1 is returned, and errno is set to indicate the error. (check errno, she tells you everything 👀)

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🎀 VERSIONS 🎀

A wrapper is provided in the libkeyutils library: keyctl_revoke(3). so if you don't wanna do the raw syscall() thing, that's your girly 🫶

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⭐ STANDARDS ⭐

Linux. that's it, that's the standard 💅

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🧚 HISTORY 🧚

Linux 2.6.10 — she's been around, she's a legacy icon 👑

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🔥 SEE ALSO 🔥

• keyctl(2)
• keyctl_revoke(3)

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💖 okay that's the whole page! go forth and revoke responsibly, bestie — and remember: the key will not come back. periodt.

this was brought to you by Linux man-pages 6.20, dated 2026-02-08 🌸 mwah, bye!! 🦋