CAPNG_GET_CAPS_PROCESS(3)

💖 CAPNG_GET_CAPS_PROCESS(3) — the Libcap-ng API girlies know 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the Libcap-ng API (section 3 of the manual, the library-call section, iykyk) and it's literally just one tiny little function that's about to become your new obsession. sit down, grab a strawberry drink, let's go 🍓

✨ NAME ✨

capng_get_caps_process — get the capabilities from a process 🫶

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

#include <cap-ng.h>

int capng_get_caps_process(void);

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the vibe: capng_get_caps_process will get the capabilities and bounding set of the pid that's stored inside libcap-ng's state table. that's it, that's the whole job, and honestly? iconic for it 💅

and the default pid in that state table? it's the pid of the running process. yes girl, you — main character energy 🎀. but lowkey if you wanna snoop on a different pid, you can totally change that by using the capng_setpid function. flexible fr fr.

⭐ RETURN VALUE ⭐

she keeps it simple:

• 0 — success, we ate ✨
• -1 — failure, and we're not talking about it 😭

💀 NOTES 💀

okay this is the part where you need to actually listen, bestie, because there are two whole situations that will absolutely humble you:

• if you're doing multi-threaded programming, calling this function will only get capabilities on the calling thread. that's it. just that one thread. no cap. if you want the overall capabilities for a multi-threaded process, the way that you can only do that is before creating any threads. after that point, threads may be able to independently set capabilities — so like, do it early or don't do it at all, periodt 🙈
• capng_get_caps_process needs a mounted /proc to read the current bounding set. no /proc, no bounding set, and she will just straight-up fail. sorry girl 💔

🚨 real talk: no mounted /proc = this function fails. not a vibe check you want to fail.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• capng_setpid(3)
• capabilities(7)

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Steve Grubb — we stan a legend, fr fr 🫶

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one comes to you from the Libcap-ng API, dropped by Red Hat back in June 2009 (yes, she's been serving since 2009 and she's still relevant, we love a timeless queen 👑). now go get those capabilities, you got this 💖✨