audit_log_n_untrustedstring(9)

🎀 audit_log_n_untrustedstring — the Kernel API Manual, bestie edition 🎀

okay so bestie, we're in the Kernel API Manual today and the star of the show is audit_log_n_untrustedstring. no cap, this one's a whole vibe: it's the function you call when the string you're logging is lowkey unhinged and might contain literally anything. 😭

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✨ NAME ✨

audit_log_n_untrustedstring — log a string that may contain random characters 🦋

like… random random. we don't trust it and neither should you, that's the whole point of the name iykyk 💅

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

void audit_log_n_untrustedstring (struct audit_buffer *ab , const char
*string , size_t len );

that's it, that's the whole signature. three little args. she's simple but she's doing important work 👑

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💖 ARGUMENTS 💖

• ab — an audit_buffer, aka the little vessel your string is gonna get poured into 🫶
• string — the string to be logged (the suspicious one, the main character, the "we don't know what's in here" one) 🙈
• len — length of string (not including trailing null), so like, count your chars, don't count the \0 🍓

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💜 DESCRIPTION 💜

so here's the tea, bestie. this code will escape a string that's passed to it if the string contains any of these:

• a control character
• an unprintable character
• a double quote mark
• or a space

that's the vibe check list. fail it and you get escaped 💀

now for the aesthetics:

• Unescaped strings will start and end with a double quote mark — so they look all wrapped up and cute, slay ✨
• Strings that are escaped are printed in hex (2 digits per char) — it's giving forensic investigator realness 🔥

and the caller specifies the number of characters in the string to log — which may or may not be the entire string. so you're the one deciding how much of the situation we're reporting, and honestly? that's power 👑

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🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

this is the group chat, and everyone's invited. literally all of them. Kernel file ./kernel/audit.c, struct audit_net(9), struct auditd_connection(9), struct audit_ctl_mutex(9), auditd_test_task(9), audit_ctl_lock(9), audit_ctl_unlock(9), audit_ctl_owner_current(9), auditd_pid_vnr(9), audit_cfg_lsm(9), audit_get_sk(9), audit_log_lost(9), auditd_conn_free(9), auditd_set(9), kauditd_printk_skb(9), kauditd_rehold_skb(9), kauditd_hold_skb(9), kauditd_retry_skb(9), auditd_reset(9), auditd_send_unicast_skb(9), kauditd_send_queue(9), kauditd_thread(9), audit_send_reply(9), audit_receive(9), audit_serial(9), audit_log_start(9), audit_expand(9), audit_log_format(9), audit_log_n_hex(9), audit_string_contains_control(9), audit_log_untrustedstring(9), audit_buffer_aux_new(9), audit_buffer_aux_end(9), audit_log_subj_ctx(9), audit_log_path_denied(9), audit_set_loginuid(9), audit_signal_info(9), __audit_log_end(9), audit_log_end(9), audit_log(9).

that's a lot of friends but every single one of them is iconic, no skips 🌈⭐

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ngl bestie, the whole point of this one is trust issues — the string is untrusted, so the function sanitises before anything hits your log. your logs stay clean, the vibes stay immaculate. periodt. 💅

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and that's the page! this little beauty lives in ./kernel, dated October 2026, and yes she's still filing under audit_log_n_untrustedstring(9) — mwah, love that for her 🎀💖🧚