netlink_capable(9)

🦋 netlink_capable(9) — Kernel API Manual 🦋

okay bestie, welcome to the Kernel API Manual page for netlink_capable(9) — it's giving netlink capability check, and it's literally here to answer one very specific permission vibe check. 💅✨

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✨ NAME ✨

netlink_capable — Netlink global message capability test. short, iconic, to the point 🎀

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

bool netlink_capable (const struct sk_buff *skb , int cap );

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• skb — socket buffer holding a netlink command from userspace. it's the little package of netlink command energy from userspace, not me making that up 💌
• cap — The capability to use. that's the capability you're checking for, periodt 👑

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

Okay so here's the whole plot: this tests whether the opener of the socket we received the message from had it when the netlink socket was created, and whether the sender of the message has the capability cap in all user namespaces. 👀

That's the check. The opener vibe from socket-creation time? checked. The sender having cap in all user namespaces? also checked. no partial-namespace nonsense, bestie — all of them. 🌈👑

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

Kernel file: ./net/netlink/af_netlink.c — yes, the kernel file, she's right there in the source. 🧚

• __netlink_ns_capable(9)
• netlink_ns_capable(9)
• netlink_net_capable(9)
• netlink_set_err(9)
• netlink_change_ngroups(9)
• nlmsg_notify(9)

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okay that's the page! cute little footer vibes for the record: source/version is ./net/netlink, date is October 2026, and the title is still absolutely slaying as netlink_capable(9). 🫶✨💖