netlink_net_capable(9)

💅 netlink_net_capable(9) — a kernel API manual moment

okay so bestie, welcome to the netlink_net_capable page from the Kernel API Manual 🎀 this is the capability-testing girlie of the netlink world and honestly she eats ✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

netlink_net_capable — the Netlink network namespace message capability test. yes that's the whole name, she's not tryna be mysterious 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

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

literally that's it. two args, one bool back. iconic minimalism 🫶

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🦋 ARGUMENTS 🦋

• skb — the socket buffer holding a netlink command from userspace 📦 like, this is the message packet that came in from userland, and it's the whole reason we're here.
• cap — the capability to use 🔑 the specific capability we're checking for. not vibes, an actual capability.

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🔥 DESCRIPTION 🔥

okay so this function runs a little vibe check on two things at once, no cap:

• 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 over the network namespace of the socket we received the message from 🌈

so yeah, it's testing permissions in two directions — the original socket opener and the message sender — and both answers are doing the heavy lifting here 👑

ngl the source wording is lowkey doing the most in that first clause, but that's exactly what it says, so we're keeping it fr fr 🙈

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

go read the kernel file ./net/netlink/af_netlink.c first, bestie, that's where the lore lives 📖 and then these icons:

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

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mwah 💖 this page lives in ./net/netlink and it was stamped October 2026 — go forth and check those capabilities, bestie, you're gonna slay ✨💅