smack_ptrace_traceme(9)

📦 version 7.3.1, in nixpkgs unstable

💅 smack_ptrace_traceme — the Kernel API Manual, but make it a group chat

okay so bestie, welcome to smack_ptrace_traceme(9) — yes that's the real name, yes it's a mouthful, no we're not changing it. This one lives in the Kernel API Manual and it's genuinely such a little icon: it's the Smack hook that gets a say when somebody calls PTRACE_TRACEME. Think of it as the bouncer at the door of "can this process be traced," and it does check the list. 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

smack_ptrace_traceme — Smack approval on PTRACE_TRACEME

like, literally the approval step. that's the whole vibe check. 💅

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

int smack_ptrace_traceme (struct task_struct *ptp );

(no cap, that spacing is exactly how it's written — we do not touch it ✨)

🌸 ARGUMENTS 🌸

  • ptp — the parent task pointer. that's it. that's the whole argument. it's giving "one job and she's doing it" 👑

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so here's the tea 🍓:

  • Returns 0 if access is OK, an error code otherwise.
  • Do the capability checks, and require PTRACE_MODE_ATTACH.

that's literally it, and honestly? iconic. she does her capability checks, she insists on PTRACE_MODE_ATTACH, and she reports back with 0 or an error code. no drama, no extra lore, just vibes and a return value. 🔥

ngl bestie, "an error code otherwise" means exactly what it says — this function is not out here promising you a specific code. don't go inventing one. 🙈

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

okay this is the part where she tags literally everyone in the group chat 😭 — and we mean everyone. All of these, exactly as written, because we do not leave a single bestie on read 💖

First up, the file itself:

  • Kernel file ./security/smack/smack_lsm.c

and now… the entire extended friend group 🧚:

like… 137 of them (iykyk, don't count, just trust 💀). all tagged, all loved, none ghosted. 💜

💀 final vibe check: this page gives you the return-value rules and the PTRACE_MODE_ATTACH requirement. that's the whole meal. don't season it with facts that aren't here, bestie.

and that's the page!! 🎀 brought to you by the fine people over in ./security/smack — flavor of October 2026 ✨ go be iconic out there, and remember: capability checks first, PTRACE_MODE_ATTACH always. periodt. 👑🦋

📦 where this page comes from