proc_sys_fs(5) — Linux manual page

NAME | DESCRIPTION | SEE ALSO | COLOPHON

proc_sys_fs(5)             File Formats Manual            proc_sys_fs(5)

NAME         top

       /proc/sys/fs/ - kernel variables related to filesystems

DESCRIPTION         top

       /proc/sys/fs/
              This directory contains the files and subdirectories for
              kernel variables related to filesystems.

       /proc/sys/fs/aio-max-nr and /proc/sys/fs/aio-nr (since Linux
       2.6.4)
              aio-nr is the running total of the number of events
              specified by io_setup(2) calls for all currently active
              AIO contexts.  If aio-nr reaches aio-max-nr, then
              io_setup(2) will fail with the error EAGAIN.  Raising
              aio-max-nr does not result in the preallocation or
              resizing of any kernel data structures.

       /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc
              Documentation for files in this directory can be found in
              the Linux kernel source in the file
              Documentation/admin-guide/binfmt-misc.rst (or in
              Documentation/binfmt_misc.txt on older kernels).

       /proc/sys/fs/dentry-state (since Linux 2.2)
              This file contains information about the status of the
              directory cache (dcache).  The file contains six numbers,
              nr_dentry, nr_unused, age_limit (age in seconds),
              want_pages (pages requested by system) and two dummy
              values.

              •  nr_dentry is the number of allocated dentries (dcache
                 entries).  This field is unused in Linux 2.2.

              •  nr_unused is the number of unused dentries.

              •  age_limit is the age in seconds after which dcache
                 entries can be reclaimed when memory is short.

              •  want_pages is nonzero when the kernel has called
                 shrink_dcache_pages() and the dcache isn't pruned yet.

       /proc/sys/fs/dir-notify-enable
              This file can be used to disable or enable the dnotify
              interface described in fcntl(2) on a system-wide basis.  A
              value of 0 in this file disables the interface, and a
              value of 1 enables it.

       /proc/sys/fs/dquot-max
              This file shows the maximum number of cached disk quota
              entries.  On some (2.4) systems, it is not present.  If
              the number of free cached disk quota entries is very low
              and you have some awesome number of simultaneous system
              users, you might want to raise the limit.

       /proc/sys/fs/dquot-nr
              This file shows the number of allocated disk quota entries
              and the number of free disk quota entries.

       /proc/sys/fs/epoll/ (since Linux 2.6.28)
              This directory contains the file max_user_watches, which
              can be used to limit the amount of kernel memory consumed
              by the epoll interface.  For further details, see
              epoll(7).

       /proc/sys/fs/file-max
              This file defines a system-wide limit on the number of
              open files for all processes.  System calls that fail when
              encountering this limit fail with the error ENFILE.  (See
              also setrlimit(2), which can be used by a process to set
              the per-process limit, RLIMIT_NOFILE, on the number of
              files it may open.)  If you get lots of error messages in
              the kernel log about running out of file handles (open
              file descriptions) (look for "VFS: file-max limit <number>
              reached"), try increasing this value:

                  echo 100000 > /proc/sys/fs/file-max

              Privileged processes (CAP_SYS_ADMIN) can override the
              file-max limit.

       /proc/sys/fs/file-nr
              This (read-only) file contains three numbers: the number
              of allocated file handles (i.e., the number of open file
              descriptions; see open(2)); the number of free file
              handles; and the maximum number of file handles (i.e., the
              same value as /proc/sys/fs/file-max).  If the number of
              allocated file handles is close to the maximum, you should
              consider increasing the maximum.  Before Linux 2.6, the
              kernel allocated file handles dynamically, but it didn't
              free them again.  Instead the free file handles were kept
              in a list for reallocation; the "free file handles" value
              indicates the size of that list.  A large number of free
              file handles indicates that there was a past peak in the
              usage of open file handles.  Since Linux 2.6, the kernel
              does deallocate freed file handles, and the "free file
              handles" value is always zero.

       /proc/sys/fs/inode-max (only present until Linux 2.2)
              This file contains the maximum number of in-memory inodes.
              This value should be 3–4 times larger than the value in
              file-max, since stdin, stdout and network sockets also
              need an inode to handle them.  When you regularly run out
              of inodes, you need to increase this value.

              Starting with Linux 2.4, there is no longer a static limit
              on the number of inodes, and this file is removed.

       /proc/sys/fs/inode-nr
              This file contains the first two values from inode-state.

       /proc/sys/fs/inode-state
              This file contains seven numbers: nr_inodes,
              nr_free_inodes, preshrink, and four dummy values (always
              zero).

              nr_inodes is the number of inodes the system has
              allocated.  nr_free_inodes represents the number of free
              inodes.

              preshrink is nonzero when the nr_inodes > inode-max and
              the system needs to prune the inode list instead of
              allocating more; since Linux 2.4, this field is a dummy
              value (always zero).

       /proc/sys/fs/inotify/ (since Linux 2.6.13)
              This directory contains files max_queued_events,
              max_user_instances, and max_user_watches, that can be used
              to limit the amount of kernel memory consumed by the
              inotify interface.  For further details, see inotify(7).

       /proc/sys/fs/lease-break-time
              This file specifies the grace period that the kernel
              grants to a process holding a file lease (fcntl(2)) after
              it has sent a signal to that process notifying it that
              another process is waiting to open the file.  If the lease
              holder does not remove or downgrade the lease within this
              grace period, the kernel forcibly breaks the lease.

       /proc/sys/fs/leases-enable
              This file can be used to enable or disable file leases
              (fcntl(2)) on a system-wide basis.  If this file contains
              the value 0, leases are disabled.  A nonzero value enables
              leases.

       /proc/sys/fs/mount-max (since Linux 4.9)
              The value in this file specifies the maximum number of
              mounts that may exist in a mount namespace.  The default
              value in this file is 100,000.

       /proc/sys/fs/mqueue/ (since Linux 2.6.6)
              This directory contains files msg_max, msgsize_max, and
              queues_max, controlling the resources used by POSIX
              message queues.  See mq_overview(7) for details.

       /proc/sys/fs/nr_open (since Linux 2.6.25)
              This file imposes a ceiling on the value to which the
              RLIMIT_NOFILE resource limit can be raised (see
              getrlimit(2)).  This ceiling is enforced for both
              unprivileged and privileged process.  The default value in
              this file is 1048576.  (Before Linux 2.6.25, the ceiling
              for RLIMIT_NOFILE was hard-coded to the same value.)

       /proc/sys/fs/overflowgid and /proc/sys/fs/overflowuid
              These files allow you to change the value of the fixed UID
              and GID.  The default is 65534.  Some filesystems support
              only 16-bit UIDs and GIDs, although in Linux UIDs and GIDs
              are 32 bits.  When one of these filesystems is mounted
              with writes enabled, any UID or GID that would exceed
              65535 is translated to the overflow value before being
              written to disk.

       /proc/sys/fs/pipe-max-size (since Linux 2.6.35)
              See pipe(7).

       /proc/sys/fs/pipe-user-pages-hard (since Linux 4.5)
              See pipe(7).

       /proc/sys/fs/pipe-user-pages-soft (since Linux 4.5)
              See pipe(7).

       /proc/sys/fs/protected_fifos (since Linux 4.19)
              The value in this file is/can be set to one of the
              following:

              0   Writing to FIFOs is unrestricted.

              1   Don't allow O_CREAT open(2) on FIFOs that the caller
                  doesn't own in world-writable sticky directories,
                  unless the FIFO is owned by the owner of the
                  directory.

              2   As for the value 1, but the restriction also applies
                  to group-writable sticky directories.

              The intent of the above protections is to avoid
              unintentional writes to an attacker-controlled FIFO when a
              program expected to create a regular file.

       /proc/sys/fs/protected_hardlinks (since Linux 3.6)
              When the value in this file is 0, no restrictions are
              placed on the creation of hard links (i.e., this is the
              historical behavior before Linux 3.6).  When the value in
              this file is 1, a hard link can be created to a target
              file only if one of the following conditions is true:

              •  The calling process has the CAP_FOWNER capability in
                 its user namespace and the file UID has a mapping in
                 the namespace.

              •  The filesystem UID of the process creating the link
                 matches the owner (UID) of the target file (as
                 described in credentials(7), a process's filesystem UID
                 is normally the same as its effective UID).

              •  All of the following conditions are true:

                  •  the target is a regular file;

                  •  the target file does not have its set-user-ID mode
                     bit enabled;

                  •  the target file does not have both its set-group-ID
                     and group-executable mode bits enabled; and

                  •  the caller has permission to read and write the
                     target file (either via the file's permissions mask
                     or because it has suitable capabilities).

              The default value in this file is 0.  Setting the value to
              1 prevents a longstanding class of security issues caused
              by hard-link-based time-of-check, time-of-use races, most
              commonly seen in world-writable directories such as /tmp.
              The common method of exploiting this flaw is to cross
              privilege boundaries when following a given hard link
              (i.e., a root process follows a hard link created by
              another user).  Additionally, on systems without separated
              partitions, this stops unauthorized users from "pinning"
              vulnerable set-user-ID and set-group-ID files against
              being upgraded by the administrator, or linking to special
              files.

       /proc/sys/fs/protected_regular (since Linux 4.19)
              The value in this file is/can be set to one of the
              following:

              0   Writing to regular files is unrestricted.

              1   Don't allow O_CREAT open(2) on regular files that the
                  caller doesn't own in world-writable sticky
                  directories, unless the regular file is owned by the
                  owner of the directory.

              2   As for the value 1, but the restriction also applies
                  to group-writable sticky directories.

              The intent of the above protections is similar to
              protected_fifos, but allows an application to avoid writes
              to an attacker-controlled regular file, where the
              application expected to create one.

       /proc/sys/fs/protected_symlinks (since Linux 3.6)
              When the value in this file is 0, no restrictions are
              placed on following symbolic links (i.e., this is the
              historical behavior before Linux 3.6).  When the value in
              this file is 1, symbolic links are followed only in the
              following circumstances:

              •  the filesystem UID of the process following the link
                 matches the owner (UID) of the symbolic link (as
                 described in credentials(7), a process's filesystem UID
                 is normally the same as its effective UID);

              •  the link is not in a sticky world-writable directory;
                 or

              •  the symbolic link and its parent directory have the
                 same owner (UID)

              A system call that fails to follow a symbolic link because
              of the above restrictions returns the error EACCES in
              errno.

              The default value in this file is 0.  Setting the value to
              1 avoids a longstanding class of security issues based on
              time-of-check, time-of-use races when accessing symbolic
              links.

       /proc/sys/fs/suid_dumpable (since Linux 2.6.13)
              The value in this file is assigned to a process's
              "dumpable" flag in the circumstances described in
              prctl(2).  In effect, the value in this file determines
              whether core dump files are produced for set-user-ID or
              otherwise protected/tainted binaries.  The "dumpable"
              setting also affects the ownership of files in a process's
              /proc/pid directory, as described above.

              Three different integer values can be specified:

              0 (default)
                     This provides the traditional (pre-Linux 2.6.13)
                     behavior.  A core dump will not be produced for a
                     process which has changed credentials (by calling
                     seteuid(2), setgid(2), or similar, or by executing
                     a set-user-ID or set-group-ID program) or whose
                     binary does not have read permission enabled.

              1 ("debug")
                     All processes dump core when possible.  (Reasons
                     why a process might nevertheless not dump core are
                     described in core(5).)  The core dump is owned by
                     the filesystem user ID of the dumping process and
                     no security is applied.  This is intended for
                     system debugging situations only: this mode is
                     insecure because it allows unprivileged users to
                     examine the memory contents of privileged
                     processes.

              2 ("suidsafe")
                     Any binary which normally would not be dumped (see
                     "0" above) is dumped readable by root only.  This
                     allows the user to remove the core dump file but
                     not to read it.  For security reasons core dumps in
                     this mode will not overwrite one another or other
                     files.  This mode is appropriate when
                     administrators are attempting to debug problems in
                     a normal environment.

                     Additionally, since Linux 3.6,
                     /proc/sys/kernel/core_pattern must either be an
                     absolute pathname or a pipe command, as detailed in
                     core(5).  Warnings will be written to the kernel
                     log if core_pattern does not follow these rules,
                     and no core dump will be produced.

              For details of the effect of a process's "dumpable"
              setting on ptrace access mode checking, see ptrace(2).

       /proc/sys/fs/super-max
              This file controls the maximum number of superblocks, and
              thus the maximum number of mounted filesystems the kernel
              can have.  You need increase only super-max if you need to
              mount more filesystems than the current value in super-max
              allows you to.

       /proc/sys/fs/super-nr
              This file contains the number of filesystems currently
              mounted.

SEE ALSO         top

       proc(5), proc_sys(5)

COLOPHON         top

       This page is part of the man-pages (Linux kernel and C library
       user-space interface documentation) project.  Information about
       the project can be found at 
       ⟨https://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/⟩.  If you have a bug report
       for this manual page, see
       ⟨https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/docs/man-pages/man-pages.git/tree/CONTRIBUTING⟩.
       This page was obtained from the tarball man-pages-6.9.1.tar.gz
       fetched from
       ⟨https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/pub/linux/docs/man-pages/⟩ on
       2024-06-26.  If you discover any rendering problems in this HTML
       version of the page, or you believe there is a better or more up-
       to-date source for the page, or you have corrections or
       improvements to the information in this COLOPHON (which is not
       part of the original manual page), send a mail to
       man-pages@man7.org

Linux man-pages 6.9.1          2024-05-02                 proc_sys_fs(5)

Pages that refer to this page: open(2)PR_SET_DUMPABLE(2const)