Syscall
How to see which syscalls are part of a systemd syscall filter set
Learn how to see what syscalls are part of a particular syscall filter set in systemd.
Summary
Systemd can restrict services from using particular syscalls with the help of the unit setting SystemCallFilter. Instead of mentioning all individual syscalls, systemd has predefined sets that can be used. These sets group functions that are related. To see which syscalls are part of a set, use the systemd-analyze command. # systemd-analyze syscall-filter @ipc @ipc # SysV IPC, POSIX Message Queues or other IPC ipc memfd_create mq_getsetattr mq_notify mq_open mq_timedreceive mq_timedreceive_time64 mq_timedsend mq_timedsend_time64 mq_unlink msgctl msgget msgrcv msgsnd pipe pipe2 process_madvise process_vm_readv process_vm_writev semctl semget semop semtimedop semtimedop_time64 shmat shmctl shmdt shmget See systemd syscall filtering for all details.
SystemCallFilter setting
Define if systemd units are allowed to use specific syscalls or groups with the unit setting SystemCallFilter.
Summary
Why and when to use SystemCallFilter The setting SystemCallFilter aims to prevent misuse of syscalls that are not needed for normal functioning of a process. This powerful filtering restricts the abilities of a process, but requires understanding of processes by the system administrator. See the overview of Linux syscalls for more details. Configuration This setting takes a space-separated list and may be specified multiple times. Allow-listing By default the list contains the entries of allowed system call names.
Systemd syscall filtering
Learn more about the system calls (syscalls) that systemd may use in commands and unit files, such as with SystemCallFilter property.
Summary
Overview of syscalls in systemd by group
Monitor file access by Linux processes
Linux is powerful with the help of small utilities like lsof and strace. They help with monitoring disk and file activity, of new and running processes.
Summary
Processes are the running workforce on a Linux system. Each process has a particular goal, like forking child processes, handling incoming user requests of monitoring other processes. As a system administrator or IT auditor, you might want to know at some point what disk activity occurs in a process. In this article, we have a look at a few options to quickly reveal what is occuring in a process, including disk and file activity.