NAME¶

keyctl - manipulate the kernel's key management facility

SYNOPSIS¶

#include <keyutils.h>

long keyctl(int cmd, ...);

DESCRIPTION¶

keyctl() has a number of functions available:

KEYCTL_GET_KEYRING_ID

Ask for a keyring's ID.

KEYCTL_JOIN_SESSION_KEYRING

Join or start named session keyring.

KEYCTL_UPDATE

Update a key.

KEYCTL_REVOKE

Revoke a key.

KEYCTL_CHOWN

Set ownership of a key.

KEYCTL_SETPERM

Set perms on a key.

KEYCTL_DESCRIBE

Describe a key.

KEYCTL_CLEAR

Clear contents of a keyring.

KEYCTL_LINK

Link a key into a keyring.

KEYCTL_UNLINK

Unlink a key from a keyring.

KEYCTL_SEARCH

Search for a key in a keyring.

KEYCTL_READ

Read a key or keyring's contents.

KEYCTL_INSTANTIATE

Instantiate a partially constructed key.

KEYCTL_NEGATE

Negate a partially constructed key.

KEYCTL_SET_REQKEY_KEYRING

Set default request-key keyring.

KEYCTL_SET_TIMEOUT

Set timeout on a key.

KEYCTL_ASSUME_AUTHORITY

Assume authority to instantiate key.

These are wrapped by libkeyutils into individual functions to permit compiler the compiler to check types. See the See Also section at the bottom.

RETURN VALUE¶

On success keyctl() returns the serial number of the key it found. On error, the value -1 will be returned and errno will have been set to an appropriate error.

ERRORS¶

EACCES

A key operation wasn't permitted.

EDQUOT

The key quota for the caller's user would be exceeded by creating a key or linking it to the keyring.

EKEYEXPIRED

An expired key was found or specified.

EKEYREJECTED

A rejected key was found or specified.

EKEYREVOKED

A revoked key was found or specified.

ENOKEY

No matching key was found or an invalid key was specified.

LINKING¶

Although this is a Linux system call, it is not present in libc but can be found rather in libkeyutils. When linking, -lkeyutils should be specified to the linker.

SEE ALSO¶

keyctl(1), add_key(2), request_key(2), keyctl_set_timeout(3), keyctl_chown(3), keyctl_clear(3), keyctl_describe(3), keyctl_describe_alloc(3), keyctl_get_keyring_ID(3), keyctl_instantiate(3), keyctl_join_session_keyring(3), keyctl_link(3), keyctl_negate(3), keyctl_revoke(3), keyctl_search(3), keyctl_setperm(3), keyctl_set_reqkey_keyring(3), keyctl_set_timeout(3), keyctl_read(3), keyctl_read_alloc(3), keyctl_unlink(3), keyctl_update(3), request-key(8) The kernel source file Documentation/security/keys.txt.

COLOPHON¶

This page is part of release 3.74 of the Linux man-pages project. A description of the project, information about reporting bugs, and the latest version of this page, can be found at http://www.kernel.org/doc/man-pages/.