trace_link

The trace_link gadget emits events when a process creates:

• hard links (link / linkat paths via security_path_link)
• symlinks (symlink / symlinkat paths via security_path_symlink)

Requirements

• Minimum Kernel Version: 5.4
• This gadget relies on the security_path_link and security_path_symlink LSM hooks, so the kernel must be built with CONFIG_SECURITY_PATH=y.

Getting started

Running the gadget:

kubectl gadget

$ kubectl gadget run ghcr.io/inspektor-gadget/gadget/trace_link:v0.53.0 [flags]

ig

$ sudo ig run ghcr.io/inspektor-gadget/gadget/trace_link:v0.53.0 [flags]

Guide

This gadget emits one event per link creation attempt and includes:

• type: HARDLINK for hard links, SYMLINK for symlinks
• target:
  • hard link: source file path
  • symlink: raw symlink target string
• linkpath: path of the link being created

First, we need to run an application that generates some events.

kubectl gadget

$ kubectl run --restart=Never --image=busybox link-demo -- \
  sh -c 'while true; do touch /tmp/src; ln -f /tmp/src /tmp/hard; ln -sfn ../tmp/src /tmp/sym; sleep 2; done'
pod/link-demo created

ig

$ docker run --name test-trace-link -d --rm busybox /bin/sh -c 'while true; do touch /tmp/src; ln -f /tmp/src /tmp/hard; ln -sfn ../tmp/src /tmp/sym; sleep 2; done'

Then, let's run the gadget:

kubectl gadget

$ kubectl gadget run trace_link:v0.53.0 --podname link-demo

Example output:

K8S.NODE        K8S.NAMESPACE   K8S.PODNAME    K8S.CONTAINER… COMM        PID     TID TYPE     TARGET                   LINKPATH
minikube-docker default         link-demo      link-demo      ln        79967   79967 HARDLINK /tmp/src                 /tmp/hard
minikube-docker default         link-demo      link-demo      ln        79968   79968 SYMLINK  ../tmp/src               /tmp/sym
minikube-docker default         link-demo      link-demo      ln        79986   79986 HARDLINK /tmp/src                 /tmp/hard
minikube-docker default         link-demo      link-demo      ln        79987   79987 SYMLINK  ../tmp/src               /tmp/sym

You should see TYPE=HARDLINK events for hard links and TYPE=SYMLINK events for symlinks.

ig

$ sudo ig run trace_link:v0.53.0 --containername test-trace-link

Example output:

RUNTIME.CONTAINERNAME  COMM  PID    TID    TYPE      TARGET       LINKPATH
test-trace-link        ln    57521  57521  HARDLINK  /tmp/src     /tmp/hard
test-trace-link        ln    57522  57522  SYMLINK   ../tmp/src   /tmp/sym
test-trace-link        ln    57536  57536  HARDLINK  /tmp/src     /tmp/hard
test-trace-link        ln    57537  57537  SYMLINK   ../tmp/src   /tmp/sym

Notes:

For symlinks, target is the raw target string (exactly as passed to symlink(2)).

If needed, join it with the parent directory of linkpath in userspace.

Finally, clean the system:

kubectl gadget

$ kubectl delete pod link-demo

ig

$ docker rm -f test-trace-link