# landrun
A lightweight, secure sandbox for running Linux processes using Landlock. Think firejail, but with kernel-level security and minimal overhead.
Linux Landlock is a kernel-native security module that lets unprivileged processes sandbox themselves.
Landrun is designed to make it practical to sandbox any command with fine-grained filesystem and network access controls. No root. No containers. No SELinux/AppArmor configs.
It's lightweight, auditable, and wraps Landlock v5 features (file access + TCP restrictions).
## Features
- 🔒 Kernel-level security using Landlock
- 🚀 Lightweight and fast execution
- 🛡️ Fine-grained access control for directories and files
- 🔄 Support for read and write paths
- ⚡ Path-specific execution permissions
- 🌐 TCP network access control (binding and connecting)
## Demo
## Requirements
- Linux kernel 5.13 or later with Landlock enabled
- Linux kernel 6.7 or later for network restrictions (TCP bind/connect)
- Go 1.18 or later (for building from source)
## Installation
### Quick Install
```bash
go install github.com/zouuup/landrun/cmd/landrun@latest
```
### From Source
```bash
git clone https://github.com/zouuup/landrun.git
cd landrun
go build -o landrun cmd/landrun/main.go
sudo cp landrun /usr/local/bin/
```
### Distros
#### Arch (AUR)
maintained by [Vcalv](https://github.com/vcalv)
[AUR](https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/landrun-git)
```bash
yay -S landrun
```
#### Slackware
maintained by [r1w1s1](https://github.com/r1w1s1)
[Slackbuild](https://slackbuilds.org/repository/15.0/network/landrun/?search=landrun)
```bash
sudo sbopkg -i packagename
```
## Usage
Basic syntax:
```bash
landrun [options] [args...]
```
### Options
- `--ro `: Allow read-only access to specified path (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--rox `: Allow read-only access with execution to specified path (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--rw `: Allow read-write access to specified path (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--rwx `: Allow read-write access with execution to specified path (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--bind-tcp `: Allow binding to specified TCP port (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--connect-tcp `: Allow connecting to specified TCP port (can be specified multiple times or as comma-separated values)
- `--env `: Environment variable to pass to the sandboxed command (format: KEY=VALUE or just KEY to pass current value)
- `--best-effort`: Use best effort mode, falling back to less restrictive sandbox if necessary [default: disabled]
- `--log-level `: Set logging level (error, info, debug) [default: "error"]
- `--unrestricted-network`: Allows unrestricted network access (disables all network restrictions)
- `--unrestricted-filesystem`: Allows unrestricted filesystem access (disables all filesystem restrictions)
- `--add-exec`: Automatically adds the executing binary to --rox
- `--ldd`: Automatically adds required libraries to --rox
### Important Notes
- You must explicitly add the directory or files to the command you want to run with `--rox` flag
- For system commands, you typically need to include `/usr/bin`, `/usr/lib`, and other system directories
- Use `--rwx` for directories or files where you need both write access and the ability to execute files
- Network restrictions require Linux kernel 6.7 or later with Landlock ABI v4
- By default, no environment variables are passed to the sandboxed command. Use `--env` to explicitly pass environment variables
- The `--best-effort` flag allows graceful degradation on older kernels that don't support all requested restrictions
- Paths can be specified either using multiple flags or as comma-separated values (e.g., `--ro /usr,/lib,/home`)
- If no paths or network rules are specified and neither unrestricted flag is set, landrun will apply maximum restrictions (denying all access)
### Environment Variables
- `LANDRUN_LOG_LEVEL`: Set logging level (error, info, debug)
### Examples
1. Run a command that allows exec access to a specific file
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/bin/ls --rox /usr/lib --ro /home ls /home
```
2. Run a command with read-only access to a directory:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/ --ro /path/to/dir ls /path/to/dir
```
3. Run a command with write access to a directory:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/bin --ro /lib --rw /path/to/dir touch /path/to/dir/newfile
```
4. Run a command with write access to a file:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/bin --ro /lib --rw /path/to/dir/newfile touch /path/to/dir/newfile
```
5. Run a command with execution permissions:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/ --ro /lib,/lib64 /usr/bin/bash
```
6. Run with debug logging:
```bash
landrun --log-level debug --rox /usr/ --ro /lib,/lib64,/path/to/dir ls /path/to/dir
```
7. Run with network restrictions:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/ --ro /lib,/lib64 --bind-tcp 8080 --connect-tcp 80 /usr/bin/my-server
```
This will allow the program to only bind to TCP port 8080 and connect to TCP port 80.
8. Run a DNS client with appropriate permissions:
```bash
landrun --log-level debug --ro /etc,/usr --rox /usr/ --connect-tcp 443 nc kernel.org 443
```
This allows connections to port 443, requires access to /etc/resolv.conf for resolving DNS.
9. Run a web server with selective network permissions:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/bin --ro /lib,/lib64,/var/www --rwx /var/log --bind-tcp 80,443 /usr/bin/nginx
```
10. Running anything without providing parameters is... maximum security jail!
```bash
landrun ls
```
11. If you keep getting permission denied without knowing what exactly going on, best to use strace with it.
```bash
landrun --rox /usr strace -f -e trace=all ls
```
12. Run with specific environment variables:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr --ro /etc --env HOME --env PATH --env CUSTOM_VAR=my_value -- env
```
13. Run command with explicity access to files instead of directories:
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/lib/libc.so.6 --rox /usr/lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2 --rox /usr/bin/true /usr/bin/true
```
14. Run a command with --add-exec which automatically adds target binary to --rox
```bash
landrun --rox /usr/lib/ --add-exec /usr/bin/true
```
15. Run a command with --ldd and --add-exec which automatically adds required libraries and target binary to --rox
```bash
landrun --ldd --add-exec /usr/bin/true
```
Note that shared libs always need exec permission due to how they are loaded, PROT_EXEC on mmap() etc.
This example passes the current HOME and PATH variables, plus a custom variable named CUSTOM_VAR.
## Systemd Integration
landrun can be integrated with systemd to run services with enhanced security. Here's an example of running nginx with landrun:
1. Create a systemd service file (e.g., `/etc/systemd/system/nginx-landrun.service`):
```ini
[Unit]
Description=nginx with landrun sandbox
After=network.target
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/landrun \
--rox /usr/bin,/usr/lib \
--ro /etc/nginx,/etc/ssl,/etc/passwd,/etc/group,/etc/nsswitch.conf \
--rwx /var/log/nginx \
--rwx /var/cache/nginx \
--bind-tcp 80,443 \
/usr/bin/nginx -g 'daemon off;'
Restart=always
User=nginx
Group=nginx
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
```
2. Enable and start the service:
```bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable nginx-landrun
sudo systemctl start nginx-landrun
```
3. Check the service status:
```bash
sudo systemctl status nginx-landrun
```
This configuration:
- Runs nginx with minimal required permissions
- Allows binding to ports 80 and 443
- Provides read-only access to configuration files
- Allows write access only to log and cache directories
- Runs as the nginx user and group
- Automatically restarts on failure
You can adjust the permissions based on your specific needs. For example, if you need to serve static files from `/var/www`, add `--ro /var/www` to the ExecStart line.
## Security
landrun uses Linux's Landlock to create a secure sandbox environment. It provides:
- File system access control
- Directory access restrictions
- Execution control
- TCP network restrictions
- Process isolation
- Default restrictive mode when no rules are specified
Landlock is an access-control system that enables processes to securely restrict themselves and their future children. As a stackable Linux Security Module (LSM), it creates additional security layers on top of existing system-wide access controls, helping to mitigate security impacts from bugs or malicious behavior in applications.
### Landlock Access Control Rights
landrun leverages Landlock's fine-grained access control mechanisms, which include:
**File-specific rights:**
- Execute files (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_EXECUTE`)
- Write to files (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_WRITE_FILE`)
- Read files (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_FILE`)
- Truncate files (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_TRUNCATE`) - Available since Landlock ABI v3
- IOCTL operations on devices (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_IOCTL_DEV`) - Available since Landlock ABI v5
**Directory-specific rights:**
- Read directory contents (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_READ_DIR`)
- Remove directories (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REMOVE_DIR`)
- Remove files (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REMOVE_FILE`)
- Create various filesystem objects (char devices, directories, regular files, sockets, etc.)
- Refer/reparent files across directories (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_FS_REFER`) - Available since Landlock ABI v2
**Network-specific rights** (requires Linux 6.7+ with Landlock ABI v4):
- Bind to specific TCP ports (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_BIND_TCP`)
- Connect to specific TCP ports (`LANDLOCK_ACCESS_NET_CONNECT_TCP`)
### Limitations
- Landlock must be supported by your kernel
- Network restrictions require Linux kernel 6.7 or later with Landlock ABI v4
- Some operations may require additional permissions
- Files or directories opened before sandboxing are not subject to Landlock restrictions
## Kernel Compatibility Table
| Feature | Minimum Kernel Version | Landlock ABI Version |
| ---------------------------------- | ---------------------- | -------------------- |
| Basic filesystem sandboxing | 5.13 | 1 |
| File referring/reparenting control | 5.19 | 2 |
| File truncation control | 6.2 | 3 |
| Network TCP restrictions | 6.7 | 4 |
| IOCTL on special files | 6.10 | 5 |
## Troubleshooting
If you receive "permission denied" or similar errors:
1. Ensure you've added all necessary paths with `--ro` or `--rw`
2. Try running with `--log-level debug` to see detailed permission information
3. Check that Landlock is supported and enabled on your system:
```bash
grep -E 'landlock|lsm=' /boot/config-$(uname -r)
# alternatively, if there are no /boot/config-* files
zgrep -iE 'landlock|lsm=' /proc/config.gz
# another alternate method
grep -iE 'landlock|lsm=' /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/config
```
You should see `CONFIG_SECURITY_LANDLOCK=y` and `lsm=landlock,...` in the output
4. For network restrictions, verify your kernel version is 6.7+ with Landlock ABI v4:
```bash
uname -r
```
## Technical Details
### Implementation
This project uses the [landlock-lsm/go-landlock](https://github.com/landlock-lsm/go-landlock) package for sandboxing, which provides both filesystem and network restrictions. The current implementation supports:
- Read/write/execute restrictions for files and directories
- TCP port binding restrictions
- TCP port connection restrictions
- Best-effort mode for graceful degradation on older kernels
### Best-Effort Mode
When using `--best-effort` (disabled by default), landrun will gracefully degrade to using the best available Landlock version on the current kernel. This means:
- On Linux 6.7+: Full filesystem and network restrictions
- On Linux 6.2-6.6: Filesystem restrictions including truncation, but no network restrictions
- On Linux 5.19-6.1: Basic filesystem restrictions including file reparenting, but no truncation control or network restrictions
- On Linux 5.13-5.18: Basic filesystem restrictions without file reparenting, truncation control, or network restrictions
- On older Linux: No restrictions (sandbox disabled)
When no rules are specified and neither unrestricted flag is set, landrun will apply maximum restrictions available for the current kernel version.
### Tests
The project includes a comprehensive test suite that verifies:
- Basic filesystem access controls (read-only, read-write, execute)
- Directory traversal and path handling
- Network restrictions (TCP bind/connect)
- Environment variable isolation
- System command execution
- Edge cases and regression tests
Run the tests with:
```bash
./test.sh
```
Use `--keep-binary` to preserve the test binary after completion:
```bash
./test.sh --keep-binary
```
Use `--use-system` to test against the system-installed landrun binary:
```bash
./test.sh --use-system
```
## Future Features
Based on the Linux Landlock API capabilities, we plan to add:
- 🔒 Enhanced filesystem controls with more fine-grained permissions
- 🌐 Support for UDP and other network protocol restrictions (when supported by Linux kernel)
- 🔄 Process scoping and resource controls
- 🛡️ Additional security features as they become available in the Landlock API
## Acknowledgements
This project wouldn't exist without:
- [Landlock](https://landlock.io), the kernel security module enabling unprivileged sandboxing - maintained by [@l0kod](https://github.com/l0kod)
- [go-landlock](https://github.com/landlock-lsm/go-landlock), the Go bindings powering this tool - developed by [@gnoack](https://github.com/gnoack)
## License
This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v2
## Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.