Run untrusted code in an isolated transient systemd unit with systemd-run

domain: freedesktop.org · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗

Documented steps

  1. Launch a transient service with hardening via --property=, e.g.: systemd-run --unit=untrusted --property=NoNewPrivileges=yes --property=PrivateTmp=yes --property=ProtectSystem=strict --property=CapabilityBoundingSet= -- /path/to/untrusted
  2. Use --scope to run synchronously as a transient .scope unit that inherits the caller's environment and returns when the command finishes
  3. Use --wait to make a transient service synchronous (block until the unit exits)
  4. For interactivity add --pty (implies synchronous wait) or --shell which expands to --pty --same-dir --wait --collect --service-type=exec $SHELL
  5. Copy output to the journal with -v / --output to inspect results afterward

Known gotchas

Related routes

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