Ubuntu
wine package

WINE & 12.04, Are there any risks involved in setting ptrace=0. Lower security?

Asked by Jon

Sorry if this is not the right place for this question, I have tried AskUbuntu and Ubuntu Forums but have received no answers.

To run certain Windows programs in WINE you need to this workaround:

    echo 0|sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope

According to the support websites, this is due to a bug in the Ubuntu kernel that prevents ptrace and WINE playing well together.

Using the above command you set the ptrace to 0 which according the research I've done(don't ask me which websites, I have seem a lot of them), ptrace has to do with the interactions between programs. The 0 setting is more permissive than the 1.

I have to assume that there was a good reason Ubuntu wanted the ptrace=1 so this leads me back to the short form of the question.

Are there any risks involved in setting ptrace=0. Lower security? problems debugging? any others that I haven't thought of???

I am not asking for support as I know that this workaround will allow me to run my programs and I know that you don't support WINE here I just want to know if using this will cause any problems?

P.S. if you know when this kernel bug will be fixed that would be a great bonus answer.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu wine Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
actionparsnip
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Best actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

Then run:

gksudo gedit /usr/bin/wine_name; sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/wine_name

add the 3 lines below:

#!/bin/bash
echo 0|sudo tee /proc/sys/kernel/yama/ptrace_scope
wine ~/.wine/drive_c/path/to/application

Obviously change the last line to the actual wine app, you can even make a .desktop file in /usr/share/applications to run the script using GUI.

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#2

Why ptrace.
https://lwn.net/Articles/393012/
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SecurityTeam/Roadmap/KernelHardening#ptrace_Protection

e.g. wine bug 636278

> Lower security? problems debugging?

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/precise/en/man2/ptrace.2.html
... a parent process may
       observe and control the execution of another process, and examine and
       change its core image and registers. It is primarily used to implement
       breakpoint debugging and system call tracing.

Revision history for this message
Jon (doogie544) said : 		#3

Thanks actionparsnip, that solved my question.