modif: do not follow symlinks to /dev/null on disable (#7129)

When trying to prevent a file or directory in the user home from being
written to, it is not uncommon to replace it with a symlink to
/dev/null.

If this path is also blacklisted (such as by disable-common.inc), the
symlink will be followed, resulting in /dev/null itself being
blacklisted, which can cause issues with (unrelated) programs that have
their output redirected to /dev/null (for example).

To avoid disabling /dev/null, when applying commands from
`disable_file()` (such as `blacklist` and `read-only`), if a file is a
symlink to /dev/null, avoid following the symlink and perform the
operation on the link itself instead.

Using these commands with "/dev/null" directly as the argument (that is,
without going through a symlink) should still work the same way.

It has been confirmed to work on Linux 3.8[1], so it should work on at
least 3.8 and later.

Closes #5803.

[1] https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/pull/7129#issuecomment-4233141574

Reported-by: @fgpietersz
Suggested-by: @Changaco
Tested-by: @Changaco
Tested-by: @Zopolis4

src/firejail/fs.c

@@ -60,11 +60,11 @@ static int disable_file(OPERATION op, const char *filename) {
 	EUID_ASSERT();
 
 	// Resolve all symlinks
-	char* fname = realpath(filename, NULL);
+	char* rpath = realpath(filename, NULL);
-	if (fname == NULL && errno != EACCES) {
+	if (rpath == NULL && errno != EACCES) {
 		return 1;
 	}
-	if (fname == NULL && errno == EACCES) {
+	if (rpath == NULL && errno == EACCES) {
 		// realpath and stat functions will fail on FUSE filesystems
 		// they don't seem to like a uid of 0
 		// force mounting
@@ -95,22 +95,38 @@ static int disable_file(OPERATION op, const char *filename) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	assert(fname);
+	assert(rpath);
 	// check for firejail executable
 	// we might have a file found in ${PATH} pointing to /usr/bin/firejail
 	// blacklisting it here will end up breaking situations like user clicks on a link in Thunderbird
 	//     and expects Firefox to open in the same sandbox
-	if (strcmp(BINDIR "/firejail", fname) == 0) {
+	if (strcmp(BINDIR "/firejail", rpath) == 0) {
-		free(fname);
+		free(rpath);
 		return 1;
 	}
 
+	int follow_symlinks = 1;
+
+	// Users may try to disable writing to certain paths in the user home
+	// by replacing them with symlinks to /dev/null, so avoid following
+	// symlinks to /dev/null to prevent disabling /dev/null itself, as that
+	// can lead to unexpected issues (see #5803).
+	if (strcmp(rpath, "/dev/null") == 0 && is_link(filename))
+		follow_symlinks = 0;
+
+	int extraflags = 0;
+	const char *fname = rpath; // filename to be used for operations
+	if (!follow_symlinks) {
+		fname = filename;
+		extraflags |= O_NOFOLLOW;
+	}
+
 	// if the file is not present, do nothing
-	int fd = open(fname, O_PATH|O_CLOEXEC);
+	int fd = open(fname, O_PATH|O_CLOEXEC|extraflags);
 	if (fd < 0) {
 		if (arg_debug)
 			printf("Warning (blacklisting): cannot open %s: %s\n", fname, strerror(errno));
-		free(fname);
+		free(rpath);
 		return 1;
 	}
 
@@ -118,7 +134,7 @@ static int disable_file(OPERATION op, const char *filename) {
 	if (fstat(fd, &s) < 0) {
 		if (arg_debug)
 			printf("Warning (blacklisting): cannot stat %s: %s\n", fname, strerror(errno));
-		free(fname);
+		free(rpath);
 		close(fd);
 		return 1;
 	}
@@ -214,7 +230,7 @@ static int disable_file(OPERATION op, const char *filename) {
 
 out:
 	close(fd);
-	free(fname);
+	free(rpath);
 	return retval;
 }
 

src/man/firejail-profile.5.in

@@ -266,6 +266,13 @@ Symbolic link handling: Blacklisting a path that is a symbolic link will also
 blacklist the path that it points to.
 For example, if ~/foo is blacklisted and it points to /bar, then /bar will also
 be blacklisted.
+Symlinks to /dev/null are not followed (only the symlink itself will be
+affected), as replacing certain paths with symlinks to /dev/null is not
+uncommon and restricting access to /dev/null can lead to unexpected issues (see
+.UR https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/5803
+#5803
+.UE ).
+Using /dev/null directly (instead of through a symlink) should work normally.
 .br
 
 .br

src/man/firejail.1.in

@@ -247,6 +247,13 @@ Symbolic link handling: Blacklisting a path that is a symbolic link will also
 blacklist the path that it points to.
 For example, if ~/foo is blacklisted and it points to /bar, then /bar will also
 be blacklisted.
+Symlinks to /dev/null are not followed (only the symlink itself will be
+affected), as replacing certain paths with symlinks to /dev/null is not
+uncommon and restricting access to /dev/null can lead to unexpected issues (see
+.UR https://github.com/netblue30/firejail/issues/5803
+#5803
+.UE ).
+Using /dev/null directly (instead of through a symlink) should work normally.
 .br
 
 .br

test/fs/devnull_symlink

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+/dev/null

test/fs/disable-devnull-symlink.exp

@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+#!/usr/bin/expect -f
+# This file is part of Firejail project
+# Copyright (C) 2014-2026 Firejail Authors
+# License GPL v2
+
+set timeout 2
+spawn $env(SHELL)
+match_max 100000
+set PWD $env(PWD)
+
+send -- "ls -l /dev/null\r"
+expect {
+	timeout {puts "TESTING ERROR 0\n";exit}
+	"crw-rw-rw-" {puts "OK\n"}
+}
+after 100
+
+# Test that disabling a symlink to /dev/null does not disable /dev/null itself
+# (see #5803).
+send -- "firejail --noprofile --blacklist=./devnull_symlink ls -l /dev/null\r"
+expect {
+	timeout {puts "TESTING ERROR 1\n";exit}
+	"crw-rw-rw-" {puts "OK\n"}
+	"cr--r--r--" {puts "TESTING ERROR 2\n";exit}
+}
+after 100
+
+send -- "firejail --noprofile --blacklist=./devnull_symlink touch /dev/null; echo ret \$?\r"
+expect {
+	timeout {puts "TESTING ERROR 3\n";exit}
+	-re {ret 0} {puts "OK\n"}
+	-re {ret [1-9]} {puts "TESTING ERROR 4\n";exit}
+}
+after 100
+
+# Test that /dev/null can still be disabled directly (without a symlink).
+send -- "firejail --noprofile --blacklist=/dev/null ls -l /dev/null\r"
+expect {
+	timeout {puts "TESTING ERROR 5\n";exit}
+	"\\-r--------" {puts "OK\n"}
+	"crw-rw-rw-" {puts "TESTING ERROR 6\n";exit}
+}
+after 100
+
+send -- "firejail --noprofile --blacklist=/dev/null touch /dev/null; echo ret \$?\r"
+expect {
+	timeout {puts "TESTING ERROR 7\n";exit}
+	-re {ret 0} {puts "TESTING ERROR 8\n";exit}
+	-re {ret [1-9]} {puts "OK\n"}
+}
+after 100
+
+send -- "exit\r"
+
+after 100
+
+puts "\nall done\n"

test/fs/fs.sh

@@ -125,6 +125,9 @@ echo "TESTING: blacklist glob (test/fs/option_blacklist_glob.exp)"
 ./option_blacklist_glob.exp
 rm -fr ~/_firejail_test_dir
 
+echo "TESTING: disable symlink to /dev/null (test/fs/disable-devnull-symlink.exp)"
+./disable-devnull-symlink.exp
+
 echo "TESTING: noblacklist blacklist noexec (test/fs/noblacklist-blacklist-noexec.exp)"
 ./noblacklist-blacklist-noexec.exp