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COMPEL(1) CRIU Manual COMPEL(1)



NAME
compel - Execute parasitic code within another process.



SYNOPSIS

compel hgen [option ...]

compel plugins [PLUGIN_NAME ...]

compel [--compat] includes | cflags | ldflags

compel [--compat] [--static] libs



DESCRIPTION

compel is a utility to execute arbitrary code, also called parasite code, in the context of a foreign process. The parasitic code, once compiled with compel flags and packed, can be executed in the context of other tasks. Currently there is only one way to load the parasitic blob into victim task using libcompel.a, called c-header.



ARGUMENTS



Positional Arguments

hgen

create a header from the .po file, which is the parasite binary.

plugins

prints the plugins available.

ldflags

prints the ldflags available to compel during linking of parasite code.

cflags

prints the compel cflags to be used during compilation of parasitic code.

includes

prints list of standard include directories.

libs

prints list of static or dynamic libraries that compel can link with.



OPTIONS

-f, --file FILE

Path to the binary file, FILE, which compel must turn into a header

-o, --output FILE

Path to the header file, FILE, where compel must write the resulting header.

-p, --prefix NAME

Specify prefix for var names

-l, --log-level NUM

Default log level of compel.

-h, --help

Prints usage and exits.

-V, --version

Prints version number of compel.



SOURCE EXAMPLES



Parasitic Code

#include <compel/plugins/std.h>

int parasite_trap_cmd(int cmd, void *args); //gets called by compel_run_in_thread()

int parasite_daemon_cmd(int cmd, void *arg); // gets called by compel_rpc_call() and compel_rpc_call_sync()

void parasite_cleanup(void); //gets called on parasite unload by compel_cure()



Infecting code

The parasitic code is compiled and converted to a header using compel, and included here.

#include <compel/infect.h>

#include "parasite.h"

Following steps are performed to infect the victim process:

•stop the task: int compel_stop_task(int pid);

•prepare infection handler: struct parasite_ctl *compel_prepare(int pid);

•execute system call: int compel_syscall(ctl, int syscall_nr, long *ret, int arg ...);

•infect victim: int compel_infect(ctl, nr_thread, size_of_args_area);

•cure the victim: int compel_cure(ctl); //ctl pointer is freed by this call

•Resume victim: int compel_resume_task(pid, orig_state, state);

ctl must be configured with blob information by calling PREFIX_setup_c_header(), with ctl as its argument. PREFIX is the argument given to -p when calling hgen, else it is deduced from file name.



EXAMPLES

To generate a header file(.h) from a parasite binary file(.po) use:



    compel hgen -f parasite.po -o parasite.h

parasite.po file is obtained by compiling the parasite source with compel flags and linking it with the compel plugins.



AUTHOR

The CRIU team.

12/20/2022 criu 3.17.1