Profile Schema Reference

Complete reference for the ZViz security profile schema.

Schema Version

schema_version: "1.0"

Top-Level Fields

Field	Type	Required	Description
name	string	Yes	Profile identifier
version	string	Yes	Profile version
description	string	No	Human-readable description
extends	string	No	Base profile to inherit from
syscalls	object	No	Syscall control rules
filesystem	object	No	Filesystem access rules
network	object	No	Network access rules
resources	object	No	Resource limits
capabilities	object	No	Linux capabilities

Syscalls

syscalls:
  # Syscalls allowed without mediation (fast path)
  allow:
    - read
    - write
    - close
    - exit_group

  # Syscalls blocked immediately
  deny:
    - mount
    - umount2
    - bpf
    - init_module

  # Syscalls mediated by broker
  broker:
    - openat
    - socket
    - clone
    - ioctl
    - execve

Syscall Categories

For convenience, you can use categories:

syscalls:
  allow:
    - "@basic-io"      # read, write, close, etc.
    - "@memory"        # mmap, munmap, brk, etc.
    - "@process"       # fork, exit, wait, etc.
  deny:
    - "@dangerous"     # mount, bpf, ptrace, etc.

Available categories:

Category	Syscalls
@basic-io	read, write, close, dup, dup2, dup3, pipe, pipe2
@memory	mmap, munmap, mprotect, brk, mremap
@process	fork, vfork, exit, exit_group, wait4, waitid
@network	socket, bind, listen, accept, connect, send, recv
@signal	rt_sigaction, rt_sigprocmask, kill, tgkill
@filesystem	openat, stat, fstat, lstat, access, readlink
@dangerous	mount, ptrace, bpf, init_module, kexec_load

Filesystem

filesystem:
  # Read-only paths
  readonly:
    - /usr
    - /lib
    - /lib64
    - /etc
    - /bin
    - /sbin

  # Writable paths
  writable:
    - /tmp
    - /var/tmp
    - /work

  # Hidden paths (inaccessible)
  hidden:
    - /etc/shadow
    - /etc/gshadow
    - /root

  # Executable paths (for execve)
  executable:
    - /usr/bin
    - /bin
    - /usr/local/bin

  # Glob patterns
  patterns:
    allow_read:
      - "*.so"
      - "*.so.*"
    deny_write:
      - "*.conf"
      - "*.cfg"

Path Patterns

Paths support glob patterns:

Pattern	Meaning
/path	Exact match
/path/*	Direct children
/path/**	All descendants
*.ext	Files with extension

Network

network:
  # Outbound connections
  egress:
    allow:
      - 10.0.0.0/8
      - 172.16.0.0/12
      - 192.168.0.0/16
    deny:
      - 0.0.0.0/0

  # Inbound connections
  ingress:
    deny_all: true
    # Or specific rules:
    # allow:
    #   - 10.0.0.0/8

  # DNS configuration
  dns:
    allow: true
    proxy:
      enabled: true
      upstream: "10.0.0.53:53"

  # Socket types
  sockets:
    allow:
      - tcp
      - udp
      - unix
    deny:
      - raw
      - netlink
      - packet

  # Port restrictions
  ports:
    allow_bind:
      - 8080
      - 8443
    deny_connect:
      - 22
      - 23

Resources

resources:
  # Memory limit (bytes or human-readable)
  memory_max: "512M"

  # Memory + swap limit
  memory_swap_max: "1G"

  # High memory watermark
  memory_high: "400M"

  # CPU quota: "quota period" in microseconds
  cpu_max: "100000 100000"  # 100% of one CPU

  # CPU shares (relative weight)
  cpu_weight: 100

  # Maximum processes/threads
  pids_max: 100

  # I/O limits
  io_max:
    - device: "8:0"
      rbps: 10485760    # Read bytes/sec
      wbps: 5242880     # Write bytes/sec
      riops: 1000       # Read IOPS
      wiops: 500        # Write IOPS

Memory Units

Unit	Bytes
K	1024
M	1024²
G	1024³
T	1024⁴

Capabilities

capabilities:
  # Drop all capabilities first
  drop_all: true

  # Keep specific capabilities
  keep:
    - CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE
    - CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE

  # Ambient capabilities
  ambient:
    - CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE

  # Bounding set
  bounding:
    drop:
      - CAP_SYS_ADMIN
      - CAP_SYS_PTRACE

Capability List

Capability	Description
CAP_CHOWN	Change file ownership
CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE	Bypass file permissions
CAP_DAC_READ_SEARCH	Bypass read/search permissions
CAP_FOWNER	Bypass permission checks for file owner
CAP_FSETID	Don't clear setuid/setgid bits
CAP_KILL	Send signals to any process
CAP_SETGID	Change GID
CAP_SETUID	Change UID
CAP_SETPCAP	Modify process capabilities
CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE	Bind to ports < 1024
CAP_NET_RAW	Use raw sockets
CAP_SYS_CHROOT	Use chroot
CAP_SYS_PTRACE	Use ptrace
CAP_SYS_ADMIN	Many admin operations

Complete Example

name: web-server
version: "1.0"
description: "Profile for web server applications"

extends: minimal

syscalls:
  allow:
    - "@basic-io"
    - "@network"
    - "@memory"
    - epoll_create1
    - epoll_ctl
    - epoll_wait
  deny:
    - "@dangerous"
  broker:
    - openat
    - socket

filesystem:
  readonly:
    - /usr
    - /lib
    - /etc
  writable:
    - /tmp
    - /var/log
  executable:
    - /usr/bin
    - /bin

network:
  egress:
    allow:
      - 10.0.0.0/8
    deny:
      - 0.0.0.0/0
  ingress:
    deny_all: false
  sockets:
    allow: [tcp, udp]
    deny: [raw]
  ports:
    allow_bind: [80, 443, 8080]

resources:
  memory_max: "256M"
  cpu_max: "50000 100000"
  pids_max: 50

capabilities:
  drop_all: true
  keep:
    - CAP_NET_BIND_SERVICE

Validation

# Validate profile syntax
zviz compile --validate my-profile.yaml

# Check host compatibility
zviz compile --check-host my-profile.yaml

# Show compiled rules
zviz compile --show my-profile.yaml

See Also

• Profiles Guide
• Profile Authoring
• Built-in Profiles