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Use several controls together rather than looking for one “maximum security” switch. On OpenBSD, review and bound shared-memory resources with sysctl, keep W^X protection enabled, omit executable-memory capability from confined processes unless it is genuinely required, reduce system-call classes with pledge, restrict filesystem visibility with unveil, and isolate unavoidable privileged work in a small helper. Use securelevel for host-wide restrictions only after console recovery, upgrades, and maintenance procedures have been tested.
The right limits depend on the installed OpenBSD release and the service’s actual behavior. OpenBSD’s official manuals define the available variables, promises, defaults, and failure modes; they do not provide one shared-memory number or one hardening profile that fits every daemon.
What each OpenBSD control protects
These mechanisms operate at different layers. Treating them as interchangeable creates gaps: a host-wide kernel setting cannot express the narrow filesystem view one process needs, while a per-process pledge cannot replace restrictions on system-wide device or kernel policy changes.
| Control | Scope | Primary capability affected | Typical denial or failure behavior | Operational blast radius |
|---|---|---|---|---|
sysctl shared-memory and W^X settings |
System-wide | Shared-memory capacity, segment counts, and executable-memory policy | Resource allocation or memory-protection requests are denied according to the configured policy | Every process that uses the affected resource |
pledge |
Per process | System-call subsystems, memory protections, process and identity operations, descriptors, devices, and more | Usually an uncatchable SIGABRT; the error promise changes many violations to ENOSYS |
The confined process and its child-policy inheritance |
unveil |
Per process | Filesystem visibility and permissions | Unveiled paths work only with granted permissions; other filesystem operations fail | The process’s view of the filesystem |
| Privilege separation | Process architecture | Which component can perform privileged operations | Requests outside the helper’s narrow protocol are rejected by design | Limits compromise of the exposed component |
securelevel |
System-wide | Selected kernel, device, and security-policy changes | Operations become unavailable or immutable as the level rises | The entire host, including administration and recovery |
Use the narrowest control that matches the risk. A service can have a generous host-wide shared-memory ceiling while still receiving a very small pledge and unveil policy. Conversely, an aggressive host-wide ceiling can break unrelated workloads even when the target daemon is correctly confined.
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Establish the release-specific baseline
OpenBSD semantics and defaults are release-specific. Before editing configuration, record the installed release and read its local manuals with commands such as man sysctl, man pledge, man unveil, and man securelevel. Check the relevant sysctl documentation for the variables controlling the total amount of shared memory and the maximum number of shared-memory segments. Do not copy variable names or defaults from a different release without checking that release’s manual.
Build an inventory for each service before setting limits:
- How much shared memory it allocates, and how many segments it creates.
- Whether it maps writable and executable memory, directly or through a runtime or JIT.
- Which files and directories it reads, writes, creates, removes, or executes.
- Whether it creates processes, changes identity, passes file descriptors, or accesses devices.
- Which network families, sockets, signals, clocks, and other system-call classes it actually uses.
- Which startup, reload, logging, upgrade, crash-recovery, and administrator-access paths must continue to work.
Capture this behavior in staging before tightening policy. A denial seen only during a rare reload or database-rebuild path is still a production outage if that path was not tested.
Bound shared memory without guessing a universal number
Use the documented host-wide controls
The sysctl documentation describes controls for both the amount of shared memory available in the system and the maximum number of shared-memory segments. Choose values from the application inventory: allow the normal aggregate demand, include a measured operating margin, and leave room for other services that share the host. The official material does not establish a universal safe number, so a value that is appropriate for one machine can be an outage on another.
Review current values with the installed system’s sysctl interface, then place only release-valid settings in /etc/sysctl.conf. Apply changes in a maintenance window or staging environment first. Monitor service logs and startup behavior for allocation failures, segment-count exhaustion, and dependent services that begin failing after the change. If a limit is hit, compare observed peak usage with the configured ceiling, identify which process consumed the resource, and adjust deliberately rather than simply doubling every limit.
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Keep W^X protection enabled
OpenBSD also documents a control for W^X violations. Keep the protective behavior enabled unless a specific, documented exception is required. W^X is most useful when it prevents a memory region from being writable and executable at the same time; disabling or weakening the host policy broadens the consequences of a memory-corruption bug for every process that can take advantage of the exception.
When an application fails under W^X, first determine whether the failure is caused by a legitimate runtime requirement, a packaging mistake, or an exploit-like attempt to create executable mappings. Do not turn off the protection as a diagnostic shortcut. Prefer a supported runtime configuration that does not need executable mappings, or isolate the exceptional component and subject it to additional review.
Treat executable mappings as an explicit exception
pledge blocks PROT_EXEC for mmap(2) and mprotect(2) unless the process requests the prot_exec promise. This makes prot_exec a high-scrutiny capability for interpreters, JIT compilers, and similar software. Leave it out for ordinary network daemons, parsers, and workers. If it is unavoidable, document the code path that needs it, the version that was tested, and why a non-executable design is not possible.
Design a minimal pledge policy
Start from zero and add demonstrated requirements
Pledge removes access to system-call subsystems that the process does not need. Begin with the smallest set of promises that allows initialization and normal operation. Add a promise only after a controlled test demonstrates the corresponding operation. In particular, omit prot_exec, exec, proc, id, sendfd, recvfd, broad path-related promises, and device-specific promises unless the service has a reviewed requirement for each one.
The OpenBSD Project manual explains the consequence this way: “Subsystems not listed become unavailable, and most attempts to use operations in that subsystem result in the process being killed with an uncatchable SIGABRT, delivering a core file if possible.” Treat that termination as a useful containment signal, not as a recoverable application error.
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Understand monotonic reduction
Pledge restrictions are monotonic. A later call can remove capabilities, but it cannot restore promises already revoked. Place the broadest promise set needed for startup before the code enters less-trusted or long-running work, then make a second call that removes startup-only capabilities. If initialization requires opening configuration or plugin files, complete that work before the final reduction.
Do not assume a child process can regain a parent’s discarded capability. Design the parent and any helper around the final policy they will actually run under.
Use the error promise only during controlled integration
The error promise changes many pledge violations from process termination to an ENOSYS failure. This can help identify missing promises while integrating a service, because the application can log the failed operation and continue far enough to expose more incompatibilities. It is not stronger isolation: production policy should normally rely on the default termination behavior unless the service has a specific, reviewed reason to handle ENOSYS.
Account for documented history without treating it as a guarantee
Pledge first appeared in OpenBSD 5.9, according to the OpenBSD Project’s 2016 release history. The current pledge manual describes approximately three dozen subsystems, a count that reflects the documented interface rather than a promise about exploit-prevention effectiveness or performance. These historical facts help identify when a feature became available; they do not replace reading the manual for the installed release.
Restrict filesystem access with unveil
Expose only required paths and permissions
Unveil changes what filesystem paths a process can see and what it may do with them. The first call has a deliberately broad effect: “The first call to unveil() removes visibility of the entire filesystem from all other filesystem-related system calls (such as open(2), chmod(2) and rename(2)), except for the specified path and permissions.” Plan the initialization sequence accordingly.
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Open or locate resources that must be available during initialization, then unveil the smallest set of paths needed for the remaining lifetime. Use:
rfor read-only access to data or configuration.wfor writing existing files.xfor execution.cfor creation or removal.
After all paths are declared, lock the policy so later code cannot add new visibility. Keep the path list explicit rather than unveiling a broad parent directory for convenience.
Avoid dangerous permission combinations
A writable directory is a high-impact surface when the same code can execute files or create and remove directory entries. Avoid unveiling a writable directory to code that also has execute or create capability unless that combination is required and reviewed. Separate upload, cache, temporary, configuration, and executable trees where possible. Give read-only access to static data and reserve write permission for the component that genuinely owns the data.
Account for release-specific temporary-file behavior
OpenBSD 7.9 documents replacing the former tmppath pledge use with a narrow /tmp unveil and selected path promises. Treat this as a release-specific migration note: check the installed version’s pledge and unveil manuals before changing an existing sandbox. A policy copied from an older release may fail at startup or leave a broader path visible than intended.
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Unveil first appeared in OpenBSD 6.4, according to the OpenBSD Project’s 2018 release history. That date identifies feature availability; it is not a statement about the security of any particular path policy.
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Separate privileged work from exposed code
Use a small privileged helper
Keep protocol parsing, request handling, and other attack-exposed work in an unprivileged process. Put only operations that truly require privilege in a small helper. Define a narrow communication channel and a constrained request format so the helper performs named operations rather than accepting arbitrary system-call instructions or paths.
This architecture reduces the amount of code that must retain identity, device, or filesystem authority. The unprivileged process can receive network input and apply pledge and unveil before it enters its main loop; the helper can expose only the minimum operation needed, validate every parameter, and return a limited result.
Understand identity-related pledge behavior
After pledge is called, changes involving set-user-ID, set-group-ID, or sticky-bit attributes are ignored unless the relevant attribute capability is granted. Do not add the id promise merely because a startup script historically attempted an identity change; arrange the identity transition before confinement or move it into the dedicated privileged component.
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Use securelevel for host-wide restrictions
Securelevel supplies system-wide restrictions on selected kernel and device-policy changes. The manual describes four security levels and identifies variables that become immutable as the level rises. Because the effect reaches the entire host, securelevel is not a substitute for per-process pledge, unveil, least privilege, or service isolation.
Prepare recovery before raising the level
Before increasing securelevel, document and test:
- Console or out-of-band access if the host stops booting normally.
- Boot-loader and single-user recovery procedures.
- How kernel, firmware, and package upgrades will be performed under the intended level.
- Which device, filesystem, and logging maintenance operations administrators must still perform.
- How to roll back a bad service policy without relying on an operation securelevel will prohibit.
Raise the level only after those procedures work on the exact OpenBSD release and hardware class you operate. A securelevel setting that prevents an attacker from changing a protected policy can also prevent an administrator from repairing a misconfiguration through the usual path.
Roll out the controls in a safe order
- Inventory behavior. Measure shared-memory use, segment counts, executable mappings, files, descriptors, process creation, identity changes, and network or device needs for every service.
- Record the release. Read the installed
sysctl,pledge,unveil, andsecurelevelmanuals and note release-specific defaults and migration notes. - Stage host policy. Set conservative shared-memory and W^X policy in a non-production environment. Monitor allocation failures and W^X-related denials during normal, reload, upgrade, and recovery tests.
- Add pledge incrementally. Begin with the minimum promises, then add only capabilities proven necessary. Keep
prot_execand identity-changing promises out unless a documented exception survives review. - Add unveil paths incrementally. Grant the smallest read, write, execute, and create permissions, then lock the path policy after initialization.
- Split privilege. Move privileged operations into a minimal helper with a narrow protocol whenever practical.
- Test operational paths. Exercise startup, reload, log rotation, crash recovery, package or configuration upgrades, helper communication, and administrator access.
- Raise securelevel last. Validate console access, boot and recovery, upgrade, and maintenance procedures before applying a stronger host-wide level.
- Recheck after upgrades. Re-read current manuals and repeat the tests after every OpenBSD upgrade because defaults and semantics can change.
Diagnose common rollout failures
| Symptom | Likely policy cause | Safer response |
|---|---|---|
| Service cannot allocate shared memory after reboot | A system-wide amount or segment-count limit is below measured demand | Compare peak inventory with the configured value, include other host workloads, and adjust the specific limit rather than disabling all controls |
| Runtime fails while generating code | The process needs executable mappings but lacks prot_exec, or W^X policy rejects the mapping |
Verify that a JIT or interpreter truly requires this behavior; prefer a non-executable mode, otherwise isolate and document the exception |
| Daemon aborts on an uncommon code path | A required pledge subsystem was omitted | Use controlled integration with error to identify the missing operation, then add the narrow promise and return to normal termination behavior |
| Configuration or log write fails | The path was not unveiled, or it lacks w or c |
Unveil the exact file or directory with only the needed permission before locking the policy |
| Temporary-file creation breaks after an upgrade | The release changed the former tmppath pattern |
Follow the installed release’s documented narrow /tmp unveil and selected path promises |
Set-ID helper launch returns EACCES |
Inherited execpromises blocks set-user-ID or set-group-ID execution |
Redesign the helper boundary and identity transition; do not broaden the policy without reviewing why the set-ID binary is needed |
| Administrator cannot perform a maintenance operation | Securelevel has made the relevant kernel or device policy immutable | Use the documented console or recovery procedure and revise the maintenance plan before changing the level again |
A practical decision rule
Use sysctl when the resource limit or memory-execution rule must apply to the host. Use pledge when you need to remove system-call classes from one process. Use unveil when the risk is unnecessary filesystem visibility. Use privilege separation when only a small operation needs authority. Use securelevel when the restriction must survive across processes and you have verified recovery and maintenance. Combining these controls gives each one a narrow job and limits the damage when an exposed component is compromised.
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