How to prevent a process from writing files

How about creating an empty chroot, then bind-mount the main filesystem as read-only inside the chroot?

Should probably be something like this to create a read-only bind-mount:

mount --bind /foo/ /path/to/chroot/
mount -o remount,ro /path/to/chroot/

You can bind-mount other directories which you want the jail to have write access to as well. Be careful if you need to bind-mount special directories (/dev/, /proc/, /sys/), mounting them as-is may be insecure.

It seems that the right tool for this job is fseccomp Based on sync-ignoringf code by Bastian Blank, I came up with this relatively small file that causes all its children to not be able to open a file for writing:

/*
 * Copyright (C) 2013 Joachim Breitner <[email protected]>
 *
 * Based on code Copyright (C) 2013 Bastian Blank <[email protected]>
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
 *
 * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this
 *    list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice,
 *    this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation
 *    and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
 * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
 * DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR
 * ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
 * (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
 * LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
 * ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
 * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
 * SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */

#define _GNU_SOURCE 1
#include <errno.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <seccomp.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>

#define filter_rule_add(action, syscall, count, ...) \
  if (seccomp_rule_add(filter, action, syscall, count, ##__VA_ARGS__)) abort();

static int filter_init(void)
{
  scmp_filter_ctx filter;

  if (!(filter = seccomp_init(SCMP_ACT_ALLOW))) abort();
  if (seccomp_attr_set(filter, SCMP_FLTATR_CTL_NNP, 1)) abort();
  filter_rule_add(SCMP_ACT_ERRNO(EACCES), SCMP_SYS(open), 1, SCMP_A1(SCMP_CMP_MASKED_EQ, O_WRONLY, O_WRONLY));
  filter_rule_add(SCMP_ACT_ERRNO(EACCES), SCMP_SYS(open), 1, SCMP_A1(SCMP_CMP_MASKED_EQ, O_RDWR, O_RDWR));
  return seccomp_load(filter);
}

int main(__attribute__((unused)) int argc, char *argv[])
{
  if (argc <= 1)
  {
    fprintf(stderr, "usage: %s COMMAND [ARG]...\n", argv[0]);
    return 2;
  }

  if (filter_init())
  {
    fprintf(stderr, "%s: can't initialize seccomp filter\n", argv[0]);
    return 1;
  }

  execvp(argv[1], &argv[1]);

  if (errno == ENOENT)
  {
    fprintf(stderr, "%s: command not found: %s\n", argv[0], argv[1]);
    return 127;
  }

  fprintf(stderr, "%s: failed to execute: %s: %s\n", argv[0], argv[1], strerror(errno));
  return 1;
}

Here you can see that it is still possible to read files:

[jojo@kirk:1] Wed, der 06.03.2013 um 12:58 Uhr Keep Smiling :-)
> ls test
ls: cannot access test: No such file or directory
> echo foo > test
bash: test: Permission denied
> ls test
ls: cannot access test: No such file or directory
> touch test
touch: cannot touch 'test': Permission denied
> head -n 1 no-writes.c # reading still works
/*

It does not prevent deleting files, or moving them, or other file operations besides opening, but that could be added.

A tool that enables this without having to write C code is syscall_limiter.

Would you consider writing a substitute to open(…) function, and loading it using LD_PRELOAD?