Explain a missing tun device where the failure actually happens
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Review caught that the device guard was wired to the wrong call. The
daemon does not resolve `--device` at create: verified against Docker
29.7, `docker create --device /dev/does-not-exist` succeeds and prints an
id, and runc only resolves the device — and validates sysctls — when it
builds the container. So on a host with no tun module the create returns
fine and `start` fails, which means the explanation never ran and the
user saw the raw daemon string naming a path they would go looking for on
the wrong machine. The unit tests fed the create-side string straight in,
so they confirmed a function no real failure could reach.

Move the guard onto `start_container`, covering create as well in case a
future daemon checks earlier. It no longer takes `vpn_support_enabled` —
`start_container` has a container id and no project, and nothing else in
Triple-C ever requests a device, so an error naming /dev/net/tun is
unambiguous on its own. The test now uses the daemon's verbatim message
via bollard's real Display format.

Also from review:

  * Soften the security claim. Docker does not enable user-namespace
    remapping by default, so this is a real CAP_NET_ADMIN in the initial
    user namespace with only the network namespace confining it. It
    cannot touch host interfaces, but "confers no authority outside the
    container" was too strong: within its namespace it can set
    promiscuous mode and add addresses, routes and NAT on the shared
    docker0 segment, which puts sibling containers — the LiteLLM gateway
    among them — within ARP-spoofing reach, and it can flush netfilter
    rules sandbox mode may rely on. Said plainly in the code, CLAUDE.md
    and HOW-TO-USE.
  * Drop Tailscale from the list of clients needing this. Its
    --tun=userspace-networking mode needs neither the capability nor the
    device, and listing it invites granting NET_ADMIN for nothing.
  * Say in the toggle's own hint that changing it recreates the
    container, matching how every other recreation-triggering setting is
    labelled. The tab's generic "stop the container first" chip does not
    tell the user what is about to happen.
  * Add RuntimeSection tests: saves on, saves off explicitly rather than
    dropping the key, reflects state, is disabled while running, and
    carries the recreation warning.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
2026-08-14 08:15:05 -07:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 65a3d4eb29
commit 2b35aa8c16
6 changed files with 205 additions and 53 deletions
+75 -34
View File
@@ -830,8 +830,16 @@ type VpnHostConfigParts = (
/// its handshake packets are dropped by reverse-path filtering. Harmless for
/// OpenVPN-based clients, so it is set unconditionally with the rest.
///
/// This is namespaced to the container's own network stack: `NET_ADMIN` confers
/// no authority over the host's interfaces or over any other container.
/// What it costs, stated accurately: Docker does not enable user-namespace
/// remapping by default, so this is a real `CAP_NET_ADMIN` in the *initial*
/// user namespace and only the **network** namespace confines it. It cannot
/// touch the host's interfaces, but within its own namespace it can set
/// promiscuous mode and add arbitrary addresses, routes and NAT rules on the
/// shared `docker0` L2 segment — which puts sibling containers (the LiteLLM
/// gateway among them) within reach of ARP spoofing, and lets netlink trigger
/// host-kernel module auto-loading. It is also enough to flush netfilter rules
/// inside the container, so pair it with `sandbox_mode_enabled` advisedly.
/// Hence opt-in, per project, rather than on for everyone.
fn vpn_host_config(enabled: bool) -> VpnHostConfigParts {
if !enabled {
return (None, None, None);
@@ -857,31 +865,42 @@ fn vpn_host_config(enabled: bool) -> VpnHostConfigParts {
/// Turn the daemon's device-passthrough failure into an explanation.
///
/// Requesting `/dev/net/tun` fails at *creation* when the host kernel has no
/// `tun` module — and the raw bollard error names a path the user will look for
/// on the wrong machine, since with Docker Desktop the relevant host is the
/// Linux VM rather than their own. Left unmapped this surfaces as a project
/// that simply refuses to start, with nothing pointing back at the switch that
/// caused it.
fn explain_create_failure(err: &str, vpn_enabled: bool) -> String {
let device_missing = vpn_enabled
&& err.contains(TUN_DEVICE)
/// **This fires on `start`, not `create`.** Verified against Docker 29.7:
/// `docker create --device /dev/does-not-exist` succeeds and prints an id; the
/// device is only resolved when runc builds the container, so the failure lands
/// on the *next* call. Sysctls validate at the same point. Anything that
/// inspects only the create path will never see it — which is why both paths
/// route through here and the tests exercise the start-side string.
///
/// Unmapped, this reads as `Failed to start container: Docker responded with
/// status code 500: error gathering device information while adding custom
/// device "/dev/net/tun": no such file or directory` — a path the user will go
/// looking for on the wrong machine, since with Docker Desktop the relevant
/// host is the Linux VM rather than their own, and with nothing pointing back
/// at the switch that caused it.
///
/// Deliberately not gated on `vpn_support_enabled`: nothing else in Triple-C
/// ever asks for a device, so an error naming `/dev/net/tun` can only have come
/// from a container created with the switch on. That keeps the check usable
/// from [`start_container`], which has a container id and no project.
fn explain_container_failure(action: &str, err: &str) -> String {
let device_missing = err.contains(TUN_DEVICE)
&& (err.contains("no such file or directory")
|| err.contains("No such file or directory")
|| err.contains("error gathering device information"));
if device_missing {
return format!(
"Failed to create container: the Docker host has no {} device, which \
"Failed to {} container: the Docker host has no {} device, which \
\"VPN support\" requires. The host kernel needs the `tun` module \
loaded (on Docker Desktop that is the Linux VM, not your own \
machine). Turn VPN support off in Config → Runtime to start this \
project without it. Original error: {}",
TUN_DEVICE, err
action, TUN_DEVICE, err
);
}
format!("Failed to create container: {}", err)
format!("Failed to {} container: {}", action, err)
}
pub async fn create_container(
@@ -1574,7 +1593,7 @@ pub async fn create_container(
let response = docker
.create_container(Some(options), config)
.await
.map_err(|e| explain_create_failure(&e.to_string(), project.vpn_support_enabled))?;
.map_err(|e| explain_container_failure("create", &e.to_string()))?;
Ok(response.id)
}
@@ -1584,7 +1603,7 @@ pub async fn start_container(container_id: &str) -> Result<(), String> {
docker
.start_container(container_id, None::<StartContainerOptions<String>>)
.await
.map_err(|e| format!("Failed to start container: {}", e))
.map_err(|e| explain_container_failure("start", &e.to_string()))
}
pub async fn stop_container(container_id: &str) -> Result<(), String> {
@@ -2770,31 +2789,53 @@ mod tests {
assert_eq!(cap_add.unwrap(), vec!["NET_ADMIN"]);
}
/// What bollard actually hands us when a tun-less host rejects the device.
///
/// Captured verbatim from Docker 29.7: `docker create` with a missing
/// device **succeeds**, and this arrives from the subsequent `start`.
/// `DockerResponseServerError`'s Display is
/// `"Docker responded with status code {code}: {message}"` with the
/// daemon's message unaltered.
const REAL_TUN_ERROR: &str = "Docker responded with status code 500: error \
gathering device information while adding custom device \
\"/dev/net/tun\": no such file or directory";
#[test]
fn a_missing_tun_device_is_explained_rather_than_echoed() {
let raw = "error gathering device information while adding custom device \
\"/dev/net/tun\": no such file or directory";
let msg = explain_create_failure(raw, true);
fn a_missing_tun_device_is_explained_on_the_path_that_actually_fails() {
// The start path is the one that matters: the daemon defers device
// resolution to runc, so create returns an id on a host with no tun
// module and only start fails. A version of this that checked create
// alone would be dead code.
let msg = explain_container_failure("start", REAL_TUN_ERROR);
assert!(msg.starts_with("Failed to start container:"), "{}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains("VPN support"), "should name the switch: {}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains("tun` module"), "should name the cause: {}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains(raw), "should keep the original error: {}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains("Config → Runtime"), "should say where to fix it: {}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains(REAL_TUN_ERROR), "should keep the original: {}", msg);
}
#[test]
fn the_same_explanation_covers_create_if_the_daemon_ever_checks_earlier() {
// Belt and braces — older and future daemons may validate at create.
let msg = explain_container_failure("create", REAL_TUN_ERROR);
assert!(msg.starts_with("Failed to create container:"), "{}", msg);
assert!(msg.contains("VPN support"), "{}", msg);
}
#[test]
fn unrelated_failures_are_left_alone() {
// Including a tun error on a project that never asked for VPN support —
// that came from somewhere else and must not be misattributed.
let name_clash = "Conflict. The container name \"/triple-c-x\" is already in use";
assert_eq!(
explain_create_failure(name_clash, true),
format!("Failed to create container: {}", name_clash)
);
let tun_err = "no such file or directory: /dev/net/tun";
assert_eq!(
explain_create_failure(tun_err, false),
format!("Failed to create container: {}", tun_err)
);
for (action, err) in [
("create", "Conflict. The container name \"/triple-c-x\" is already in use"),
("start", "Docker responded with status code 404: No such container"),
("start", "error gathering device information while adding custom device \"/dev/dri/card0\""),
] {
assert_eq!(
explain_container_failure(action, err),
format!("Failed to {} container: {}", action, err),
"{} should pass through untouched",
err
);
}
}
#[test]