🔎 Linux Kernel Module - Introduction

How to create a basic Linux Kernel Module.

A LKM is like a .so library, and can run kernel-land.

Writting your own kernel module will help you to understand how the system works and make you think about mallocing in the kernel twice before running the code.

Code

Here is the bare minimum you have to code to get a working LKM:

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#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/kernel.h>

// Specify module licence, GPL to not taint the kernel
MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");

// Called on module load
int init_module(void) {
  printk(KERN_INFO "MODULE loaded!\n");
  return 0;
}

// Called on module unload
void cleanup_module(void) {
  printk(KERN_INFO "MODULE unloaded!\n");
}

Compile

The Makefile I use for my modules:

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obj-m += my_module.o

all:
    sudo make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) modules

install:
    sudo insmod ./my_module.ko

uninstall:
    sudo rmmod my_module

clean:
    sudo make -C /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/build M=$(PWD) clean

Then just run make. A new my_module.ko should be here, this is your kernel module.

Install

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sudo insmod ./my_module.ko
# or
make install

In dmesg you should have a new line containing MODULE loaded!. Your module is loaded in the kernel.

Uninstall

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sudo rmmod my_module
# or
make uninstall

In dmesg you should have a new line containing MODULE unloaded!. Your module is deleted form the kernel.

MISC

• dmesg -C will clear the dmesg buffer
• watch 'dmesg | grep MODULE' will append the new messages of the module so you don’t have to re-run the command

Afterwords

Starting to create a kernel module is pretty easy, you just have to be careful with the functions you call and how you code them. There are a lot of specific functions for the kernel only, and you must check them out before using them.

In the future I will discuss more about the internals of Linux and why using a kernel module is insanely powerfull and at the same time a pain to code.