Provided by: apparmor_4.1.1-0ubuntu5_amd64 
NAME
aa-exec - confine a program with the specified AppArmor profile
SYNOPSIS
aa-exec [options] [--] [<command> ...]
DESCRIPTION
aa-exec is used to launch a program confined by the specified profile and or namespace. If both a
profile and namespace are specified command will be confined by profile in the new policy namespace. If
only a namespace is specified, the profile name of the current confinement will be used. If neither a
profile or namespace is specified command will be run using standard profile attachment (ie. as if run
without the aa-exec command).
If the arguments are to be pasted to the <command> being invoked by aa-exec then -- should be used to
separate aa-exec arguments from the command.
aa-exec -p profile1 -- ls -l
OPTIONS aa-exec accepts the following arguments:
-p PROFILE, --profile=PROFILE
confine <command> with PROFILE. If the PROFILE is not specified use the current profile name (likely
unconfined).
-n NAMESPACE, --namespace=NAMESPACE
use profiles in NAMESPACE. This will result in confinement transitioning to using the new profile
namespace.
-i, --immediate
transition to PROFILE before doing executing <command>. This subjects the running of <command> to
the exec transition rules of the current profile.
-v, --verbose
show commands being performed
-d, --debug
show commands and error codes
-- Signal the end of options and disables further option processing. Any arguments after the -- are
treated as arguments of the command. This is useful when passing arguments to the <command> being
invoked by aa-exec.
RESTRICTIONS
aa-exec uses aa_change_profile(3) to change application confinement. The use of aa_change_profile(3) may
be restricted by policy in ways that will cause failure or results different than expected.
Even when using aa-exec from unconfined restrictions in policy can causes failure or the confinement
entered to be different than requested
See the unpriviled unconfined restriction documentation for more detail.
https://gitlab.com/apparmor/apparmor/-/wikis/unprivileged_unconfined_restriction
STACKING
aa-exec can be used to setup a stack of profiles as confinement. When an application is confined by a
stack, all profiles in the stack are checked as if they were the profile confining the application. The
resulting mediation is the intersection of what is allowed by each profile in the stack.
The profiles in a stack are treated independently. Each profile can have its own flags and profile
transitions. During an exec each profile gets to specify its transition and the results brought together
to form a new canonicalized stack.
The profile separator indicating a stack is the character sequence //&. Thus a stack can be expressed
using
$ aa-exec -p "unconfined//&firefox" -- bash
$ ps -Z
LABEL PID TTY TIME CMD
unconfined 30714 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
firefox//&unconfined (unconfined) 31160 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
firefox//&unconfined (unconfined) 31171 pts/12 00:00:00 ps
NAMESPACES
aa-exec can be used to enter confinement in another policy namespace if the policy namespaces exists, is
visible, and the profile exists in the namespace. Note applications launched within the namespace will
not be able to exit the namespace, and may be restricted by additional confinement around namespacing.
Files and resources visible to the parent that launches the application may not be visible in the policy
namespace resulting in access denials.
To enter a policy namespace the profile is prefixed with the namespace's name, using a : prefix and
suffix.
Eg.
$ aa-exec -p :ex1:unconfined -- bash
$ ps -Z
LABEL PID TTY TIME CMD
- 30714 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
unconfined 34372 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
unconfined 34379 pts/12 00:00:00 ps
Confinement of processes outside of the namespace may not be visible in which case the confinement will
be represented with a -. If policy is stacked only part of the confinement might be visible. However
confinement is usually fully visible from the parent policy namespace.
Eg. the confinement of the child can be queried in the parent to see
$ ps -Z 34372
LABEL PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
:ex1:unconfined 34372 pts/12 S+ 0:00 bash
And in the case of stacking with namespaces
$ aa-exec -p "unconfined//&:ex1:unconfined" -- bash
$ ps -Z
LABEL PID TTY TIME CMD
- 30714 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
unconfined 36298 pts/12 00:00:00 bash
unconfined 36305 pts/12 00:00:00 ps
while from the parent namespace the full confinement can be seen
$ ps -Z 36298
LABEL PID TTY STAT TIME COMMAND
unconfined//&:ex1:unconfined 36298 pts/12 S+ 0:00 bash
BUGS
If you find any bugs, please report them at <https://gitlab.com/apparmor/apparmor/-/issues>
SEE ALSO
apparmor(7), apparmor.d(5), aa_change_profile(3), aa_change_onexec(3) and <https://wiki.apparmor.net>.
AppArmor 4.1.1 2025-07-15 AA-EXEC(1)