Manual: aa-exec

AA-EXEC(1)						  AppArmor						  AA-EXEC(1)

NAME
       aa-exec - confine a program with the specified AppArmor profile

SYNOPSIS
       aa-exec [options] [--] [ ...]

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  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  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  .  This subjects the running of  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  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 

SEE ALSO
       apparmor(7), apparmor.d(5), aa_change_profile(3), aa_change_onexec(3) and .

AppArmor 5.0.0~beta1					 2026-04-08						  AA-EXEC(1)