Remote debug a rust process as sudo

[MarioHewardt]

OS: 5.11.0-41-generic #45~20.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Wed Nov 10 10:20:10 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
VSCode version: 1.70.2
CodeLLDB version: 1.8.1
Compiler: rustc 1.64.0 (a55dd71d5 2022-09-19)
Debuggee: compiled rust program that needs to run as sudo in the debug session

I am able to debug my target rust app in VS code using CodeLLDB when the target app runs non-privileged. However, I need to debug the target process running as sudo (as it is a requirement). Is there any way to do this using this extension?

[vadimcn]

Currently the only way to do that is via remote debugging, i.e. launch lldb-server as root, connect to it from codelldb, etc.

[VioletFlare]

I am experiencing the same problem, trying to run lldb-server with sudo doesn't elevate it's privileges. Neither running it in a root session...
It would be nice to explain in the documentation how to configure the remote debugger to run as root.

[vadimcn]

Dunno, folks - the following works for me:

sudo lldb-server-15 platform --server --listen *:1234 (or, you can use the one from extension, ~/.vscode/extensions/vadimcn.vscode-lldb-1.11.4/lldb/bin/lldb-server)

{
	"name": "apt update",
	"type": "lldb",
	"request": "launch",
	"program": "/usr/bin/apt",
	"args": ["update"],
	"initCommands": [
		"platform select remote-linux",
		"platform connect connect://127.0.0.1:1234",
	]
}

You can try adding "platform settings -w /tmp" in case it picks invalid working directory.

[VioletFlare]

Hi @vadimcn , thanks a lot for getting back with a reply :)

I've modified the config as you suggested:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "apt install linux-headers",
            "type": "lldb",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/build/cmdline/apt-get",
            "args": ["install", "linux-headers"],
            "initCommands": [
                "platform select remote-linux",
                "platform connect connect://127.0.0.1:1234",
                "platform settings -w /tmp"
            ]
        }
    ]
}

This is how I am running lldb-server:

sudo ~/.vscode-oss/extensions/vadimcn.vscode-lldb-1.11.4/lldb/bin/lldb-server platform --server --listen *:1234

Still no progress here.

Running Debian Bookworm and vscodium (installed via a .deb package, not the snap version)

I am going to install vscode and see if I still have the same issue...

//Edit: Installed VSCode and ran the extension there, still no solution unfortunately.

[vadimcn]

I would check that the process is indeed launched as root. Does it work as expected when running without a debugger?

[VioletFlare]

Thanks @vadimcn, you made me realize the problem. Turns out the program was accessing nonexistent files, but was suggesting also I wasn't root which confused me... >_>

I feel silly now, but thanks to your help I can run it now as sudo!

[serge-vk]

Hi everyone. I tried today using codelldb-launch with sudo, but that did not work, no matter what I tried. Without sudo, everything works as in the manual. Using an external lldb-server also works with a launch configuration similar to the one suggested here. The only minor point is in that case I somehow lose stdout.

[vadimcn]

I tried today using codelldb-launch with sudo, but that did not work

codelldb-launch does not spawn the debuggee. It only captures the command line and environment, forwards that information to CodeLLDB, and CodeLLDB then performs the actual launch, so the debuggee does not inherit sudo environment.

[serge-vk]

Thank you for your comment. I found, however, that I cannot even connect to codelldb-launch if I start it with sudo. This is not a big deal because I can use an external debug server, though.