iotop fails to launch anymore as normal user (requires sudo)

[Vadim Peretokin]

Worked one day, doesn't today.

vadi@vadi-11:~$ iotop
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/iotop", line 16, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 563, in main
    main_loop()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 553, in <lambda>
    main_loop = lambda: run_iotop(options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 465, in run_iotop
    return curses.wrapper(run_iotop_window, options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/curses/wrapper.py", line 43, in wrapper
    return func(stdscr, *args, **kwds)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 457, in run_iotop_window
    process_list = ProcessList(taskstats_connection, options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/data.py", line 373, in __init__
    self.update_process_counts()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/data.py", line 429, in update_process_counts
    stats = self.taskstats_connection.get_single_task_stats(thread)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/data.py", line 158, in get_single_task_stats
    reply = GeNlMessage.recv(self.connection)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/genetlink.py", line 50, in recv
    msg = conn.recv()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/netlink.py", line 229, in recv
    raise err
OSError: Netlink error: Operation not permitted (1)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: iotop 0.4.3-1ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-13.21-generic 3.0.6
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-13-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat Oct 22 15:15:51 2011
EcryptfsInUse: Yes
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110413)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_CA:en
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: iotop
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-10-19 (2 days ago)

[Joshua (joshua-e-jacobs)]

It requires sudo now for some reason.

[Vadim Peretokin (vperetokin)]

I think that's in line with the apparmour messup that Evince also
experiences issues with:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/evince/+bug/864992

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Paul Wise (Debian) (pabs)]

As I wrote in the Debian bugreport about this, Linux no longer allows non-root users to get at the per-process I/O throughput information needed by iotop, as a result if it causing security issues (CVE-2011-2494):

https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/10/1/170

The crash itself will be replaced by an error when iotop is next syncronised from Debian.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package iotop - 0.4.4-1

---------------
iotop (0.4.4-1) unstable; urgency=low

  [ Paul Wise ]
  * New upstream release
    - Produces a helpful error instead of crashing when Linux
      denies permission (Closes: #644616, LP: #879767)
  * Bump Standards-Version, no changes needed

  [ Scott Kitterman ]
  * Switch to dh_python2 (LP: #856478)

 -- Paul Wise <email address hidden> Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:10:09 +0800

[Daniel (dbbolton)]

This bug still exists in version 0.4.3-1ubuntu1 and 0.4.4 is not yet available in 11.10.

[pioruns (pioruns)]

apt-cache policy iotop
iotop:
  Installed: 0.4.3-1ubuntu1
  Candidate: 0.4.3-1ubuntu1
  Version table:
 *** 0.4.3-1ubuntu1 0
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/universe i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Confirmed in Lubuntu 11.10.
Fact, that developers have fixed this bug in newer version, does not change anything - because that version has not been uploaded to Ubuntu servers.

[Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)]

I have this issue also with Precise's iotop 0.4.4-4

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

oneiric has seen the end of its life and is no longer receiving any updates. Marking the oneiric task for this ticket as "Won't Fix".

[Dalip Negi (dalip.negi)]

We have deployed a docker container with docker version 18.06.0-ce.

docker -v
Docker version 18.06.0-ce, build 0ffa825

While running iotop from the container , we are getting the same issue.

root@cecbf4518ca7:/# iotop
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/iotop", line 17, in <module>
    main()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 620, in main
    main_loop()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 610, in <lambda>
    main_loop = lambda: run_iotop(options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 508, in run_iotop
    return curses.wrapper(run_iotop_window, options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/curses/wrapper.py", line 43, in wrapper
    return func(stdscr, *args, **kwds)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/ui.py", line 498, in run_iotop_window
    taskstats_connection = TaskStatsNetlink(options)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/data.py", line 137, in __init__
    self.family_id = controller.get_family_id('TASKSTATS')
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/genetlink.py", line 69, in get_family_id
    m = GeNlMessage.recv(self.conn)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/genetlink.py", line 51, in recv
    msg = conn.recv()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/iotop/netlink.py", line 229, in recv
    raise err
OSError: Netlink error: No such file or directory (2)