Piston

Piston is the underlying engine for running untrusted and possibly malicious code that originates from EMKC contests and challenges. It's also used in the Engineer Man Discord server via felix bot.

Use Public API (new)

Requires no installation and you can use it immediately. Reference the API Usage section below to learn about the request format but rather than using the local URLs, use the following URLs:

• GET https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston/versions
• POST https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston/execute

Important Note: The Piston API is rate limited to 1 request per second

Installation

# clone and enter repo
git clone https://github.com/engineer-man/piston
cd piston/lxc

# install dependencies

# centos:
yum install -y epel-release
yum install -y lxc lxc-templates debootstrap libvirt
systemctl start libvirtd

# ubuntu server 18.04:
apt install lxc lxc-templates debootstrap libvirt0

# arch:
sudo pacman -S lxc libvirt unzip

# everything else:
# not documented, please open pull requests with commands for debian/arch/macos

# create and start container
lxc-create -t download -n piston -- --dist ubuntu --release bionic --arch amd64
./start

# open a shell to the container
./shell

# install all necessary piston dependencies
echo 'source /opt/.profile' >> /opt/.bashrc
echo 'export HOME=/opt' >> /opt/.profile
echo 'export TERM=linux' >> /opt/.profile
export HOME=/opt
export TERM=linux
sed -i 's/\/root/\/opt/' /etc/passwd
sed -i \
    's/http:\/\/archive.ubuntu.com\/ubuntu/http:\/\/mirror.math.princeton.edu\/pub\/ubuntu/' \
    /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get install -y \
    nano wget build-essential pkg-config libxml2-dev \
    libsqlite3-dev mono-complete curl cmake libpython2.7-dev \
    ruby libtinfo-dev

# install python2
# final binary: /opt/python2/Python-2.7.17/python
# get version: /opt/python2/Python-2.7.17/python -V
cd /opt && mkdir python2 && cd python2
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.17/Python-2.7.17.tar.xz
unxz Python-2.7.17.tar.xz
tar -xf Python-2.7.17.tar
cd Python-2.7.17
./configure
# open Modules/Setup and uncomment zlib line
make
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/python2/Python-2.7.17' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install python3
# final binary: /opt/python3/Python-3.8.2/python
# get version: /opt/python3/Python-3.8.2/python -V
cd /opt && mkdir python3 && cd python3
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.2/Python-3.8.2.tar.xz
unxz Python-3.8.2.tar.xz
tar -xf Python-3.8.2.tar
cd Python-3.8.2
./configure
make
ln -s python python3.8
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/python3/Python-3.8.2' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install node.js
# final binary: /opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin/node
# get version: /opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin/node -v
cd /opt && mkdir nodejs && cd nodejs
wget https://nodejs.org/dist/v12.16.1/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64.tar.xz
unxz node-v12.16.1-linux-x64.tar.xz
tar -xf node-v12.16.1-linux-x64.tar
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install typescript
# final binary: /opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin/tsc
# get version: /opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin/tsc -v
/opt/nodejs/node-v12.16.1-linux-x64/bin/npm i -g typescript

# install golang
# final binary: /opt/go/go/bin/go
# get version: /opt/go/go/bin/go version
cd /opt && mkdir go && cd go
wget https://dl.google.com/go/go1.14.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xzf go1.14.1.linux-amd64.tar.gz
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/go/go/bin' >> /opt/.profile
echo 'export GOROOT=/opt/go/go' >> /opt/.profile
echo 'export GOCACHE=/tmp' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install php
# final binary: /usr/local/bin/php
# get version: /usr/local/bin/php -v
cd /opt && mkdir php && cd php
wget https://www.php.net/distributions/php-7.4.4.tar.gz
tar -xzf php-7.4.4.tar.gz
cd php-7.4.4
./configure
make
make install

# install rust
# final binary: /opt/.cargo/bin/rustc
# get version: /opt/.cargo/bin/rustc --version
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/.cargo/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install swift
# final binary: /opt/swift/swift-5.1.5-RELEASE-ubuntu18.04/usr/bin/swift
# get version: /opt/swift/swift-5.1.5-RELEASE-ubuntu18.04/usr/bin/swift --version
cd /opt && mkdir swift && cd swift
wget https://swift.org/builds/swift-5.1.5-release/ubuntu1804/swift-5.1.5-RELEASE/swift-5.1.5-RELEASE-ubuntu18.04.tar.gz
tar -xzf swift-5.1.5-RELEASE-ubuntu18.04.tar.gz
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/swift/swift-5.1.5-RELEASE-ubuntu18.04/usr/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install nasm
# final binary: /opt/nasm/nasm-2.14.02/nasm
# get version: /opt/nasm/nasm-2.14.02/nasm -v
cd /opt && mkdir nasm && cd nasm
wget https://www.nasm.us/pub/nasm/releasebuilds/2.14.02/nasm-2.14.02.tar.gz
tar -xzf nasm-2.14.02.tar.gz
cd nasm-2.14.02
./configure
make
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/nasm/nasm-2.14.02' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install java
# final binary: /opt/java/jdk-14/bin/java
# get version: /opt/java/jdk-14/bin/java -version
cd /opt && mkdir java && cd java
wget https://download.java.net/java/GA/jdk14/076bab302c7b4508975440c56f6cc26a/36/GPL/openjdk-14_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz
tar -xzf openjdk-14_linux-x64_bin.tar.gz
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/java/jdk-14/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install julia
# final binary: /opt/julia/julia-1.5.0/bin/julia
# get version: /opt/julia/julia-1.5.0/bin/julia --version
cd /opt && mkdir julia && cd julia
wget https://julialang-s3.julialang.org/bin/linux/x64/1.5/julia-1.5.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar -xzf julia-1.5.0-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/julia/julia-1.5.0/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install kotlin
# final binary: /opt/kotlinc/bin/kotlinc
# get version: /opt/kotlinc/bin/kotlinc -version
cd /opt
wget https://github.com/JetBrains/kotlin/releases/download/v1.3.72/kotlin-compiler-1.3.72.zip
unzip kotlin-compiler-1.3.72.zip
rm kotlin-compiler-1.3.72.zip
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/kotlinc/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install elixir and erlang
# final binary: /opt/elixir/bin/elixir
# get version: /opt/elixir/bin/elixir --version
# erlang
cd /opt && mkdir erlang && cd erlang
wget http://erlang.org/download/otp_src_23.0.tar.gz
gunzip -c otp_src_23.0.tar.gz | tar xf -
cd otp_src_23.0 && ./configure
make
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/erlang/otp_src_23.0/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile
# elixir
cd /opt && mkdir elixir && cd elixir
wget https://github.com/elixir-lang/elixir/releases/download/v1.10.3/Precompiled.zip
mkdir elixir-1.10.3 && unzip Precompiled.zip -d elixir-1.10.3/
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/elixir/elixir-1.10.3/bin' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# install emacs
# final binary: /opt/emacs/emacs-26.3/src/emacs
# get version: /opt/emacs/emacs-26.3/src/emacs --version
cd /opt && mkdir emacs && cd emacs
wget https://mirrors.ocf.berkeley.edu/gnu/emacs/emacs-26.3.tar.xz
tar -xf emacs-26.3.tar.xz
cd emacs-26.3
./configure --with-gnutls=no
make
echo 'export PATH=$PATH:/opt/emacs/emacs-26.3/src' >> /opt/.profile
source /opt/.profile

# create runnable users and apply limits
for i in {1..150}; do
    useradd -M runner$i
    usermod -d /tmp runner$i
    echo "runner$i soft nproc 64" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
    echo "runner$i hard nproc 64" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
    echo "runner$i soft nofile 2048" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
    echo "runner$i hard nofile 2048" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
done

# cleanup
rm -rf /home/ubuntu
chmod 777 /tmp

# leave container
exit

# optionally run tests
cd ../tests
./test_all_lxc

CLI Usage

• lxc/execute [language] [file path] [arg]...

API Usage

To use the API, it must first be started. To start the API, run the following:

cd api
./start

Base URLs

For your own local installation, use:

http://127.0.0.1:2000

When using the public Piston API, use:

https://emkc.org/api/v1/piston

Versions Endpoint

GET /versions This endpoint takes no input and returns a JSON array of the currently installed languages.

Truncated response sample:

[
    {
        "name": "awk",
        "version": "1.3.3"
    },
    {
        "name": "bash",
        "version": "4.4.20"
    },
    {
        "name": "c",
        "version": "7.5.0"
    }
]

Execution Endpoint

POST /execute This endpoint takes the following JSON payload and expects at least the language and source. If source is not provided, a blank file is passed as the source.

{
    "language": "js",
    "source": "console.log(process.argv)",
    "args": [
        "1",
        "2",
        "3"
    ]
}

A typical response when everything succeeds will be similar to the following:

{
    "ran": true,
    "language": "js",
    "version": "12.13.0",
    "output": "[ '/usr/bin/node',\n  '/tmp/code.code',\n  '1',\n  '2',\n  '3' ]"
}

If an invalid language is supplied, a typical response will look like the following:

{
    "code": "unsupported_language",
    "message": "whatever is not supported by Piston"
}

Supported Languages

• awk
• bash
• c
• cpp
• csharp
• elixir
• emacs
• go
• java
• julia
• kotlin
• nasm
• node
• perl
• php
• python2
• python3
• ruby
• rust
• swift
• typescript

Principle of Operation

Piston utilizes LXC as the primary mechanism for sandboxing. There is a small API written in Go which takes in execution requests and executes them in the container. High level, the API writes a temporary source and args file to /tmp and that gets mounted read-only along with the execution scripts into the container. The source file is either ran or compiled and ran (in the case of languages like c, c++, c#, go, etc.).

Security

LXC provides a great deal of security out of the box in that it's separate from the system. Piston takes additional steps to make it resistant to various privilege escalation, denial-of-service, and resource saturation threats. These steps include:

• Disabling outgoing network interaction
• Capping max processes at 64 (resists :(){ :|: &}:;, while True: os.fork(), etc.)
• Capping max files at 2048 (resists various file based attacks)
• Mounting all resources read-only (resists sudo rm -rf --no-preserve-root /)
• Running as a variety of unprivileged users
• Capping runtime execution at 3 seconds
• Capping stdout to 65536 characters (resists yes/no bombs and runaway output)
• SIGKILLing misbehaving code

License

Piston is licensed under the MIT license.