procselfmounts

Procselfmounts refers to a Linux kernel mechanism related to how a process views its own mount information through the procfs interface, particularly via /proc/self/mounts. The concept is centered on presenting each process with a view of the mount table that matches its current mount namespace, rather than a global or per-system view. This per-process, namespace-aware presentation helps enforce isolation between different containers or sandboxed environments and the host system.

How it works in practice: when a process reads /proc/self/mounts (or the equivalent /proc/self/mountinfo data), the kernel collects and formats the mount information from the process’s current namespace. Because mount namespaces can be nested and changed at runtime (for example, via setns or unshare), the information seen by a given process can vary, reflecting its own namespace state. This dynamic, process-specific view is what the term procselfmounts captures as part of the kernel’s mount namespace and procfs integration.

Applications and impact: container runtimes (such as Docker, LXC, and others) rely on correct isolation of mount information to prevent leakage of host mounts into containers. Proper implementation of the procselfmounts behavior helps maintain that isolation and supports security models that depend on namespace boundaries. It is also relevant for system administrators and security researchers evaluating how information about mounts is exposed to unprivileged or contained processes.

See also: Linux namespaces, mount namespace, /proc/self/mounts, procfs, container security.