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Linux perf Tool Permission Denied — Performance Counter Access Restricted

Informationalsystem

Overview

Fix Linux perf tool 'Permission denied' or 'not permitted' errors when trying to profile applications or record performance counters as a non-root user.

Key Details

  • The perf tool accesses hardware performance counters (CPU cache, branch prediction, cycles)
  • Access is controlled by the kernel parameter kernel.perf_event_paranoid (0-4 scale)
  • Default setting (2 or higher) restricts perf to root or users with CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
  • Setting perf_event_paranoid to -1 allows all users full access (security trade-off)
  • perf record creates perf.data files that can be analyzed with perf report and perf script

Common Causes

  • kernel.perf_event_paranoid set to 2 or higher (default on most distributions)
  • Running perf without root privileges on a restricted system
  • Container environment restricting access to host performance counters
  • Secure Boot or lockdown mode preventing access to performance monitoring

Steps

  1. 1Check current setting: 'cat /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_paranoid'
  2. 2Allow perf for current session: 'sudo sysctl kernel.perf_event_paranoid=-1'
  3. 3Make persistent: add 'kernel.perf_event_paranoid=-1' to /etc/sysctl.conf
  4. 4Alternative: run perf with sudo: 'sudo perf record -g ./my-application'
  5. 5In containers: the host must allow perf access — add --privileged or SYS_ADMIN capability

Tags

perfperformanceprofilingpermissioncounter

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Frequently Asked Questions

-1: no restrictions. 0: allow user-space monitoring. 1: allow kernel tracing (default Debian). 2: restrict to per-process monitoring only (default RHEL). 3-4: fully restricted. Lower values give more access but reduce security.