Re: quotactl hook

From: Casey Schaufler (caseyat_private)
Date: Wed Sep 05 2001 - 11:55:55 PDT

  • Next message: Stephen Smalley: "Re: quotactl hook"

    Stephen Smalley wrote:
    
    > Right.  I'm not clear as to where this issue is headed now.  It seems
    > like Chris Wright issued a challenge to SGI to demonstrate that the
    > existing capable hook wasn't sufficient.  Lachlan gave an example where
    > capable is called even when the DAC logic would succeed, but also said
    > that this wasn't an issue for SGI since the restrictive hook is called
    > first.  So it isn't clear to me that the case for authoritative hooks
    > has been made.
    
    OKay. I'll try again. I'll give two examples, one we're working
    with the XFS group on, and one that's a request I've gotten from
    a source best not named. These are both real cases. I'm not making
    this up!
    
    1. POSIX ACLs
    
     Symantics require an authoritative hook. A file with the ACL
    
    	u::rw,g::r,o:-,m::rw,u:greg:rw
    
     will grant the user greg access even if he is in the owning group.
     A restrictive hook would not grant Greg access, as it would fail
     the mode bit check. In Irix we use an authoritative hook for ACLs
     because of this case. (One could argue that this behavior is
     inappropriate, but it's a policy decision that the POSIX group
     felt best extended the mode bit scheme.) The capable() function
     does not have enough information (it lacks the file attributes
     and the type of access) to intercede.
    
    2. Hovan ACLs
    
     Hovan ACLs (That's name given this scheme by the POSIX group. There
     is probably a more official name out there.)
    
     Allow members of the FILE_OWNER_CLASS to modify the membership
     lists of the FILE_OWNER_CLASS, FILE_GROUP_CLASS, and FILE_OTHER_CLASS.
     A file with the ACL
    
    	FILE_OWNER_CLASS:OWNER,greg
    	FILE_GROUP_CLASS:GROUP
    	FILE_OTHER_CLASS:WORLD
    
     will grant the user greg access even if he is in the owning group.
     A restrictive hook would not grant Greg access, as it would fail
     the mode bit check.
    
    
    -- 
    
    Casey Schaufler				Manager, Trust Technology, SGI
    caseyat_private				voice: 650.933.1634
    casey_pat_private			Pager: 888.220.0607
    
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