Re: Authoritative hooks updated to 2.4.13

From: Crispin Cowan (crispinat_private)
Date: Fri Oct 26 2001 - 12:21:05 PDT

  • Next message: Chris Wright: "Re: Authoritative hooks updated to 2.4.13"

    jmjonesat_private wrote:
    
    >
    >CERT.ORG has just notified we-last-notified of a ptrace problem.
    >If there's anyplace in the current kernel code that LSM should make NO
    >logic changes, right now, it's there.
    >
    >Preserve the logic, please, and watch how the kernel community fixes/fixed
    >it.
    >
    Corrollary:  it would be really nice if LSM facilitated 
    ptrace-protection modules.
    
    Solar Designer has proposed a really good sounding security enhancement: 
    disable ptrace for setuid root programs. Rationalle:
    
        * ptrace is only used rarely, and for the most part people wouldn't
          notice if it were crippled.
        * However, ptrace is really useful from time to time, so we don't
          want to just remove it.
        * ptrace exploitation almost always involves an attacker with a
          local shell messing around with ptrace on a setuid root binary. So
          cripple that.
    
    Now, the LSM rationalle: Linus may not like the above hack.  Like most 
    of Solar's other innovations, it addresses a user-space problem in 
    kernel space, and Linus doesn't like that. But if LSM had hooks that 
    could do the above, people who wanted such a ptrace prophalactic could 
    have one.
    
    Crispin
    
    -- 
    Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
    Chief Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc. http://wirex.com
    Security Hardened Linux Distribution:       http://immunix.org
    Available for purchase: http://wirex.com/Products/Immunix/purchase.html
    
    
    
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