Re: Authoritative Hooks

From: David Wagner (dawat_private)
Date: Sat Nov 10 2001 - 16:37:02 PST

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    Casey Schaufler  wrote:
    >To my mind the difference between C+R and Auth is based on
    >the impact it has on someone who is reading the code for some
    >reason other than adding security features. [...]
    >
    >That's how I see it. Maybe I'm splitting hares, but I'd
    >rather sacrifice rabbits than unsuspecting kernel developers.
    
    Agreed.  I don't think you are splitting hares, and I do
    agree that this is a good reason to prefer authoritative
    hooks over the capable+restrictive trick.  Good software
    engineering is important, when security is on the line.
    
    This is indeed a potential benefit of authoritative hooks,
    if you're implementing security logic that is inherently
    authoritative in nature (i.e., it overrides kernel decisions).
    I think many of us are just worried that the potential
    costs of authoritative hooks may outweigh the benefits.
    
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