Re: Legitimate Question

From: Crispin Cowan (crispinat_private)
Date: Thu Jan 24 2002 - 12:58:08 PST

  • Next message: jmjonesat_private: "Re: Legitimate Question"

    jmjonesat_private wrote:
    
    >Wouldn't it be useful for a userspace application that is
    >setuid root to be able to bypass the module's checks.  
    >Isn't setuid ROOT generally assumed to be a "non-restricted"
    >condition?
    >
    >How does the new paradigm change that, specifically, and 
    >why SHOULD it do that?
    >
    That is a policy that each module can determine. "setuid root" is an 
    attribute of a file. "uid" and "euid" are attributes of processes. The 
    module looks at the requestor (the process) and its attributes, and the 
    object (file, network, whatever) and its attributes, and decides to 
    grant or deny. Your module can do whatever it wants with that information.
    
    Meta-comment: no, I don't think this is a very good idea. Most of the 
    LSM projects that I understand go out of their way to NOT allow root 
    (especially setuid root) to bypass the mandatory security policies that 
    they are at such pains to put in place.
    
    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
    
            The Olympic Games: A Century of Corruption and Graft
    
    
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