Re: path_post_lookup

From: Charles Levert (chuckat_private)
Date: Tue Sep 02 2003 - 20:38:30 PDT

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    On Tue, Sep 02, 2003 at 10:38:08PM -0400, Valdis.Kletnieksat_private wrote:
    > On Tue, 02 Sep 2003 18:54:31 EDT, Charles Levert said:
    > 
    > > Here is what I am trying to do.  Let d be a reference directory that
    > > is an open file of the current process (i.e., it has a file descriptor
    > > assigned to it).  Let f be the file that the user is trying to open
    > > (or an executable that he's trying to execute) after all symlinks have
    > > been traversed.  The open is allowed to succeed if f is in the subtree
    > > of files specified by d.  E.g.,
    > > 
    > > 	d=/a/b	f=/a/b/c/d	succeeds
    > > 	d=/a/b	f=/a/e/f	fails
    > > 
    > > For this, I need to be able to walk the tree from f to the root and if
    > > I pass by d in doing so, then the open succeeds.
    > 
    > And how is this better than just doing a 'chroot("/a/b");'?  
    
    This is more flexible:  you can manipulate more than one "d", which are
    effectively interpreted as being (traditional) capabilities.  You do not
    need to set up a jail with a copies of the libraries and all.
    
    I plan to have a /cap pseudo-filesystem populated with files that take a
    special meaning according to their path name (e.g., /cap/user/alice/work
    or /cap/proto/tcp/peer_port=80).  I have also some IPCs where you can
    send a capability to another process, or also just brag about possessing
    one without handing it over to the other process.
    
    I am trying to come up with something that would allow anybody with
    a Linux system to experiment with a capability system now, while other
    systems such as EROS are being completed.  This is mostly an experimental
    effort that requires applications to use a partly new API.  I don't claim
    at all that this is compedition to, e.g., SE Linux, that aims to secure
    existing applications with minimal impact on the API.  It is a platform
    prototype aimed at investigating the consequences of using capabilities.
    
    
    Charles
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