Re: [RFC] [PATCH] Replace security fields with hashtable

From: Stephen Smalley (sds@private)
Date: Wed Oct 27 2004 - 11:20:11 PDT


On Wed, 2004-10-27 at 14:12, Valdis.Kletnieks@private wrote:
> The point is that in this case, *no* domains are trusted - we don't want
> end users compiling their Fortran programs to have stuff hijacked out from
> under them when they build in /tmp.  Similarly, we care about *other* directories
> as well - /tmp and /var/tmp are just *two* places things live, there's other
> world-writable directories as well.

The SELinux policy makes extensive use of derived types for runtime
files created by domains, and typically doesn't let domains touch each
others' runtime files.  So I think much of this protection is already
provided, and remember that the directory isn't truly world writable
under SELinux unless it is labeled with a type that is world writable
(in which case odds are good that we've already defined derived types
for the files created in it that are sensibly isolated).

> As another example - how would you implement "don't remove other user's files
> in a +t directory" in SELinux?  Note that nobody seems to think that *that*
> semantic isn't sane and desireable - but it's equally hard to state in SELinux,
> for the same reasons.

Um, no.  SELinux provides per-file unlink permission, and as with the
previous discussion, you typically don't get to unlink files with types
created by other domains.

But this discussion is largely irrelevant, I think.  I'm not opposing a
simple mechanism for stacking of the LSM security fields; I just don't
want it to unnecessarily harm the (presently common) single LSM case.  I
think that is achievable.  Just not via a hashtable implementation.

And for production, I agree that you ultimately want an integrated
security solution.  I see stacking as primarily a vehicle for easy
experimentation, not for the final system.

-- 
Stephen Smalley <sds@private>
National Security Agency



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