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authorRandy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>2011-05-19 15:59:38 -0700
committerRandy Dunlap <randy.dunlap@oracle.com>2011-05-19 15:59:38 -0700
commitd410fa4ef99112386de5f218dd7df7b4fca910b4 (patch)
treee29fbc3f6d27b20d73d8feb4ed73f6767f2e18fe /Documentation/Smack.txt
parent61c4f2c81c61f73549928dfd9f3e8f26aa36a8cf (diff)
Create Documentation/security/,
move LSM-, credentials-, and keys-related files from Documentation/ to Documentation/security/, add Documentation/security/00-INDEX, and update all occurrences of Documentation/<moved_file> to Documentation/security/<moved_file>.
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-
-
- "Good for you, you've decided to clean the elevator!"
- - The Elevator, from Dark Star
-
-Smack is the the Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel.
-Smack is a kernel based implementation of mandatory access
-control that includes simplicity in its primary design goals.
-
-Smack is not the only Mandatory Access Control scheme
-available for Linux. Those new to Mandatory Access Control
-are encouraged to compare Smack with the other mechanisms
-available to determine which is best suited to the problem
-at hand.
-
-Smack consists of three major components:
- - The kernel
- - A start-up script and a few modified applications
- - Configuration data
-
-The kernel component of Smack is implemented as a Linux
-Security Modules (LSM) module. It requires netlabel and
-works best with file systems that support extended attributes,
-although xattr support is not strictly required.
-It is safe to run a Smack kernel under a "vanilla" distribution.
-Smack kernels use the CIPSO IP option. Some network
-configurations are intolerant of IP options and can impede
-access to systems that use them as Smack does.
-
-The startup script etc-init.d-smack should be installed
-in /etc/init.d/smack and should be invoked early in the
-start-up process. On Fedora rc5.d/S02smack is recommended.
-This script ensures that certain devices have the correct
-Smack attributes and loads the Smack configuration if
-any is defined. This script invokes two programs that
-ensure configuration data is properly formatted. These
-programs are /usr/sbin/smackload and /usr/sin/smackcipso.
-The system will run just fine without these programs,
-but it will be difficult to set access rules properly.
-
-A version of "ls" that provides a "-M" option to display
-Smack labels on long listing is available.
-
-A hacked version of sshd that allows network logins by users
-with specific Smack labels is available. This version does
-not work for scp. You must set the /etc/ssh/sshd_config
-line:
- UsePrivilegeSeparation no
-
-The format of /etc/smack/usr is:
-
- username smack
-
-In keeping with the intent of Smack, configuration data is
-minimal and not strictly required. The most important
-configuration step is mounting the smackfs pseudo filesystem.
-
-Add this line to /etc/fstab:
-
- smackfs /smack smackfs smackfsdef=* 0 0
-
-and create the /smack directory for mounting.
-
-Smack uses extended attributes (xattrs) to store file labels.
-The command to set a Smack label on a file is:
-
- # attr -S -s SMACK64 -V "value" path
-
-NOTE: Smack labels are limited to 23 characters. The attr command
- does not enforce this restriction and can be used to set
- invalid Smack labels on files.
-
-If you don't do anything special all users will get the floor ("_")
-label when they log in. If you do want to log in via the hacked ssh
-at other labels use the attr command to set the smack value on the
-home directory and its contents.
-
-You can add access rules in /etc/smack/accesses. They take the form:
-
- subjectlabel objectlabel access
-
-access is a combination of the letters rwxa which specify the
-kind of access permitted a subject with subjectlabel on an
-object with objectlabel. If there is no rule no access is allowed.
-
-A process can see the smack label it is running with by
-reading /proc/self/attr/current. A privileged process can
-set the process smack by writing there.
-
-Look for additional programs on http://schaufler-ca.com
-
-From the Smack Whitepaper:
-
-The Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel
-
-Casey Schaufler
-casey@schaufler-ca.com
-
-Mandatory Access Control
-
-Computer systems employ a variety of schemes to constrain how information is
-shared among the people and services using the machine. Some of these schemes
-allow the program or user to decide what other programs or users are allowed
-access to pieces of data. These schemes are called discretionary access
-control mechanisms because the access control is specified at the discretion
-of the user. Other schemes do not leave the decision regarding what a user or
-program can access up to users or programs. These schemes are called mandatory
-access control mechanisms because you don't have a choice regarding the users
-or programs that have access to pieces of data.
-
-Bell & LaPadula
-
-From the middle of the 1980's until the turn of the century Mandatory Access
-Control (MAC) was very closely associated with the Bell & LaPadula security
-model, a mathematical description of the United States Department of Defense
-policy for marking paper documents. MAC in this form enjoyed a following
-within the Capital Beltway and Scandinavian supercomputer centers but was
-often sited as failing to address general needs.
-
-Domain Type Enforcement
-
-Around the turn of the century Domain Type Enforcement (DTE) became popular.
-This scheme organizes users, programs, and data into domains that are
-protected from each other. This scheme has been widely deployed as a component
-of popular Linux distributions. The administrative overhead required to
-maintain this scheme and the detailed understanding of the whole system
-necessary to provide a secure domain mapping leads to the scheme being
-disabled or used in limited ways in the majority of cases.
-
-Smack
-
-Smack is a Mandatory Access Control mechanism designed to provide useful MAC
-while avoiding the pitfalls of its predecessors. The limitations of Bell &
-LaPadula are addressed by providing a scheme whereby access can be controlled
-according to the requirements of the system and its purpose rather than those
-imposed by an arcane government policy. The complexity of Domain Type
-Enforcement and avoided by defining access controls in terms of the access
-modes already in use.
-
-Smack Terminology
-
-The jargon used to talk about Smack will be familiar to those who have dealt
-with other MAC systems and shouldn't be too difficult for the uninitiated to
-pick up. There are four terms that are used in a specific way and that are
-especially important:
-
- Subject: A subject is an active entity on the computer system.
- On Smack a subject is a task, which is in turn the basic unit
- of execution.
-
- Object: An object is a passive entity on the computer system.
- On Smack files of all types, IPC, and tasks can be objects.
-
- Access: Any attempt by a subject to put information into or get
- information from an object is an access.
-
- Label: Data that identifies the Mandatory Access Control
- characteristics of a subject or an object.
-
-These definitions are consistent with the traditional use in the security
-community. There are also some terms from Linux that are likely to crop up:
-
- Capability: A task that possesses a capability has permission to
- violate an aspect of the system security policy, as identified by
- the specific capability. A task that possesses one or more
- capabilities is a privileged task, whereas a task with no
- capabilities is an unprivileged task.
-
- Privilege: A task that is allowed to violate the system security
- policy is said to have privilege. As of this writing a task can
- have privilege either by possessing capabilities or by having an
- effective user of root.
-
-Smack Basics
-
-Smack is an extension to a Linux system. It enforces additional restrictions
-on what subjects can access which objects, based on the labels attached to
-each of the subject and the object.
-
-Labels
-
-Smack labels are ASCII character strings, one to twenty-three characters in
-length. Single character labels using special characters, that being anything
-other than a letter or digit, are reserved for use by the Smack development
-team. Smack labels are unstructured, case sensitive, and the only operation
-ever performed on them is comparison for equality. Smack labels cannot
-contain unprintable characters, the "/" (slash), the "\" (backslash), the "'"
-(quote) and '"' (double-quote) characters.
-Smack labels cannot begin with a '-', which is reserved for special options.
-
-There are some predefined labels:
-
- _ Pronounced "floor", a single underscore character.
- ^ Pronounced "hat", a single circumflex character.
- * Pronounced "star", a single asterisk character.
- ? Pronounced "huh", a single question mark character.
- @ Pronounced "Internet", a single at sign character.
-
-Every task on a Smack system is assigned a label. System tasks, such as
-init(8) and systems daemons, are run with the floor ("_") label. User tasks
-are assigned labels according to the specification found in the
-/etc/smack/user configuration file.
-
-Access Rules
-
-Smack uses the traditional access modes of Linux. These modes are read,
-execute, write, and occasionally append. There are a few cases where the
-access mode may not be obvious. These include:
-
- Signals: A signal is a write operation from the subject task to
- the object task.
- Internet Domain IPC: Transmission of a packet is considered a
- write operation from the source task to the destination task.
-
-Smack restricts access based on the label attached to a subject and the label
-attached to the object it is trying to access. The rules enforced are, in
-order:
-
- 1. Any access requested by a task labeled "*" is denied.
- 2. A read or execute access requested by a task labeled "^"
- is permitted.
- 3. A read or execute access requested on an object labeled "_"
- is permitted.
- 4. Any access requested on an object labeled "*" is permitted.
- 5. Any access requested by a task on an object with the same
- label is permitted.
- 6. Any access requested that is explicitly defined in the loaded
- rule set is permitted.
- 7. Any other access is denied.
-
-Smack Access Rules
-
-With the isolation provided by Smack access separation is simple. There are
-many interesting cases where limited access by subjects to objects with
-different labels is desired. One example is the familiar spy model of
-sensitivity, where a scientist working on a highly classified project would be
-able to read documents of lower classifications and anything she writes will
-be "born" highly classified. To accommodate such schemes Smack includes a
-mechanism for specifying rules allowing access between labels.
-
-Access Rule Format
-
-The format of an access rule is:
-
- subject-label object-label access
-
-Where subject-label is the Smack label of the task, object-label is the Smack
-label of the thing being accessed, and access is a string specifying the sort
-of access allowed. The Smack labels are limited to 23 characters. The access
-specification is searched for letters that describe access modes:
-
- a: indicates that append access should be granted.
- r: indicates that read access should be granted.
- w: indicates that write access should be granted.
- x: indicates that execute access should be granted.
-
-Uppercase values for the specification letters are allowed as well.
-Access mode specifications can be in any order. Examples of acceptable rules
-are:
-
- TopSecret Secret rx
- Secret Unclass R
- Manager Game x
- User HR w
- New Old rRrRr
- Closed Off -
-
-Examples of unacceptable rules are:
-
- Top Secret Secret rx
- Ace Ace r
- Odd spells waxbeans
-
-Spaces are not allowed in labels. Since a subject always has access to files
-with the same label specifying a rule for that case is pointless. Only
-valid letters (rwxaRWXA) and the dash ('-') character are allowed in
-access specifications. The dash is a placeholder, so "a-r" is the same
-as "ar". A lone dash is used to specify that no access should be allowed.
-
-Applying Access Rules
-
-The developers of Linux rarely define new sorts of things, usually importing
-schemes and concepts from other systems. Most often, the other systems are
-variants of Unix. Unix has many endearing properties, but consistency of
-access control models is not one of them. Smack strives to treat accesses as
-uniformly as is sensible while keeping with the spirit of the underlying
-mechanism.
-
-File system objects including files, directories, named pipes, symbolic links,
-and devices require access permissions that closely match those used by mode
-bit access. To open a file for reading read access is required on the file. To
-search a directory requires execute access. Creating a file with write access
-requires both read and write access on the containing directory. Deleting a
-file requires read and write access to the file and to the containing
-directory. It is possible that a user may be able to see that a file exists
-but not any of its attributes by the circumstance of having read access to the
-containing directory but not to the differently labeled file. This is an
-artifact of the file name being data in the directory, not a part of the file.
-
-IPC objects, message queues, semaphore sets, and memory segments exist in flat
-namespaces and access requests are only required to match the object in
-question.
-
-Process objects reflect tasks on the system and the Smack label used to access
-them is the same Smack label that the task would use for its own access
-attempts. Sending a signal via the kill() system call is a write operation
-from the signaler to the recipient. Debugging a process requires both reading
-and writing. Creating a new task is an internal operation that results in two
-tasks with identical Smack labels and requires no access checks.
-
-Sockets are data structures attached to processes and sending a packet from
-one process to another requires that the sender have write access to the
-receiver. The receiver is not required to have read access to the sender.
-
-Setting Access Rules
-
-The configuration file /etc/smack/accesses contains the rules to be set at
-system startup. The contents are written to the special file /smack/load.
-Rules can be written to /smack/load at any time and take effect immediately.
-For any pair of subject and object labels there can be only one rule, with the
-most recently specified overriding any earlier specification.
-
-The program smackload is provided to ensure data is formatted
-properly when written to /smack/load. This program reads lines
-of the form
-
- subjectlabel objectlabel mode.
-
-Task Attribute
-
-The Smack label of a process can be read from /proc/<pid>/attr/current. A
-process can read its own Smack label from /proc/self/attr/current. A
-privileged process can change its own Smack label by writing to
-/proc/self/attr/current but not the label of another process.
-
-File Attribute
-
-The Smack label of a filesystem object is stored as an extended attribute
-named SMACK64 on the file. This attribute is in the security namespace. It can
-only be changed by a process with privilege.
-
-Privilege
-
-A process with CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE is privileged.
-
-Smack Networking
-
-As mentioned before, Smack enforces access control on network protocol
-transmissions. Every packet sent by a Smack process is tagged with its Smack
-label. This is done by adding a CIPSO tag to the header of the IP packet. Each
-packet received is expected to have a CIPSO tag that identifies the label and
-if it lacks such a tag the network ambient label is assumed. Before the packet
-is delivered a check is made to determine that a subject with the label on the
-packet has write access to the receiving process and if that is not the case
-the packet is dropped.
-
-CIPSO Configuration
-
-It is normally unnecessary to specify the CIPSO configuration. The default
-values used by the system handle all internal cases. Smack will compose CIPSO
-label values to match the Smack labels being used without administrative
-intervention. Unlabeled packets that come into the system will be given the
-ambient label.
-
-Smack requires configuration in the case where packets from a system that is
-not smack that speaks CIPSO may be encountered. Usually this will be a Trusted
-Solaris system, but there are other, less widely deployed systems out there.
-CIPSO provides 3 important values, a Domain Of Interpretation (DOI), a level,
-and a category set with each packet. The DOI is intended to identify a group
-of systems that use compatible labeling schemes, and the DOI specified on the
-smack system must match that of the remote system or packets will be
-discarded. The DOI is 3 by default. The value can be read from /smack/doi and
-can be changed by writing to /smack/doi.
-
-The label and category set are mapped to a Smack label as defined in
-/etc/smack/cipso.
-
-A Smack/CIPSO mapping has the form:
-
- smack level [category [category]*]
-
-Smack does not expect the level or category sets to be related in any
-particular way and does not assume or assign accesses based on them. Some
-examples of mappings:
-
- TopSecret 7
- TS:A,B 7 1 2
- SecBDE 5 2 4 6
- RAFTERS 7 12 26
-
-The ":" and "," characters are permitted in a Smack label but have no special
-meaning.
-
-The mapping of Smack labels to CIPSO values is defined by writing to
-/smack/cipso. Again, the format of data written to this special file
-is highly restrictive, so the program smackcipso is provided to
-ensure the writes are done properly. This program takes mappings
-on the standard input and sends them to /smack/cipso properly.
-
-In addition to explicit mappings Smack supports direct CIPSO mappings. One
-CIPSO level is used to indicate that the category set passed in the packet is
-in fact an encoding of the Smack label. The level used is 250 by default. The
-value can be read from /smack/direct and changed by writing to /smack/direct.
-
-Socket Attributes
-
-There are two attributes that are associated with sockets. These attributes
-can only be set by privileged tasks, but any task can read them for their own
-sockets.
-
- SMACK64IPIN: The Smack label of the task object. A privileged
- program that will enforce policy may set this to the star label.
-
- SMACK64IPOUT: The Smack label transmitted with outgoing packets.
- A privileged program may set this to match the label of another
- task with which it hopes to communicate.
-
-Smack Netlabel Exceptions
-
-You will often find that your labeled application has to talk to the outside,
-unlabeled world. To do this there's a special file /smack/netlabel where you can
-add some exceptions in the form of :
-@IP1 LABEL1 or
-@IP2/MASK LABEL2
-
-It means that your application will have unlabeled access to @IP1 if it has
-write access on LABEL1, and access to the subnet @IP2/MASK if it has write
-access on LABEL2.
-
-Entries in the /smack/netlabel file are matched by longest mask first, like in
-classless IPv4 routing.
-
-A special label '@' and an option '-CIPSO' can be used there :
-@ means Internet, any application with any label has access to it
--CIPSO means standard CIPSO networking
-
-If you don't know what CIPSO is and don't plan to use it, you can just do :
-echo 127.0.0.1 -CIPSO > /smack/netlabel
-echo 0.0.0.0/0 @ > /smack/netlabel
-
-If you use CIPSO on your 192.168.0.0/16 local network and need also unlabeled
-Internet access, you can have :
-echo 127.0.0.1 -CIPSO > /smack/netlabel
-echo 192.168.0.0/16 -CIPSO > /smack/netlabel
-echo 0.0.0.0/0 @ > /smack/netlabel
-
-
-Writing Applications for Smack
-
-There are three sorts of applications that will run on a Smack system. How an
-application interacts with Smack will determine what it will have to do to
-work properly under Smack.
-
-Smack Ignorant Applications
-
-By far the majority of applications have no reason whatever to care about the
-unique properties of Smack. Since invoking a program has no impact on the
-Smack label associated with the process the only concern likely to arise is
-whether the process has execute access to the program.
-
-Smack Relevant Applications
-
-Some programs can be improved by teaching them about Smack, but do not make
-any security decisions themselves. The utility ls(1) is one example of such a
-program.
-
-Smack Enforcing Applications
-
-These are special programs that not only know about Smack, but participate in
-the enforcement of system policy. In most cases these are the programs that
-set up user sessions. There are also network services that provide information
-to processes running with various labels.
-
-File System Interfaces
-
-Smack maintains labels on file system objects using extended attributes. The
-Smack label of a file, directory, or other file system object can be obtained
-using getxattr(2).
-
- len = getxattr("/", "security.SMACK64", value, sizeof (value));
-
-will put the Smack label of the root directory into value. A privileged
-process can set the Smack label of a file system object with setxattr(2).
-
- len = strlen("Rubble");
- rc = setxattr("/foo", "security.SMACK64", "Rubble", len, 0);
-
-will set the Smack label of /foo to "Rubble" if the program has appropriate
-privilege.
-
-Socket Interfaces
-
-The socket attributes can be read using fgetxattr(2).
-
-A privileged process can set the Smack label of outgoing packets with
-fsetxattr(2).
-
- len = strlen("Rubble");
- rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPOUT", "Rubble", len, 0);
-
-will set the Smack label "Rubble" on packets going out from the socket if the
-program has appropriate privilege.
-
- rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPIN, "*", strlen("*"), 0);
-
-will set the Smack label "*" as the object label against which incoming
-packets will be checked if the program has appropriate privilege.
-
-Administration
-
-Smack supports some mount options:
-
- smackfsdef=label: specifies the label to give files that lack
- the Smack label extended attribute.
-
- smackfsroot=label: specifies the label to assign the root of the
- file system if it lacks the Smack extended attribute.
-
- smackfshat=label: specifies a label that must have read access to
- all labels set on the filesystem. Not yet enforced.
-
- smackfsfloor=label: specifies a label to which all labels set on the
- filesystem must have read access. Not yet enforced.
-
-These mount options apply to all file system types.
-
-Smack auditing
-
-If you want Smack auditing of security events, you need to set CONFIG_AUDIT
-in your kernel configuration.
-By default, all denied events will be audited. You can change this behavior by
-writing a single character to the /smack/logging file :
-0 : no logging
-1 : log denied (default)
-2 : log accepted
-3 : log denied & accepted
-
-Events are logged as 'key=value' pairs, for each event you at least will get
-the subjet, the object, the rights requested, the action, the kernel function
-that triggered the event, plus other pairs depending on the type of event
-audited.