Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | "Good for you, you've decided to clean the elevator!" |
| 4 | - The Elevator, from Dark Star |
| 5 | |
Masanari Iida | df5cbb2 | 2014-03-21 10:04:30 +0900 | [diff] [blame] | 6 | Smack is the Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 7 | Smack is a kernel based implementation of mandatory access |
| 8 | control that includes simplicity in its primary design goals. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Smack is not the only Mandatory Access Control scheme |
| 11 | available for Linux. Those new to Mandatory Access Control |
| 12 | are encouraged to compare Smack with the other mechanisms |
| 13 | available to determine which is best suited to the problem |
| 14 | at hand. |
| 15 | |
| 16 | Smack consists of three major components: |
| 17 | - The kernel |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 18 | - Basic utilities, which are helpful but not required |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 19 | - Configuration data |
| 20 | |
| 21 | The kernel component of Smack is implemented as a Linux |
| 22 | Security Modules (LSM) module. It requires netlabel and |
| 23 | works best with file systems that support extended attributes, |
| 24 | although xattr support is not strictly required. |
| 25 | It is safe to run a Smack kernel under a "vanilla" distribution. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 26 | |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 27 | Smack kernels use the CIPSO IP option. Some network |
| 28 | configurations are intolerant of IP options and can impede |
| 29 | access to systems that use them as Smack does. |
| 30 | |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 31 | Smack is used in the Tizen operating system. Please |
| 32 | go to http://wiki.tizen.org for information about how |
| 33 | Smack is used in Tizen. |
| 34 | |
Daniel Wagner | 78a0d8f | 2012-09-24 14:21:29 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 35 | The current git repository for Smack user space is: |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 36 | |
Daniel Wagner | 78a0d8f | 2012-09-24 14:21:29 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 37 | git://github.com/smack-team/smack.git |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 38 | |
Daniel Wagner | 78a0d8f | 2012-09-24 14:21:29 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 39 | This should make and install on most modern distributions. |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 40 | There are five commands included in smackutil: |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 41 | |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 42 | chsmack - display or set Smack extended attribute values |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 43 | smackctl - load the Smack access rules |
| 44 | smackaccess - report if a process with one label has access |
| 45 | to an object with another |
| 46 | |
| 47 | These two commands are obsolete with the introduction of |
| 48 | the smackfs/load2 and smackfs/cipso2 interfaces. |
| 49 | |
| 50 | smackload - properly formats data for writing to smackfs/load |
| 51 | smackcipso - properly formats data for writing to smackfs/cipso |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 52 | |
| 53 | In keeping with the intent of Smack, configuration data is |
| 54 | minimal and not strictly required. The most important |
| 55 | configuration step is mounting the smackfs pseudo filesystem. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 56 | If smackutil is installed the startup script will take care |
| 57 | of this, but it can be manually as well. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 58 | |
| 59 | Add this line to /etc/fstab: |
| 60 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | smackfs /sys/fs/smackfs smackfs defaults 0 0 |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 63 | The /sys/fs/smackfs directory is created by the kernel. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 64 | |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 65 | Smack uses extended attributes (xattrs) to store labels on filesystem |
| 66 | objects. The attributes are stored in the extended attribute security |
| 67 | name space. A process must have CAP_MAC_ADMIN to change any of these |
| 68 | attributes. |
| 69 | |
| 70 | The extended attributes that Smack uses are: |
| 71 | |
| 72 | SMACK64 |
| 73 | Used to make access control decisions. In almost all cases |
| 74 | the label given to a new filesystem object will be the label |
| 75 | of the process that created it. |
| 76 | SMACK64EXEC |
| 77 | The Smack label of a process that execs a program file with |
| 78 | this attribute set will run with this attribute's value. |
| 79 | SMACK64MMAP |
| 80 | Don't allow the file to be mmapped by a process whose Smack |
| 81 | label does not allow all of the access permitted to a process |
| 82 | with the label contained in this attribute. This is a very |
| 83 | specific use case for shared libraries. |
| 84 | SMACK64TRANSMUTE |
| 85 | Can only have the value "TRUE". If this attribute is present |
| 86 | on a directory when an object is created in the directory and |
| 87 | the Smack rule (more below) that permitted the write access |
| 88 | to the directory includes the transmute ("t") mode the object |
| 89 | gets the label of the directory instead of the label of the |
| 90 | creating process. If the object being created is a directory |
| 91 | the SMACK64TRANSMUTE attribute is set as well. |
| 92 | SMACK64IPIN |
| 93 | This attribute is only available on file descriptors for sockets. |
| 94 | Use the Smack label in this attribute for access control |
| 95 | decisions on packets being delivered to this socket. |
| 96 | SMACK64IPOUT |
| 97 | This attribute is only available on file descriptors for sockets. |
| 98 | Use the Smack label in this attribute for access control |
| 99 | decisions on packets coming from this socket. |
| 100 | |
| 101 | There are multiple ways to set a Smack label on a file: |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 102 | |
| 103 | # attr -S -s SMACK64 -V "value" path |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 104 | # chsmack -a value path |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 105 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 106 | A process can see the Smack label it is running with by |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 107 | reading /proc/self/attr/current. A process with CAP_MAC_ADMIN |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 108 | can set the process Smack by writing there. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 109 | |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 110 | Most Smack configuration is accomplished by writing to files |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 111 | in the smackfs filesystem. This pseudo-filesystem is mounted |
| 112 | on /sys/fs/smackfs. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 113 | |
| 114 | access |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 115 | Provided for backward compatibility. The access2 interface |
| 116 | is preferred and should be used instead. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 117 | This interface reports whether a subject with the specified |
| 118 | Smack label has a particular access to an object with a |
| 119 | specified Smack label. Write a fixed format access rule to |
| 120 | this file. The next read will indicate whether the access |
| 121 | would be permitted. The text will be either "1" indicating |
| 122 | access, or "0" indicating denial. |
| 123 | access2 |
| 124 | This interface reports whether a subject with the specified |
| 125 | Smack label has a particular access to an object with a |
| 126 | specified Smack label. Write a long format access rule to |
| 127 | this file. The next read will indicate whether the access |
| 128 | would be permitted. The text will be either "1" indicating |
| 129 | access, or "0" indicating denial. |
| 130 | ambient |
| 131 | This contains the Smack label applied to unlabeled network |
| 132 | packets. |
Rafal Krypa | e05b6f9 | 2013-01-10 19:42:00 +0100 | [diff] [blame] | 133 | change-rule |
| 134 | This interface allows modification of existing access control rules. |
| 135 | The format accepted on write is: |
| 136 | "%s %s %s %s" |
| 137 | where the first string is the subject label, the second the |
| 138 | object label, the third the access to allow and the fourth the |
| 139 | access to deny. The access strings may contain only the characters |
| 140 | "rwxat-". If a rule for a given subject and object exists it will be |
| 141 | modified by enabling the permissions in the third string and disabling |
| 142 | those in the fourth string. If there is no such rule it will be |
| 143 | created using the access specified in the third and the fourth strings. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 144 | cipso |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 145 | Provided for backward compatibility. The cipso2 interface |
| 146 | is preferred and should be used instead. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 147 | This interface allows a specific CIPSO header to be assigned |
| 148 | to a Smack label. The format accepted on write is: |
| 149 | "%24s%4d%4d"["%4d"]... |
| 150 | The first string is a fixed Smack label. The first number is |
| 151 | the level to use. The second number is the number of categories. |
| 152 | The following numbers are the categories. |
| 153 | "level-3-cats-5-19 3 2 5 19" |
| 154 | cipso2 |
| 155 | This interface allows a specific CIPSO header to be assigned |
| 156 | to a Smack label. The format accepted on write is: |
| 157 | "%s%4d%4d"["%4d"]... |
| 158 | The first string is a long Smack label. The first number is |
| 159 | the level to use. The second number is the number of categories. |
| 160 | The following numbers are the categories. |
| 161 | "level-3-cats-5-19 3 2 5 19" |
| 162 | direct |
| 163 | This contains the CIPSO level used for Smack direct label |
| 164 | representation in network packets. |
| 165 | doi |
| 166 | This contains the CIPSO domain of interpretation used in |
| 167 | network packets. |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 168 | ipv6host |
| 169 | This interface allows specific IPv6 internet addresses to be |
| 170 | treated as single label hosts. Packets are sent to single |
| 171 | label hosts only from processes that have Smack write access |
| 172 | to the host label. All packets received from single label hosts |
| 173 | are given the specified label. The format accepted on write is: |
| 174 | "%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h label" or |
| 175 | "%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h/%d label". |
| 176 | The "::" address shortcut is not supported. |
| 177 | If label is "-DELETE" a matched entry will be deleted. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 178 | load |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 179 | Provided for backward compatibility. The load2 interface |
| 180 | is preferred and should be used instead. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 181 | This interface allows access control rules in addition to |
| 182 | the system defined rules to be specified. The format accepted |
| 183 | on write is: |
| 184 | "%24s%24s%5s" |
| 185 | where the first string is the subject label, the second the |
| 186 | object label, and the third the requested access. The access |
| 187 | string may contain only the characters "rwxat-", and specifies |
| 188 | which sort of access is allowed. The "-" is a placeholder for |
| 189 | permissions that are not allowed. The string "r-x--" would |
| 190 | specify read and execute access. Labels are limited to 23 |
| 191 | characters in length. |
| 192 | load2 |
| 193 | This interface allows access control rules in addition to |
| 194 | the system defined rules to be specified. The format accepted |
| 195 | on write is: |
| 196 | "%s %s %s" |
| 197 | where the first string is the subject label, the second the |
| 198 | object label, and the third the requested access. The access |
| 199 | string may contain only the characters "rwxat-", and specifies |
| 200 | which sort of access is allowed. The "-" is a placeholder for |
| 201 | permissions that are not allowed. The string "r-x--" would |
| 202 | specify read and execute access. |
| 203 | load-self |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 204 | Provided for backward compatibility. The load-self2 interface |
| 205 | is preferred and should be used instead. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 206 | This interface allows process specific access rules to be |
| 207 | defined. These rules are only consulted if access would |
| 208 | otherwise be permitted, and are intended to provide additional |
| 209 | restrictions on the process. The format is the same as for |
| 210 | the load interface. |
| 211 | load-self2 |
| 212 | This interface allows process specific access rules to be |
| 213 | defined. These rules are only consulted if access would |
| 214 | otherwise be permitted, and are intended to provide additional |
| 215 | restrictions on the process. The format is the same as for |
| 216 | the load2 interface. |
| 217 | logging |
| 218 | This contains the Smack logging state. |
| 219 | mapped |
| 220 | This contains the CIPSO level used for Smack mapped label |
| 221 | representation in network packets. |
| 222 | netlabel |
| 223 | This interface allows specific internet addresses to be |
| 224 | treated as single label hosts. Packets are sent to single |
| 225 | label hosts without CIPSO headers, but only from processes |
| 226 | that have Smack write access to the host label. All packets |
| 227 | received from single label hosts are given the specified |
| 228 | label. The format accepted on write is: |
| 229 | "%d.%d.%d.%d label" or "%d.%d.%d.%d/%d label". |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 230 | If the label specified is "-CIPSO" the address is treated |
| 231 | as a host that supports CIPSO headers. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 232 | onlycap |
Rafal Krypa | c0d77c8 | 2015-06-02 11:23:48 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 233 | This contains labels processes must have for CAP_MAC_ADMIN |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 234 | and CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE to be effective. If this file is empty |
| 235 | these capabilities are effective at for processes with any |
Rafal Krypa | c0d77c8 | 2015-06-02 11:23:48 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 236 | label. The values are set by writing the desired labels, separated |
| 237 | by spaces, to the file or cleared by writing "-" to the file. |
Lukasz Pawelczyk | 6686781 | 2014-03-11 17:07:06 +0100 | [diff] [blame] | 238 | ptrace |
| 239 | This is used to define the current ptrace policy |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 240 | 0 - default: this is the policy that relies on Smack access rules. |
Lukasz Pawelczyk | 6686781 | 2014-03-11 17:07:06 +0100 | [diff] [blame] | 241 | For the PTRACE_READ a subject needs to have a read access on |
| 242 | object. For the PTRACE_ATTACH a read-write access is required. |
| 243 | 1 - exact: this is the policy that limits PTRACE_ATTACH. Attach is |
| 244 | only allowed when subject's and object's labels are equal. |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 245 | PTRACE_READ is not affected. Can be overridden with CAP_SYS_PTRACE. |
Lukasz Pawelczyk | 6686781 | 2014-03-11 17:07:06 +0100 | [diff] [blame] | 246 | 2 - draconian: this policy behaves like the 'exact' above with an |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 247 | exception that it can't be overridden with CAP_SYS_PTRACE. |
Rafal Krypa | 449543b | 2012-07-11 17:49:30 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 248 | revoke-subject |
| 249 | Writing a Smack label here sets the access to '-' for all access |
| 250 | rules with that subject label. |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 251 | unconfined |
| 252 | If the kernel is configured with CONFIG_SECURITY_SMACK_BRINGUP |
| 253 | a process with CAP_MAC_ADMIN can write a label into this interface. |
| 254 | Thereafter, accesses that involve that label will be logged and |
| 255 | the access permitted if it wouldn't be otherwise. Note that this |
| 256 | is dangerous and can ruin the proper labeling of your system. |
| 257 | It should never be used in production. |
Zbigniew Jasinski | 38416e5 | 2015-10-19 18:23:53 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 258 | relabel-self |
| 259 | This interface contains a list of labels to which the process can |
| 260 | transition to, by writing to /proc/self/attr/current. |
| 261 | Normally a process can change its own label to any legal value, but only |
| 262 | if it has CAP_MAC_ADMIN. This interface allows a process without |
| 263 | CAP_MAC_ADMIN to relabel itself to one of labels from predefined list. |
| 264 | A process without CAP_MAC_ADMIN can change its label only once. When it |
| 265 | does, this list will be cleared. |
| 266 | The values are set by writing the desired labels, separated |
| 267 | by spaces, to the file or cleared by writing "-" to the file. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 268 | |
Casey Schaufler | 21abb1e | 2015-07-22 14:25:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 269 | If you are using the smackload utility |
| 270 | you can add access rules in /etc/smack/accesses. They take the form: |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 271 | |
| 272 | subjectlabel objectlabel access |
| 273 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 274 | access is a combination of the letters rwxatb which specify the |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 275 | kind of access permitted a subject with subjectlabel on an |
| 276 | object with objectlabel. If there is no rule no access is allowed. |
| 277 | |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 278 | Look for additional programs on http://schaufler-ca.com |
| 279 | |
| 280 | From the Smack Whitepaper: |
| 281 | |
| 282 | The Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel |
| 283 | |
| 284 | Casey Schaufler |
| 285 | casey@schaufler-ca.com |
| 286 | |
| 287 | Mandatory Access Control |
| 288 | |
| 289 | Computer systems employ a variety of schemes to constrain how information is |
| 290 | shared among the people and services using the machine. Some of these schemes |
| 291 | allow the program or user to decide what other programs or users are allowed |
| 292 | access to pieces of data. These schemes are called discretionary access |
| 293 | control mechanisms because the access control is specified at the discretion |
| 294 | of the user. Other schemes do not leave the decision regarding what a user or |
| 295 | program can access up to users or programs. These schemes are called mandatory |
| 296 | access control mechanisms because you don't have a choice regarding the users |
| 297 | or programs that have access to pieces of data. |
| 298 | |
| 299 | Bell & LaPadula |
| 300 | |
| 301 | From the middle of the 1980's until the turn of the century Mandatory Access |
| 302 | Control (MAC) was very closely associated with the Bell & LaPadula security |
| 303 | model, a mathematical description of the United States Department of Defense |
| 304 | policy for marking paper documents. MAC in this form enjoyed a following |
| 305 | within the Capital Beltway and Scandinavian supercomputer centers but was |
| 306 | often sited as failing to address general needs. |
| 307 | |
| 308 | Domain Type Enforcement |
| 309 | |
| 310 | Around the turn of the century Domain Type Enforcement (DTE) became popular. |
| 311 | This scheme organizes users, programs, and data into domains that are |
| 312 | protected from each other. This scheme has been widely deployed as a component |
| 313 | of popular Linux distributions. The administrative overhead required to |
| 314 | maintain this scheme and the detailed understanding of the whole system |
| 315 | necessary to provide a secure domain mapping leads to the scheme being |
| 316 | disabled or used in limited ways in the majority of cases. |
| 317 | |
| 318 | Smack |
| 319 | |
| 320 | Smack is a Mandatory Access Control mechanism designed to provide useful MAC |
| 321 | while avoiding the pitfalls of its predecessors. The limitations of Bell & |
| 322 | LaPadula are addressed by providing a scheme whereby access can be controlled |
| 323 | according to the requirements of the system and its purpose rather than those |
| 324 | imposed by an arcane government policy. The complexity of Domain Type |
| 325 | Enforcement and avoided by defining access controls in terms of the access |
| 326 | modes already in use. |
| 327 | |
| 328 | Smack Terminology |
| 329 | |
| 330 | The jargon used to talk about Smack will be familiar to those who have dealt |
| 331 | with other MAC systems and shouldn't be too difficult for the uninitiated to |
| 332 | pick up. There are four terms that are used in a specific way and that are |
| 333 | especially important: |
| 334 | |
| 335 | Subject: A subject is an active entity on the computer system. |
| 336 | On Smack a subject is a task, which is in turn the basic unit |
| 337 | of execution. |
| 338 | |
| 339 | Object: An object is a passive entity on the computer system. |
| 340 | On Smack files of all types, IPC, and tasks can be objects. |
| 341 | |
| 342 | Access: Any attempt by a subject to put information into or get |
| 343 | information from an object is an access. |
| 344 | |
| 345 | Label: Data that identifies the Mandatory Access Control |
| 346 | characteristics of a subject or an object. |
| 347 | |
| 348 | These definitions are consistent with the traditional use in the security |
| 349 | community. There are also some terms from Linux that are likely to crop up: |
| 350 | |
| 351 | Capability: A task that possesses a capability has permission to |
| 352 | violate an aspect of the system security policy, as identified by |
| 353 | the specific capability. A task that possesses one or more |
| 354 | capabilities is a privileged task, whereas a task with no |
| 355 | capabilities is an unprivileged task. |
| 356 | |
| 357 | Privilege: A task that is allowed to violate the system security |
| 358 | policy is said to have privilege. As of this writing a task can |
| 359 | have privilege either by possessing capabilities or by having an |
| 360 | effective user of root. |
| 361 | |
| 362 | Smack Basics |
| 363 | |
| 364 | Smack is an extension to a Linux system. It enforces additional restrictions |
| 365 | on what subjects can access which objects, based on the labels attached to |
| 366 | each of the subject and the object. |
| 367 | |
| 368 | Labels |
| 369 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 370 | Smack labels are ASCII character strings. They can be up to 255 characters |
| 371 | long, but keeping them to twenty-three characters is recommended. |
| 372 | Single character labels using special characters, that being anything |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 373 | other than a letter or digit, are reserved for use by the Smack development |
| 374 | team. Smack labels are unstructured, case sensitive, and the only operation |
| 375 | ever performed on them is comparison for equality. Smack labels cannot |
Etienne Basset | ecfcc53 | 2009-04-08 20:40:06 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 376 | contain unprintable characters, the "/" (slash), the "\" (backslash), the "'" |
| 377 | (quote) and '"' (double-quote) characters. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 378 | Smack labels cannot begin with a '-'. This is reserved for special options. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 379 | |
| 380 | There are some predefined labels: |
| 381 | |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 382 | _ Pronounced "floor", a single underscore character. |
| 383 | ^ Pronounced "hat", a single circumflex character. |
| 384 | * Pronounced "star", a single asterisk character. |
| 385 | ? Pronounced "huh", a single question mark character. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 386 | @ Pronounced "web", a single at sign character. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 387 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 388 | Every task on a Smack system is assigned a label. The Smack label |
| 389 | of a process will usually be assigned by the system initialization |
| 390 | mechanism. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 391 | |
| 392 | Access Rules |
| 393 | |
| 394 | Smack uses the traditional access modes of Linux. These modes are read, |
| 395 | execute, write, and occasionally append. There are a few cases where the |
| 396 | access mode may not be obvious. These include: |
| 397 | |
| 398 | Signals: A signal is a write operation from the subject task to |
| 399 | the object task. |
| 400 | Internet Domain IPC: Transmission of a packet is considered a |
| 401 | write operation from the source task to the destination task. |
| 402 | |
| 403 | Smack restricts access based on the label attached to a subject and the label |
| 404 | attached to the object it is trying to access. The rules enforced are, in |
| 405 | order: |
| 406 | |
| 407 | 1. Any access requested by a task labeled "*" is denied. |
| 408 | 2. A read or execute access requested by a task labeled "^" |
| 409 | is permitted. |
| 410 | 3. A read or execute access requested on an object labeled "_" |
| 411 | is permitted. |
| 412 | 4. Any access requested on an object labeled "*" is permitted. |
| 413 | 5. Any access requested by a task on an object with the same |
| 414 | label is permitted. |
| 415 | 6. Any access requested that is explicitly defined in the loaded |
| 416 | rule set is permitted. |
| 417 | 7. Any other access is denied. |
| 418 | |
| 419 | Smack Access Rules |
| 420 | |
| 421 | With the isolation provided by Smack access separation is simple. There are |
| 422 | many interesting cases where limited access by subjects to objects with |
| 423 | different labels is desired. One example is the familiar spy model of |
| 424 | sensitivity, where a scientist working on a highly classified project would be |
| 425 | able to read documents of lower classifications and anything she writes will |
| 426 | be "born" highly classified. To accommodate such schemes Smack includes a |
| 427 | mechanism for specifying rules allowing access between labels. |
| 428 | |
| 429 | Access Rule Format |
| 430 | |
| 431 | The format of an access rule is: |
| 432 | |
| 433 | subject-label object-label access |
| 434 | |
| 435 | Where subject-label is the Smack label of the task, object-label is the Smack |
| 436 | label of the thing being accessed, and access is a string specifying the sort |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 437 | of access allowed. The access specification is searched for letters that |
| 438 | describe access modes: |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 439 | |
| 440 | a: indicates that append access should be granted. |
| 441 | r: indicates that read access should be granted. |
| 442 | w: indicates that write access should be granted. |
| 443 | x: indicates that execute access should be granted. |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 444 | t: indicates that the rule requests transmutation. |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 445 | b: indicates that the rule should be reported for bring-up. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 446 | |
| 447 | Uppercase values for the specification letters are allowed as well. |
| 448 | Access mode specifications can be in any order. Examples of acceptable rules |
| 449 | are: |
| 450 | |
| 451 | TopSecret Secret rx |
| 452 | Secret Unclass R |
| 453 | Manager Game x |
| 454 | User HR w |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 455 | Snap Crackle rwxatb |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 456 | New Old rRrRr |
| 457 | Closed Off - |
| 458 | |
| 459 | Examples of unacceptable rules are: |
| 460 | |
| 461 | Top Secret Secret rx |
| 462 | Ace Ace r |
| 463 | Odd spells waxbeans |
| 464 | |
| 465 | Spaces are not allowed in labels. Since a subject always has access to files |
| 466 | with the same label specifying a rule for that case is pointless. Only |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 467 | valid letters (rwxatbRWXATB) and the dash ('-') character are allowed in |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 468 | access specifications. The dash is a placeholder, so "a-r" is the same |
| 469 | as "ar". A lone dash is used to specify that no access should be allowed. |
| 470 | |
| 471 | Applying Access Rules |
| 472 | |
| 473 | The developers of Linux rarely define new sorts of things, usually importing |
| 474 | schemes and concepts from other systems. Most often, the other systems are |
| 475 | variants of Unix. Unix has many endearing properties, but consistency of |
| 476 | access control models is not one of them. Smack strives to treat accesses as |
| 477 | uniformly as is sensible while keeping with the spirit of the underlying |
| 478 | mechanism. |
| 479 | |
| 480 | File system objects including files, directories, named pipes, symbolic links, |
| 481 | and devices require access permissions that closely match those used by mode |
| 482 | bit access. To open a file for reading read access is required on the file. To |
| 483 | search a directory requires execute access. Creating a file with write access |
| 484 | requires both read and write access on the containing directory. Deleting a |
| 485 | file requires read and write access to the file and to the containing |
| 486 | directory. It is possible that a user may be able to see that a file exists |
| 487 | but not any of its attributes by the circumstance of having read access to the |
| 488 | containing directory but not to the differently labeled file. This is an |
| 489 | artifact of the file name being data in the directory, not a part of the file. |
| 490 | |
Casey Schaufler | f7112e6 | 2012-05-06 15:22:02 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 491 | If a directory is marked as transmuting (SMACK64TRANSMUTE=TRUE) and the |
| 492 | access rule that allows a process to create an object in that directory |
| 493 | includes 't' access the label assigned to the new object will be that |
| 494 | of the directory, not the creating process. This makes it much easier |
| 495 | for two processes with different labels to share data without granting |
| 496 | access to all of their files. |
| 497 | |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 498 | IPC objects, message queues, semaphore sets, and memory segments exist in flat |
| 499 | namespaces and access requests are only required to match the object in |
| 500 | question. |
| 501 | |
| 502 | Process objects reflect tasks on the system and the Smack label used to access |
| 503 | them is the same Smack label that the task would use for its own access |
| 504 | attempts. Sending a signal via the kill() system call is a write operation |
| 505 | from the signaler to the recipient. Debugging a process requires both reading |
| 506 | and writing. Creating a new task is an internal operation that results in two |
| 507 | tasks with identical Smack labels and requires no access checks. |
| 508 | |
| 509 | Sockets are data structures attached to processes and sending a packet from |
| 510 | one process to another requires that the sender have write access to the |
| 511 | receiver. The receiver is not required to have read access to the sender. |
| 512 | |
| 513 | Setting Access Rules |
| 514 | |
| 515 | The configuration file /etc/smack/accesses contains the rules to be set at |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 516 | system startup. The contents are written to the special file |
| 517 | /sys/fs/smackfs/load2. Rules can be added at any time and take effect |
| 518 | immediately. For any pair of subject and object labels there can be only |
| 519 | one rule, with the most recently specified overriding any earlier |
| 520 | specification. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 521 | |
| 522 | Task Attribute |
| 523 | |
| 524 | The Smack label of a process can be read from /proc/<pid>/attr/current. A |
| 525 | process can read its own Smack label from /proc/self/attr/current. A |
| 526 | privileged process can change its own Smack label by writing to |
| 527 | /proc/self/attr/current but not the label of another process. |
| 528 | |
| 529 | File Attribute |
| 530 | |
| 531 | The Smack label of a filesystem object is stored as an extended attribute |
| 532 | named SMACK64 on the file. This attribute is in the security namespace. It can |
| 533 | only be changed by a process with privilege. |
| 534 | |
| 535 | Privilege |
| 536 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 537 | A process with CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE or CAP_MAC_ADMIN is privileged. |
| 538 | CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE allows the process access to objects it would |
| 539 | be denied otherwise. CAP_MAC_ADMIN allows a process to change |
| 540 | Smack data, including rules and attributes. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 541 | |
| 542 | Smack Networking |
| 543 | |
| 544 | As mentioned before, Smack enforces access control on network protocol |
| 545 | transmissions. Every packet sent by a Smack process is tagged with its Smack |
| 546 | label. This is done by adding a CIPSO tag to the header of the IP packet. Each |
| 547 | packet received is expected to have a CIPSO tag that identifies the label and |
| 548 | if it lacks such a tag the network ambient label is assumed. Before the packet |
| 549 | is delivered a check is made to determine that a subject with the label on the |
| 550 | packet has write access to the receiving process and if that is not the case |
| 551 | the packet is dropped. |
| 552 | |
| 553 | CIPSO Configuration |
| 554 | |
| 555 | It is normally unnecessary to specify the CIPSO configuration. The default |
| 556 | values used by the system handle all internal cases. Smack will compose CIPSO |
| 557 | label values to match the Smack labels being used without administrative |
| 558 | intervention. Unlabeled packets that come into the system will be given the |
| 559 | ambient label. |
| 560 | |
| 561 | Smack requires configuration in the case where packets from a system that is |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 562 | not Smack that speaks CIPSO may be encountered. Usually this will be a Trusted |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 563 | Solaris system, but there are other, less widely deployed systems out there. |
| 564 | CIPSO provides 3 important values, a Domain Of Interpretation (DOI), a level, |
| 565 | and a category set with each packet. The DOI is intended to identify a group |
| 566 | of systems that use compatible labeling schemes, and the DOI specified on the |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 567 | Smack system must match that of the remote system or packets will be |
| 568 | discarded. The DOI is 3 by default. The value can be read from |
| 569 | /sys/fs/smackfs/doi and can be changed by writing to /sys/fs/smackfs/doi. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 570 | |
| 571 | The label and category set are mapped to a Smack label as defined in |
| 572 | /etc/smack/cipso. |
| 573 | |
| 574 | A Smack/CIPSO mapping has the form: |
| 575 | |
| 576 | smack level [category [category]*] |
| 577 | |
| 578 | Smack does not expect the level or category sets to be related in any |
| 579 | particular way and does not assume or assign accesses based on them. Some |
| 580 | examples of mappings: |
| 581 | |
| 582 | TopSecret 7 |
| 583 | TS:A,B 7 1 2 |
| 584 | SecBDE 5 2 4 6 |
| 585 | RAFTERS 7 12 26 |
| 586 | |
| 587 | The ":" and "," characters are permitted in a Smack label but have no special |
| 588 | meaning. |
| 589 | |
| 590 | The mapping of Smack labels to CIPSO values is defined by writing to |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 591 | /sys/fs/smackfs/cipso2. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 592 | |
| 593 | In addition to explicit mappings Smack supports direct CIPSO mappings. One |
| 594 | CIPSO level is used to indicate that the category set passed in the packet is |
| 595 | in fact an encoding of the Smack label. The level used is 250 by default. The |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 596 | value can be read from /sys/fs/smackfs/direct and changed by writing to |
| 597 | /sys/fs/smackfs/direct. |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 598 | |
| 599 | Socket Attributes |
| 600 | |
| 601 | There are two attributes that are associated with sockets. These attributes |
| 602 | can only be set by privileged tasks, but any task can read them for their own |
| 603 | sockets. |
| 604 | |
| 605 | SMACK64IPIN: The Smack label of the task object. A privileged |
| 606 | program that will enforce policy may set this to the star label. |
| 607 | |
| 608 | SMACK64IPOUT: The Smack label transmitted with outgoing packets. |
| 609 | A privileged program may set this to match the label of another |
| 610 | task with which it hopes to communicate. |
| 611 | |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 612 | Smack Netlabel Exceptions |
| 613 | |
| 614 | You will often find that your labeled application has to talk to the outside, |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 615 | unlabeled world. To do this there's a special file /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
| 616 | where you can add some exceptions in the form of : |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 617 | @IP1 LABEL1 or |
| 618 | @IP2/MASK LABEL2 |
| 619 | |
| 620 | It means that your application will have unlabeled access to @IP1 if it has |
| 621 | write access on LABEL1, and access to the subnet @IP2/MASK if it has write |
| 622 | access on LABEL2. |
| 623 | |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 624 | Entries in the /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel file are matched by longest mask |
| 625 | first, like in classless IPv4 routing. |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 626 | |
| 627 | A special label '@' and an option '-CIPSO' can be used there : |
| 628 | @ means Internet, any application with any label has access to it |
| 629 | -CIPSO means standard CIPSO networking |
| 630 | |
| 631 | If you don't know what CIPSO is and don't plan to use it, you can just do : |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 632 | echo 127.0.0.1 -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
| 633 | echo 0.0.0.0/0 @ > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 634 | |
| 635 | If you use CIPSO on your 192.168.0.0/16 local network and need also unlabeled |
| 636 | Internet access, you can have : |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 637 | echo 127.0.0.1 -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
| 638 | echo 192.168.0.0/16 -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
| 639 | echo 0.0.0.0/0 @ > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel |
Etienne Basset | 4303154 | 2009-03-27 17:11:01 -0400 | [diff] [blame] | 640 | |
| 641 | |
Casey Schaufler | e114e47 | 2008-02-04 22:29:50 -0800 | [diff] [blame] | 642 | Writing Applications for Smack |
| 643 | |
| 644 | There are three sorts of applications that will run on a Smack system. How an |
| 645 | application interacts with Smack will determine what it will have to do to |
| 646 | work properly under Smack. |
| 647 | |
| 648 | Smack Ignorant Applications |
| 649 | |
| 650 | By far the majority of applications have no reason whatever to care about the |
| 651 | unique properties of Smack. Since invoking a program has no impact on the |
| 652 | Smack label associated with the process the only concern likely to arise is |
| 653 | whether the process has execute access to the program. |
| 654 | |
| 655 | Smack Relevant Applications |
| 656 | |
| 657 | Some programs can be improved by teaching them about Smack, but do not make |
| 658 | any security decisions themselves. The utility ls(1) is one example of such a |
| 659 | program. |
| 660 | |
| 661 | Smack Enforcing Applications |
| 662 | |
| 663 | These are special programs that not only know about Smack, but participate in |
| 664 | the enforcement of system policy. In most cases these are the programs that |
| 665 | set up user sessions. There are also network services that provide information |
| 666 | to processes running with various labels. |
| 667 | |
| 668 | File System Interfaces |
| 669 | |
| 670 | Smack maintains labels on file system objects using extended attributes. The |
| 671 | Smack label of a file, directory, or other file system object can be obtained |
| 672 | using getxattr(2). |
| 673 | |
| 674 | len = getxattr("/", "security.SMACK64", value, sizeof (value)); |
| 675 | |
| 676 | will put the Smack label of the root directory into value. A privileged |
| 677 | process can set the Smack label of a file system object with setxattr(2). |
| 678 | |
| 679 | len = strlen("Rubble"); |
| 680 | rc = setxattr("/foo", "security.SMACK64", "Rubble", len, 0); |
| 681 | |
| 682 | will set the Smack label of /foo to "Rubble" if the program has appropriate |
| 683 | privilege. |
| 684 | |
| 685 | Socket Interfaces |
| 686 | |
| 687 | The socket attributes can be read using fgetxattr(2). |
| 688 | |
| 689 | A privileged process can set the Smack label of outgoing packets with |
| 690 | fsetxattr(2). |
| 691 | |
| 692 | len = strlen("Rubble"); |
| 693 | rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPOUT", "Rubble", len, 0); |
| 694 | |
| 695 | will set the Smack label "Rubble" on packets going out from the socket if the |
| 696 | program has appropriate privilege. |
| 697 | |
| 698 | rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPIN, "*", strlen("*"), 0); |
| 699 | |
| 700 | will set the Smack label "*" as the object label against which incoming |
| 701 | packets will be checked if the program has appropriate privilege. |
| 702 | |
| 703 | Administration |
| 704 | |
| 705 | Smack supports some mount options: |
| 706 | |
| 707 | smackfsdef=label: specifies the label to give files that lack |
| 708 | the Smack label extended attribute. |
| 709 | |
| 710 | smackfsroot=label: specifies the label to assign the root of the |
| 711 | file system if it lacks the Smack extended attribute. |
| 712 | |
| 713 | smackfshat=label: specifies a label that must have read access to |
| 714 | all labels set on the filesystem. Not yet enforced. |
| 715 | |
| 716 | smackfsfloor=label: specifies a label to which all labels set on the |
| 717 | filesystem must have read access. Not yet enforced. |
| 718 | |
| 719 | These mount options apply to all file system types. |
| 720 | |
Etienne Basset | ecfcc53 | 2009-04-08 20:40:06 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 721 | Smack auditing |
| 722 | |
| 723 | If you want Smack auditing of security events, you need to set CONFIG_AUDIT |
| 724 | in your kernel configuration. |
| 725 | By default, all denied events will be audited. You can change this behavior by |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 726 | writing a single character to the /sys/fs/smackfs/logging file : |
Etienne Basset | ecfcc53 | 2009-04-08 20:40:06 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 727 | 0 : no logging |
| 728 | 1 : log denied (default) |
| 729 | 2 : log accepted |
| 730 | 3 : log denied & accepted |
| 731 | |
| 732 | Events are logged as 'key=value' pairs, for each event you at least will get |
Masanari Iida | 40e4712 | 2012-03-04 23:16:11 +0900 | [diff] [blame] | 733 | the subject, the object, the rights requested, the action, the kernel function |
Etienne Basset | ecfcc53 | 2009-04-08 20:40:06 +0200 | [diff] [blame] | 734 | that triggered the event, plus other pairs depending on the type of event |
| 735 | audited. |
Casey Schaufler | 18779b7 | 2015-03-31 09:49:40 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 736 | |
| 737 | Bringup Mode |
| 738 | |
| 739 | Bringup mode provides logging features that can make application |
| 740 | configuration and system bringup easier. Configure the kernel with |
| 741 | CONFIG_SECURITY_SMACK_BRINGUP to enable these features. When bringup |
| 742 | mode is enabled accesses that succeed due to rules marked with the "b" |
| 743 | access mode will logged. When a new label is introduced for processes |
| 744 | rules can be added aggressively, marked with the "b". The logging allows |
| 745 | tracking of which rules actual get used for that label. |
| 746 | |
| 747 | Another feature of bringup mode is the "unconfined" option. Writing |
| 748 | a label to /sys/fs/smackfs/unconfined makes subjects with that label |
| 749 | able to access any object, and objects with that label accessible to |
| 750 | all subjects. Any access that is granted because a label is unconfined |
| 751 | is logged. This feature is dangerous, as files and directories may |
| 752 | be created in places they couldn't if the policy were being enforced. |