Re: inheritable set [was Re: caps in elf headers: use the sticky bit!]

Raul Miller (rdm@test.legislate.com)
Sun, 25 Apr 1999 23:58:44 -0400


> > (1) protecting system from outside attack. [From script kiddies,
> > etc.]
> > (2) protecting system from inside attack. [From legitimate users, or
> > someone who broke #1]
> > (3) protecting system from administrative attack [from legitimate
> > admins or someone who broke #2].
> > #3 starts getting into the area of pyrrhic victories. Anyways, fine
> > grained priviledges can certainly be a useful tool for managing
> > #1 and #2, but they don't need to be in the file system for that.
> > Putting priviledges in the file system helps on #3, exactly because
> > it guarantees that none of the standard administrative tools work.

Y2K <y2k@y2ker.com> wrote:
> I don't like the idea of completely sacrificing standard practices
> like the use of file utils and shell scripting on the alter of "pure"
> caps.

That's reasonable -- that probably means you don't want to be crippled
as an administer.

> And to boot I think it is misguided.

Er.. what's misguided. Or are you responding to something I didn't
write?

> My point being that for these it is plainly absurd to make the
> security decisions based on any particular set of caps. #3 is best
> served by very carefuly writing either one or a series of admin
> programs that is cap enhanced by fP.

No, this approach does have some merit.

However, remember that ultimate security requires ultimate simplicity.

The point of caps is to >>limit<< the scope of required auditing.
And, there are some applications where caps achieve this end. These
applications, by nature, must be very rigidly defined and narrow in
scope.

I wouldn't want to go so far as to say that there will never be a linux
distribution that uses fine grained privilege masks in the file system.
However: I think I'm safe to say that if such a system (or distribution)
is done right it's not going to be what we currently think of as a
general purpose system (/distribution).

> Maybe they should take a look at linuxconf and add lots of policy to
> it. Neither "soiled" or "pure" caps has any real direct benefite to
> these people.

Sure, linuxconf is aiming to address a very general (almost open ended)
problem. By definition, if you want crippled administrators you can't
be having them address general case problems.

-- 
Raul

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