Re: + smack-version-11c-simplified-mandatory-access-control-kernel.patch added to -mm tree

From: Kyle Moffett
Date: Sat Nov 24 2007 - 21:07:28 EST


On Nov 24, 2007, at 06:39:34, Crispin Cowan wrote:
Andrew Morgan wrote:
It feels to me as if a MAC "override capability" is, if true to its name, extra to the MAC model; any MAC model that needs an 'override' to function seems under-specified... SELinux clearly feels no need for one,

That's not quite right. More specifically, it already has one in the form of unconfined_t. AppArmor has a similar escape hatch in the "Ux" permission. Its not that they don't need one, it is that they already have one. They get to have one because they allow you to actually write a policy that is more nuanced than "process label must dominate object label".

Actually, a fully-secured strict-mode SELinux system will have no unconfined_t processes; none of my test systems have any. Generally "unconfined_t" is used for situations similar to what AppArmor was designed for, where the only "interesting" security is that of the daemon (which is properly labelled) and one or more of the users are unconfined.

Even then "unconfined_t" is not an implicit part of the policy, it is explicitly given the ability to take any action on any object by rules in the policy, and it typically still falls under a few MLS labeling restrictions even in the targeted policy.

Cheers,
Kyle Moffett

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