Re: [PATCH v6] vfs, security: Fix automount superblock LSM init problem, preventing NFS sb sharing

[Paul Moore]

On Thu, Aug 3, 2023 at 12:27 PM Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Wed, 2023-08-02 at 22:46 -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
> > On Wed, Aug 2, 2023 at 3:34 PM Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2023-08-02 at 14:16 -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
> > > > On Aug  2, 2023 Jeff Layton <jlayton@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

...

> > My only concern now is the fs_context::lsm_set flag.
>
> Yeah, that bit is ugly. David studied this problem a lot more than I
> have, but basically, we only want to set the context info once, and
> we're not always going to have a nice string to parse to set up the
> options. This obviously works, but I'm fine with a more elegant method
> if you can spot one.

Like I said before, sometimes making a LSM hook conditional on some
flag is the only practical solution, but I always worry that there is
a chance that a future patch might end up toggling that flag by
accident and we lose an important call into the LSM.  Even if all we
end up doing is moving the flag down into the LSMs I would be happier;
there is still a risk, but at least if something breaks it is our (the
LSM folks) own damn fault ;)

> > You didn't mention exactly why the security_sb_set_mnt_opts() was
> > failing, and requires the fs_context::lsm_set check, but my guess is
> > that something is tripping over the fact that the superblock is
> > already properly setup.  I'm working under the assumption that this
> > problem - attempting to reconfigure a properly configured superblock -
> > should only be happening in the submount/non-NULL-reference case.  If
> > it is happening elsewhere I think I'm going to need some help
> > understanding that ...
>
> Correct. When you pass in the mount options, fc->security seems to be
> properly set. NFS mounting is complex though, so the final superblock
> you care about may end up being a descendant of the one that was
> originally configured.

Ooof, okay, there goes that idea.

At this point I guess it comes back to that question of why is calling
into security_sb_set_mnt_opts() a second (or third, etc.) time failing
for you?  Is there some conflict with the superblock
config/labeling/etc.?  Is there a permissions problem?  Better
understanding why that is failing might help us come up with a better
solution.

-- 
paul-moore.com