Re: [PATCH 09/11] fs: reorder capability check last

[Christian Brauner]

On Mon, Nov 25, 2024 at 11:40:01AM +0100, Christian Göttsche wrote:
> From: Christian Göttsche <cgzones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> 
> capable() calls refer to enabled LSMs whether to permit or deny the
> request.  This is relevant in connection with SELinux, where a
> capability check results in a policy decision and by default a denial
> message on insufficient permission is issued.
> It can lead to three undesired cases:
>   1. A denial message is generated, even in case the operation was an
>      unprivileged one and thus the syscall succeeded, creating noise.
>   2. To avoid the noise from 1. the policy writer adds a rule to ignore
>      those denial messages, hiding future syscalls, where the task
>      performs an actual privileged operation, leading to hidden limited
>      functionality of that task.
>   3. To avoid the noise from 1. the policy writer adds a rule to permit
>      the task the requested capability, while it does not need it,
>      violating the principle of least privilege.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Christian Göttsche <cgzones@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---

Reviewed-by: Christian Brauner <brauner@xxxxxxxxxx>