|  | ===== | 
|  | Smack | 
|  | ===== | 
|  |  | 
|  |  | 
|  | "Good for you, you've decided to clean the elevator!" | 
|  | - The Elevator, from Dark Star | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack is the Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel. | 
|  | Smack is a kernel based implementation of mandatory access | 
|  | control that includes simplicity in its primary design goals. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack is not the only Mandatory Access Control scheme | 
|  | available for Linux. Those new to Mandatory Access Control | 
|  | are encouraged to compare Smack with the other mechanisms | 
|  | available to determine which is best suited to the problem | 
|  | at hand. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack consists of three major components: | 
|  |  | 
|  | - The kernel | 
|  | - Basic utilities, which are helpful but not required | 
|  | - Configuration data | 
|  |  | 
|  | The kernel component of Smack is implemented as a Linux | 
|  | Security Modules (LSM) module. It requires netlabel and | 
|  | works best with file systems that support extended attributes, | 
|  | although xattr support is not strictly required. | 
|  | It is safe to run a Smack kernel under a "vanilla" distribution. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack kernels use the CIPSO IP option. Some network | 
|  | configurations are intolerant of IP options and can impede | 
|  | access to systems that use them as Smack does. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack is used in the Tizen operating system. Please | 
|  | go to http://wiki.tizen.org for information about how | 
|  | Smack is used in Tizen. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The current git repository for Smack user space is: | 
|  |  | 
|  | git://github.com/smack-team/smack.git | 
|  |  | 
|  | This should make and install on most modern distributions. | 
|  | There are five commands included in smackutil: | 
|  |  | 
|  | chsmack: | 
|  | display or set Smack extended attribute values | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackctl: | 
|  | load the Smack access rules | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackaccess: | 
|  | report if a process with one label has access | 
|  | to an object with another | 
|  |  | 
|  | These two commands are obsolete with the introduction of | 
|  | the smackfs/load2 and smackfs/cipso2 interfaces. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackload: | 
|  | properly formats data for writing to smackfs/load | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackcipso: | 
|  | properly formats data for writing to smackfs/cipso | 
|  |  | 
|  | In keeping with the intent of Smack, configuration data is | 
|  | minimal and not strictly required. The most important | 
|  | configuration step is mounting the smackfs pseudo filesystem. | 
|  | If smackutil is installed the startup script will take care | 
|  | of this, but it can be manually as well. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Add this line to ``/etc/fstab``:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfs /sys/fs/smackfs smackfs defaults 0 0 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The ``/sys/fs/smackfs`` directory is created by the kernel. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack uses extended attributes (xattrs) to store labels on filesystem | 
|  | objects. The attributes are stored in the extended attribute security | 
|  | name space. A process must have ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN`` to change any of these | 
|  | attributes. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The extended attributes that Smack uses are: | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64 | 
|  | Used to make access control decisions. In almost all cases | 
|  | the label given to a new filesystem object will be the label | 
|  | of the process that created it. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64EXEC | 
|  | The Smack label of a process that execs a program file with | 
|  | this attribute set will run with this attribute's value. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64MMAP | 
|  | Don't allow the file to be mmapped by a process whose Smack | 
|  | label does not allow all of the access permitted to a process | 
|  | with the label contained in this attribute. This is a very | 
|  | specific use case for shared libraries. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64TRANSMUTE | 
|  | Can only have the value "TRUE". If this attribute is present | 
|  | on a directory when an object is created in the directory and | 
|  | the Smack rule (more below) that permitted the write access | 
|  | to the directory includes the transmute ("t") mode the object | 
|  | gets the label of the directory instead of the label of the | 
|  | creating process. If the object being created is a directory | 
|  | the SMACK64TRANSMUTE attribute is set as well. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64IPIN | 
|  | This attribute is only available on file descriptors for sockets. | 
|  | Use the Smack label in this attribute for access control | 
|  | decisions on packets being delivered to this socket. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64IPOUT | 
|  | This attribute is only available on file descriptors for sockets. | 
|  | Use the Smack label in this attribute for access control | 
|  | decisions on packets coming from this socket. | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are multiple ways to set a Smack label on a file:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | # attr -S -s SMACK64 -V "value" path | 
|  | # chsmack -a value path | 
|  |  | 
|  | A process can see the Smack label it is running with by | 
|  | reading ``/proc/self/attr/current``. A process with ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN`` | 
|  | can set the process Smack by writing there. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Most Smack configuration is accomplished by writing to files | 
|  | in the smackfs filesystem. This pseudo-filesystem is mounted | 
|  | on ``/sys/fs/smackfs``. | 
|  |  | 
|  | access | 
|  | Provided for backward compatibility. The access2 interface | 
|  | is preferred and should be used instead. | 
|  | This interface reports whether a subject with the specified | 
|  | Smack label has a particular access to an object with a | 
|  | specified Smack label. Write a fixed format access rule to | 
|  | this file. The next read will indicate whether the access | 
|  | would be permitted. The text will be either "1" indicating | 
|  | access, or "0" indicating denial. | 
|  |  | 
|  | access2 | 
|  | This interface reports whether a subject with the specified | 
|  | Smack label has a particular access to an object with a | 
|  | specified Smack label. Write a long format access rule to | 
|  | this file. The next read will indicate whether the access | 
|  | would be permitted. The text will be either "1" indicating | 
|  | access, or "0" indicating denial. | 
|  |  | 
|  | ambient | 
|  | This contains the Smack label applied to unlabeled network | 
|  | packets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | change-rule | 
|  | This interface allows modification of existing access control rules. | 
|  | The format accepted on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%s %s %s %s" | 
|  |  | 
|  | where the first string is the subject label, the second the | 
|  | object label, the third the access to allow and the fourth the | 
|  | access to deny. The access strings may contain only the characters | 
|  | "rwxat-". If a rule for a given subject and object exists it will be | 
|  | modified by enabling the permissions in the third string and disabling | 
|  | those in the fourth string. If there is no such rule it will be | 
|  | created using the access specified in the third and the fourth strings. | 
|  |  | 
|  | cipso | 
|  | Provided for backward compatibility. The cipso2 interface | 
|  | is preferred and should be used instead. | 
|  | This interface allows a specific CIPSO header to be assigned | 
|  | to a Smack label. The format accepted on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%24s%4d%4d"["%4d"]... | 
|  |  | 
|  | The first string is a fixed Smack label. The first number is | 
|  | the level to use. The second number is the number of categories. | 
|  | The following numbers are the categories:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "level-3-cats-5-19          3   2   5  19" | 
|  |  | 
|  | cipso2 | 
|  | This interface allows a specific CIPSO header to be assigned | 
|  | to a Smack label. The format accepted on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%s%4d%4d"["%4d"]... | 
|  |  | 
|  | The first string is a long Smack label. The first number is | 
|  | the level to use. The second number is the number of categories. | 
|  | The following numbers are the categories:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "level-3-cats-5-19   3   2   5  19" | 
|  |  | 
|  | direct | 
|  | This contains the CIPSO level used for Smack direct label | 
|  | representation in network packets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | doi | 
|  | This contains the CIPSO domain of interpretation used in | 
|  | network packets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | ipv6host | 
|  | This interface allows specific IPv6 internet addresses to be | 
|  | treated as single label hosts. Packets are sent to single | 
|  | label hosts only from processes that have Smack write access | 
|  | to the host label. All packets received from single label hosts | 
|  | are given the specified label. The format accepted on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h label" or | 
|  | "%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h:%h/%d label". | 
|  |  | 
|  | The "::" address shortcut is not supported. | 
|  | If label is "-DELETE" a matched entry will be deleted. | 
|  |  | 
|  | load | 
|  | Provided for backward compatibility. The load2 interface | 
|  | is preferred and should be used instead. | 
|  | This interface allows access control rules in addition to | 
|  | the system defined rules to be specified. The format accepted | 
|  | on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%24s%24s%5s" | 
|  |  | 
|  | where the first string is the subject label, the second the | 
|  | object label, and the third the requested access. The access | 
|  | string may contain only the characters "rwxat-", and specifies | 
|  | which sort of access is allowed. The "-" is a placeholder for | 
|  | permissions that are not allowed. The string "r-x--" would | 
|  | specify read and execute access. Labels are limited to 23 | 
|  | characters in length. | 
|  |  | 
|  | load2 | 
|  | This interface allows access control rules in addition to | 
|  | the system defined rules to be specified. The format accepted | 
|  | on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%s %s %s" | 
|  |  | 
|  | where the first string is the subject label, the second the | 
|  | object label, and the third the requested access. The access | 
|  | string may contain only the characters "rwxat-", and specifies | 
|  | which sort of access is allowed. The "-" is a placeholder for | 
|  | permissions that are not allowed. The string "r-x--" would | 
|  | specify read and execute access. | 
|  |  | 
|  | load-self | 
|  | Provided for backward compatibility. The load-self2 interface | 
|  | is preferred and should be used instead. | 
|  | This interface allows process specific access rules to be | 
|  | defined. These rules are only consulted if access would | 
|  | otherwise be permitted, and are intended to provide additional | 
|  | restrictions on the process. The format is the same as for | 
|  | the load interface. | 
|  |  | 
|  | load-self2 | 
|  | This interface allows process specific access rules to be | 
|  | defined. These rules are only consulted if access would | 
|  | otherwise be permitted, and are intended to provide additional | 
|  | restrictions on the process. The format is the same as for | 
|  | the load2 interface. | 
|  |  | 
|  | logging | 
|  | This contains the Smack logging state. | 
|  |  | 
|  | mapped | 
|  | This contains the CIPSO level used for Smack mapped label | 
|  | representation in network packets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | netlabel | 
|  | This interface allows specific internet addresses to be | 
|  | treated as single label hosts. Packets are sent to single | 
|  | label hosts without CIPSO headers, but only from processes | 
|  | that have Smack write access to the host label. All packets | 
|  | received from single label hosts are given the specified | 
|  | label. The format accepted on write is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | "%d.%d.%d.%d label" or "%d.%d.%d.%d/%d label". | 
|  |  | 
|  | If the label specified is "-CIPSO" the address is treated | 
|  | as a host that supports CIPSO headers. | 
|  |  | 
|  | onlycap | 
|  | This contains labels processes must have for CAP_MAC_ADMIN | 
|  | and ``CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE`` to be effective. If this file is empty | 
|  | these capabilities are effective at for processes with any | 
|  | label. The values are set by writing the desired labels, separated | 
|  | by spaces, to the file or cleared by writing "-" to the file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | ptrace | 
|  | This is used to define the current ptrace policy | 
|  |  | 
|  | 0 - default: | 
|  | this is the policy that relies on Smack access rules. | 
|  | For the ``PTRACE_READ`` a subject needs to have a read access on | 
|  | object. For the ``PTRACE_ATTACH`` a read-write access is required. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 1 - exact: | 
|  | this is the policy that limits ``PTRACE_ATTACH``. Attach is | 
|  | only allowed when subject's and object's labels are equal. | 
|  | ``PTRACE_READ`` is not affected. Can be overridden with ``CAP_SYS_PTRACE``. | 
|  |  | 
|  | 2 - draconian: | 
|  | this policy behaves like the 'exact' above with an | 
|  | exception that it can't be overridden with ``CAP_SYS_PTRACE``. | 
|  |  | 
|  | revoke-subject | 
|  | Writing a Smack label here sets the access to '-' for all access | 
|  | rules with that subject label. | 
|  |  | 
|  | unconfined | 
|  | If the kernel is configured with ``CONFIG_SECURITY_SMACK_BRINGUP`` | 
|  | a process with ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN`` can write a label into this interface. | 
|  | Thereafter, accesses that involve that label will be logged and | 
|  | the access permitted if it wouldn't be otherwise. Note that this | 
|  | is dangerous and can ruin the proper labeling of your system. | 
|  | It should never be used in production. | 
|  |  | 
|  | relabel-self | 
|  | This interface contains a list of labels to which the process can | 
|  | transition to, by writing to ``/proc/self/attr/current``. | 
|  | Normally a process can change its own label to any legal value, but only | 
|  | if it has ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN``. This interface allows a process without | 
|  | ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN`` to relabel itself to one of labels from predefined list. | 
|  | A process without ``CAP_MAC_ADMIN`` can change its label only once. When it | 
|  | does, this list will be cleared. | 
|  | The values are set by writing the desired labels, separated | 
|  | by spaces, to the file or cleared by writing "-" to the file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you are using the smackload utility | 
|  | you can add access rules in ``/etc/smack/accesses``. They take the form:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | subjectlabel objectlabel access | 
|  |  | 
|  | access is a combination of the letters rwxatb which specify the | 
|  | kind of access permitted a subject with subjectlabel on an | 
|  | object with objectlabel. If there is no rule no access is allowed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Look for additional programs on http://schaufler-ca.com | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Simplified Mandatory Access Control Kernel (Whitepaper) | 
|  | =========================================================== | 
|  |  | 
|  | Casey Schaufler | 
|  | casey@schaufler-ca.com | 
|  |  | 
|  | Mandatory Access Control | 
|  | ------------------------ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Computer systems employ a variety of schemes to constrain how information is | 
|  | shared among the people and services using the machine. Some of these schemes | 
|  | allow the program or user to decide what other programs or users are allowed | 
|  | access to pieces of data. These schemes are called discretionary access | 
|  | control mechanisms because the access control is specified at the discretion | 
|  | of the user. Other schemes do not leave the decision regarding what a user or | 
|  | program can access up to users or programs. These schemes are called mandatory | 
|  | access control mechanisms because you don't have a choice regarding the users | 
|  | or programs that have access to pieces of data. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Bell & LaPadula | 
|  | --------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | From the middle of the 1980's until the turn of the century Mandatory Access | 
|  | Control (MAC) was very closely associated with the Bell & LaPadula security | 
|  | model, a mathematical description of the United States Department of Defense | 
|  | policy for marking paper documents. MAC in this form enjoyed a following | 
|  | within the Capital Beltway and Scandinavian supercomputer centers but was | 
|  | often sited as failing to address general needs. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Domain Type Enforcement | 
|  | ----------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Around the turn of the century Domain Type Enforcement (DTE) became popular. | 
|  | This scheme organizes users, programs, and data into domains that are | 
|  | protected from each other. This scheme has been widely deployed as a component | 
|  | of popular Linux distributions. The administrative overhead required to | 
|  | maintain this scheme and the detailed understanding of the whole system | 
|  | necessary to provide a secure domain mapping leads to the scheme being | 
|  | disabled or used in limited ways in the majority of cases. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack | 
|  | ----- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack is a Mandatory Access Control mechanism designed to provide useful MAC | 
|  | while avoiding the pitfalls of its predecessors. The limitations of Bell & | 
|  | LaPadula are addressed by providing a scheme whereby access can be controlled | 
|  | according to the requirements of the system and its purpose rather than those | 
|  | imposed by an arcane government policy. The complexity of Domain Type | 
|  | Enforcement and avoided by defining access controls in terms of the access | 
|  | modes already in use. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Terminology | 
|  | ----------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The jargon used to talk about Smack will be familiar to those who have dealt | 
|  | with other MAC systems and shouldn't be too difficult for the uninitiated to | 
|  | pick up. There are four terms that are used in a specific way and that are | 
|  | especially important: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Subject: | 
|  | A subject is an active entity on the computer system. | 
|  | On Smack a subject is a task, which is in turn the basic unit | 
|  | of execution. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Object: | 
|  | An object is a passive entity on the computer system. | 
|  | On Smack files of all types, IPC, and tasks can be objects. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Access: | 
|  | Any attempt by a subject to put information into or get | 
|  | information from an object is an access. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Label: | 
|  | Data that identifies the Mandatory Access Control | 
|  | characteristics of a subject or an object. | 
|  |  | 
|  | These definitions are consistent with the traditional use in the security | 
|  | community. There are also some terms from Linux that are likely to crop up: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Capability: | 
|  | A task that possesses a capability has permission to | 
|  | violate an aspect of the system security policy, as identified by | 
|  | the specific capability. A task that possesses one or more | 
|  | capabilities is a privileged task, whereas a task with no | 
|  | capabilities is an unprivileged task. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Privilege: | 
|  | A task that is allowed to violate the system security | 
|  | policy is said to have privilege. As of this writing a task can | 
|  | have privilege either by possessing capabilities or by having an | 
|  | effective user of root. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Basics | 
|  | ------------ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack is an extension to a Linux system. It enforces additional restrictions | 
|  | on what subjects can access which objects, based on the labels attached to | 
|  | each of the subject and the object. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Labels | 
|  | ~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack labels are ASCII character strings. They can be up to 255 characters | 
|  | long, but keeping them to twenty-three characters is recommended. | 
|  | Single character labels using special characters, that being anything | 
|  | other than a letter or digit, are reserved for use by the Smack development | 
|  | team. Smack labels are unstructured, case sensitive, and the only operation | 
|  | ever performed on them is comparison for equality. Smack labels cannot | 
|  | contain unprintable characters, the "/" (slash), the "\" (backslash), the "'" | 
|  | (quote) and '"' (double-quote) characters. | 
|  | Smack labels cannot begin with a '-'. This is reserved for special options. | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are some predefined labels:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | _ 	Pronounced "floor", a single underscore character. | 
|  | ^ 	Pronounced "hat", a single circumflex character. | 
|  | * 	Pronounced "star", a single asterisk character. | 
|  | ? 	Pronounced "huh", a single question mark character. | 
|  | @ 	Pronounced "web", a single at sign character. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Every task on a Smack system is assigned a label. The Smack label | 
|  | of a process will usually be assigned by the system initialization | 
|  | mechanism. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Access Rules | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack uses the traditional access modes of Linux. These modes are read, | 
|  | execute, write, and occasionally append. There are a few cases where the | 
|  | access mode may not be obvious. These include: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Signals: | 
|  | A signal is a write operation from the subject task to | 
|  | the object task. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Internet Domain IPC: | 
|  | Transmission of a packet is considered a | 
|  | write operation from the source task to the destination task. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack restricts access based on the label attached to a subject and the label | 
|  | attached to the object it is trying to access. The rules enforced are, in | 
|  | order: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 1. Any access requested by a task labeled "*" is denied. | 
|  | 2. A read or execute access requested by a task labeled "^" | 
|  | is permitted. | 
|  | 3. A read or execute access requested on an object labeled "_" | 
|  | is permitted. | 
|  | 4. Any access requested on an object labeled "*" is permitted. | 
|  | 5. Any access requested by a task on an object with the same | 
|  | label is permitted. | 
|  | 6. Any access requested that is explicitly defined in the loaded | 
|  | rule set is permitted. | 
|  | 7. Any other access is denied. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Access Rules | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | With the isolation provided by Smack access separation is simple. There are | 
|  | many interesting cases where limited access by subjects to objects with | 
|  | different labels is desired. One example is the familiar spy model of | 
|  | sensitivity, where a scientist working on a highly classified project would be | 
|  | able to read documents of lower classifications and anything she writes will | 
|  | be "born" highly classified. To accommodate such schemes Smack includes a | 
|  | mechanism for specifying rules allowing access between labels. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Access Rule Format | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The format of an access rule is:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | subject-label object-label access | 
|  |  | 
|  | Where subject-label is the Smack label of the task, object-label is the Smack | 
|  | label of the thing being accessed, and access is a string specifying the sort | 
|  | of access allowed. The access specification is searched for letters that | 
|  | describe access modes: | 
|  |  | 
|  | a: indicates that append access should be granted. | 
|  | r: indicates that read access should be granted. | 
|  | w: indicates that write access should be granted. | 
|  | x: indicates that execute access should be granted. | 
|  | t: indicates that the rule requests transmutation. | 
|  | b: indicates that the rule should be reported for bring-up. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Uppercase values for the specification letters are allowed as well. | 
|  | Access mode specifications can be in any order. Examples of acceptable rules | 
|  | are:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | TopSecret Secret  rx | 
|  | Secret    Unclass R | 
|  | Manager   Game    x | 
|  | User      HR      w | 
|  | Snap      Crackle rwxatb | 
|  | New       Old     rRrRr | 
|  | Closed    Off     - | 
|  |  | 
|  | Examples of unacceptable rules are:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | Top Secret Secret     rx | 
|  | Ace        Ace        r | 
|  | Odd        spells     waxbeans | 
|  |  | 
|  | Spaces are not allowed in labels. Since a subject always has access to files | 
|  | with the same label specifying a rule for that case is pointless. Only | 
|  | valid letters (rwxatbRWXATB) and the dash ('-') character are allowed in | 
|  | access specifications. The dash is a placeholder, so "a-r" is the same | 
|  | as "ar". A lone dash is used to specify that no access should be allowed. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Applying Access Rules | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The developers of Linux rarely define new sorts of things, usually importing | 
|  | schemes and concepts from other systems. Most often, the other systems are | 
|  | variants of Unix. Unix has many endearing properties, but consistency of | 
|  | access control models is not one of them. Smack strives to treat accesses as | 
|  | uniformly as is sensible while keeping with the spirit of the underlying | 
|  | mechanism. | 
|  |  | 
|  | File system objects including files, directories, named pipes, symbolic links, | 
|  | and devices require access permissions that closely match those used by mode | 
|  | bit access. To open a file for reading read access is required on the file. To | 
|  | search a directory requires execute access. Creating a file with write access | 
|  | requires both read and write access on the containing directory. Deleting a | 
|  | file requires read and write access to the file and to the containing | 
|  | directory. It is possible that a user may be able to see that a file exists | 
|  | but not any of its attributes by the circumstance of having read access to the | 
|  | containing directory but not to the differently labeled file. This is an | 
|  | artifact of the file name being data in the directory, not a part of the file. | 
|  |  | 
|  | If a directory is marked as transmuting (SMACK64TRANSMUTE=TRUE) and the | 
|  | access rule that allows a process to create an object in that directory | 
|  | includes 't' access the label assigned to the new object will be that | 
|  | of the directory, not the creating process. This makes it much easier | 
|  | for two processes with different labels to share data without granting | 
|  | access to all of their files. | 
|  |  | 
|  | IPC objects, message queues, semaphore sets, and memory segments exist in flat | 
|  | namespaces and access requests are only required to match the object in | 
|  | question. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Process objects reflect tasks on the system and the Smack label used to access | 
|  | them is the same Smack label that the task would use for its own access | 
|  | attempts. Sending a signal via the kill() system call is a write operation | 
|  | from the signaler to the recipient. Debugging a process requires both reading | 
|  | and writing. Creating a new task is an internal operation that results in two | 
|  | tasks with identical Smack labels and requires no access checks. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Sockets are data structures attached to processes and sending a packet from | 
|  | one process to another requires that the sender have write access to the | 
|  | receiver. The receiver is not required to have read access to the sender. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Setting Access Rules | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The configuration file /etc/smack/accesses contains the rules to be set at | 
|  | system startup. The contents are written to the special file | 
|  | /sys/fs/smackfs/load2. Rules can be added at any time and take effect | 
|  | immediately. For any pair of subject and object labels there can be only | 
|  | one rule, with the most recently specified overriding any earlier | 
|  | specification. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Task Attribute | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Smack label of a process can be read from /proc/<pid>/attr/current. A | 
|  | process can read its own Smack label from /proc/self/attr/current. A | 
|  | privileged process can change its own Smack label by writing to | 
|  | /proc/self/attr/current but not the label of another process. | 
|  |  | 
|  | File Attribute | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | The Smack label of a filesystem object is stored as an extended attribute | 
|  | named SMACK64 on the file. This attribute is in the security namespace. It can | 
|  | only be changed by a process with privilege. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Privilege | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | A process with CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE or CAP_MAC_ADMIN is privileged. | 
|  | CAP_MAC_OVERRIDE allows the process access to objects it would | 
|  | be denied otherwise. CAP_MAC_ADMIN allows a process to change | 
|  | Smack data, including rules and attributes. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Networking | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | As mentioned before, Smack enforces access control on network protocol | 
|  | transmissions. Every packet sent by a Smack process is tagged with its Smack | 
|  | label. This is done by adding a CIPSO tag to the header of the IP packet. Each | 
|  | packet received is expected to have a CIPSO tag that identifies the label and | 
|  | if it lacks such a tag the network ambient label is assumed. Before the packet | 
|  | is delivered a check is made to determine that a subject with the label on the | 
|  | packet has write access to the receiving process and if that is not the case | 
|  | the packet is dropped. | 
|  |  | 
|  | CIPSO Configuration | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | It is normally unnecessary to specify the CIPSO configuration. The default | 
|  | values used by the system handle all internal cases. Smack will compose CIPSO | 
|  | label values to match the Smack labels being used without administrative | 
|  | intervention. Unlabeled packets that come into the system will be given the | 
|  | ambient label. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack requires configuration in the case where packets from a system that is | 
|  | not Smack that speaks CIPSO may be encountered. Usually this will be a Trusted | 
|  | Solaris system, but there are other, less widely deployed systems out there. | 
|  | CIPSO provides 3 important values, a Domain Of Interpretation (DOI), a level, | 
|  | and a category set with each packet. The DOI is intended to identify a group | 
|  | of systems that use compatible labeling schemes, and the DOI specified on the | 
|  | Smack system must match that of the remote system or packets will be | 
|  | discarded. The DOI is 3 by default. The value can be read from | 
|  | /sys/fs/smackfs/doi and can be changed by writing to /sys/fs/smackfs/doi. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The label and category set are mapped to a Smack label as defined in | 
|  | /etc/smack/cipso. | 
|  |  | 
|  | A Smack/CIPSO mapping has the form:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | smack level [category [category]*] | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack does not expect the level or category sets to be related in any | 
|  | particular way and does not assume or assign accesses based on them. Some | 
|  | examples of mappings:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | TopSecret 7 | 
|  | TS:A,B    7 1 2 | 
|  | SecBDE    5 2 4 6 | 
|  | RAFTERS   7 12 26 | 
|  |  | 
|  | The ":" and "," characters are permitted in a Smack label but have no special | 
|  | meaning. | 
|  |  | 
|  | The mapping of Smack labels to CIPSO values is defined by writing to | 
|  | /sys/fs/smackfs/cipso2. | 
|  |  | 
|  | In addition to explicit mappings Smack supports direct CIPSO mappings. One | 
|  | CIPSO level is used to indicate that the category set passed in the packet is | 
|  | in fact an encoding of the Smack label. The level used is 250 by default. The | 
|  | value can be read from /sys/fs/smackfs/direct and changed by writing to | 
|  | /sys/fs/smackfs/direct. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Socket Attributes | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are two attributes that are associated with sockets. These attributes | 
|  | can only be set by privileged tasks, but any task can read them for their own | 
|  | sockets. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64IPIN: | 
|  | The Smack label of the task object. A privileged | 
|  | program that will enforce policy may set this to the star label. | 
|  |  | 
|  | SMACK64IPOUT: | 
|  | The Smack label transmitted with outgoing packets. | 
|  | A privileged program may set this to match the label of another | 
|  | task with which it hopes to communicate. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Netlabel Exceptions | 
|  | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | 
|  |  | 
|  | You will often find that your labeled application has to talk to the outside, | 
|  | unlabeled world. To do this there's a special file /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  | where you can add some exceptions in the form of:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | @IP1	   LABEL1 or | 
|  | @IP2/MASK  LABEL2 | 
|  |  | 
|  | It means that your application will have unlabeled access to @IP1 if it has | 
|  | write access on LABEL1, and access to the subnet @IP2/MASK if it has write | 
|  | access on LABEL2. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Entries in the /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel file are matched by longest mask | 
|  | first, like in classless IPv4 routing. | 
|  |  | 
|  | A special label '@' and an option '-CIPSO' can be used there:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | @      means Internet, any application with any label has access to it | 
|  | -CIPSO means standard CIPSO networking | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you don't know what CIPSO is and don't plan to use it, you can just do:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | echo 127.0.0.1 -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  | echo 0.0.0.0/0 @      > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you use CIPSO on your 192.168.0.0/16 local network and need also unlabeled | 
|  | Internet access, you can have:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | echo 127.0.0.1      -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  | echo 192.168.0.0/16 -CIPSO > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  | echo 0.0.0.0/0      @      > /sys/fs/smackfs/netlabel | 
|  |  | 
|  | Writing Applications for Smack | 
|  | ------------------------------ | 
|  |  | 
|  | There are three sorts of applications that will run on a Smack system. How an | 
|  | application interacts with Smack will determine what it will have to do to | 
|  | work properly under Smack. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Ignorant Applications | 
|  | --------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | By far the majority of applications have no reason whatever to care about the | 
|  | unique properties of Smack. Since invoking a program has no impact on the | 
|  | Smack label associated with the process the only concern likely to arise is | 
|  | whether the process has execute access to the program. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Relevant Applications | 
|  | --------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Some programs can be improved by teaching them about Smack, but do not make | 
|  | any security decisions themselves. The utility ls(1) is one example of such a | 
|  | program. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack Enforcing Applications | 
|  | ---------------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | These are special programs that not only know about Smack, but participate in | 
|  | the enforcement of system policy. In most cases these are the programs that | 
|  | set up user sessions. There are also network services that provide information | 
|  | to processes running with various labels. | 
|  |  | 
|  | File System Interfaces | 
|  | ---------------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack maintains labels on file system objects using extended attributes. The | 
|  | Smack label of a file, directory, or other file system object can be obtained | 
|  | using getxattr(2):: | 
|  |  | 
|  | len = getxattr("/", "security.SMACK64", value, sizeof (value)); | 
|  |  | 
|  | will put the Smack label of the root directory into value. A privileged | 
|  | process can set the Smack label of a file system object with setxattr(2):: | 
|  |  | 
|  | len = strlen("Rubble"); | 
|  | rc = setxattr("/foo", "security.SMACK64", "Rubble", len, 0); | 
|  |  | 
|  | will set the Smack label of /foo to "Rubble" if the program has appropriate | 
|  | privilege. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Socket Interfaces | 
|  | ----------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | The socket attributes can be read using fgetxattr(2). | 
|  |  | 
|  | A privileged process can set the Smack label of outgoing packets with | 
|  | fsetxattr(2):: | 
|  |  | 
|  | len = strlen("Rubble"); | 
|  | rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPOUT", "Rubble", len, 0); | 
|  |  | 
|  | will set the Smack label "Rubble" on packets going out from the socket if the | 
|  | program has appropriate privilege:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | rc = fsetxattr(fd, "security.SMACK64IPIN, "*", strlen("*"), 0); | 
|  |  | 
|  | will set the Smack label "*" as the object label against which incoming | 
|  | packets will be checked if the program has appropriate privilege. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Administration | 
|  | -------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack supports some mount options: | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfsdef=label: | 
|  | specifies the label to give files that lack | 
|  | the Smack label extended attribute. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfsroot=label: | 
|  | specifies the label to assign the root of the | 
|  | file system if it lacks the Smack extended attribute. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfshat=label: | 
|  | specifies a label that must have read access to | 
|  | all labels set on the filesystem. Not yet enforced. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfsfloor=label: | 
|  | specifies a label to which all labels set on the | 
|  | filesystem must have read access. Not yet enforced. | 
|  |  | 
|  | smackfstransmute=label: | 
|  | behaves exactly like smackfsroot except that it also | 
|  | sets the transmute flag on the root of the mount | 
|  |  | 
|  | These mount options apply to all file system types. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Smack auditing | 
|  | -------------- | 
|  |  | 
|  | If you want Smack auditing of security events, you need to set CONFIG_AUDIT | 
|  | in your kernel configuration. | 
|  | By default, all denied events will be audited. You can change this behavior by | 
|  | writing a single character to the /sys/fs/smackfs/logging file:: | 
|  |  | 
|  | 0 : no logging | 
|  | 1 : log denied (default) | 
|  | 2 : log accepted | 
|  | 3 : log denied & accepted | 
|  |  | 
|  | Events are logged as 'key=value' pairs, for each event you at least will get | 
|  | the subject, the object, the rights requested, the action, the kernel function | 
|  | that triggered the event, plus other pairs depending on the type of event | 
|  | audited. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Bringup Mode | 
|  | ------------ | 
|  |  | 
|  | Bringup mode provides logging features that can make application | 
|  | configuration and system bringup easier. Configure the kernel with | 
|  | CONFIG_SECURITY_SMACK_BRINGUP to enable these features. When bringup | 
|  | mode is enabled accesses that succeed due to rules marked with the "b" | 
|  | access mode will logged. When a new label is introduced for processes | 
|  | rules can be added aggressively, marked with the "b". The logging allows | 
|  | tracking of which rules actual get used for that label. | 
|  |  | 
|  | Another feature of bringup mode is the "unconfined" option. Writing | 
|  | a label to /sys/fs/smackfs/unconfined makes subjects with that label | 
|  | able to access any object, and objects with that label accessible to | 
|  | all subjects. Any access that is granted because a label is unconfined | 
|  | is logged. This feature is dangerous, as files and directories may | 
|  | be created in places they couldn't if the policy were being enforced. |