linux-kernel - Re: [RFC][PATCHES] iov

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Date:	Mon, 8 Dec 2014 14:15:51 -0500
From:	Dave Jones <davej@...hat.com>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	"Kirill A. Shutemov" <kirill@...temov.name>,
	Al Viro <viro@...iv.linux.org.uk>,
	Linux Kernel Mailing List <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	linux-fsdevel <linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Network Development <netdev@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: [RFC][PATCHES] iov_iter.c rewrite

On Mon, Dec 08, 2014 at 11:01:41AM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:
 > On Mon, Dec 8, 2014 at 10:56 AM, Kirill A. Shutemov
 > <kirill@...temov.name> wrote:
 > >
 > > trinity triggers it for me in few minutes. I will try find out more once
 > > get some time.
 > 
 > You run trinity as *root*?
 > 
 > You're a brave man. Stupid, but brave ;)
 > 
 > I guess you're running it in a VM, but still.. Doing random system
 > calls as root sounds like a bad bad idea.

I've flip-flopped on this a few times.  I used to be solidly in the same
position as your statement, but after seeing the things the secure-boot
crowd want to lock down, there are a ton of places in the kernel that
would need additional root-proofing to avoid scribbling over kernel
memory.

In short though, yeah, expect fireworks right now, especially on bare-metal.

At the same time, just to increase coverage testing of a lot of
root-required functionality (like various network sockets that can't be
opened as a regular user) I added a --drop-privs mode to trinity a while
ago, so after the socket creation, it can't do anything _too_ crazy.

	Dave
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