linux-kernel - Re: Upstream first policy

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite: Windows password security audit tool. GUI, reports in PDF.

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <20100308191841.GM30031@ZenIV.linux.org.uk>
Date:	Mon, 8 Mar 2010 19:18:41 +0000
From:	Al Viro <viro@...IV.linux.org.uk>
To:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>
Cc:	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>, Ingo Molnar <mingo@...e.hu>,
	James Morris <jmorris@...ei.org>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Kyle McMartin <kyle@...artin.ca>,
	Alexander Viro <viro@....linux.org.uk>
Subject: Re: Upstream first policy

On Mon, Mar 08, 2010 at 10:59:11AM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:

> > I'm not fond of selinux, to put it mildly, but "pathname-based" stuff simply
> > doesn't match how the pathname resolution is defined on Unix...
> 
> Again, I'm not claiming that we should change how "open" works and has 
> always worked. I don't even understand why you have that crazy "either or" 
> mentality to begin with. Why?
> 
> It's not "either pathname or inode". I'm saying _both_ make sense. 
> 
> In some situations, the name itself really is what is fundamentally 
> special about the file.

And mapping from names to files is a function of contents of many objects.
You need to protect that contents on all objects involved *anyway*.  Which
leaves what for "protecting by pathname"?

I'm not saying that it's either or.  I am saying that it's been oversold
to hell and back, BTW, but that's a separate story.  And I'm very sceptical
about separate protection of different directory entries, which is *all*
that is left for pathname-based stuff, AFAICS.
--
To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in
the body of a message to majordomo@...r.kernel.org
More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
Please read the FAQ at  http://www.tux.org/lkml/