linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH v4 0/3] initramfs: add support for xattrs in the initial ram disk

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Date:   Mon, 3 Jun 2019 13:32:53 -0500
From:   Rob Landley <rob@...dley.net>
To:     Roberto Sassu <roberto.sassu@...wei.com>, viro@...iv.linux.org.uk
Cc:     linux-security-module@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-integrity@...r.kernel.org, initramfs@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-api@...r.kernel.org, linux-fsdevel@...r.kernel.org,
        linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, bug-cpio@....org,
        zohar@...ux.vnet.ibm.com, silviu.vlasceanu@...wei.com,
        dmitry.kasatkin@...wei.com, takondra@...co.com, kamensky@...co.com,
        hpa@...or.com, arnd@...db.de, james.w.mcmechan@...il.com,
        niveditas98@...il.com
Subject: Re: [PATCH v4 0/3] initramfs: add support for xattrs in the initial
 ram disk

On 6/3/19 4:31 AM, Roberto Sassu wrote:
>> This patch set aims at solving the following use case: appraise files from
>> the initial ram disk. To do that, IMA checks the signature/hash from the
>> security.ima xattr. Unfortunately, this use case cannot be implemented
>> currently, as the CPIO format does not support xattrs.
>>
>> This proposal consists in including file metadata as additional files named
>> METADATA!!!, for each file added to the ram disk. The CPIO parser in the
>> kernel recognizes these special files from the file name, and calls the
>> appropriate parser to add metadata to the previously extracted file. It has
>> been proposed to use bit 17:16 of the file mode as a way to recognize files
>> with metadata, but both the kernel and the cpio tool declare the file mode
>> as unsigned short.
>
> Any opinion on this patch set?
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Roberto

Sorry, I've had the window open since you posted it but haven't gotten around to
it. I'll try to build it later today.

It does look interesting, and I have no objections to the basic approach. I
should be able to add support to toybox cpio over a weekend once I've got the
kernel doing it to test against.

Rob