Re: [PATCH v3] fs: allow protected cross-uid sticky symlinks
[Posted June 2, 2010 by jake]
| From: |
| Al Viro <viro-AT-ZenIV.linux.org.uk> |
| To: |
| Kees Cook <kees.cook-AT-canonical.com> |
| Subject: |
| Re: [PATCH v3] fs: allow protected cross-uid sticky symlinks |
| Date: |
| Tue, 1 Jun 2010 20:01:02 +0100 |
| Cc: |
| Eric Paris <eparis-AT-redhat.com>,
Christoph Hellwig <hch-AT-infradead.org>,
James Morris <jmorris-AT-namei.org>, linux-kernel-AT-vger.kernel.org,
linux-security-module-AT-vger.kernel.org,
linux-fsdevel-AT-vger.kernel.org, linux-doc-AT-vger.kernel.org,
Randy Dunlap <rdunlap-AT-xenotime.net>,
Andrew Morton <akpm-AT-linux-foundation.org>,
Jiri Kosina <jkosina-AT-suse.cz>,
Dave Young <hidave.darkstar-AT-gmail.com>,
Martin Schwidefsky <schwidefsky-AT-de.ibm.com>,
David Howells <dhowells-AT-redhat.com>,
Ingo Molnar <mingo-AT-elte.hu>,
Peter Zijlstra <a.p.zijlstra-AT-chello.nl>,
"Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm-AT-xmission.com>,
Tim Gardner <tim.gardner-AT-canonical.com>,
"Serge E. Hallyn" <serue-AT-us.ibm.com> |
On Tue, Jun 01, 2010 at 11:52:48AM -0700, Kees Cook wrote:
> A long-standing class of security issues is the symlink-based
> time-of-check-time-of-use race, most commonly seen in world-writable
> directories like /tmp. The common method of exploitation of this flaw
> is to cross privilege boundaries when following a given symlink (i.e. a
> root process follows a symlink belonging to another user). For a likely
> incomplete list of hundreds of examples across the years, please see:
> http://cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvekey.cgi?keyword=/tmp
>
> The solution is to permit symlinks to only be followed when outside a sticky
> world-writable directory, or when the uid of the symlink and follower match,
> or when the directory owner matches the symlink's owner.
>
> Some pointers to the history of earlier discussion that I could find:
I don't buy it. If we are concerned about the symlinks in the middle of
pathname, your checks are useless (mkdir /tmp/a, ln -s whatever /tmp/a/b,
have victim open /tmp/a/b/something). If we are not, then your checks are
in the wrong place.
"The more we prohibit, the safer we are" is best left to the likes of TSA;
if we are really interested in security and not in security theatre or
BDSM fetishism, let's make sure that heuristics we use make sense.
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