New Zealand Linux Users Group

Security Enhanced Linux

Kerry Thompson,
Open Systems Specialists Ltd ( OSS )
 Introduction

● Kerry Thompson, CISSP

– Open Systems Specialists Ltd
– Open Systems & Networking Consultant
– Specialist in IT Security
– Contributor to SELinux project 2 years
– Author of the (unofficial) SELinux FAQ
 Presentation Overview

● History
● What can it do for you?
● Access Control Models : DAC and MAC
● SELinux Access Controls in detail : TE,
RBAC, MLS
● File contexts and labelling
● TE Rules
● User identity
● Installation
● SELinux-aware applications and tools
● Building policies for new applications
● Future Directions
● Demonstration (Hardened Gentoo)
 SELinux History
● Released by NSA September, 2001
● Based on previous research projects ( FLASK
and Flux OS )
● Development from many .gov and .mil
organisations
● Integrated with Linux Security Module
(LSM)
● Adopted into 2.6 kernel series
● To be released in Fedora Core2 as standard
 The Importance of a Secure OS

● Stronger access controls required

● The requirement for process separation
– Vulnerability in one should not lead to
compromise of all
● Protection from malware
● 3 core objectives for security:
– Confidentiality
– Integrity
– Availability
 Access Control Models 101

● Discretionary Access Control (DAC)

– Classical Unix controls
– Users can change security attributes at request
– Allowing programs running on behalf of user to
affect the results of access controls
– Violates the least-privilege model
● Mandatory Access Control (MAC)
– Like firewall rules
– Users cannot change security attributes at
request
– User programs must work within the constraints
of access rules
– MAC access rules are controlled by the security
administrator
 SELinux Access Controls

● Type Enforcement (TE) rules – which

subjects can access which objects
● Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) – which
roles users can adopt and what they can do
● Multi-Level Security (MLS) – confidential,
secret, top-secret
● Policy loaded into kernel
● Fully compatible with existing software
● Insignificant security overhead
 File Contexts and Labelling

● All files (objects) are assigned security

contexts
– eg. (/etc/shadow)
system_u:sysadm_r:shadow_t
● Rulebase to define types for all files in Linux
system ( regular expresions )
● Labelling process to read labelling rules and
apply to whole system
● Fine-grained commands to change individual
labels
– chcon, getfilecon, setfilecon
● Be careful with backup and recovery
 Processes and Domains

● A process running with a specific security

context is said to be running within a domain
– eg. system_u:system_r:named_t
● Rules are configured to:
– Specify which objects a domain can access, and
how
– Specify which roles a domain can transition to
 Type Enforcement (TE) Rules

● Clearly define which subjects can access

which objects, and how
– eg. allow user_t bin_t : file { read execute };
● Define domain transitions
● Very flexible and detailed
● Can be very large and complex : tens of
thousands of rules is not uncommon
– Current default rulebase : 1,000 types, 18,000
allow rules, 1,000 type transitions
● Complexity can be difficult to audit
● Written in plain text, processed by the m4
macro processor, loaded by checkpolicy
 TE Rules (continued)

Example : named.te
allow named_t etc_t:file { getattr read };
allow named_t etc_runtime_t:{ file lnk_file } { getattr read };
allow named_t resolv_conf_t:file { getattr read };

#Named can use network

can_network(named_t)
# allow UDP transfer to/from any program
can_udp_send(domain, named_t)
can_udp_send(named_t, domain)
can_tcp_connect(domain, named_t)

# Bind to the named port.

allow named_t named_port_t:udp_socket name_bind;
allow named_t { named_port_t rndc_port_t }:tcp_socket name_bind;

#read configuration files

r_dir_file(named_t, named_conf_t)

#read zone files - change this to rw_dir_create_file() to

# enable domain auto updates.
r_dir_file(named_t, named_zone_t)
 User identity

● User processes ( such as the login shell ) are

placed into a domain by the login, sshd
programs when the user logs in
● The user identity does not change, even
when the uid changes
● Users can switch to other roles using the
newrole command
● RBAC conforms to least privilege principle
 SELinux Installation 1
● Easy way : Fedora Core 2 ( yet to come )
● Hard way : start with a recent distribution
– Fedora Core 1
– Debian
● Update to 2.6 kernel, with Extended
Attributes & test
● Build SELinux-enabled kernel
– Enable NSA SELinux extensions
– With DEVELOPMENT flag set
 SELinux Installation 2

● Load SELinux base tools

● Load SELinux policy
● Load SELinux user packages (not mandatory,
but strongly advised)
● Load policy into kernel
● Run full filesystem relabel
● Reboot! (into permissive mode)
● Check messages and start
● Switch to enforcing mode
 SELinux-aware Applications

● Many basic Linux commands have been

modified to be SELinux-aware
– login, ls, ps, id, cron
● Other applications patched for SELinux
– OpenSSH
● Additional commands added to perform
SELinux functions
– chcon, run_init, etc.
● Tresys GUI tools for managing policies
 Building new policies for
Applications
● Assign types and file labels
● Run in permissive mode, collect log output
● Use audit2allow utility to generate rules
from avc messages
● Add rules to rulebase
● Refer to Faye Coker's HOWTO develop
security policies
 Getting Help

● FAQs, HOWTOs, White papers

● Mailing List ( on NSA site )
● NSA site : http://www.nsa.gov/selinux
● Kerry's resources :
http://www.crypt.gen.nz/selinux
 Caveats

● Lack of documentation
● An additional level of complexity
● Backup and recovery can be difficult
● Potential for unbootable/unrecoverable
filesystems
● Need to write policies for new Apps

... but on the other hand

● Less need to continually update security

fixes
● More security in depth, less dependance on

perimeter & firewalls

 Future Directions

● Conditional policy extensions

● Security Enhanced X-Windows (SE-X)
● Auditing extensions
● Policy Management Tools
 SELinux – Questions?

Demonstration : Hardened Gentoo LiveCD