diff mbox series

[v6,01/10] capabilities: introduce CAP_PERFMON to kernel and user space

Message ID a4c5da70-b6d1-b133-9b64-34e164834b03@linux.intel.com (mailing list archive)
State Not Applicable
Headers show
Series Introduce CAP_PERFMON to secure system performance monitoring and observability | expand

Commit Message

Alexey Budankov Feb. 5, 2020, 5:30 p.m. UTC
Introduce CAP_PERFMON capability designed to secure system performance
monitoring and observability operations so that CAP_PERFMON would assist
CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in its governing role for performance monitoring
and observability subsystems.

CAP_PERFMON hardens system security and integrity during performance
monitoring and observability operations by decreasing attack surface that
is available to a CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged process [2]. Providing the access
to system performance monitoring and observability operations under CAP_PERFMON
capability singly, without the rest of CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials, excludes
chances to misuse the credentials and makes the operation more secure.
Thus, CAP_PERFMON implements the principal of least privilege for performance
monitoring and observability operations (POSIX IEEE 1003.1e: 2.2.2.39 principle
of least privilege: A security design principle that states that a process
or program be granted only those privileges (e.g., capabilities) necessary
to accomplish its legitimate function, and only for the time that such
privileges are actually required)

CAP_PERFMON meets the demand to secure system performance monitoring and
observability operations for adoption in security sensitive, restricted,
multiuser production environments (e.g. HPC clusters, cloud and virtual compute
environments), where root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials are not available to
mass users of a system, and securely unblocks accessibility of system performance monitoring and observability operations beyond root and CAP_SYS_ADMIN use cases.

CAP_PERFMON takes over CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials related to system performance
monitoring and observability operations and balances amount of CAP_SYS_ADMIN
credentials following the recommendations in the capabilities man page [1]
for CAP_SYS_ADMIN: "Note: this capability is overloaded; see Notes to kernel
developers, below." For backward compatibility reasons access to system
performance monitoring and observability subsystems of the kernel remains
open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
usage for secure system performance monitoring and observability operations
is discouraged with respect to the designed CAP_PERFMON capability.

Although the software running under CAP_PERFMON can not ensure avoidance
of related hardware issues, the software can still mitigate these issues
following the official hardware issues mitigation procedure [2]. The bugs
in the software itself can be fixed following the standard kernel development
process [3] to maintain and harden security of system performance monitoring
and observability operations.

[1] http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html
[2] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.html
[3] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/security-bugs.html

Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov@linux.intel.com>
---
 include/linux/capability.h          | 4 ++++
 include/uapi/linux/capability.h     | 8 +++++++-
 security/selinux/include/classmap.h | 4 ++--
 3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

Comments

Stephen Smalley Feb. 6, 2020, 6:23 p.m. UTC | #1
On 2/5/20 12:30 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
> 
> Introduce CAP_PERFMON capability designed to secure system performance
> monitoring and observability operations so that CAP_PERFMON would assist
> CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in its governing role for performance monitoring
> and observability subsystems.
> 
> CAP_PERFMON hardens system security and integrity during performance
> monitoring and observability operations by decreasing attack surface that
> is available to a CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged process [2]. Providing the access
> to system performance monitoring and observability operations under CAP_PERFMON
> capability singly, without the rest of CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials, excludes
> chances to misuse the credentials and makes the operation more secure.
> Thus, CAP_PERFMON implements the principal of least privilege for performance
> monitoring and observability operations (POSIX IEEE 1003.1e: 2.2.2.39 principle
> of least privilege: A security design principle that states that a process
> or program be granted only those privileges (e.g., capabilities) necessary
> to accomplish its legitimate function, and only for the time that such
> privileges are actually required)
> 
> CAP_PERFMON meets the demand to secure system performance monitoring and
> observability operations for adoption in security sensitive, restricted,
> multiuser production environments (e.g. HPC clusters, cloud and virtual compute
> environments), where root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials are not available to
> mass users of a system, and securely unblocks accessibility of system performance monitoring and observability operations beyond root and CAP_SYS_ADMIN use cases.
> 
> CAP_PERFMON takes over CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials related to system performance
> monitoring and observability operations and balances amount of CAP_SYS_ADMIN
> credentials following the recommendations in the capabilities man page [1]
> for CAP_SYS_ADMIN: "Note: this capability is overloaded; see Notes to kernel
> developers, below." For backward compatibility reasons access to system
> performance monitoring and observability subsystems of the kernel remains
> open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
> usage for secure system performance monitoring and observability operations
> is discouraged with respect to the designed CAP_PERFMON capability.
> 
> Although the software running under CAP_PERFMON can not ensure avoidance
> of related hardware issues, the software can still mitigate these issues
> following the official hardware issues mitigation procedure [2]. The bugs
> in the software itself can be fixed following the standard kernel development
> process [3] to maintain and harden security of system performance monitoring
> and observability operations.
> 
> [1] http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html
> [2] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.html
> [3] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/security-bugs.html
> 
> Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov@linux.intel.com>

This will require a small update to the selinux-testsuite to correctly 
reflect the new capability requirements, but that's easy enough.

Acked-by: Stephen Smalley <sds@tycho.nsa.gov>

> ---
>   include/linux/capability.h          | 4 ++++
>   include/uapi/linux/capability.h     | 8 +++++++-
>   security/selinux/include/classmap.h | 4 ++--
>   3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/include/linux/capability.h b/include/linux/capability.h
> index ecce0f43c73a..027d7e4a853b 100644
> --- a/include/linux/capability.h
> +++ b/include/linux/capability.h
> @@ -251,6 +251,10 @@ extern bool privileged_wrt_inode_uidgid(struct user_namespace *ns, const struct
>   extern bool capable_wrt_inode_uidgid(const struct inode *inode, int cap);
>   extern bool file_ns_capable(const struct file *file, struct user_namespace *ns, int cap);
>   extern bool ptracer_capable(struct task_struct *tsk, struct user_namespace *ns);
> +static inline bool perfmon_capable(void)
> +{
> +	return capable(CAP_PERFMON) || capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN);
> +}
>   
>   /* audit system wants to get cap info from files as well */
>   extern int get_vfs_caps_from_disk(const struct dentry *dentry, struct cpu_vfs_cap_data *cpu_caps);
> diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
> index 240fdb9a60f6..8b416e5f3afa 100644
> --- a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
> +++ b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
> @@ -366,8 +366,14 @@ struct vfs_ns_cap_data {
>   
>   #define CAP_AUDIT_READ		37
>   
> +/*
> + * Allow system performance and observability privileged operations
> + * using perf_events, i915_perf and other kernel subsystems
> + */
> +
> +#define CAP_PERFMON		38
>   
> -#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_AUDIT_READ
> +#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_PERFMON
>   
>   #define cap_valid(x) ((x) >= 0 && (x) <= CAP_LAST_CAP)
>   
> diff --git a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
> index 7db24855e12d..c599b0c2b0e7 100644
> --- a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
> +++ b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
> @@ -27,9 +27,9 @@
>   	    "audit_control", "setfcap"
>   
>   #define COMMON_CAP2_PERMS  "mac_override", "mac_admin", "syslog", \
> -		"wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read"
> +		"wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read", "perfmon"
>   
> -#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_AUDIT_READ
> +#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_PERFMON
>   #error New capability defined, please update COMMON_CAP2_PERMS.
>   #endif
>   
>
Alexey Budankov Feb. 6, 2020, 6:26 p.m. UTC | #2
On 06.02.2020 21:23, Stephen Smalley wrote:
> On 2/5/20 12:30 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
>>
>> Introduce CAP_PERFMON capability designed to secure system performance
>> monitoring and observability operations so that CAP_PERFMON would assist
>> CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in its governing role for performance monitoring
>> and observability subsystems.
>>
>> CAP_PERFMON hardens system security and integrity during performance
>> monitoring and observability operations by decreasing attack surface that
>> is available to a CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged process [2]. Providing the access
>> to system performance monitoring and observability operations under CAP_PERFMON
>> capability singly, without the rest of CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials, excludes
>> chances to misuse the credentials and makes the operation more secure.
>> Thus, CAP_PERFMON implements the principal of least privilege for performance
>> monitoring and observability operations (POSIX IEEE 1003.1e: 2.2.2.39 principle
>> of least privilege: A security design principle that states that a process
>> or program be granted only those privileges (e.g., capabilities) necessary
>> to accomplish its legitimate function, and only for the time that such
>> privileges are actually required)
>>
>> CAP_PERFMON meets the demand to secure system performance monitoring and
>> observability operations for adoption in security sensitive, restricted,
>> multiuser production environments (e.g. HPC clusters, cloud and virtual compute
>> environments), where root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials are not available to
>> mass users of a system, and securely unblocks accessibility of system performance monitoring and observability operations beyond root and CAP_SYS_ADMIN use cases.
>>
>> CAP_PERFMON takes over CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials related to system performance
>> monitoring and observability operations and balances amount of CAP_SYS_ADMIN
>> credentials following the recommendations in the capabilities man page [1]
>> for CAP_SYS_ADMIN: "Note: this capability is overloaded; see Notes to kernel
>> developers, below." For backward compatibility reasons access to system
>> performance monitoring and observability subsystems of the kernel remains
>> open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
>> usage for secure system performance monitoring and observability operations
>> is discouraged with respect to the designed CAP_PERFMON capability.
>>
>> Although the software running under CAP_PERFMON can not ensure avoidance
>> of related hardware issues, the software can still mitigate these issues
>> following the official hardware issues mitigation procedure [2]. The bugs
>> in the software itself can be fixed following the standard kernel development
>> process [3] to maintain and harden security of system performance monitoring
>> and observability operations.
>>
>> [1] http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html
>> [2] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.html
>> [3] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/security-bugs.html
>>
>> Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov@linux.intel.com>
> 
> This will require a small update to the selinux-testsuite to correctly reflect the new capability requirements, but that's easy enough.

Is the suite a part of the kernel sources or something else?

~Alexey

> 
> Acked-by: Stephen Smalley <sds@tycho.nsa.gov>
> 
>> ---
>>   include/linux/capability.h          | 4 ++++
>>   include/uapi/linux/capability.h     | 8 +++++++-
>>   security/selinux/include/classmap.h | 4 ++--
>>   3 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/include/linux/capability.h b/include/linux/capability.h
>> index ecce0f43c73a..027d7e4a853b 100644
>> --- a/include/linux/capability.h
>> +++ b/include/linux/capability.h
>> @@ -251,6 +251,10 @@ extern bool privileged_wrt_inode_uidgid(struct user_namespace *ns, const struct
>>   extern bool capable_wrt_inode_uidgid(const struct inode *inode, int cap);
>>   extern bool file_ns_capable(const struct file *file, struct user_namespace *ns, int cap);
>>   extern bool ptracer_capable(struct task_struct *tsk, struct user_namespace *ns);
>> +static inline bool perfmon_capable(void)
>> +{
>> +    return capable(CAP_PERFMON) || capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN);
>> +}
>>     /* audit system wants to get cap info from files as well */
>>   extern int get_vfs_caps_from_disk(const struct dentry *dentry, struct cpu_vfs_cap_data *cpu_caps);
>> diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
>> index 240fdb9a60f6..8b416e5f3afa 100644
>> --- a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
>> +++ b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
>> @@ -366,8 +366,14 @@ struct vfs_ns_cap_data {
>>     #define CAP_AUDIT_READ        37
>>   +/*
>> + * Allow system performance and observability privileged operations
>> + * using perf_events, i915_perf and other kernel subsystems
>> + */
>> +
>> +#define CAP_PERFMON        38
>>   -#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_AUDIT_READ
>> +#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_PERFMON
>>     #define cap_valid(x) ((x) >= 0 && (x) <= CAP_LAST_CAP)
>>   diff --git a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
>> index 7db24855e12d..c599b0c2b0e7 100644
>> --- a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
>> +++ b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
>> @@ -27,9 +27,9 @@
>>           "audit_control", "setfcap"
>>     #define COMMON_CAP2_PERMS  "mac_override", "mac_admin", "syslog", \
>> -        "wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read"
>> +        "wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read", "perfmon"
>>   -#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_AUDIT_READ
>> +#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_PERFMON
>>   #error New capability defined, please update COMMON_CAP2_PERMS.
>>   #endif
>>  
>
Stephen Smalley Feb. 6, 2020, 6:30 p.m. UTC | #3
On 2/6/20 1:26 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
> 
> On 06.02.2020 21:23, Stephen Smalley wrote:
>> On 2/5/20 12:30 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
>>>
>>> Introduce CAP_PERFMON capability designed to secure system performance
>>> monitoring and observability operations so that CAP_PERFMON would assist
>>> CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in its governing role for performance monitoring
>>> and observability subsystems.
>>>
>>> CAP_PERFMON hardens system security and integrity during performance
>>> monitoring and observability operations by decreasing attack surface that
>>> is available to a CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged process [2]. Providing the access
>>> to system performance monitoring and observability operations under CAP_PERFMON
>>> capability singly, without the rest of CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials, excludes
>>> chances to misuse the credentials and makes the operation more secure.
>>> Thus, CAP_PERFMON implements the principal of least privilege for performance
>>> monitoring and observability operations (POSIX IEEE 1003.1e: 2.2.2.39 principle
>>> of least privilege: A security design principle that states that a process
>>> or program be granted only those privileges (e.g., capabilities) necessary
>>> to accomplish its legitimate function, and only for the time that such
>>> privileges are actually required)
>>>
>>> CAP_PERFMON meets the demand to secure system performance monitoring and
>>> observability operations for adoption in security sensitive, restricted,
>>> multiuser production environments (e.g. HPC clusters, cloud and virtual compute
>>> environments), where root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials are not available to
>>> mass users of a system, and securely unblocks accessibility of system performance monitoring and observability operations beyond root and CAP_SYS_ADMIN use cases.
>>>
>>> CAP_PERFMON takes over CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials related to system performance
>>> monitoring and observability operations and balances amount of CAP_SYS_ADMIN
>>> credentials following the recommendations in the capabilities man page [1]
>>> for CAP_SYS_ADMIN: "Note: this capability is overloaded; see Notes to kernel
>>> developers, below." For backward compatibility reasons access to system
>>> performance monitoring and observability subsystems of the kernel remains
>>> open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
>>> usage for secure system performance monitoring and observability operations
>>> is discouraged with respect to the designed CAP_PERFMON capability.
>>>
>>> Although the software running under CAP_PERFMON can not ensure avoidance
>>> of related hardware issues, the software can still mitigate these issues
>>> following the official hardware issues mitigation procedure [2]. The bugs
>>> in the software itself can be fixed following the standard kernel development
>>> process [3] to maintain and harden security of system performance monitoring
>>> and observability operations.
>>>
>>> [1] http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html
>>> [2] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.html
>>> [3] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/security-bugs.html
>>>
>>> Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov@linux.intel.com>
>>
>> This will require a small update to the selinux-testsuite to correctly reflect the new capability requirements, but that's easy enough.
> 
> Is the suite a part of the kernel sources or something else?

It is external,
https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux-testsuite

I wasn't suggesting that your patch be blocked on updating the 
testsuite, just noting that it will need to be done.
Alexey Budankov Feb. 6, 2020, 6:38 p.m. UTC | #4
On 06.02.2020 21:30, Stephen Smalley wrote:
> On 2/6/20 1:26 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
>>
>> On 06.02.2020 21:23, Stephen Smalley wrote:
>>> On 2/5/20 12:30 PM, Alexey Budankov wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Introduce CAP_PERFMON capability designed to secure system performance
>>>> monitoring and observability operations so that CAP_PERFMON would assist
>>>> CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability in its governing role for performance monitoring
>>>> and observability subsystems.
>>>>
>>>> CAP_PERFMON hardens system security and integrity during performance
>>>> monitoring and observability operations by decreasing attack surface that
>>>> is available to a CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged process [2]. Providing the access
>>>> to system performance monitoring and observability operations under CAP_PERFMON
>>>> capability singly, without the rest of CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials, excludes
>>>> chances to misuse the credentials and makes the operation more secure.
>>>> Thus, CAP_PERFMON implements the principal of least privilege for performance
>>>> monitoring and observability operations (POSIX IEEE 1003.1e: 2.2.2.39 principle
>>>> of least privilege: A security design principle that states that a process
>>>> or program be granted only those privileges (e.g., capabilities) necessary
>>>> to accomplish its legitimate function, and only for the time that such
>>>> privileges are actually required)
>>>>
>>>> CAP_PERFMON meets the demand to secure system performance monitoring and
>>>> observability operations for adoption in security sensitive, restricted,
>>>> multiuser production environments (e.g. HPC clusters, cloud and virtual compute
>>>> environments), where root or CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials are not available to
>>>> mass users of a system, and securely unblocks accessibility of system performance monitoring and observability operations beyond root and CAP_SYS_ADMIN use cases.
>>>>
>>>> CAP_PERFMON takes over CAP_SYS_ADMIN credentials related to system performance
>>>> monitoring and observability operations and balances amount of CAP_SYS_ADMIN
>>>> credentials following the recommendations in the capabilities man page [1]
>>>> for CAP_SYS_ADMIN: "Note: this capability is overloaded; see Notes to kernel
>>>> developers, below." For backward compatibility reasons access to system
>>>> performance monitoring and observability subsystems of the kernel remains
>>>> open for CAP_SYS_ADMIN privileged processes but CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability
>>>> usage for secure system performance monitoring and observability operations
>>>> is discouraged with respect to the designed CAP_PERFMON capability.
>>>>
>>>> Although the software running under CAP_PERFMON can not ensure avoidance
>>>> of related hardware issues, the software can still mitigate these issues
>>>> following the official hardware issues mitigation procedure [2]. The bugs
>>>> in the software itself can be fixed following the standard kernel development
>>>> process [3] to maintain and harden security of system performance monitoring
>>>> and observability operations.
>>>>
>>>> [1] http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man7/capabilities.7.html
>>>> [2] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/process/embargoed-hardware-issues.html
>>>> [3] https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/admin-guide/security-bugs.html
>>>>
>>>> Signed-off-by: Alexey Budankov <alexey.budankov@linux.intel.com>
>>>
>>> This will require a small update to the selinux-testsuite to correctly reflect the new capability requirements, but that's easy enough.
>>
>> Is the suite a part of the kernel sources or something else?
> 
> It is external,
> https://github.com/SELinuxProject/selinux-testsuite
> 
> I wasn't suggesting that your patch be blocked on updating the testsuite, just noting that it will need to be done.

Ok. Thanks!

~Alexey
diff mbox series

Patch

diff --git a/include/linux/capability.h b/include/linux/capability.h
index ecce0f43c73a..027d7e4a853b 100644
--- a/include/linux/capability.h
+++ b/include/linux/capability.h
@@ -251,6 +251,10 @@  extern bool privileged_wrt_inode_uidgid(struct user_namespace *ns, const struct
 extern bool capable_wrt_inode_uidgid(const struct inode *inode, int cap);
 extern bool file_ns_capable(const struct file *file, struct user_namespace *ns, int cap);
 extern bool ptracer_capable(struct task_struct *tsk, struct user_namespace *ns);
+static inline bool perfmon_capable(void)
+{
+	return capable(CAP_PERFMON) || capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN);
+}
 
 /* audit system wants to get cap info from files as well */
 extern int get_vfs_caps_from_disk(const struct dentry *dentry, struct cpu_vfs_cap_data *cpu_caps);
diff --git a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
index 240fdb9a60f6..8b416e5f3afa 100644
--- a/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
+++ b/include/uapi/linux/capability.h
@@ -366,8 +366,14 @@  struct vfs_ns_cap_data {
 
 #define CAP_AUDIT_READ		37
 
+/*
+ * Allow system performance and observability privileged operations
+ * using perf_events, i915_perf and other kernel subsystems
+ */
+
+#define CAP_PERFMON		38
 
-#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_AUDIT_READ
+#define CAP_LAST_CAP         CAP_PERFMON
 
 #define cap_valid(x) ((x) >= 0 && (x) <= CAP_LAST_CAP)
 
diff --git a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
index 7db24855e12d..c599b0c2b0e7 100644
--- a/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
+++ b/security/selinux/include/classmap.h
@@ -27,9 +27,9 @@ 
 	    "audit_control", "setfcap"
 
 #define COMMON_CAP2_PERMS  "mac_override", "mac_admin", "syslog", \
-		"wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read"
+		"wake_alarm", "block_suspend", "audit_read", "perfmon"
 
-#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_AUDIT_READ
+#if CAP_LAST_CAP > CAP_PERFMON
 #error New capability defined, please update COMMON_CAP2_PERMS.
 #endif