Linux Security Modules: General Security Support for the Linux Kernel
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The Kernel Report
The kernel report (ELC 2012 edition) Jonathan Corbet LWN.net [email protected] The Plan Look at a year's worth of kernel work ...with an eye toward the future Starting off 2011 2.6.37 released - January 4, 2011 11,446 changes, 1,276 developers VFS scalability work (inode_lock removal) Block I/O bandwidth controller PPTP support Basic pNFS support Wakeup sources What have we done since then? Since 2.6.37: Five kernel releases have been made 59,000 changes have been merged 3069 developers have contributed to the kernel 416 companies have supported kernel development February As you can see in these posts, Ralink is sending patches for the upstream rt2x00 driver for their new chipsets, and not just dumping a huge, stand-alone tarball driver on the community, as they have done in the past. This shows a huge willingness to learn how to deal with the kernel community, and they should be strongly encouraged and praised for this major change in attitude. – Greg Kroah-Hartman, February 9 Employer contributions 2.6.38-3.2 Volunteers 13.9% Wolfson Micro 1.7% Red Hat 10.9% Samsung 1.6% Intel 7.3% Google 1.6% unknown 6.9% Oracle 1.5% Novell 4.0% Microsoft 1.4% IBM 3.6% AMD 1.3% TI 3.4% Freescale 1.3% Broadcom 3.1% Fujitsu 1.1% consultants 2.2% Atheros 1.1% Nokia 1.8% Wind River 1.0% Also in February Red Hat stops releasing individual kernel patches March 2.6.38 released – March 14, 2011 (9,577 changes from 1198 developers) Per-session group scheduling dcache scalability patch set Transmit packet steering Transparent huge pages Hierarchical block I/O bandwidth controller Somebody needs to get a grip in the ARM community. -
Technical Standard
Technical Standard X/Open Curses, Issue 7 The Open Group ©November 2009, The Open Group All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners. Technical Standard X/Open Curses, Issue 7 ISBN: 1-931624-83-6 Document Number: C094 Published in the U.K. by The Open Group, November 2009. This standardhas been prepared by The Open Group Base Working Group. Feedback relating to the material contained within this standardmay be submitted by using the web site at http://austingroupbugs.net with the Project field set to "Xcurses Issue 7". ii Technical Standard 2009 Contents Chapter 1 Introduction........................................................................................... 1 1.1 This Document ........................................................................................ 1 1.1.1 Relationship to Previous Issues ......................................................... 1 1.1.2 Features Introduced in Issue 7 ........................................................... 2 1.1.3 Features Withdrawn in Issue 7........................................................... 2 1.1.4 Features Introduced in Issue 4 ........................................................... 2 1.2 Conformance............................................................................................ 3 1.2.1 Base Curses Conformance ................................................................. -
Studying the Real World Today's Topics
Studying the real world Today's topics Free and open source software (FOSS) What is it, who uses it, history Making the most of other people's software Learning from, using, and contributing Learning about your own system Using tools to understand software without source Free and open source software Access to source code Free = freedom to use, modify, copy Some potential benefits Can build for different platforms and needs Development driven by community Different perspectives and ideas More people looking at the code for bugs/security issues Structure Volunteers, sponsored by companies Generally anyone can propose ideas and submit code Different structures in charge of what features/code gets in Free and open source software Tons of FOSS out there Nearly everything on myth Desktop applications (Firefox, Chromium, LibreOffice) Programming tools (compilers, libraries, IDEs) Servers (Apache web server, MySQL) Many companies contribute to FOSS Android core Apple Darwin Microsoft .NET A brief history of FOSS 1960s: Software distributed with hardware Source included, users could fix bugs 1970s: Start of software licensing 1974: Software is copyrightable 1975: First license for UNIX sold 1980s: Popularity of closed-source software Software valued independent of hardware Richard Stallman Started the free software movement (1983) The GNU project GNU = GNU's Not Unix An operating system with unix-like interface GNU General Public License Free software: users have access to source, can modify and redistribute Must share modifications under same -
Version 7.8-Systemd
Linux From Scratch Version 7.8-systemd Created by Gerard Beekmans Edited by Douglas R. Reno Linux From Scratch: Version 7.8-systemd by Created by Gerard Beekmans and Edited by Douglas R. Reno Copyright © 1999-2015 Gerard Beekmans Copyright © 1999-2015, Gerard Beekmans All rights reserved. This book is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Computer instructions may be extracted from the book under the MIT License. Linux® is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Linux From Scratch - Version 7.8-systemd Table of Contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................................................... vii i. Foreword ............................................................................................................................................................. vii ii. Audience ............................................................................................................................................................ vii iii. LFS Target Architectures ................................................................................................................................ viii iv. LFS and Standards ............................................................................................................................................ ix v. Rationale for Packages in the Book .................................................................................................................... x vi. Prerequisites -
Have You Driven an Selinux Lately? an Update on the Security Enhanced Linux Project
Have You Driven an SELinux Lately? An Update on the Security Enhanced Linux Project James Morris Red Hat Asia Pacific Pte Ltd [email protected] Abstract All security-relevant accesses between subjects and ob- jects are controlled according to a dynamically loaded Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) [18] has evolved mandatory security policy. Clean separation of mecha- rapidly over the last few years, with many enhancements nism and policy provides considerable flexibility in the made to both its core technology and higher-level tools. implementation of security goals for the system, while fine granularity of control ensures complete mediation. Following integration into several Linux distributions, SELinux has become the first widely used Mandatory An arbitrary number of different security models may be Access Control (MAC) scheme. It has helped Linux to composed (or “stacked”) by SELinux, with their com- receive the highest security certification likely possible bined effect being fully analyzable under a unified pol- for a mainstream off the shelf operating system. icy scheme. SELinux has also proven its worth for general purpose Currently, the default SELinux implementation com- use in mitigating several serious security flaws. poses the following security models: Type Enforcement (TE) [7], Role Based Access Control (RBAC) [12], While SELinux has a reputation for being difficult to Muilti-level Security (MLS) [29], and Identity Based use, recent developments have helped significantly in Access Control (IBAC). These complement the standard this area, and user adoption is advancing rapidly. Linux Discretionary Access Control (DAC) scheme. This paper provides an informal update on the project, With these models, SELinux provides comprehensive discussing key developments and challenges, with the mandatory enforcement of least privilege, confidential- aim of helping people to better understand current ity, and integrity. -
On Trends in Low-Level Exploitation
On trends in low-level exploitation Christian W. Otterstad Department of Informatics, University of Bergen Abstract Low-level computer exploitation and its mitigation counterpart has accumulated some noteworthy history. Presently, especially in academia, it features a plethora of mitigation techniques and also various possible modes of attack. It has seen numerous developments building upon basic methods for both sides and certain trends have emerged. This paper is primarily an overview paper, focusing especially on x86 GNU/Linux. The basic reasons inherent for allowing low-level exploitability are identified and explained to provide background knowledge. The paper furthermore describes the history, present state of the art and future developments that are topical and appear to be important in the field. Several attack and defense techniques have overlapping notions with not always obvious differences. Herein the notion of the bar being raised for both exploits and mitigation methods is examined and extrapolated upon based on the known relevant present state and history. The difference between academia and the industry is discussed especially where it relates to application of new mitigation techniques. Based on this examination some patterns and trends are identified and a conjecture for the likely future development of both is presented and justified. This paper was presented at the NIK-2016 conference; see http://www.nik.no/. 1 Introduction and earlier related work In 1972 the paper “Computer Security Technology Planning Study” was published [1]. Since then, research surrounding the main ideas in this paper has grown to become a ma- ture and complex field in its own right. There are many different exploitation techniques and mitigation techniques. -
Addressing Challenges in Automotive Connectivity: Mobile Devices, Technologies, and the Connected Car
2015-01-0224 Published 04/14/2015 Copyright © 2015 SAE International doi:10.4271/2015-01-0224 saepcelec.saejournals.org Addressing Challenges in Automotive Connectivity: Mobile Devices, Technologies, and the Connected Car Patrick Shelly Mentor Graphics Corp. ABSTRACT With the dramatic mismatch between handheld consumer devices and automobiles, both in terms of product lifespan and the speed at which new features (or versions) are released, vehicle OEMs are faced with a perplexing dilemma. If the connected car is to succeed there has to be a secure and accessible method to update the software in a vehicle's infotainment system - as well as a real or perceived way to graft in new software content. The challenge has become even more evident as the industry transitions from simple analog audio systems which have traditionally served up broadcast content to a new world in which configurable and interactive Internet- based content rules the day. This paper explores the options available for updating and extending the software capability of a vehicle's infotainment system while addressing the lifecycle mismatch between automobiles and consumer mobile devices. Implications to the design and cost of factory installed equipment will be discussed, as will expectations around the appeal of these various strategies to specific target demographics. CITATION: Shelly, P., "Addressing Challenges in Automotive Connectivity: Mobile Devices, Technologies, and the Connected Car," SAE Int. J. Passeng. Cars – Electron. Electr. Syst. 8(1):2015, doi:10.4271/2015-01-0224. INTRODUCTION be carefully taken into account. The use of app stores is expected to grow significantly in the coming years as automotive OEMs begin to Contemporary vehicle infotainment systems face an interesting explore apps not only on IVI systems, but on other components of the challenge. -
Administrative Role-Based Access Control on Top of Security Enhanced Linux
Administrative Role-Based Access Control on Top of Security Enhanced Linux Ayla Solomon Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Prerequisite for Honors in Computer Science June 2009 Copyright Ayla Solomon, 2009 Abstract In a time when the Internet is increasingly dangerous and software is increasingly com- plex, properly securing one’s system has become a widespread concern, especially for system administrators. There are a number of ways to secure a Linux system; these methods vary in effectiveness and usability. Regular Linux discretionary access control is suitable for most mundane tasks and is easy to use, but it fails to confine insecure programs that run with administrative powers and is difficult to scale. Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is an extension to the Linux kernel that provides fine-grained controls for preventing malicious agents from exploiting software vulnerabilities. It can be very effective, but its policy lan- guage is extremely low-level and its paradigm difficult to understand and use. This makes it difficult to map a high-level idea of a security policy to what needs to be done in SELinux, which rules out its use to a vast majority of people with Linux systems, including system administrators, though many attempts have been made to make it more usable. I have designed and partially implemented a system on top of SELinux to implement administrative role-based access control (ARBAC), which is not available on any Linux system. ARBAC is an intuitive, flexible, and scalable security paradigm well suited for user confinement, especially for very large systems with many users. ARBAC’s main advan- tages are not only in its intuitive structure but also its built-in administrator confinement mechanism: its very structure promotes separation of privilege amongst administrators. -
Synchronizing Threads with POSIX Semaphores
3/17/2016 POSIX Semaphores Synchronizing Threads with POSIX Semaphores 1. Why semaphores? 2. Posix semaphores are easy to use sem_init sem_wait sem_post sem_getvalue sem_destroy 3. Activities 1 2 Now it is time to take a look at some code that does something a little unexpected. The program badcnt.c creates two new threads, both of which increment a global variable called cnt exactly NITER, with NITER = 1,000,000. But the program produces unexpected results. Activity 1. Create a directory called posixsem in your class Unix directory. Download in this directory the code badcnt.c and compile it using gcc badcnt.c -o badcnt -lpthread Run the executable badcnt and observe the ouput. Try it on both tanner and felix. Quite unexpected! Since cnt starts at 0, and both threads increment it NITER times, we should see cnt equal to 2*NITER at the end of the program. What happens? Threads can greatly simplify writing elegant and efficient programs. However, there are problems when multiple threads share a common address space, like the variable cnt in our earlier example. To understand what might happen, let us analyze this simple piece of code: THREAD 1 THREAD 2 a = data; b = data; a++; b--; data = a; data = b; Now if this code is executed serially (for instance, THREAD 1 first and then THREAD 2), there are no problems. However threads execute in an arbitrary order, so consider the following situation: Thread 1 Thread 2 data a = data; --- 0 a = a+1; --- 0 --- b = data; // 0 0 --- b = b + 1; 0 data = a; // 1 --- 1 --- data = b; // 1 1 So data could end up +1, 0, -1, and there is NO WAY to know which value! It is completely non- deterministic! http://www.csc.villanova.edu/~mdamian/threads/posixsem.html 1/4 3/17/2016 POSIX Semaphores The solution to this is to provide functions that will block a thread if another thread is accessing data that it is using. -
Openextensions POSIX Conformance Document
z/VM Version 7 Release 1 OpenExtensions POSIX Conformance Document IBM GC24-6298-00 Note: Before you use this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page 73. This edition applies to version 7, release 1, modification 0 of IBM z/VM (product number 5741-A09) and to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in new editions. Last updated: 2018-09-12 © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1993, 2018. US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents List of Tables........................................................................................................ ix About This Document............................................................................................xi Intended Audience......................................................................................................................................xi Conventions Used in This Document.......................................................................................................... xi Where to Find More Information.................................................................................................................xi Links to Other Documents and Websites.............................................................................................. xi How to Send Your Comments to IBM....................................................................xiii Summary of Changes for z/VM -
So You Think You Know C? [Pdf]
So You Think You Know C? And Ten More Short Essays on Programming Languages by Oleksandr Kaleniuk Published in 2020 This is being published under the Creative Commons Zero license. I have dedicated this work to the public domain by waiving all of my rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law. You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Table of Contents Introduction......................................................................................................... 4 So you think you know C?..................................................................................6 APL deserves its renaissance too.......................................................................13 Going beyond the idiomatic Python..................................................................30 Why Erlang is the only true computer language................................................39 The invisible Prolog in C++..............................................................................43 One reason you probably shouldn’t bet your whole career on JavaScript.........54 You don't have to learn assembly to read disassembly......................................57 Fortran is still a thing........................................................................................64 Learn you a Lisp in 0 minutes...........................................................................68 Blood, sweat, -
Detecting Exploit Code Execution in Loadable Kernel Modules
Detecting Exploit Code Execution in Loadable Kernel Modules HaizhiXu WenliangDu SteveJ.Chapin Systems Assurance Institute Syracuse University 3-114 CST, 111 College Place, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA g fhxu02, wedu, chapin @syr.edu Abstract and pointer checks can lead to kernel-level exploits, which can jeopardize the integrity of the running kernel. Inside the In current extensible monolithic operating systems, load- kernel, exploitcode has the privilegeto interceptsystem ser- able kernel modules (LKM) have unrestricted access to vice routines, to modify interrupt handlers, and to overwrite all portions of kernel memory and I/O space. As a result, kernel data. In such cases, the behavior of the entire sys- kernel-module exploitation can jeopardize the integrity of tem may become suspect. the entire system. In this paper, we analyze the threat that Kernel-level protection is different from user space pro- comes from the implicit trust relationship between the oper- tection. Not every application-level protection mechanism ating system kernel and loadable kernel modules. We then can be applied directly to kernel code, because privileges present a specification-directed access monitoring tool— of the kernel environment is different from that of the user HECK, that detects kernel modules for malicious code ex- space. For example, non-executableuser page [21] and non- ecution. Inside the module, HECK prevents code execution executable user stack [29] use virtual memory mapping sup- on the kernel stack and the data sections; on the bound- port for pages and segments, but inside the kernel, a page ary, HECK restricts the module’s access to only those kernel or segment fault can lead to kernel panic.