Re: [PATCH v2 0/3] initramfs: add support for xattrs in the initial ram disk

On Sun, May 12, 2019 at 03:18:16AM -0700, hpa@zytor.com wrote:

quoted

Couldn't this parsing of the .xattr-list file and the setting of the xattrs
be done equivalently by the initramfs' /init? Why is kernel involvement
actually required here?

There are a lot of things that could/should be done that way...

Indeed... so why not try to avoid adding more such "things", and keeping
them in userspace (or in a fork_usermode_blob)?


On Sun, May 12, 2019 at 08:52:47AM -0400, Mimi Zohar wrote:

It's too late.  The /init itself should be signed and verified.

Could you elaborate a bit more about the threat model, and why deferring
this to the initramfs is too late?

Thanks,
	Dominik