Thread (11 messages) 11 messages, 3 authors, 2024-08-14

Re: [PATCH v2] fs,security: Fix file_set_fowner LSM hook inconsistencies

From: Mickaël Salaün <mic@digikod.net>
Date: 2024-08-14 12:45:18
Also in: linux-fsdevel, lkml, selinux

On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 07:39:45PM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 2:28 PM Mickaël Salaün [off-list ref] wrote:
quoted
On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 11:04:13AM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
quoted
On Tue, Aug 13, 2024 at 6:05 AM Mickaël Salaün [off-list ref] wrote:
quoted
On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 06:26:58PM -0400, Paul Moore wrote:
quoted
On Mon, Aug 12, 2024 at 1:44 PM Mickaël Salaün [off-list ref] wrote:
quoted
The fcntl's F_SETOWN command sets the process that handle SIGIO/SIGURG
for the related file descriptor.  Before this change, the
file_set_fowner LSM hook was used to store this information.  However,
there are three issues with this approach:

- Because security_file_set_fowner() only get one argument, all hook
  implementations ignore the VFS logic which may not actually change the
  process that handles SIGIO (e.g. TUN, TTY, dnotify).

- Because security_file_set_fowner() is called before f_modown() without
  lock (e.g. f_owner.lock), concurrent F_SETOWN commands could result to
  a race condition and inconsistent LSM states (e.g. SELinux's fown_sid)
  compared to struct fown_struct's UID/EUID.

- Because the current hook implementations does not use explicit atomic
  operations, they may create inconsistencies.  It would help to
  completely remove this constraint, as well as the requirements of the
  RCU read-side critical section for the hook.

Fix these issues by replacing f_owner.uid and f_owner.euid with a new
f_owner.cred [1].  This also saves memory by removing dedicated LSM
blobs, and simplifies code by removing file_set_fowner hook
implementations for SELinux and Smack.

This changes enables to remove the smack_file_alloc_security
implementation, Smack's file blob, and SELinux's
file_security_struct->fown_sid field.

As for the UID/EUID, f_owner.cred is not always updated.  Move the
file_set_fowner hook to align with the VFS semantic.  This hook does not
have user anymore [2].

Before this change, f_owner's UID/EUID were initialized to zero
(i.e. GLOBAL_ROOT_UID), but to simplify code, f_owner's cred is now
initialized with the file descriptor creator's credentials (i.e.
file->f_cred), which is more consistent and simplifies LSMs logic.  The
sigio_perm()'s semantic does not need any change because SIGIO/SIGURG
are only sent when a process is explicitly set with __f_setown().

Rename f_modown() to __f_setown() to simplify code.

Cc: Al Viro <viro@zeniv.linux.org.uk>
Cc: Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>
Cc: Christian Brauner <brauner@kernel.org>
Cc: James Morris <jmorris@namei.org>
Cc: Jann Horn <jannh@google.com>
Cc: Ondrej Mosnacek <omosnace@redhat.com>
Cc: Paul Moore <paul@paul-moore.com>
Cc: Serge E. Hallyn <serge@hallyn.com>
Cc: Stephen Smalley <stephen.smalley.work@gmail.com>
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240809-explosionsartig-ablesen-b039dbc6ce82@brauner (local) [1]
Link: https://lore.kernel.org/r/CAHC9VhQY+H7n2zCn8ST0Vu672UA=_eiUikRDW2sUDSN3c=gVQw@mail.gmail.com (local) [2]
Signed-off-by: Mickaël Salaün <mic@digikod.net>
---

Changes since v1:
https://lore.kernel.org/r/20240812144936.1616628-1-mic@digikod.net (local)
- Add back the file_set_fowner hook (but without user) as
  requested by Paul, but move it for consistency.
---
 fs/fcntl.c                        | 42 +++++++++++++++----------------
 fs/file_table.c                   |  3 +++
 include/linux/fs.h                |  2 +-
 security/security.c               |  5 +++-
 security/selinux/hooks.c          | 22 +++-------------
 security/selinux/include/objsec.h |  1 -
 security/smack/smack.h            |  6 -----
 security/smack/smack_lsm.c        | 39 +---------------------------
 8 files changed, 33 insertions(+), 87 deletions(-)
diff --git a/fs/fcntl.c b/fs/fcntl.c
index 300e5d9ad913..4217b66a4e99 100644
--- a/fs/fcntl.c
+++ b/fs/fcntl.c
@@ -87,8 +87,8 @@ static int setfl(int fd, struct file * filp, unsigned int arg)
        return error;
 }

-static void f_modown(struct file *filp, struct pid *pid, enum pid_type type,
-                     int force)
+void __f_setown(struct file *filp, struct pid *pid, enum pid_type type,
+               int force)
 {
        write_lock_irq(&filp->f_owner.lock);
        if (force || !filp->f_owner.pid) {
@@ -97,20 +97,15 @@ static void f_modown(struct file *filp, struct pid *pid, enum pid_type type,
                filp->f_owner.pid_type = type;

                if (pid) {
-                       const struct cred *cred = current_cred();
-                       filp->f_owner.uid = cred->uid;
-                       filp->f_owner.euid = cred->euid;
+                       security_file_set_fowner(filp);
+                       put_cred(rcu_replace_pointer(
+                               filp->f_owner.cred,
+                               get_cred_rcu(current_cred()),
+                               lockdep_is_held(&filp->f_owner.lock)));
                }
        }
        write_unlock_irq(&filp->f_owner.lock);
 }
Looking at this quickly, why can't we accomplish pretty much the same
thing by moving the security_file_set_fowner() into f_modown (as
you've done above) and leveraging the existing file->f_security field
as Smack and SELinux do today?  I'm seeing a lot of churn to get a
cred pointer into fown_struct which doesn't seem to offer that much
additional value.
As explained in the commit message, this patch removes related LSM
(sub)blobs because they are duplicates of what's referenced by the new
f_owner.cred, which is a more generic approach and saves memory.
That's not entirely correct.  While yes you do remove the need for a
Smack entry in file->f_security, there is still a need for the SELinux
entry in file->f_security no matter what you do, and since the LSM
framework handles the LSM security blob allocations, on systems where
SELinux is enabled you are going to do a file->f_security allocation
regardless.
That's why I used "(sub)" blob, for the case of SELinux that "only" drop
a field.
Your choice of phrasing was misleading in my opinion.
quoted
quoted
While a cred based approach may be more generic from a traditional
UID/GID/etc. perspective, file->f_security is always going to be more
generic from a LSM perspective as the LSM has more flexibility about
what is placed into that blob.  Yes, the LSM can also place data into
the cred struct, but that is used across a wide variety of kernel
objects and placing file specific data in there could needlessly
increase the size of the cred struct.
Yes, it could, but that is not the case with the current implementations
(SELinux and Smack). I understand that it could be useful though.
Please keep that last sentence in mind.
quoted
quoted
quoted
quoted
From what I can see this seems really focused on adding a cred
reference when it isn't clear an additional one is needed.  If a new
cred reference *is* needed, please provide an explanation as to why;
reading the commit description this isn't clear.  Of course, if I'm
mistaken, feel free to correct me, although I'm sure all the people on
the Internet don't need to be told that ;)
This is a more generic approach that saves memory, sticks to the VFS
semantic, and removes code.  So I'd say it's a performance improvement
Considering that additional cred gets/puts are needed I question if
there are actually any performance improvements; in some cases I
suspect the performance will actually be worse.  On SELinux enabled
systems you are still going to do the file->f_security allocation and
now you are going to add the cred management operations on top of
that.
I was talking about the extra hook calls which are not needed.  The move
of fown_struct ou of the file struct should limit any credential
reference performance impact, and Mateusz said he is working on
improving this part too.
I don't see how where the cred reference live will have any impact,
you still need to get and drop references which will have an impact.
There will always be something.
I meant that if there is no fown_struct data, there is no extra
credential reference.
quoted
quoted
With the move in linux-next to pull fown_struct out of the file
struct, I suspect this is not as important as it once may have been.
I was talking about the LSM blobs shrinking, which impacts all opened
files, independently of moving fown_struct out of the file struct.  I
think this is not negligible: 32 bits for SELinux + 64 bits for Smack +
64 bits for ongoing Landlock support = potentially 128 bits for each
opened files.
I'm going to skip over the Landlock contribution as that isn't part of
the patchset and to the best of my knowledge that is still a work in
progress and not finalized.

You also forgot to add in the cost of the fown_struct->cred pointer.
No because fown_struct.cred replaces fown_struct.uid and
fown_struct.euid
I noticed you chose to do your count in bits, likely to make the
numbers look bigger (which is fair), I'm going to do my count in bytes
FWIW, I didn't write that with malice nor to make it look bigger.
;) ... So we've got four bytes removed from the SELinux blob, and
eight bytes from the Smack blob, but we add back in another eight
bytes for the new cred pointer, making a net benefit of only four
bytes for each open file.  Considering my concerns around the loss of
flexibility at the LSM layer I don't see this as a worthwhile
tradeoff.
Considering that the uid and euid fields are removed, the net worth
would be 12 bytes, but is is much more than that taking into account the
move of fown_struct out of the file struct because the LSM blobs are per
file, not per fown_struct.
quoted
quoted
quoted
it fixes the LSM/VFS inconsistency
Simply moving the security_file_set_fowner() inside the lock protected
region should accomplish that too.  Unless you're talking about
something else?
Yes, the moving the hook fixes that.
quoted
quoted
it guarantees
that the VFS semantic is always visible to each LSMs thanks to the use
of the same f_owner.cred
The existing hooks are designed to make sure that the F_SETOWN
operation is visible to the LSM.
This should not change the F_SETOWN case.  Am I missing something?
I don't know, you were talking about making sure the VFS semantics are
visible to the LSM and I was simply suggesting that the existing hooks
do that too.  To be honest, whatever point you are trying to make here
isn't very clear to me.
The existing hooks does not reflect the VFS semantic because
of the `if (force || !filp->f_owner.pid)` checks in f_modown().
When f_modown() is explitly called from user space (F_SETOWN), force is
true, but that is not the case for all call sites (e.g. TUN, TTY,
dnotify).
quoted
quoted
quoted
and it avoids LSM mistakes (except if an LSM implements the now-useless hook).
The only mistake I'm seeing is that the call into
security_file_set_fowner() is not in the lock protected region, and
that is easily corrected.  Forcing the LSM framework to reuse a cred
struct has the potential to restrict LSM security models which is
something we try very hard not to do.
OK, but is the current approach (i.e. keep the LSM hook and reducing LSM
blobs size) good for you?  What do you want me to remove from this
patch?
I agree that the security_file_set_owner() hook needs to be moved.  I
disagree about the value in shifting the LSM framework over to a cred
reference which effectively abandons the existing hook.  My preference
would be to preserve the flexibility of the hook, but move it to the
protected lock location, and continue to leverage the file->f_security
blob as needed for any LSM state.

-- 
paul-moore.com
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