Can anyone point me to a good source of information on namespaces in
general and network namespaces specifically. Are network namespaces
something that could be utilized through xinetd to get polyinstantiated
port functionality?


On Mon, 2006-06-19 at 19:20 -0500, Loulwa Salem wrote:
> 6/19/2006 lspp Meeting Minutes:
> ===============================
> Attendees
> 
> Janak Desai (IBM) - JD
> George Wilson (IBM) - GW
> Loulwa Salem (IBM) - LS
> Michael Thompson (IBM) - MT
> Lawrence Wilson (IBM) - LW
> Thiago Jung Bauermann (IBM) - TB
> Nikhil Gabdhi (IBM) - NG
> Stephen Smalley (NSA) - SS
> Al Viro (Red Hat) - AV
> Steve Grubb (Red Hat) - SG
> Irina Boverman (Red Hat) - IB
> Dan Walsh (Red Hat) - DW
> Paul Sutherland (Red Hat) - PS
> Chris Runge (Red Hat) - CR
> Lisa Smith (HP) - LMS
> Linda Knippers (HP) - LK
> Amy Griffis (HP) - AG
> Matt Anderson (HP) - MA
> Paul Moore (HP) - PM
> Klaus Weidner (Atsec) - KW
> Chad Hanson (TCS) - CH
> Darrel Goeddel (TCS) - DG
> Venkat Yekkirala (TCS) - VY
> Bill O'Donnel (SGI) - BO
> Ted Toth - TT
> 
> 
> Tentative Agenda:
> 
> Kernel update
> ==============
>      GW: Al, if you can give us an update, that would be great.
>      AV: Last week there were several fixes. 2.6.17 got opened this weekend.
>       Today I have a patch series I hope to feed to Linus. That is pretty much
>       everything that went on Linux audit and got into the tree, the only
>       exceptions that I still don't want to push is the last patch from Amy.
>       The only thing that won't go is filterkey, the rest will hopefully go in
>       today.
>      GW: ok great ..
>      AV: once it is in the tree we are back into getting stuff into our tree
>       first and then feeding it to Linux. only difference is now we have a
>       deadline for major patches going upstream. Now we know when the window
>       closes; and things that touch more than audit related files are
>       particularly important to get in time.
>      LK: when will the window be closed
>      AV: Window should close in two weeks
>      SG: I'll also roll a new kernel out sometime over night, also there was a
>       patch that was sent by Andrew Morton on task watcher, it is touching our
>       code. I don't know if anyone looked into what it is doing, but we need
>       to keep an eye on it
>      GW: I sent a note to Matt about that, asking if he did any work testing 
> it,
>       considering it was included with out an ACK from audit list. I haven't
>       heard back from him yet. He is in Beaverton, hopefully will hear
>       something this afternoon or evening, I'll let you know.
>      SG: also I sent an email, but no response either. If it lands in 2.6.19,
>       it's ok, but if it lands in 2.6.18 that will affect us.
>      AV: We can live with that and we can work around whatever breakage gets
>       introduced. I don't like it, I don't like the idea itself, but we'll
>       see, at least it is localized.
>      GW: Serge was worried about performance impacts. He said it is the first
>       thing we need to do when we test scalability next.
>      AV: For what it is worth, I suspect audit won't be main part of the
>       performance impact.
>      GW: what I want him to do is post additional information to list and get
>       more debate. There is no debate as of now and no ACK. He might have
>       taken your comments as an ACK, but it is not. He works in Beaverton, so
>       we don't know him
>      AV: I really don't like it. I wonder how it went into -mm. What this guy 
> is
>       trying to do is provide a way for 3rd party modules to attach to a task
>       struct. if these guys are working with somebody like a bunch of
>       anti-virus scam artists, that's where this sort of thing comes from.
>      GW: like I said we don't know him and don't fully understand the purpose 
> of
>       his patch, so we need more comments and debate about this on the list.
>       That's all I can do for it right now
>      AV: Ok
>      GW: I was gonna try to get him to this meeting, maybe next week.
> 
> AuditFS/inotify completion
> ==========================
>      GW: As best as I can tell, inotify is substantially complete minus the 
> one
>       patch that is not ready yet. We need to do testing, we recovered well
>       from that. Anything else Amy or Steve you like to talk about
>      AG: I don't have anything
>      GW: thanks for hanging in there
>      SG: Just to double check where we are now. One of the patches was to 
> remove
>       a watch where there was no audit record. When there is a task being
>       watched and you add task to audit record, it isn't watched, and the last
>       one is cleanup of child watches.
>      AG: yes that is resolved. All are resolved except for one.
>      SG: all resolved but the one that Amy is still working on, I need to go 
> too
>       and make the changes to audit as well to use the -k option.
> 
> 
> LSPP kernel issues
> ==================
>      GW: Anything we need to discuss for lspp kernel
>      AV: I Want to start doing performance testing again.
>      GW: I'll see if I can get time with Jose. Also get a kernel with cache
>       poisoning turned off.
>      SG: ok, I'll turn debug off in the next kernel
>      GW: Alright, now that I know it's coming, I'll schedule time for that. 
> I'll
>       make this a high priority item.
>      SG: I need to update syscall mappings too, in 2.6.17 few new syscalls got
>       added.
>      GW: so we should expect new audit coming out soon.
>      SG: Yes. later in the week.
> 
> 
> Audit userspace
> ================
> 
> 
> Audit failure action inquiry function
> ======================================
>      GW: Lisa, anything new on the failure action inquiry
>      LMS: I sent out a patch last week. I had a request to change the code to
>       match the style and functionality in auditd.conf; I am working on that
>       now.
>      GW: ok, thanks much for the update.
> 
> 
> Print
> =====
>      MA: I started using raster image format, it seems to be working well. I 
> need
>       to verify the header and footer banner images are applied correctly.
>       Few concerns came up, the spool queue files are in SystemLow.
>      KW: if you have a user space process in SystemHigh, then a process is
>       downgrading the file, which process is doing that?
>      MA: that would be cupsd
>      KW: so cupsd has the override. I don't like it unless you have 
> appropriate
>       DAC. It's better if files stay at same level.
>      MA: The problem I'm running into is it seems functions for manipulating
>       contents take two different data types and it doesn't modify ranges
>       separately. You can get into some weird situation were content wasn't
>       really specified by policy
>      KW: still need to do investigation. It makes things easier from a design
>       perspective that you have small piece of code running in override rather
>       than the whole of cupsd
>      MA: you can have small program that does that as another solution
>      KW: if you don't have MAC override, the files couldn't end up in 
> SystemLow.
>       So something is happening to downgrade them.
>      MA: cups doesn't have the MAC downgrade in its policy, it is only 
> creating
>       files and dumping data in them
>      KW: This looks like another problem then, need to have easy way to do 
> that
>      MA: Well, I need to put it in enforcing mode then try that
>      KW: can be that it is working now because it is not in enforcing mode, 
> and
>       might not work in enforcing
>      MA: another thing is the lpq?
>      GW: shouldn't see jobs you dominate.
>      KW: you shouldn't be able to see job info you don't have access to
>      MA: the queue files are not queried to see what jobs are there, it is 
> only
>       coming from cups memory
>      KW: you should not be seeing any file names for print jobs you don't have
>       access to
>      MA: is this a good way to determine dominance on things
>      SS: [missed this part]
>      MA: I want to do string compare, and wonder if I need to query policy to 
> do
>       that.
>      SS: [missed this part]
>      MA: I can look at that
>      SS: there is a number of user programs instrumented to get those checks
>      DG: I think we have something similar used to device allocator.
>      MA: fundamentally they are all similar types of access
>      SS: you might want to segregate the services, whether you want to do that
>       based on target contents or not, I think we need the drill down more on
>       this to figure out the specifics
>      MA: Well .. generally, I still need to implement some dominance checks 
> for
>       lpq. Other than that, things look good
>      GW: where do we want to resolve the dominance issue, on the list, or 
> talk it
>       out here?
>      MA: I need to look into device allocator stuff and see how it fits with
>       cups, I'll look into that first and then post on list to start a
>       discussion on this.
>      GW: I am also hearing we need to try this in enforcing mode and see what
>       happens
>      MA: If we are having a separate program do the actual downgrade then it
>       shouldn't be a problem
>      LK: but I think it's a good point to test in enforcing mode, we should be
>       doing that by now.
>      GW: Yes. It's painful, but we are doing it here too, and it's the best 
> way
>       to flush out bugs.
>      MA: the printer I am using now is running enforcing, but been having
>       problems.
>      GW: We also have an intern who will be testing this stuff in near future 
> ..
>       Fernando, he is not here today, but he will be testing this soon ..
>       alright .. thanks
> 
> 
> SELinux base update
> ===================
>      GW: I don't know if Dan is on, is there anything we need to discuss about
>       selinux?
>      DW: I'm here. Major development is figuring out how to work on new roles.
>       Came up with the webadm, httpadm user role. Someone on fedora now is
>       attempting to build a backup role. As we play with these roles, we're
>       gonna find limitations; surprisingly it's easy, we can create a webadmin
>       role.
>      GW: glad, we needed that badly, to know that we can do that. Have you 
> tried      
>       the dominance operator
>      DW: no
>      GW: I didn't try it in a while either .. the last time I did it was 
> broken.
>      DW: stephen you know if that works
>      SS: didn't know it was broken
>      DW: one problem with adding new roles, we will have to add additional 
> types.
>       The more roles are added, the more types are added and the more
>       complicated the policy becomes.
>      GW: The question is how is your level of tolerance
>      KW: As a side note, why not use groups to edit config files? Not 
> necessarily
>       you need roles to do that
>      DW: we need root privileges but only on certain groups of files
>      KW: give files to appropriate group and use ACLs on them. You can 
> restrict
>       root roles to things the need the root override. Thanks for looking into
>       this. I posted response about the RBAC requirement question, I am
>       looking into more flexible ways to do that.
>      DW: I came up with my own response to that as well simultaneously.
>      GW: to what extent can we prevent it from tainting main policy. we assume
>       non malicious admins. This is more a question of what do RH folks want
>       to support, what is your tolerance level?
>      SG: Really, we are not in a position to answer that I think
>      GW: This will decide how we can use this flexible mechanism. I was 
> actually
>       composing a post about what klaus said. I don't know the extent to how
>       we can isolate it to make it acceptable to RH.
>      DW: we are treading on new territory here. I'm not sure who'll make the
>       decision on this, it's a difficult problem. if you ship with policy, and
>       it breaks, it'll be hard to figure out what went wrong if user is
>       changing things too.
>      KW: would there be something like a tool that can check if you are only
>       using permitted constructs to make sure you are not breaking something a
>       system depends on
>      DW: there is something like that
>      KW: if you add a policy module, is there a way to check that you don't 
> break
>       any of existing constraints.
>      DW: you shouldn't be able to get around constraints, but you can add
>       modifications
>      KW: can you ensure that any constraints in place will remain active
>      SS: semanage has ability to run verifier program to do that. you can 
> write a
>       checker to do that. you can do those checks .. strongly enforcing them
>       requires use of the policy manager that is coming soon.
>      KW: are there documents or examples about how these checkers work
>      SS: not really.. we can talk about it more on the list
>      GW: I think we need to do that quickly. I remember you mentioned semanage
>       when we were looking at integrity of policy.
>      SS: not sure if that is necessarily useful for your focus, cause you are
>       concerned with MLS, and modules can take care of type enforcement (TE).
>      KW: if we are sure that the modules will not mess up current constraints,
>       then we are ok for certification purpose. MLS constraints that specify
>       what people can/cannot do must remain the same
>      DW: you saying you can't change constraints but can add capabilities to
>       existing types.
>      KW: yes
>      DW: I don't see how you can change constraints on a loadable module, 
> Stephen
>       you know?
>      SS: I have to check on that
>      GW: as long as they further restrict, we can make an argument. Ok that 
> might
>       not be as bad as it originally sounded. Now that we scoped the work, it
>       maybe easier for decision makers to make the right decision
>      KW: other part of that, make sure people don't modify existing roles, but
>       add new roles. This greatly helps in debugging as well
>      GW: yes. if you can crisply draw a line, it makes it easier.
>      DW: One more thing, I've been working on device allocator, sent out 
> patches 
> last
>       week. Few things to make it acceptable to fedora extras. The problem is
>       it doesn't build on i386.
>      CH: we incorporated your patch
>      DW: I am at 5.4, I'll reissue this patch for 5.5
>      CH: sounds good, we'll get that put in
>      GW: anything else Dan
>      DW: I've been having discussion with Michael, regarding testing roles. He
>       wants to use scripts to run tests, and they need to be accessible by
>       many users. I showed him how to do that.
>      MT: I haven't actually experimented with that yet. Is there a type that
>       everyone can read.
>      DW: bin_t is closest one that allows you to do that
>      MT: as far as I know the test code doesn't have to be secure.
>      DW: yeah, use bin_t.
>      CH: I think there is a 5.6 for the device allocator
>      DW: ok, I'll base on 5.6. and resend it. I'll be gone for next two weeks 
> to
>       Florida for vacation.
> 
> MLS policy issues
> =================
> Roles
> =====
> CIPSO
> =====
>      GW: anything on cipso
>      PM: Everything is on the mailing list. There is a headache on how to deal
>       with accept, I posted what I think is a reasonable solution to that.
>      SS: did you look into what Venkat posted?
>      PM: When do we need to start worrying about the labels. Because of where 
> LSM
>       hooks are, it's easier to do things and only be concerned with where
>       things are at. worse case is you'll go ahead initiate a tcp connection,
>       do handshake, both sides start talking, but once you start talking you
>       then get errors saying "hey, I don't like this MLS label" .. this is the
>       path of least resistance to get this into kernel.
>      SS: I think the other way is better, but probably more invasive.
>      PM: that's my concern, it'll be too invasive and the network people won't
>       like that.
>      VY: I'm going to get a patch out tonight.
>      SS: At what point is the stuff going to show up on netdev
>      VY: I think this time I'll include netdev as well, unless you don't 
> think I
>       should
>      SS: I think it's reasonable to put them on netdev now, and get wider
>       exposure
>      GW: Venkat, did Serge ever contact you?
>      VY: yes, and he sent me the transform user patch, and I'll include it
>      GW: great.. didn't know if you were in touch, hopefully that was helpful
>      VY: yes .. it was
>      GW: Joy is unavailable now .. she is away on personal business and is
>       unreachable.
> 
> 
> IPsec:  MLS, UNIX domain secpeer, xinetd
> =========================================
>      GW: Catherine posted the secpeer unix domain patch, few comments but 
> pretty
>       good to go. As far as xinetd goes, Joy was going to incorporate the
>       comments, but Steve I believe you wanted to change parts of it yourself?
>      SG: yes, I've got about half of it changed to conform to what I need. My
>       goal this week is to get the patch that trent posted to conform to the
>       style then visit irc logs between Joy and I to get those things we
>       talked about in place
>      GW: thanks for taking that on Steve.
>      SG: also seems like I have one minor patch to add to ipv6. You want me to
>       post patches to the mailing list, or just put daemon out to rawhide.
>      GW: whatever is easiest to get it out to community
>      TT: I like to see it
>      GW: yes Ted mentioned that issue of polyinstantiated ports
>      GW: I thought we'll use something out of iptables that will remap on the 
> fly
>       to a real port
>      GW: yeah, I remember that now ... about 6 months ago we talked about it.
>       James talked about it then. I can dig that up.
>      SG: that was my recollection that we were gonna tackle it through 
> iptables.
>       not sure if secmark was gonna handle it.
>      SS: I thought the port redirection was what we will use. haven't the TCS
>       people used that.
>      GW: I'll dig that discussion. Ted you can live with that, or you need the
>       polyinstantiation ports?
>      SS: Is anyone watching the network name spaces work going on?
>      GW: I haven't looked at it, or talked to Serge about it either. I'll 
> talk to
>       Serge about it
>      TT: as long as it gets on the radar I'll be happy
>      GW: I'll try to dig that out, and repost something about it.
> 
> 
> ipsec-tools:  SPD dump and racoon base + MLS
> =============================================
>      GW: I understand this will end up as a patch in rawhide since IPsec tools
>       are BSD centric.
> 
> 
> Device allocation
> =================
>      GW: Dan said he made some patches to device allocator, anyone has 
> anything
>       else?
>      SS: I just looked at the code for that, and it is doing 
> process_get_attribute
>       check for some reason. Either way it is fine depending if it is caching
>       results. This is more directed to people doing cups work.
>      MA: ok, I'll take a look at that
>      SS: is TCS maintaining that
>      CH: yes we are maintaining that.
>      DG: you think we need a class for device allocator. We need a translation
>       daemon to be put in there.
>      CH: the checks in device allocator right now are very convoluted things. 
> It
>       relies on things like policy to be there ... we should definitely look
>       into getting some classes in there. you know what the work is like to 
> get
>       classes into user space
>      SS: right now we are still in a mode were you need a patch for that.
>      GW: any other device allocator issues?
> 
> 
> Self tests
> ===========
>      GW: I need to get the self test done. I'll commit to have new iteration 
> of
>       that by end of week.
> 
> VFS polyinstantiation
> =====================
>      GW: Janak, anything for polyinstantiation?
>      JD: Nothing major. for pam namespace, I posted a patch to redo some work 
> to
>       get X working, I updated man pages and put example to get gdm working. I
>       posted a patch, and there were some spelling mistake comments from Tim,
>       I fixed those. If people can give it a try and let me know. it is in
>       rawhide, except for the last patch, you would need to get the rawhide
>       stuff, then apply the last patch.
>      SG: I got an email from pam maintainer, he'll be unavailable for 
> Wednesday
>       and Thursday, so it won't be until then before it gets in rawhide.
>      GW: so cron is in rawhide?
>      SG: that's different. Regarding that I talked to Jason and he is 
> re-working
>       vixie cron, but he is concerned about the patch being invasive, he'll
>       look into it when he gets back, but If we want I'll build a cron and put
>       it in the lspp repository so we can test it before he gets back and we
>       can flush bugs before he is ready to merge. I'll go ahead and put out an
>       iteration like I do for lspp kernel so we can test it.
>      JD: ok, one of our QA guys will test it as well.
>      SG: unfortunately Jason has been working hard on vixie cron, and his
>       reservation is that alot of code is written to the old code, so he has
>       to remap it.
>      JD: tell him to contact me, and I can help him merge it with new code.
>      SG: meantime, I'll build it and put in repository
> 
>      GW: Any other issues? ... ok .. kernel work needs to go into 2.6.18. we 
> are
>       making good progress, and we just need to keep pushing to get the last
>       bit in. Thanks everyone, let's adjourn the meeting.
> 
> 
> Approximately 90% complete, 80% upstream
> All kernel work needs to be in 2.6.18
> Remaining tasks.
> 
> --
> redhat-lspp mailing list
> [email protected]
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-lspp

--
redhat-lspp mailing list
[email protected]
https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-lspp

Reply via email to