Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-26 Thread Michael Bender

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.


xdpy# comes from the caller of libpcsclite.so. Whatever the results
of a getenv("DISPLAY") are gets parsed in the library and the parsed
results are sent to the appropriate pscsd instance (after some sanity
checking in the library).


The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.


The ifd trusts that the Xdpy# sent from pcscd has been authenticated.
The ifd does not need to make access control decisions. pcscd does
that.

pcscd does that via PAM. PAM does that via specific PAM modules. We
are writing one for Sun Ray. We are also writing one for the default
case of no access restrictions so that the default behavior of pcscd
is the same as it is today (i.e. everyone gets access to all the
readers).

The X server, XDM, ssh, and peanut butter sandwiches are in no way
involved in any of this.


You do show where the zone label comes from (socket credentials from
the kernel) But you cannot get the Xdpy# that way.


Yes, that is absolutely correct. We can not get the Xdpy# from
socket credentials.


Another question (though not really a security one) - what happens

> when one user has two Sun Ray displays at a desk?

Sun Ray uses the username as one of the keys in identifying a
Sun Ray session (it also uses other mechanisms as well). What
that means is that the same username can only have one Sun Ray
session associated with that username on a Sun Ray server at
one time, i.e. the user "joesmith" can't have more than one
Sun Ray session associated with his username. Sun Ray has a
mode that associates either the MAC address of the DTU or a
token ID read from a smartcard (note that this is *not* using
authenticated smartcard access, this is simply using a token
read from the card to associate with a session) and in those
two cases, multiple sessions can be logged in with the same
UNIX username, although to the Sun Ray server, they are each
separate, unique sessions.


I can see this happening more on a developers desk instead of a normal
users desk - Both systems may need the smartcard simultaneously. There
is also the possibility of cross matched zones (both belong to the user,
both X servers belong to the same user, and for some reason, the user
chooses to send a X window to the other display...)


Whatever the value of $DISPLAY is at the time that SCardEstablishContext
is called will be used to connect to the appropriate pcscd instance.
If the UID of the caller is allowed to access that X display, then
they also get access to the reader. The same way that it works when
you fire up an xterm.


Btw, The diagram does leave out one other piece of info:
I assume each box at the bottom represents a SunRay display/system, and
the single box on top is the remote server system.


The box labeled "Sun Ray DTU" represents the Sun Ray thin client, the
thing that sits on your desk and to which you attach a display, keyboard
and mouse, and which has an internal smartcard reader.

The boxes labeled "xxx zone" refer to instances of local zones that
Sun Ray sessions run in. Other than the DTU, all of the rest of this
stuff lives on the Sun Ray server, a box running Solaris or Linux.


The diagram also only illustrates the static result of all decisions made,
and almost non none of the steps to get that way. I think those steps
and the security decisions required to procede from state to state are
needed to fill out the security table of data source/allowed 
state/destination state. I think that would show that the Xdpy# is

an uncontroled datum being used for security decisions.


So are we now doing a full security review for FIPS certification
here on the MUSCLE list such that all documentation, including
diagrams, must be provided down to the last detail?

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-26 Thread Michael Bender

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:

On 26/10/06, Michael Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


 >> Do you need to have different drivers for different zones
 >> or DTUs?

Yes, we want to be able to give each instance of pcscd its own
set of ifd handlers, so that, for example, if an instance of pcscd
is running in a Sun Ray session, it will only know about the
Sun Ray ifd handler for the internal reader in the Sun Ray DTU,
while if an instance of pcscd is running for the console user,
it will only know about the ccid USB ifd handler and the ifd
handler for the console's internal reader.


What would be the problem if a pcscd in a Sun Ray session also has
access to a driver for a CCID reader?


Nothing at all from a technical perspective. Some customers would
want to prevent the pcscd instance running in a Sun Ray session
from even being able to load the ccid (or any other) ifd handler.


It would not use it (not even
load it in memory) unless a CCID driver is connected to the Sun Ray.
pcscd would just read the Info.plist of the driver. Unless you
modified pcscd on this point.


That was just an example. We actually would want both the Sun Ray
DTU ifd handler and the ccid ifd handler to be available by default
for a Sun Ray session. We might not want, say, an ifd handler for
the system box reader to be available for a Sun Ray session.


Is it possible to use the Sun Ray internal reader for session mobility
and also connect an external smart card reader (say a CCID one) to use
a smart card application like a PKCS#11 in Mozilla?


Yes.

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-26 Thread Michael Bender

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:

On 26/10/06, Michael Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:


Ludovic Rousseau wrote:
> Note that you can use IFDHGetCapabilities(...,
> SCARD_ATTR_VENDOR_IFD_TYPE, ...) (or another similar tag) to check
> that the IFD will understand the IFDHcontrol() request.

What happens if you send an IFD an IFDHcontrol() request that it doesn't
understand? Is it supposed to fail gracefully, or do IFDs tend to
just start scribbling on random memory and then cause pcscd to dump
core ;-)?



The driver should return IFD_COMMUNICATION_ERROR as documented in [1]
but it may also do anything else. I imagine you have the driver source
code to correct any "deviant" behavior?


Well, yes, I suppose that it was more of a rhetorical question.

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-26 Thread Michael Bender

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:


It can still be a spoof.



The account may have been penetrated externally by a trojan,



The user at the console ends up loosing the display because

> his account has been taken over by some external means...

Don't forget this one:

The user might have shoved a peanut butter sandwich into
the DVD-ROM slot and thus no one is able to use a DVD-ROM
to update the system software anymore.

This whole discussion is getting ridiculous. We are working on
making PC/SC-lite work properly in a multi-user environment,
not trying to fix every conceivable security hole that UNIX
has ever had or that it may ever develop.

mike

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Re: Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Ludovic Rousseau

On 26/10/06, Michael Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

 >> Do you need to have different drivers for different zones
 >> or DTUs?

Yes, we want to be able to give each instance of pcscd its own
set of ifd handlers, so that, for example, if an instance of pcscd
is running in a Sun Ray session, it will only know about the
Sun Ray ifd handler for the internal reader in the Sun Ray DTU,
while if an instance of pcscd is running for the console user,
it will only know about the ccid USB ifd handler and the ifd
handler for the console's internal reader.


What would be the problem if a pcscd in a Sun Ray session also has
access to a driver for a CCID reader? It would not use it (not even
load it in memory) unless a CCID driver is connected to the Sun Ray.
pcscd would just read the Info.plist of the driver. Unless you
modified pcscd on this point.

Is it possible to use the Sun Ray internal reader for session mobility
and also connect an external smart card reader (say a CCID one) to use
a smart card application like a PKCS#11 in Mozilla?

Regards,

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Re: Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Ludovic Rousseau

On 26/10/06, Michael Bender <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:
> Note that you can use IFDHGetCapabilities(...,
> SCARD_ATTR_VENDOR_IFD_TYPE, ...) (or another similar tag) to check
> that the IFD will understand the IFDHcontrol() request.

What happens if you send an IFD an IFDHcontrol() request that it doesn't
understand? Is it supposed to fail gracefully, or do IFDs tend to
just start scribbling on random memory and then cause pcscd to dump
core ;-)?


The driver should return IFD_COMMUNICATION_ERROR as documented in [1]
but it may also do anything else. I imagine you have the driver source
code to correct any "deviant" behavior?

Bye,

[1] http://pcsclite.alioth.debian.org/ifdhandler-3/node18.html

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Michael Bender

Paul Klissner wrote:

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:


Why do you have: "The IFD handler plugin directory location

>> specified in argv[]"?



The current thinking is to pass in a base directory
into argv[] where pcscd will find it's other configuration
files, such as reader.conf, and what, by default, goes into
/var/run.  This is because we are creating a daemon for
each client session, each requiring it's own unique
repository for private non-shareable data.


i.e. we'll add a few command-line switches to pcscd so that the
invocation would look like this:

/usr/bin/pcscd -B /tmp/SUNWut/pcscd/7 -i /opt/PCSC/ifdhandlers

(ignore the specific option letters and directories, these are
just examples to illustrate the point).

>> Do you need to have different drivers for different zones
>> or DTUs?

Yes, we want to be able to give each instance of pcscd its own
set of ifd handlers, so that, for example, if an instance of pcscd
is running in a Sun Ray session, it will only know about the
Sun Ray ifd handler for the internal reader in the Sun Ray DTU,
while if an instance of pcscd is running for the console user,
it will only know about the ccid USB ifd handler and the ifd
handler for the console's internal reader.

Of course all of this is configurable at runtime, and these are
just examples to illustrate the point.

The default operation of pcscd, i.e. with none of the new command
line switches specified, will be to operate just as it does today,
we won't be changing any of the default directories or files that
it creates or uses.

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Michael Bender

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:


I think it is better to use IFDHcontrol(). At least the communication
is more explicit.


I agree.


Note that you can use IFDHGetCapabilities(...,
SCARD_ATTR_VENDOR_IFD_TYPE, ...) (or another similar tag) to check
that the IFD will understand the IFDHcontrol() request.


What happens if you send an IFD an IFDHcontrol() request that it doesn't
understand? Is it supposed to fail gracefully, or do IFDs tend to
just start scribbling on random memory and then cause pcscd to dump
core ;-)?

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Paul Klissner

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:

On 25/10/06, Paul Klissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Just in time for another diagram update:
http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15920


Why do you have: "The IFD handler plugin directory location specified
in argv[]"?

Do you need to have different drivers for different zones or DTUs?

Bye,


The current thinking is to pass in a base directory
into argv[] where pcscd will find it's other configuration
files, such as reader.conf, and what, by default, goes into
/var/run.  This is because we are creating a daemon for
each client session, each requiring it's own unique
repository for private non-shareable data.

I have to let Mike answer why the plan was to indicate the
IFD handler directory with a separate runtime specifier.
That's his idea, and I'm not totally positive was to why.

I think the goal is to be able to optionally put all of
the pcscd data in it's own unique directory tree, so that
although there would be only one copy of the IFD handlers,
symbolic links to them could be put in each pcscd's
data directory tree, I supposed for the sake of simplicity,
locality, architectural elegance or something.

Paul

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Paul Klissner

Ludovic Rousseau wrote:

On 25/10/06, Paul Klissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Just in time for another diagram update:
http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15920

Instead of putenv(), the goal now is to use IFDHcontrol() to
pass a new control code designed can be tolerated by all
IFD Handlers to pass in a client cred structure that includes
X display info, EUID, EGID, and possibly other info.


I think it is better to use IFDHcontrol(). At least the communication
is more explicit.

Note that you can use IFDHGetCapabilities(...,
SCARD_ATTR_VENDOR_IFD_TYPE, ...) (or another similar tag) to check
that the IFD will understand the IFDHcontrol() request.

Bye,


Thanks.  That is very useful information.
That really helps clean up the approach.
putenv() was a less desireable fallback for not knowing
how to easily address the compatibility problem.
Glad there is a straightforward way to handle it.

Paul

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Re: Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Ludovic Rousseau

On 25/10/06, Paul Klissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Just in time for another diagram update:
http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15920


Why do you have: "The IFD handler plugin directory location specified
in argv[]"?

Do you need to have different drivers for different zones or DTUs?

Bye,

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Re: Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Ludovic Rousseau

On 25/10/06, Paul Klissner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Just in time for another diagram update:
http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15920

Instead of putenv(), the goal now is to use IFDHcontrol() to
pass a new control code designed can be tolerated by all
IFD Handlers to pass in a client cred structure that includes
X display info, EUID, EGID, and possibly other info.


I think it is better to use IFDHcontrol(). At least the communication
is more explicit.

Note that you can use IFDHGetCapabilities(...,
SCARD_ATTR_VENDOR_IFD_TYPE, ...) (or another similar tag) to check
that the IFD will understand the IFDHcontrol() request.

Bye,

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Paul Klissner

Michael Bender wrote:

Jesse I Pollard wrote:

(about 50,000,000,000,000 lines of text)

Paul Klissner wrote:

(another 50,000,000,000,000 lines of text)

Geeze guys! I go away for a weekend to Tahoe and you guys write
War and Peace on the MUSCLE list :-).

I'll read everything that was written but it will take a few days
to wade through it all :-).


Just in time for another diagram update:
http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15920

Instead of putenv(), the goal now is to use IFDHcontrol() to
pass a new control code designed can be tolerated by all
IFD Handlers to pass in a client cred structure that includes
X display info, EUID, EGID, and possibly other info.

Paul

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-25 Thread Michael Bender

Jesse I Pollard wrote:

(about 50,000,000,000,000 lines of text)

Paul Klissner wrote:

(another 50,000,000,000,000 lines of text)

Geeze guys! I go away for a weekend to Tahoe and you guys write
War and Peace on the MUSCLE list :-).

I'll read everything that was written but it will take a few days
to wade through it all :-).

mike

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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-24 Thread Paul Klissner

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:
therefore, the process doing the putenv would have a valid zone, and 
a spoofed dpy#.


I'm talking about Solaris Containers (aka. Zones), which is part of
Solaris 10 and documented on the Internet. I think you are using
Zones as a different kind of abstraction.  But the architectural
changes being proposed for pcscd don't require Solaris Containers
(Zones), nor do they require Solaris Trusted Extensions.


So the zone the X server+XDM are running in is unavailable to any 
process logging into the server without the SunRay ???


If that is true, then the only thing that can happen is a denial of 
service.


But the online documentation doesn't describe it that way. It describes
zones as a method of partitioning a server into sections with different
dedicated uses. That implies that a user can login to a system, and
get the same zone no matter where the login comes from (two or more
logins for the same user). If this second login is a hijacked connection
or from a penetrated system, then the users credentials are already
lost. Only access to the smartcard is left.


Zones in themselves are a security mechanism.  They are like
'chroot' but for everything.  A zone is a whole virtual machine.
If you break into a zone, it is like breaking into jail.  You
can't damage anything outside of the zone.  Further, zones
are cloneable so if a zone is damaged it can be reinstantiated
in its original state easily.  Trusted Extensions adds a lot
of security on top of that by creating zones and along with
the a concept of labels.  File systems are mounted differently
and all resources are scrutinized and guarded based on labels.
Think of a label as a security level, like 'top-secret'. Thus
labels have a sensitivity rating, and label sensitivity is
always checked.  There's no way for a local zone to access
data in another local zone or the global zone in a default
configuration.  Security is extremely tight.

But Trusted Extensions is deep subject about a pending s10
product which has just received high security clearances by
important review bodies.  You'll have to let me leave it at
that for now.  Just assume that a 'local zone' is highly
isolated and that all interactions, if allowed are
extremely judiciously controlled.




The PAM module runs as root in the same context as the server not the
client. It doesn't matter if the client spoofs anything, server-side
PAM figures out if what it got is valid before authenticating the
client to use that particular instance of pcscd.


The PAM module runs as root in the context of XDM, not the X server. After
PAM authorizes XDM to give the user a login, the existing X server is
terminated, and a new one started for the user


Different PAM module.   Our design includes a pcscd pam module
which has it's own PAM stack, thus authenticating different
items for a different component.  The X PAM stuff is resolved
earlier.  dtlogin can be a client of pcscd, but uses a different
PAM module to login the user.  From the standpoint of pcscd, it's
PAM module need only authenticate that for any SCardEstablishSession()
call that the owner of the Xdpy# is valid.  How the PAM module
does it depends on the system.  We have one that works in the Sun Ray
environment, and will provide one that authenticates everything
so no regression is introduced.  Anyone is free to augment
pcscd's PAM authentication check on the xdpy# any way they want.



The vulnerable window is here. The PAM module has given pcsd the dpy# from
the server used to enter the login information. 


The dpy# is passed to pcscd over the socket or door, and then
pcscd invokes it's own PAM module to authenticate it. Thus, if dtlogin
needs to be a client of pcscd, pcscd must validate that dtlogin's
UID owns the display at the time of access, when it goes away and
the new X session is started, then if a client of that needs
to access pcscd, the authentication check is made again against
that xdpy# and uid.


Not the new one given
to the user (they may have the same number though). That is a new 
process and must allocate port 6000 starting from scratch, and has no 
security connection to the other. Of course, if XDM doesn't abort the 
server first, then there is no window of opportunity to grab the port,
and I completely misunderstood. The XDM process I've been using aborts 
the X server after login, and again when the user logs out.


Originally (at least under solaris 2.x, x <= 8) this was done because
XDM (running as root) would start the X server (also running as root). 
Then the XDM process would and start the login procedure.


After the user is authenticated, but before the user process was 
started, it would abort the X server, set ownership/whatever for the 
display device
to the new user, switch to the users credentials, and start a new X 
server (the new one would be running with the users credentials) along 
with setting the X authority for the server/X authority file and finally 
setting th

Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-24 Thread Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR



-
Jesse I Pollard, II
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Any opinions expressed are solely my own.

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.


Look over to the block of text on the right of the rightmost
ifd handler diagram... it mentions putenv() is the mechanism.


Yes, but putenv from a user controled item is an untrustworthy source.


putenv() is issued by pcscd in pcscd's own root-owned environment, which is
shared by the IFD handler dynamic library.  No unprivileged user can touch
it. It is seperate from the client environment.





The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.


Yes they can.  That's what the PAM module is all about.
The ifd handler assumes pcscd has authenticated the xdpy#, ie.
that pcscd has verified that the xdpy# is owned by the UID
of a client in the correct zone.  Beyond that, if by spoofable,
you mean someone hacks the kernel or acquires access to the global
as root... hey, if someone can hack into the system as root, security
on the machine is FUBAR anyway.


It can still be a spoof.

As I understand it - any login - (right now, my example would be based on 
ssh) will get a valid zone. The account may have been penetrated externally 
by a trojan, and the user is making an unknown ssh login to gain access to 
the host.


therefore, the process doing the putenv would have a valid zone, and a 
spoofed dpy#.


I'm talking about Solaris Containers (aka. Zones), which is part of
Solaris 10 and documented on the Internet. I think you are using
Zones as a different kind of abstraction.  But the architectural
changes being proposed for pcscd don't require Solaris Containers
(Zones), nor do they require Solaris Trusted Extensions.


So the zone the X server+XDM are running in is unavailable to any 
process logging into the server without the SunRay ???


If that is true, then the only thing that can happen is a denial of 
service.


But the online documentation doesn't describe it that way. It describes
zones as a method of partitioning a server into sections with different
dedicated uses. That implies that a user can login to a system, and
get the same zone no matter where the login comes from (two or more
logins for the same user). If this second login is a hijacked connection
or from a penetrated system, then the users credentials are already
lost. Only access to the smartcard is left.


The PAM module runs as root in the same context as the server not the
client. It doesn't matter if the client spoofs anything, server-side
PAM figures out if what it got is valid before authenticating the
client to use that particular instance of pcscd.


The PAM module runs as root in the context of XDM, not the X server. After
PAM authorizes XDM to give the user a login, the existing X server is
terminated, and a new one started for the user.

The vulnerable window is here. The PAM module has given pcsd the dpy# from
the server used to enter the login information. Not the new one given
to the user (they may have the same number though). That is a new 
process and must allocate port 6000 starting from scratch, and has no 
security connection to the other. Of course, if XDM doesn't abort the 
server first, then there is no window of opportunity to grab the port,
and I completely misunderstood. The XDM process I've been using aborts 
the X server after login, and again when the user logs out.


Originally (at least under solaris 2.x, x <= 8) this was done because
XDM (running as root) would start the X server (also running as root). 
Then the XDM process would and start the login procedure.


After the user is authenticated, but before the user process was started, 
it would abort the X server, set ownership/whatever for the display device
to the new user, switch to the users credentials, and start a new X server 
(the new one would be running with the users credentials) along with 
setting the X authority for the server/X authority file and finally 
setting the DISPLAY environment variable to start the Xsession for the 
user.


Even adding a zone box around the X server and XDM wouldn't prevent a
grab of port 6000 between XDM aborting the login X server, and starting
the users X server.

So as long as the other process cannot get the equivalent zone via
other non-Sun Ray logins, there shouldn't be a problem.

It does create problems for users that need shared access between 
different Sun Ray boxes using the same login. Wel maybe. But that

has nothing to do with the smartcard reader.



The user at the console 

Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-24 Thread Paul Klissner

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.


Look over to the block of text on the right of the rightmost
ifd handler diagram... it mentions putenv() is the mechanism.


Yes, but putenv from a user controled item is an untrustworthy source.


putenv() is issued by pcscd in pcscd's own root-owned environment, which is
shared by the IFD handler dynamic library.  No unprivileged user can touch
it. It is seperate from the client environment.





The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.


Yes they can.  That's what the PAM module is all about.
The ifd handler assumes pcscd has authenticated the xdpy#, ie.
that pcscd has verified that the xdpy# is owned by the UID
of a client in the correct zone.  Beyond that, if by spoofable,
you mean someone hacks the kernel or acquires access to the global
as root... hey, if someone can hack into the system as root, security
on the machine is FUBAR anyway.


It can still be a spoof.

As I understand it - any login - (right now, my example would be based 
on ssh) will get a valid zone. The account may have been penetrated 
externally by a trojan, and the user is making an unknown ssh login to 
gain access to the host.


therefore, the process doing the putenv would have a valid zone, and a 
spoofed dpy#.


I'm talking about Solaris Containers (aka. Zones), which is part of
Solaris 10 and documented on the Internet. I think you are using
Zones as a different kind of abstraction.  But the architectural
changes being proposed for pcscd don't require Solaris Containers
(Zones), nor do they require Solaris Trusted Extensions.

The PAM module runs as root in the same context as the server not the
client. It doesn't matter if the client spoofs anything, server-side
PAM figures out if what it got is valid before authenticating the
client to use that particular instance of pcscd.



The user at the console ends up loosing the display because his account
has been taken over by some external means...

Now the spoofed dpy# is passed to ifd, and still with the valid zone
of the login.


Administering the system to be secure from hacking is outside
of the scope of pcscd.  Whenever someone assumes the identity of
another user on the system, then they can do all kinds of
things on behalf of the stolen identity.  But that is not not
really germane to a our discussion about pcscd.

How is that an indictment of the architecture being proposed?



Therefore the ifd cannot verify that the dpy# is correct. It IS matched
against a valid zone.

One way this may not work is if zone defintions on the server are 
different depending on how the user logs in. Unfortunately, this may

also prevent the user from accessing his data, which likey has the
same labeling...


Again, I think there is some confusion in terms.
Zones are Solaris Containers (available in Solaris 10), and are
not directly related to the proposed pcscd architectural changes.
They are used by Solaris Trusted Extensions, which is used to
help enforce our our particular security model for highly secure
environments.

Somehow I feel like this discussion is going in circles, and
the scope has gotten unfocused,... like we're recklessly
shifting metaphors and layers, and therefore losing sight of
the key elements directly relevant to pcscd.



For my vulerability example above, I am assuming the ssh login to the 
server gets the same zone defintion that the user would get when logging 
in from the Sun Ray box.




The security details outside of pcscd and the mechanisms
of sockets (or Solaris doors), PAM, and putenv() require
an understanding of Solaris Zones and Solaris Trusted Extensions.
I'm not sure if Solaris Trusted Extensions has been productized
just yet,  but will be soon.

In a Trusted Extensions enabled system running Zones, the
Global Zone is *highly* secure, and the potentially outward facing
'local' zones, are called 'labelled' zones, and they are extremely
contained and all accesses limited by policy and scrutinized heavily.
The very way they are built is inherently secure.
That is where the clients live.  They can't touch the global zone
when it is configured properly.  Therefore guarding the pcscd
interface with PAM to validate what the client sends over the socket
or door should constitute sufficient security in that regard.


Umm PAM does no validation other than the initial connection.
"..valdate what the client sends.." implies it is doing content analysis,
and to my knowlege, PAM cannot do this.


PAM can validate the PAM_USER with the PAM_AUTHTOK.
This can be made to fit the authentication scenario.




You do show where the zone label comes

Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-24 Thread Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR

On Mon, 23 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.


Look over to the block of text on the right of the rightmost
ifd handler diagram... it mentions putenv() is the mechanism.


Yes, but putenv from a user controled item is an untrustworthy source.



The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.


Yes they can.  That's what the PAM module is all about.
The ifd handler assumes pcscd has authenticated the xdpy#, ie.
that pcscd has verified that the xdpy# is owned by the UID
of a client in the correct zone.  Beyond that, if by spoofable,
you mean someone hacks the kernel or acquires access to the global
as root... hey, if someone can hack into the system as root, security
on the machine is FUBAR anyway.


It can still be a spoof.

As I understand it - any login - (right now, my example would be based on 
ssh) will get a valid zone. The account may have been penetrated 
externally by a trojan, and the user is making an unknown ssh login to 
gain access to the host.


therefore, the process doing the putenv would have a valid zone, and a 
spoofed dpy#.


The user at the console ends up loosing the display because his account
has been taken over by some external means...

Now the spoofed dpy# is passed to ifd, and still with the valid zone
of the login.

Therefore the ifd cannot verify that the dpy# is correct. It IS matched
against a valid zone.

One way this may not work is if zone defintions on the server are 
different depending on how the user logs in. Unfortunately, this may

also prevent the user from accessing his data, which likey has the
same labeling...

For my vulerability example above, I am assuming the ssh login to the 
server gets the same zone defintion that the user would get when logging 
in from the Sun Ray box.




The security details outside of pcscd and the mechanisms
of sockets (or Solaris doors), PAM, and putenv() require
an understanding of Solaris Zones and Solaris Trusted Extensions.
I'm not sure if Solaris Trusted Extensions has been productized
just yet,  but will be soon.

In a Trusted Extensions enabled system running Zones, the
Global Zone is *highly* secure, and the potentially outward facing
'local' zones, are called 'labelled' zones, and they are extremely
contained and all accesses limited by policy and scrutinized heavily.
The very way they are built is inherently secure.
That is where the clients live.  They can't touch the global zone
when it is configured properly.  Therefore guarding the pcscd
interface with PAM to validate what the client sends over the socket
or door should constitute sufficient security in that regard.


Umm PAM does no validation other than the initial connection.
"..valdate what the client sends.." implies it is doing content analysis,
and to my knowlege, PAM cannot do this.



You do show where the zone label comes from (socket credentials from
the kernel) But you cannot get the Xdpy# that way.


Right.  The Xdpy is sent by the library over the socket or door interface
(we're still weighing which is ideal among doors/sockets).  It doesn't
have to be valid. The PAM module uses the un-spoofable EUID and zone label,
and then it checks to see if the client owns whatever X display # was
passed through the transport.  If the client really owns the display
the display is authenticated, otherwise it is rejected.


Thats my point. The client DOES own the display. It just happens that the
ownership shouldn't exist.



Another question (though not really a security one) - what happens when one 
userhas two Sun Ray displays at a desk?


We're not addressing the multi-head Sun Ray client scenario at the
moment, but we do pass the X sub-display number up to pcscd.  As far
as multiple Sun Ray clients logged in by the same user goes, I suppose
it is a conceivable that a user could go to great lengths to shoot
themselves in the foot that way by spoofing themselves, but a good
security policy regarding UID assigments to users would prevent abuse
of other user's security.  But let's face it, anyone can engage
in self-destructive behaviors. If someone wants to work hard at
sabotaging themselves, that's their choice.


Not multi-head - Just two Sun Ray client systems, two separate system 
boxes with a keyboard/mouse/display/smartcard reader for each box.


Some of our developers use this for configuration for the monitoring and
debugging that are being run on a different workstation.



I can see this happening more on a developers desk instead of a normal
users desk - Both systems may need the smartcard simultaneously. There
is also the possibility of cross matched zones (both belong to the user,
both X servers belong to the same user, 

Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-24 Thread Paul Klissner

BTW: I made a few changes based on your feedback.
The web hosting site forced me to change the URL to
access it, here:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15879

Unfortunately, I can't include all of the details step-by-step
in the diagram. Hopefully it won't be too much of a hassle to
associate descriptions in the e-mails with the illustration
to get some of the finer points.

Paul

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.

The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.

You do show where the zone label comes from (socket credentials from
the kernel) But you cannot get the Xdpy# that way.

Another question (though not really a security one) - what happens when 
one userhas two Sun Ray displays at a desk?


I can see this happening more on a developers desk instead of a normal
users desk - Both systems may need the smartcard simultaneously. There
is also the possibility of cross matched zones (both belong to the user,
both X servers belong to the same user, and for some reason, the user
chooses to send a X window to the other display...)

Right now, we have users doing this. One display is holding the "official"
windows of his application, the other X server is recieving debug output
monitoring the application. These users have two (or more) 
keyboard/mouse/display devices on the desk (I have two, one Linux and one

Solaris).

Btw, The diagram does leave out one other piece of info:
I assume each box at the bottom represents a SunRay display/system, and
the single box on top is the remote server system.

The diagram also only illustrates the static result of all decisions made,
and almost non none of the steps to get that way. I think those steps
and the security decisions required to procede from state to state are
needed to fill out the security table of data source/allowed 
state/destination state. I think that would show that the Xdpy# is

an uncontroled datum being used for security decisions.


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Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-23 Thread Paul Klissner

Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR wrote:

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.


Look over to the block of text on the right of the rightmost
ifd handler diagram... it mentions putenv() is the mechanism.



The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.


Yes they can.  That's what the PAM module is all about.
The ifd handler assumes pcscd has authenticated the xdpy#, ie.
that pcscd has verified that the xdpy# is owned by the UID
of a client in the correct zone.  Beyond that, if by spoofable,
you mean someone hacks the kernel or acquires access to the global
as root... hey, if someone can hack into the system as root, security
on the machine is FUBAR anyway.

The security details outside of pcscd and the mechanisms
of sockets (or Solaris doors), PAM, and putenv() require
an understanding of Solaris Zones and Solaris Trusted Extensions.
I'm not sure if Solaris Trusted Extensions has been productized
just yet,  but will be soon.

In a Trusted Extensions enabled system running Zones, the
Global Zone is *highly* secure, and the potentially outward facing
'local' zones, are called 'labelled' zones, and they are extremely
contained and all accesses limited by policy and scrutinized heavily.
The very way they are built is inherently secure.
That is where the clients live.  They can't touch the global zone
when it is configured properly.  Therefore guarding the pcscd
interface with PAM to validate what the client sends over the socket
or door should constitute sufficient security in that regard.



You do show where the zone label comes from (socket credentials from
the kernel) But you cannot get the Xdpy# that way.


Right.  The Xdpy is sent by the library over the socket or door interface
(we're still weighing which is ideal among doors/sockets).  It doesn't
have to be valid. The PAM module uses the un-spoofable EUID and zone label,
and then it checks to see if the client owns whatever X display # was
passed through the transport.  If the client really owns the display
the display is authenticated, otherwise it is rejected.


Another question (though not really a security one) - what happens when 
one userhas two Sun Ray displays at a desk?


We're not addressing the multi-head Sun Ray client scenario at the
moment, but we do pass the X sub-display number up to pcscd.  As far
as multiple Sun Ray clients logged in by the same user goes, I suppose
it is a conceivable that a user could go to great lengths to shoot
themselves in the foot that way by spoofing themselves, but a good
security policy regarding UID assigments to users would prevent abuse
of other user's security.  But let's face it, anyone can engage
in self-destructive behaviors. If someone wants to work hard at
sabotaging themselves, that's their choice.



I can see this happening more on a developers desk instead of a normal
users desk - Both systems may need the smartcard simultaneously. There
is also the possibility of cross matched zones (both belong to the user,
both X servers belong to the same user, and for some reason, the user
chooses to send a X window to the other display...)




Right now, we have users doing this. One display is holding the "official"
windows of his application, the other X server is recieving debug output
monitoring the application. These users have two (or more) 
keyboard/mouse/display devices on the desk (I have two, one Linux and one

Solaris).


Solaris Trusted Extensions is a profoundly secure environment, wherein
filtering is enabled in the kernel and the X server is secured.
That will be in forthcoming update of Solaris.  I'm sure you'll want to
dig into that documentation and try to set one of those systems up if
security is your thing.  It is for people like you Trusted Extensions
was designed.




Btw, The diagram does leave out one other piece of info:
I assume each box at the bottom represents a SunRay display/system, and
the single box on top is the remote server system.


Ah, perhaps this explains your last question.  OK, maybe I could
make it clearer... Each local zone is a Trusted Extensions *highly*
secure environment (zone) that uses a concept of zone 'label' sensitivity,
and checks every network and device access.   Even cut/paste operations
on the desktop are monitored. Their goal is to make hacking impossible,
and to protect extremely critical information.  a1, b1, c1, a2, b2, c2
each refer to a unique Sun Ray desktop unit, and each Sun Ray talks
to one and only one pcscd daemon stack (just couldn't draw them all
on the diagram, so I had to indicate it).  Perhaps I should add
a note that says Sun Ray or X Display for each terminal display in
the Local Zones.



The diagram also only illustrates the static result of all decisions made,
and alm

Re: [Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-23 Thread Jesse I Pollard - CONTRACTOR

On Fri, 20 Oct 2006, Paul Klissner wrote:


Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663


That helps. And the diagram does omit how the xdpy# is generated to
even be available to ifd handler. This is the only weakness I see.

The ifd and pcscd cannot determin if the Xdpy# value is beeing spoofed.

You do show where the zone label comes from (socket credentials from
the kernel) But you cannot get the Xdpy# that way.

Another question (though not really a security one) - what happens when 
one userhas two Sun Ray displays at a desk?


I can see this happening more on a developers desk instead of a normal
users desk - Both systems may need the smartcard simultaneously. There
is also the possibility of cross matched zones (both belong to the user,
both X servers belong to the same user, and for some reason, the user
chooses to send a X window to the other display...)

Right now, we have users doing this. One display is holding the "official"
windows of his application, the other X server is recieving debug output
monitoring the application. These users have two (or more) 
keyboard/mouse/display devices on the desk (I have two, one Linux and one

Solaris).

Btw, The diagram does leave out one other piece of info:
I assume each box at the bottom represents a SunRay display/system, and
the single box on top is the remote server system.

The diagram also only illustrates the static result of all decisions made,
and almost non none of the steps to get that way. I think those steps
and the security decisions required to procede from state to state are
needed to fill out the security table of data source/allowed 
state/destination state. I think that would show that the Xdpy# is

an uncontroled datum being used for security decisions.


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[Muscle] Revised Diagram: pcsclite for Sun Ray w/Solaris Trusted Exteions

2006-10-20 Thread Paul Klissner

Here's a link to an improved diagram:

http://www.freemyimage.com/ims/pic.php?u=1500BLfhm&i=15663
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