Re: [RFC] IMA: New IMA measurements for dm-crypt and selinux

[Casey Schaufler <casey@schaufler-ca.com>]

On 4/8/2020 3:19 AM, Tushar Sugandhi wrote:
> The goals of the kernel integrity subsystem are to detect if files have
> been accidentally or maliciously altered, both remotely and locally,
> appraise a file's measurement against a "good" value stored as an
> extended attribute, and enforce local file integrity [1].
>
> To achieve these goals, IMA subsystem measures several in-memory
> constructs and files.
>
> We propose to measure constructs in dm-crypt and selinux to further
> enhance measuring capabilities of IMA.
>
> If there is existing or planned work to measure dm-crypt and selinux
> constructs, we would like to contribute to that.
>
> dm-crypt is a subsystem used for encryption of the block device, which
> is essential for ensuring protection of data and secrets at rest.
>
> Measuring encryption status of the device will ensure the device is not
> maliciously reporting false encryption status - thus, it can be
> entrusted with sensitive data to be protected at rest.
>
> SELinux is an implementation of mandatory access controls (MAC) on
> Linux. Mandatory access controls allow an administrator of a system to
> define how applications and users can access different resources - such
> as files, devices, networks and inter-process communication. With
> SELinux an administrator can differentiate a user from the applications
> a user runs [2].
>
> Measuring SELinux status and various SELinux policies can help ensure
> mandatory access control of the system is not compromised.
>
> Proposal:
> ---------
> A. Measuring dmcrypt constructs:
>     We can add an IMA hook in crypt_ctr() present in
>     drivers/md/dm-crypt.c, so that IMA can start measuring the status of
>     various dm-crypt targets (represented by crypt_target struct - also
>     defined in dm-crypt.c).
>     The mapping table[3] has information of devices being encrypted
>     (start sector, size, target name, cypher, key, device path, and
>     other optional parameters.)
>     e.g.
>     0 417792 crypt serpent-cbc-essiv:sha256
>     a7f67ad520bd83b9725df6ebd76c3eee 0 /dev/sdb 0 1 allow_discards
>
>     We can pass various attributes of mapping table to IMA through a key
>     value pair of various dmcrypt constructs.
>
>     Proposed Function Signature of the IMA hook:
>     void ima_dmcrypt_status(void *dmcrypt_status, int len);
>
> B. Measuring selinux constructs:
>     We propose to add an IMA hook in enforcing_set() present under
>     security/selinux/include/security.h.
>     enforcing_set() sets the selinux state to enforcing/permissive etc.
>     and is called from key places like selinux_init(),
>     sel_write_enforce() etc.
>     The hook will measure various attributes related to selinux status.
>     Majority of the attributes are present in the struct selinux_state
>     present in security/selinux/include/security.h
>     e.g.
>     $sestatus
>            SELinux status:              enabled
>            SELinuxfs mount:             /sys/fs/selinux
>            SELinux root directory:      /etc/selinux
>            Loaded policy name:          default
>            Current mode:                permissive
>            Mode from config file:       permissive
>            Policy MLS status:           enabled
>            Policy deny_unknown status:  allowed
>            Memory protection checking:  requested (insecure)
>            Max kernel policy version:   32
>
>     The above attributes will be serialized into a set of key=value
>     pairs when passed to IMA for measurement.
>
>     Proposed Function Signature of the IMA hook:
>     void ima_selinux_status(void *selinux_status, int len);
>
> Please provide comments\feedback on the proposal.

TL;DR - Why make this SELinux specific?

Integrating IMA and SELinux is a layering violation at best.
Why isn't this ima_lsm_status(void *lsm_status, int len)?
Or, better yet, how about ima_lsm_status(char *name, void *value, int len),
and you pass each name/value pair separately? That makes the
interface generally useful.

Believe it or not, there *ARE* security modules that
are not SELinux. 

>
> Thanks,
> Tushar
>
> [1] https://sourceforge.net/p/linux-ima/wiki/Home/
> [2] https://selinuxproject.org/page/FAQ
> [3] https://gitlab.com/cryptsetup/cryptsetup/wikis/DMCrypt