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authorDan Rosenberg <drosenberg@vsecurity.com>2010-11-11 14:05:18 -0800
committerLinus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>2010-11-12 07:55:32 -0800
commiteaf06b241b091357e72b76863ba16e89610d31bd (patch)
tree83bc8667309050b3538630707513574c14c51f37 /security
parent203f40a5a030ed4048cd40e3bd9ab5df6c5df589 (diff)
Restrict unprivileged access to kernel syslog
The kernel syslog contains debugging information that is often useful during exploitation of other vulnerabilities, such as kernel heap addresses. Rather than futilely attempt to sanitize hundreds (or thousands) of printk statements and simultaneously cripple useful debugging functionality, it is far simpler to create an option that prevents unprivileged users from reading the syslog. This patch, loosely based on grsecurity's GRKERNSEC_DMESG, creates the dmesg_restrict sysctl. When set to "0", the default, no restrictions are enforced. When set to "1", only users with CAP_SYS_ADMIN can read the kernel syslog via dmesg(8) or other mechanisms. [akpm@linux-foundation.org: explain the config option in kernel.txt] Signed-off-by: Dan Rosenberg <drosenberg@vsecurity.com> Acked-by: Ingo Molnar <mingo@elte.hu> Acked-by: Eugene Teo <eugeneteo@kernel.org> Acked-by: Kees Cook <kees.cook@canonical.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'security')
-rw-r--r--security/Kconfig12
-rw-r--r--security/commoncap.c2
2 files changed, 14 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/security/Kconfig b/security/Kconfig
index bd72ae623494..e80da955e687 100644
--- a/security/Kconfig
+++ b/security/Kconfig
@@ -39,6 +39,18 @@ config KEYS_DEBUG_PROC_KEYS
If you are unsure as to whether this is required, answer N.
+config SECURITY_DMESG_RESTRICT
+ bool "Restrict unprivileged access to the kernel syslog"
+ default n
+ help
+ This enforces restrictions on unprivileged users reading the kernel
+ syslog via dmesg(8).
+
+ If this option is not selected, no restrictions will be enforced
+ unless the dmesg_restrict sysctl is explicitly set to (1).
+
+ If you are unsure how to answer this question, answer N.
+
config SECURITY
bool "Enable different security models"
depends on SYSFS
diff --git a/security/commoncap.c b/security/commoncap.c
index 5e632b4857e4..04b80f9912bf 100644
--- a/security/commoncap.c
+++ b/security/commoncap.c
@@ -895,6 +895,8 @@ int cap_syslog(int type, bool from_file)
{
if (type != SYSLOG_ACTION_OPEN && from_file)
return 0;
+ if (dmesg_restrict && !capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
+ return -EPERM;
if ((type != SYSLOG_ACTION_READ_ALL &&
type != SYSLOG_ACTION_SIZE_BUFFER) && !capable(CAP_SYS_ADMIN))
return -EPERM;