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-rw-r--r--Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt18
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 6 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt b/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
index 13d6166d7a27..8c235b6e4246 100644
--- a/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
+++ b/Documentation/sysctl/fs.txt
@@ -163,16 +163,22 @@ This value can be used to query and set the core dump mode for setuid
or otherwise protected/tainted binaries. The modes are
0 - (default) - traditional behaviour. Any process which has changed
- privilege levels or is execute only will not be dumped
+ privilege levels or is execute only will not be dumped.
1 - (debug) - all processes dump core when possible. The core dump is
owned by the current user and no security is applied. This is
intended for system debugging situations only. Ptrace is unchecked.
+ This is insecure as it allows regular users to examine the memory
+ contents of privileged processes.
2 - (suidsafe) - any binary which normally would not be dumped is dumped
- readable by root only. This allows the end user to remove
- such a dump but not access it directly. For security reasons
- core dumps in this mode will not overwrite one another or
- other files. This mode is appropriate when administrators are
- attempting to debug problems in a normal environment.
+ anyway, but only if the "core_pattern" kernel sysctl is set to
+ either a pipe handler or a fully qualified path. (For more details
+ on this limitation, see CVE-2006-2451.) This mode is appropriate
+ when administrators are attempting to debug problems in a normal
+ environment, and either have a core dump pipe handler that knows
+ to treat privileged core dumps with care, or specific directory
+ defined for catching core dumps. If a core dump happens without
+ a pipe handler or fully qualifid path, a message will be emitted
+ to syslog warning about the lack of a correct setting.
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