xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/mac_biba.4 (revision 09a53ad8f1318c5daae6cfb19d97f4f6459f0013)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2002-2004 Networks Associates Technology, Inc.
2.\" All rights reserved.
3.\"
4.\" This software was developed for the FreeBSD Project by Chris Costello
5.\" at Safeport Network Services and Network Associates Laboratories, the
6.\" Security Research Division of Network Associates, Inc. under
7.\" DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035 ("CBOSS"), as part of the
8.\" DARPA CHATS research program.
9.\"
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31.\" $FreeBSD$
32.\"
33.Dd November 18, 2002
34.Dt MAC_BIBA 4
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm mac_biba
38.Nd "Biba data integrity policy"
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40To compile Biba into your kernel, place the following lines in your kernel
41configuration file:
42.Bd -ragged -offset indent
43.Cd "options MAC"
44.Cd "options MAC_BIBA"
45.Ed
46.Pp
47Alternately, to load the Biba module at boot time, place the following line
48in your kernel configuration file:
49.Bd -ragged -offset indent
50.Cd "options MAC"
51.Ed
52.Pp
53and in
54.Xr loader.conf 5 :
55.Bd -literal -offset indent
56mac_biba_load="YES"
57.Ed
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Nm
61policy module implements the Biba integrity model,
62which protects the integrity of system objects and subjects by means of
63a strict information flow policy.
64In Biba, all system subjects and objects are assigned integrity labels, made
65up of hierarchal grades, and non-hierarchal components.
66Together, these label elements permit all labels to be placed in a partial
67order, with information flow protections based on a dominance operator
68describing the order.
69The hierarchal grade field is expressed as a value between 0 and 65535,
70with higher values reflecting higher integrity.
71The non-hierarchal compartment field is expressed as a set of up to 256
72components, numbered from 0 to 255.
73A complete label consists of both hierarchal and non-hierarchal elements.
74.Pp
75Three special label values exist:
76.Bl -column -offset indent ".Li biba/equal" "lower than all other labels"
77.It Sy Label Ta Sy Comparison
78.It Li biba/low Ta "lower than all other labels"
79.It Li biba/equal Ta "equal to all other labels"
80.It Li biba/high Ta "higher than all other labels"
81.El
82.Pp
83The
84.Dq Li biba/high
85label is assigned to system objects which affect the integrity of the system
86as a whole.
87The
88.Dq Li biba/equal
89label
90may be used to indicate that a particular subject or object is exempt from
91the Biba protections.
92These special label values are not specified as containing any compartments,
93although in a label comparison,
94.Dq Li biba/high
95appears to contain all compartments,
96.Dq Li biba/equal
97the same compartments as the other label to which it is being compared,
98and
99.Dq Li biba/low
100none.
101.Pp
102In general, Biba access control takes the following model:
103.Bl -bullet
104.It
105A subject at the same integrity level as an object may both read from
106and write to the object as though Biba protections were not in place.
107.It
108A subject at a higher integrity level than an object may write to the object,
109but not read the object.
110.It
111A subject at a lower integrity level than an object may read the object,
112but not write to the object.
113.It
114If the subject and object labels may not be compared in the partial order,
115all access is restricted.
116.El
117.Pp
118These rules prevent subjects of lower integrity from influencing the
119behavior of higher integrity subjects by preventing the flow of information,
120and hence control, from allowing low integrity subjects to modify either
121a high integrity object or high integrity subjects acting on those objects.
122Biba integrity policies may be appropriate in a number of environments,
123both from the perspective of preventing corruption of the operating system,
124and corruption of user data if marked as higher integrity than the attacker.
125In traditional trusted operating systems, the Biba integrity model is used
126to protect the Trusted Code Base (TCB).
127.Pp
128The Biba integrity model is similar to
129.Xr mac_lomac 4 ,
130with the exception that LOMAC permits access by a higher integrity subject
131to a lower integrity object, but downgrades the integrity level of the subject
132to prevent integrity rules from being violated.
133Biba is a fixed label policy in that all subject and object label changes are
134explicit, whereas LOMAC is a floating label policy.
135.Pp
136The Biba integrity model is also similar to
137.Xr mac_mls 4 ,
138with the exception that the dominance operator and access rules are reversed,
139preventing the downward flow of information rather than the upward flow of
140information.
141Multi-Level Security (MLS) protects the confidentiality, rather than the
142integrity, of subjects and objects.
143.Ss Label Format
144Almost all system objects are tagged with an effective, active label element,
145reflecting the integrity of the object, or integrity of the data contained
146in the object.
147In general, objects labels are represented in the following form:
148.Pp
149.Sm off
150.D1 Li biba / Ar grade : compartments
151.Sm on
152.Pp
153For example:
154.Bd -literal -offset indent
155biba/10:2+3+6
156biba/low
157.Ed
158.Pp
159Subject labels consist of three label elements: an effective (active) label,
160as well as a range of available labels.
161This range is represented using two ordered Biba label elements, and when set
162on a process, permits the process to change its active label to any label of
163greater or equal integrity to the low end of the range, and lesser or equal
164integrity to the high end of the range.
165In general, subject labels are represented in the following form:
166.Pp
167.Sm off
168.D1 Li biba / Ar effectivegrade : effectivecompartments ( lograde : locompartments -
169.D1 Ar higrade : hicompartments )
170.Sm on
171.Pp
172For example:
173.Bd -literal -offset indent
174biba/10:2+3+6(5:2+3-20:2+3+4+5+6)
175biba/high(low-high)
176.Ed
177.Pp
178Valid ranged labels must meet the following requirement regarding their
179elements:
180.Pp
181.D1 Ar rangehigh No \[>=] Ar effective No \[>=] Ar rangelow
182.Pp
183One class of objects with ranges currently exists, the network interface.
184In the case of the network interface, the effective label element references the
185default label for packets received over the interface, and the range
186represents the range of acceptable labels of packets to be transmitted over
187the interface.
188.Ss Runtime Configuration
189The following
190.Xr sysctl 8
191MIBs are available for fine-tuning the enforcement of this MAC policy.
192.Bl -tag -width ".Va security.mac.biba.ptys_equal"
193.It Va security.mac.biba.enabled
194Enables enforcement of the Biba integrity policy.
195(Default: 1).
196.It Va security.mac.biba.ptys_equal
197Label
198.Xr pty 4 Ns s
199as
200.Dq Li biba/equal
201upon creation.
202(Default: 0).
203.It Va security.mac.biba.revocation_enabled
204Revoke access to objects if the label is changed to dominate the subject.
205(Default: 0).
206.El
207.Sh SEE ALSO
208.Xr mac 4 ,
209.Xr mac_bsdextended 4 ,
210.Xr mac_ifoff 4 ,
211.Xr mac_lomac 4 ,
212.Xr mac_mls 4 ,
213.Xr mac_none 4 ,
214.Xr mac_partition 4 ,
215.Xr mac_portacl 4 ,
216.Xr mac_seeotheruids 4 ,
217.Xr mac_test 4 ,
218.Xr maclabel 7 ,
219.Xr mac 9
220.Sh HISTORY
221The
222.Nm
223policy module first appeared in
224.Fx 5.0
225and was developed by the
226.Tn TrustedBSD
227Project.
228.Sh AUTHORS
229This software was contributed to the
230.Fx
231Project by Network Associates Labs,
232the Security Research Division of Network Associates
233Inc.
234under DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035
235.Pq Dq CBOSS ,
236as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.
237