xref: /freebsd/share/man/man4/mac_lomac.4 (revision c9ccf3a32da427475985b85d7df023ccfb138c27)
1.\" Copyright (c) 2002 Networks Associates Technology, Inc.
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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.
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31.\" $FreeBSD$
32.\"
33.Dd February 25, 2012
34.Dt MAC_LOMAC 4
35.Os
36.Sh NAME
37.Nm mac_lomac
38.Nd "Low-watermark Mandatory Access Control data integrity policy"
39.Sh SYNOPSIS
40To compile LOMAC 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_LOMAC"
45.Ed
46.Pp
47Alternately, to load the LOMAC 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_lomac_load="YES"
57.Ed
58.Sh DESCRIPTION
59The
60.Nm
61policy module implements the LOMAC integrity model,
62which protects the integrity of system objects and subjects by means of
63an information flow policy coupled with the subject demotion
64via floating labels.
65In LOMAC, all system subjects and objects are assigned integrity labels, made
66up of one or more hierarchical grades, depending on their types.
67Together, these label elements permit all labels to be placed in a partial
68order, with information flow protections and demotion decisions
69based on a dominance operator
70describing the order.
71The hierarchal grade field or fields are expressed
72as a value between 0 and 65535,
73with higher values reflecting higher integrity.
74.Pp
75Three special label component values exist:
76.Bl -column -offset indent ".Sy Label" "dominated by all other labels"
77.It Sy Label Ta Sy Comparison
78.It Li low Ta "dominated by all other labels"
79.It Li equal Ta "equal to all other labels"
80.It Li high Ta "dominates all other labels"
81.El
82.Pp
83The
84.Dq Li high
85label is assigned to system objects which affect the integrity of the system
86as a whole.
87The
88.Dq Li equal
89label
90may be used to indicate that a particular subject or object is exempt from
91the LOMAC protections.
92For example, a label of
93.Dq Li lomac/equal(equal-equal)
94might be used on a subject which is to be used to administratively relabel
95anything on the system.
96.Pp
97Almost all system objects are tagged with a single, active label element,
98reflecting the integrity of the object, or integrity of the data contained
99in the object.
100File system objects may contain an additional auxiliary label which
101determines the inherited integrity level for new files created in a
102directory or the alternate label assumed by the subject upon execution of
103an executable.
104In general, objects labels are represented in the following form:
105.Pp
106.Sm off
107.D1 Li lomac / Ar grade Bq Ar auxgrade
108.Sm on
109.Pp
110For example:
111.Bd -literal -offset indent
112lomac/10[2]
113lomac/low
114.Ed
115.Pp
116Subject labels consist of three label elements: a single (active) label,
117as well as a range of available labels.
118This range is represented using two ordered LOMAC label elements, and when set
119on a process, permits the process to change its active label to any label of
120greater or equal integrity to the low end of the range, and lesser or equal
121integrity to the high end of the range.
122In general, subject labels are represented in the following form:
123.Pp
124.Sm off
125.D1 Li lomac / Ar singlegrade ( lograde No - Ar higrade )
126.Sm on
127.Pp
128Modification of objects is restricted to access via the following comparison:
129.Pp
130.D1 Ar subject Ns :: Ns Ar higrade No \[>=] Ar target-object Ns :: Ns Ar grade
131.Pp
132Modification of subjects is the same, as the target subject's single grade
133is the only element taken into comparison.
134.Pp
135Demotion of a subject occurs when the following comparison is true:
136.Pp
137.D1 Ar subject Ns :: Ns Ar singlegrade No > Ar object Ns :: Ns Ar grade
138.Pp
139When demotion occurs, the subject's
140.Ar singlegrade
141and
142.Ar higrade
143are reduced to the
144object's grade, as well as the
145.Ar lograde
146if necessary.
147When the demotion occurs, in addition to the permission of the subject being
148reduced, shared
149.Xr mmap 2
150objects which it has opened in its memory space may be revoked according to
151the following
152.Xr sysctl 3
153variables:
154.Pp
155.Bl -bullet -compact
156.It
157.Va security.mac.lomac.revocation_enabled
158.It
159.Va security.mac.enforce_vm
160.It
161.Va security.mac.mmap_revocation
162.It
163.Va security.mac.mmap_revocation_via_cow
164.El
165.Pp
166Upon execution of a file, if the executable has an auxiliary label, and that
167label is within the current range of
168.Ar lograde Ns - Ns Ar higrade ,
169it will be assumed by the subject immediately.
170After this, demotion is performed just as with any other read operation, with
171the executable as the target.
172Through the use of auxiliary labels, programs may be initially executed
173at a lower effective integrity level,
174while retaining the ability to raise it again.
175.Pp
176These rules prevent subjects of lower integrity from influencing the
177behavior of higher integrity subjects by preventing the flow of information,
178and hence control, from allowing low integrity subjects to modify either
179a high integrity object or high integrity subjects acting on those objects.
180LOMAC integrity policies may be appropriate in a number of environments,
181both from the perspective of preventing corruption of the operating system,
182and corruption of user data if marked as higher integrity than the attacker.
183.Pp
184The LOMAC security model is quite similar to that of
185.Xr mac_biba 4
186and
187.Xr mac_mls 4
188in various ways.
189More background information on this can be found in their respective
190man pages.
191.Sh SEE ALSO
192.Xr mmap 2 ,
193.Xr sysctl 3 ,
194.Xr mac 4 ,
195.Xr mac_biba 4 ,
196.Xr mac_bsdextended 4 ,
197.Xr mac_ddb 4 ,
198.Xr mac_ifoff 4 ,
199.Xr mac_mls 4 ,
200.Xr mac_none 4 ,
201.Xr mac_partition 4 ,
202.Xr mac_portacl 4 ,
203.Xr mac_seeotheruids 4 ,
204.Xr mac_test 4 ,
205.Xr mac 9
206.Sh HISTORY
207The
208.Nm
209policy module first appeared in
210.Fx 5.0
211and was developed by the
212.Tn TrustedBSD
213Project.
214.Sh AUTHORS
215This software was contributed to the
216.Fx
217Project by Network Associates Labs,
218the Security Research Division of Network Associates
219Inc.
220under DARPA/SPAWAR contract N66001-01-C-8035
221.Pq Dq CBOSS ,
222as part of the DARPA CHATS research program.
223