Re: [PATCH v1 5/5] fsverity: update the documentation

From: Eric Biggers
Date: Thu Dec 02 2021 - 17:09:21 EST


On Thu, Dec 02, 2021 at 04:55:07PM -0500, Mimi Zohar wrote:
> Update the fsverity documentation related to IMA signature support.
>
> Signed-off-by: Mimi Zohar <zohar@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> ---
> Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst | 22 +++++++++++++---------
> 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst
> index 1d831e3cbcb3..c71f6e365df5 100644
> --- a/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst
> +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst
> @@ -74,8 +74,12 @@ authenticating the files is up to userspace. However, to meet some
> users' needs, fs-verity optionally supports a simple signature
> verification mechanism where users can configure the kernel to require
> that all fs-verity files be signed by a key loaded into a keyring; see
> -`Built-in signature verification`_. Support for fs-verity file hashes
> -in IMA (Integrity Measurement Architecture) policies is also planned.
> +`Built-in signature verification`_.
> +
> +IMA (Integrity Measurement Architecture) supports fs-verity file
> +digests based signatures stored as security.ima xattrs, which are
> +identified by the signature type IMA_VERITY_DIGSIG.
> +
>
> User API
> ========
> @@ -653,13 +657,13 @@ weren't already directly answered in other parts of this document.
> hashed and what to do with those hashes, such as log them,
> authenticate them, or add them to a measurement list.
>
> - IMA is planned to support the fs-verity hashing mechanism as an
> - alternative to doing full file hashes, for people who want the
> - performance and security benefits of the Merkle tree based hash.
> - But it doesn't make sense to force all uses of fs-verity to be
> - through IMA. As a standalone filesystem feature, fs-verity
> - already meets many users' needs, and it's testable like other
> - filesystem features e.g. with xfstests.
> + IMA supports the fs-verity hashing mechanism as an alternative
> + to doing full file hashes, for people who want the performance
> + and security benefits of the Merkle tree based hash. But it
> + doesn't make sense to force all uses of fs-verity to be through
> + IMA. As a standalone filesystem feature, fs-verity already meets
> + many users' needs, and it's testable like other filesystem
> + features e.g. with xfstests.
>

Isn't there IMA documentation that can be linked to?

- Eric