Re: [RFC v2 19/19] ima: Setup securityfs for IMA namespace

From: James Bottomley
Date: Fri Dec 03 2021 - 13:51:24 EST


On Fri, 2021-12-03 at 13:06 -0500, Stefan Berger wrote:
> On 12/3/21 12:03, James Bottomley wrote:
> > On Thu, 2021-12-02 at 21:31 -0500, Stefan Berger wrote:
> > [...]
> > > static int securityfs_init_fs_context(struct fs_context *fc)
> > > {
> > > + int rc;
> > > +
> > > + if (fc->user_ns->ima_ns->late_fs_init) {
> > > + rc = fc->user_ns->ima_ns->late_fs_init(fc->user_ns);
> > > + if (rc)
> > > + return rc;
> > > + }
> > > fc->ops = &securityfs_context_ops;
> > > return 0;
> > > }
> > I know I suggested this, but to get this to work in general, it's
> > going to have to not be specific to IMA, so it's going to have to
> > become something generic like a notifier chain. The other problem
> > is it's only working still by accident:
>
> I had thought about this also but the rationale was:
>
> securityfs is compiled due to CONFIG_IMA_NS and the user namespace
> exists there and that has a pointer now to ima_namespace, which can
> have that callback. I assumed that other namespaced subsystems could
> also be reached then via such a callback, but I don't know.

Well securityfs is supposed to exist for LSMs. At some point each of
those is going to need to be namespaced, which may eventually be quite
a pile of callbacks, which is why I thought of a notifier.

> I suppose any late filesystem init callchain would have to be
> connected to the user_namespace somehow?

I don't think so; I think just moving some securityfs entries into the
user_namespace and managing the notifier chain from within securityfs
will do for now. [although I'd have to spec this out in code before I
knew for sure].

> > > +int ima_fs_ns_init(struct ima_namespace *ns)
> > > +{
> > > + ns->mount = securityfs_ns_create_mount(ns->user_ns);
> > This actually triggers on the call to securityfs_init_fs_context,
> > but nothing happens because the callback is null. Every subsequent
> > use of fscontext will trigger this. The point of a keyed supeblock
> > is that fill_super is only called once per key, that's the place we
> > should be doing this. It should also probably be a blocking
> > notifier so anyconsumer of securityfs can be namespaced by
> > registering for this notifier.
>
> What I don't like about the fill_super is that it gets called too
> early:
>
> [ 67.058611] securityfs_ns_create_mount @ 102 target user_ns:
> ffff95c010698c80; nr_extents: 0
> [ 67.059836] securityfs_fill_super @ 47 user_ns:
> ffff95c010698c80;
> nr_extents: 0

Right, it's being activated by securityfs_ns_create_mount which is
called as soon as the user_ns is created.

> We are switching to the target user namespace in
> securityfs_ns_create_mount. The expected nr_extents at this point is
> 0, since user_ns hasn't been configured, yet. But then
> security_fill_super is also called with nr_extents 0. We cannot use
> that, it's too early!

Exactly, so I was thinking of not having a securityfs_ns_create_mount
at all. All the securityfs_ns_create.. calls would be in the notifier
call chain. This means there's nothing to fill the superblock until an
actual mount on it is called.

> > > + if (IS_ERR(ns->mount)) {
> > > + ns->mount = NULL;
> > > + return -1;
> > > + }
> > > + ns->mount_count = 1;
> > This is a bit nasty, too: we're spilling the guts of mount count
> > tracking into IMA instead of encapsulating it inside securityfs.
>
> Ok, I can make this disappear.
>
>
> > > +
> > > + /* Adjust the trigger for user namespace's early teardown of
> > > dependent
> > > + * namespaces. Due to the filesystem there's an additional
> > > reference
> > > + * to the user namespace.
> > > + */
> > > + ns->user_ns->refcount_teardown += 1;
> > > +
> > > + ns->late_fs_init = ima_fs_ns_late_init;
> > > +
> > > + return 0;
> > > +}
> > I think what should be happening is that we shouldn't so the
> > simple_pin_fs, which creates the inodes, ahead of time; we should
> > do it inside fill_super using a notifier, meaning it gets called
> > once per
>
> fill_super would only work for the init_user_ns from what I can see.
>
>
> > key, creates the root dentry then triggers the notifier which
> > instantiates all the namespaced entries. We can still use
> > simple_pin_fs for this because there's no locking across
> > fill_super.
> > This would mean fill_super would be called the first time the
> > securityfs is mounted inside the namespace.
>
> I guess I would need to know how fill_super would work or how it
> could be called late/delayed as well.

So it would be called early in the init_user_ns by non-namespaced
consumers of securityfs, like it is now.

Namespaced consumers wouldn't call any securityfs_ns_create callbacks
to create dentries until they were notified from the fill_super
notifier, which would now only be triggered on first mount of
securityfs inside the namespace.

> > If we do it this way, we can now make securityfs have its own mount
> > and mount_count inside the user namespace, which it uses internally
> > to the securityfs code, thus avoiding exposing them to ima or any
> > other namespaced consumer.
> >
> > I also think we now don't need the securityfs_ns_ duplicated
> > functions because the callback via the notifier chain now ensures
> > we can usethe namespace they were created in to distinguish between
> > non namespaced and namespaced entries.
>
> Is there then no need to pass a separate vfsmount * in anymore?

I don't think so no. It could be entirely managed internally to
securityfs.

> Where would the vfsmount pointer reside? For now it's in
> ima_namespace, but it sounds like it should be in a more centralized
> place? Should it also be connected to the user_namespace so we can
> pick it up using get_user_ns()?

exactly. I think struct user_namespace should have two elements gated
by a #ifdef CONFIG_SECURITYFS which are the vfsmount and the
mount_count for passing into simple_pin_fs.


James