[PATCH 1/3] qemu_passt: Don't make passt transition to svirt_t/virt_domain on start

Daniel P. Berrangé berrange at redhat.com
Wed Feb 22 11:41:55 UTC 2023


On Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 12:38:23PM +0100, Stefano Brivio wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Feb 2023 11:35:16 +0000
> Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange at redhat.com> wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Feb 22, 2023 at 12:21:09PM +0100, Michal Prívozník wrote:
> > > On 2/22/23 11:05, Stefano Brivio wrote:  
> > > > On Wed, 22 Feb 2023 09:46:42 +0000
> > > > Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange at redhat.com> wrote:
> > > >   
> > > >> On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 10:49:46PM +0100, Stefano Brivio wrote:  
> > > >>> On Tue, 21 Feb 2023 19:43:33 +0000
> > > >>> Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange at redhat.com> wrote:
> > > >>>     
> > > >>>> On Tue, Feb 21, 2023 at 08:19:05PM +0100, Stefano Brivio wrote:    
> > > >>>>> qemuSecurityCommandRun() causes an explicit domain transition of the
> > > >>>>> new process, but passt ships with its own SELinux policy, with
> > > >>>>> external interfaces for libvirtd, so we simply need to transition
> > > >>>>> from virtd_t to passt_t as passt is executed. The qemu type
> > > >>>>> enforcement rules have little to do with it.      
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> Can you clarify the difference here ?    
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Between...?
> > > >>>
> > > >>> I mean, virCommandRun() will just keep things running under virtd_t, so
> > > >>> that passt later can transition to passt_t.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> With qemuSecurityCommandRun(), there would be a transition from virtd_t
> > > >>> to svirt_t (it's the function that's called to start qemu, but
> > > >>> shouldn't be called here), and not to passt_t.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> But I'm not really sure that's what you were asking for.    
> > > >>
> > > >> Yes, it is.
> > > >>  
> > > >>>     
> > > >>>> Runing passt under 'svirt_t' is not desirable as that allows
> > > >>>> many actions that are only relevant to QEMU.    
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Right, that's what this patch avoids. There are also actions, such as
> > > >>> starting passt or killing it, that we don't want to allow QEMU to do.
> > > >>>     
> > > >>>> Running passt under the MCS label that is associated with the
> > > >>>> VM is highly desirable though. Two passt instances belonging
> > > >>>> to separate VMs are isolated from each other if they each use
> > > >>>> the VM specific MCS label, than if they use the global default
> > > >>>> MCS label.
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> To use the VM specific MCS label would require libvirt to
> > > >>>> explicitly set the desired selinux label on exec, it can't
> > > >>>> happen automatically via an SELinux transition rule.
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> We do stil want to use the passt_t type though.
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> IOW, if we have a VM running
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>>   svirt_t:s0:c710,c716
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> IMHO we would its corresponding passt instance to be
> > > >>>> running
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>>   passt_t:s0:c710,c716
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>> not
> > > >>>>
> > > >>>>   passt_t:s0:c0.c1023    
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Practically speaking, it doesn't make a huge difference for passt
> > > >>> because it unshares any relevant namespace right after it starts --
> > > >>> that's *in theory* a strictly stronger isolation compared to what
> > > >>> SELinux provides (at least once we reach the main loop).    
> > > >>
> > > >> Even docker/podman will apply SELinux isolation per container,
> > > >> rather than only relying on namespaces.   
> > > > 
> > > > Sure, I'm not saying it's not desirable -- but still, many (most?)
> > > > host-facing services they rely on are not isolated in this sense. Same
> > > > for the current implementation of libvirt with dnsmasq, for example.
> > > >   
> > > >>> But it makes sense, and I guess we should relabel to a specific MCS
> > > >>> with still 'virtd_t' as a type, then later the domain would transition
> > > >>> to passt_t. This could probably be done as an extension of
> > > >>> qemuSecurityCommandRun(), I haven't looked into it yet. I will.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Anyway, right now, I think this provides better security than
> > > >>> 'setenforce 0', which is the only way to run passt from libvirt at the
> > > >>> moment on some distributions.    
> > > >>
> > > >> If running with SELinux permissive, this patch has no effect, as it
> > > >> is unconfined regardless. That's not a situation we care about. If
> > > >> people want to run without protection they get to keep the pieces
> > > >> when it all goes wrong.  
> > > > 
> > > > The current implementation simply does not and cannot work with SELinux
> > > > in enforcing mode, so users have no other choice.
> > > >   
> > > >>> I'm not sure how you handle these cases on libvirt, but generally
> > > >>> speaking, this patch is a vast improvement on the current situation,
> > > >>> and I can follow up with an extension or a different version of
> > > >>> qemuSecurityCommandRun() later.    
> > > >>
> > > >> No, I don't think it is a vast improvement.
> > > >>
> > > >> The goal of sVirt is to guarantee isolation between VMs.
> > > >>
> > > >> Running passt under svirt_t:MCS is not ideal because the svirt_t
> > > >> policy allows things that passt should not get. It does still
> > > >> guarantee isolation between VMs, because the MCS label is present.  
> > > > 
> > > > It's a bit more than that: it's not ideal because libvirt simply won't
> > > > start passt. There's no isolation and no VMs.
> > > >   
> > > >> Switching to running passt_t:c0.c1023 will be more correct in terms
> > > >> of what permissions passt should be allowed, but it has disabled
> > > >> isolation of passt between VMs. This is a clear degradation of
> > > >> capabilities from the POV of sVirt's goals.  
> > > > 
> > > > It's not a degradation because VMs can't start passt with SELinux in
> > > > enforcing mode, without this patch. No service, no degradation.
> > > > 
> > > > I looked into options to rework
> > > > virSecurityManagerSetChildProcessLabel() and friends with a more
> > > > flexible modeling/building of labels -- just doing some trick all the
> > > > way down from qemuSecurityCommandRun() implies a number of layering
> > > > violations that I would like to avoid.
> > > > 
> > > > It all looks doable, but implementing the type of functionality/API
> > > > that's currently missing there isn't a small rework -- some refactoring
> > > > of interfaces is definitely needed. I started, but it's not quick.
> > > > 
> > > > So for the moment being I would suggest that, if passt can't be
> > > > relabeled as passt_t (i.e. if this patch or equivalent can't be
> > > > applied), the whole passt back-end should be dropped.  
> > > 
> > > 
> > > I don't think we need such drastic measure. I think you can use:
> > > 
> > > qemuPasstStart()
> > > {
> > > 
> > > 
> > >   seclabel = virDomainDefGetSecurityLabelDef(vm->def, "selinux");
> > >   s = context_new(seclabel->label);
> > >   context_type_set(s, "virt_t);  
> > 
> > I presume you meant "passt_t" here.
> 
> No, that needs to be "virtd_t" for the right domain transition to
> happen.

The transitions only happen on execve().  We're running in libvirtd (as
virtd_t:c0.c1023) and will execve() passt (needs to be passt_t:c243,c2353). 

If we use virtd_t, then when passt is exec'd it'll get virtd_t:c243,c2353.

Without a second execve it'll never transition onto  passt_t:c243,c2353. 

We have no need to rely on automatic transitions when we know the target
label we wish to use upfront. So we should be using passt_t:c243,c2353
with virCommand

With regards,
Daniel
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