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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst | 45 |
1 files changed, 37 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst b/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst index 13e4b18e5dbb..dacdbc1149e6 100644 --- a/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst +++ b/Documentation/filesystems/fsverity.rst @@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ btrfs filesystems. Like fscrypt, not too much filesystem-specific code is needed to support fs-verity. fs-verity is similar to `dm-verity -<https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/device-mapper/verity.txt>`_ +<https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/admin-guide/device-mapper/verity.rst>`_ but works on files rather than block devices. On regular files on filesystems supporting fs-verity, userspace can execute an ioctl that causes the filesystem to build a Merkle tree for the file and persist @@ -86,6 +86,16 @@ authenticating fs-verity file hashes include: signature in their "security.ima" extended attribute, as controlled by the IMA policy. For more information, see the IMA documentation. +- Integrity Policy Enforcement (IPE). IPE supports enforcing access + control decisions based on immutable security properties of files, + including those protected by fs-verity's built-in signatures. + "IPE policy" specifically allows for the authorization of fs-verity + files using properties ``fsverity_digest`` for identifying + files by their verity digest, and ``fsverity_signature`` to authorize + files with a verified fs-verity's built-in signature. For + details on configuring IPE policies and understanding its operational + modes, please refer to :doc:`IPE admin guide </admin-guide/LSM/ipe>`. + - Trusted userspace code in combination with `Built-in signature verification`_. This approach should be used only with great care. @@ -238,11 +248,17 @@ FS_IOC_READ_VERITY_METADATA The FS_IOC_READ_VERITY_METADATA ioctl reads verity metadata from a verity file. This ioctl is available since Linux v5.12. -This ioctl allows writing a server program that takes a verity file -and serves it to a client program, such that the client can do its own -fs-verity compatible verification of the file. This only makes sense -if the client doesn't trust the server and if the server needs to -provide the storage for the client. +This ioctl is useful for cases where the verity verification should be +performed somewhere other than the currently running kernel. + +One example is a server program that takes a verity file and serves it +to a client program, such that the client can do its own fs-verity +compatible verification of the file. This only makes sense if the +client doesn't trust the server and if the server needs to provide the +storage for the client. + +Another example is copying verity metadata when creating filesystem +images in userspace (such as with ``mkfs.ext4 -d``). This is a fairly specialized use case, and most fs-verity users won't need this ioctl. @@ -457,7 +473,11 @@ Enabling this option adds the following: On success, the ioctl persists the signature alongside the Merkle tree. Then, any time the file is opened, the kernel verifies the file's actual digest against this signature, using the certificates - in the ".fs-verity" keyring. + in the ".fs-verity" keyring. This verification happens as long as the + file's signature exists, regardless of the state of the sysctl variable + "fs.verity.require_signatures" described in the next item. The IPE LSM + relies on this behavior to recognize and label fsverity files + that contain a verified built-in fsverity signature. 3. A new sysctl "fs.verity.require_signatures" is made available. When set to 1, the kernel requires that all verity files have a @@ -481,7 +501,7 @@ be carefully considered before using them: - Builtin signature verification does *not* make the kernel enforce that any files actually have fs-verity enabled. Thus, it is not a - complete authentication policy. Currently, if it is used, the only + complete authentication policy. Currently, if it is used, one way to complete the authentication policy is for trusted userspace code to explicitly check whether files have fs-verity enabled with a signature before they are accessed. (With @@ -490,6 +510,15 @@ be carefully considered before using them: could just store the signature alongside the file and verify it itself using a cryptographic library, instead of using this feature. +- Another approach is to utilize fs-verity builtin signature + verification in conjunction with the IPE LSM, which supports defining + a kernel-enforced, system-wide authentication policy that allows only + files with a verified fs-verity builtin signature to perform certain + operations, such as execution. Note that IPE doesn't require + fs.verity.require_signatures=1. + Please refer to :doc:`IPE admin guide </admin-guide/LSM/ipe>` for + more details. + - A file's builtin signature can only be set at the same time that fs-verity is being enabled on the file. Changing or deleting the builtin signature later requires re-creating the file. |