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diff --git a/Documentation/security/IMA-templates.txt b/Documentation/security/IMA-templates.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..a777e5f1df5b --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/IMA-templates.txt @@ -0,0 +1,87 @@ + IMA Template Management Mechanism + + +==== INTRODUCTION ==== + +The original 'ima' template is fixed length, containing the filedata hash +and pathname. The filedata hash is limited to 20 bytes (md5/sha1). +The pathname is a null terminated string, limited to 255 characters. +To overcome these limitations and to add additional file metadata, it is +necessary to extend the current version of IMA by defining additional +templates. For example, information that could be possibly reported are +the inode UID/GID or the LSM labels either of the inode and of the process +that is accessing it. + +However, the main problem to introduce this feature is that, each time +a new template is defined, the functions that generate and display +the measurements list would include the code for handling a new format +and, thus, would significantly grow over the time. + +The proposed solution solves this problem by separating the template +management from the remaining IMA code. The core of this solution is the +definition of two new data structures: a template descriptor, to determine +which information should be included in the measurement list; a template +field, to generate and display data of a given type. + +Managing templates with these structures is very simple. To support +a new data type, developers define the field identifier and implement +two functions, init() and show(), respectively to generate and display +measurement entries. Defining a new template descriptor requires +specifying the template format, a string of field identifiers separated +by the '|' character. While in the current implementation it is possible +to define new template descriptors only by adding their definition in the +template specific code (ima_template.c), in a future version it will be +possible to register a new template on a running kernel by supplying to IMA +the desired format string. In this version, IMA initializes at boot time +all defined template descriptors by translating the format into an array +of template fields structures taken from the set of the supported ones. + +After the initialization step, IMA will call ima_alloc_init_template() +(new function defined within the patches for the new template management +mechanism) to generate a new measurement entry by using the template +descriptor chosen through the kernel configuration or through the newly +introduced 'ima_template=' kernel command line parameter. It is during this +phase that the advantages of the new architecture are clearly shown: +the latter function will not contain specific code to handle a given template +but, instead, it simply calls the init() method of the template fields +associated to the chosen template descriptor and store the result (pointer +to allocated data and data length) in the measurement entry structure. + +The same mechanism is employed to display measurements entries. +The functions ima[_ascii]_measurements_show() retrieve, for each entry, +the template descriptor used to produce that entry and call the show() +method for each item of the array of template fields structures. + + + +==== SUPPORTED TEMPLATE FIELDS AND DESCRIPTORS ==== + +In the following, there is the list of supported template fields +('<identifier>': description), that can be used to define new template +descriptors by adding their identifier to the format string +(support for more data types will be added later): + + - 'd': the digest of the event (i.e. the digest of a measured file), + calculated with the SHA1 or MD5 hash algorithm; + - 'n': the name of the event (i.e. the file name), with size up to 255 bytes; + - 'd-ng': the digest of the event, calculated with an arbitrary hash + algorithm (field format: [<hash algo>:]digest, where the digest + prefix is shown only if the hash algorithm is not SHA1 or MD5); + - 'n-ng': the name of the event, without size limitations. + + +Below, there is the list of defined template descriptors: + - "ima": its format is 'd|n'; + - "ima-ng" (default): its format is 'd-ng|n-ng'. + + + +==== USE ==== + +To specify the template descriptor to be used to generate measurement entries, +currently the following methods are supported: + + - select a template descriptor among those supported in the kernel + configuration ('ima-ng' is the default choice); + - specify a template descriptor name from the kernel command line through + the 'ima_template=' parameter. |