<feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom'>
<title>fscrypt.git/cli-tests, branch v0.3.3</title>
<subtitle>Go tool for managing Linux filesystem encryption
</subtitle>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/'/>
<entry>
<title>filesystem: create metadata files with mode 0600</title>
<updated>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=06c989df4e31dd9f172f94fbd6243f49d4dd0b92'/>
<id>06c989df4e31dd9f172f94fbd6243f49d4dd0b92</id>
<content type='text'>
Currently, fscrypt policies and protectors are world readable, as they
are created with mode 0644.  While this can be nice for use cases where
users share these files, those use cases seem to be quite rare, and it's
not a great default security-wise since it exposes password hashes to
all users.  While fscrypt uses a very strong password hash algorithm, it
would still be best to follow the lead of /etc/shadow and keep this
information non-world-readable.

Therefore, start creating these files with mode 0600.

Of course, if users do actually want to share these files, they have the
option of simply chmod'ing them to a less restrictive mode.  An option
could also be added to make fscrypt use the old mode 0644; however, the
need for that is currently unclear.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Currently, fscrypt policies and protectors are world readable, as they
are created with mode 0644.  While this can be nice for use cases where
users share these files, those use cases seem to be quite rare, and it's
not a great default security-wise since it exposes password hashes to
all users.  While fscrypt uses a very strong password hash algorithm, it
would still be best to follow the lead of /etc/shadow and keep this
information non-world-readable.

Therefore, start creating these files with mode 0600.

Of course, if users do actually want to share these files, they have the
option of simply chmod'ing them to a less restrictive mode.  An option
could also be added to make fscrypt use the old mode 0644; however, the
need for that is currently unclear.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Make all new metadata files owned by user when needed</title>
<updated>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=d4ce0b892cbe68db9f90f4015342e6a9069b079c'/>
<id>d4ce0b892cbe68db9f90f4015342e6a9069b079c</id>
<content type='text'>
Since commit 4c7c6631cc5a ("Set owner of login protectors to correct
user"), login protectors are made owned by the user when root creates
one on a user's behalf.  That's good, but the same isn't true of other
files that get created at the same time:

- The policy protecting the directory
- The protector link file, if the policy is on a different filesystem
- The recovery protector, if the policy is on a different filesystem
- The recovery instructions file

In preparation for setting all metadata files to mode 0600, start making
all these files owned by the user in this scenario as well.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Since commit 4c7c6631cc5a ("Set owner of login protectors to correct
user"), login protectors are made owned by the user when root creates
one on a user's behalf.  That's good, but the same isn't true of other
files that get created at the same time:

- The policy protecting the directory
- The protector link file, if the policy is on a different filesystem
- The recovery protector, if the policy is on a different filesystem
- The recovery instructions file

In preparation for setting all metadata files to mode 0600, start making
all these files owned by the user in this scenario as well.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Strictly validate metadata file ownership by default</title>
<updated>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=74e870b7bd1585b4b509da47e0e75db66336e576'/>
<id>74e870b7bd1585b4b509da47e0e75db66336e576</id>
<content type='text'>
The metadata validation checks introduced by the previous commits are
good, but to reduce the attack surface it would be much better to avoid
reading and parsing files owned by other users in the first place.

There are some possible use cases for users sharing fscrypt metadata
files, but I think that for the vast majority of users it is unneeded
and just opens up attack surface.  Thus, make fscrypt (and pam_fscrypt)
not process policies or protectors owned by other users by default.
Specifically,

   * If fscrypt or pam_fscrypt is running as a non-root user, only
     policies and protectors owned by the user or by root can be used.

   * If fscrypt is running as root, any policy or protector can be used.
     (This is to match user expectations -- starting a sudo session
     should gain rights, not remove rights.)

   * If pam_fscrypt is running as root, only policies and protectors
     owned by root can be used.  Note that this only applies when the
     root user themselves has an fscrypt login protector, which is rare.

Add an option 'allow_cross_user_metadata' to /etc/fscrypt.conf which
allows restoring the old behavior for anyone who really needs it.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
The metadata validation checks introduced by the previous commits are
good, but to reduce the attack surface it would be much better to avoid
reading and parsing files owned by other users in the first place.

There are some possible use cases for users sharing fscrypt metadata
files, but I think that for the vast majority of users it is unneeded
and just opens up attack surface.  Thus, make fscrypt (and pam_fscrypt)
not process policies or protectors owned by other users by default.
Specifically,

   * If fscrypt or pam_fscrypt is running as a non-root user, only
     policies and protectors owned by the user or by root can be used.

   * If fscrypt is running as root, any policy or protector can be used.
     (This is to match user expectations -- starting a sudo session
     should gain rights, not remove rights.)

   * If pam_fscrypt is running as root, only policies and protectors
     owned by root can be used.  Note that this only applies when the
     root user themselves has an fscrypt login protector, which is rare.

Add an option 'allow_cross_user_metadata' to /etc/fscrypt.conf which
allows restoring the old behavior for anyone who really needs it.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Make 'fscrypt setup' offer a choice of directory modes</title>
<updated>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-02-23T20:35:04+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=6e355131670ad014e45f879475ddf800f0080d41'/>
<id>6e355131670ad014e45f879475ddf800f0080d41</id>
<content type='text'>
World-writable directories are not appropriate for some systems, so
offer a choice of single-user-writable and world-writable modes, with
single-user-writable being the default.  Add a new documentation section
to help users decide which one to use.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
World-writable directories are not appropriate for some systems, so
offer a choice of single-user-writable and world-writable modes, with
single-user-writable being the default.  Add a new documentation section
to help users decide which one to use.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>cli-tests: fix broken test</title>
<updated>2022-01-19T19:07:03+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-01-19T19:07:00+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=6eb31650b4dc42cd0a40a962a0d513eeb827d9f5'/>
<id>6eb31650b4dc42cd0a40a962a0d513eeb827d9f5</id>
<content type='text'>
I'm not sure how this passed the GitHub checks.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
I'm not sure how this passed the GitHub checks.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>Merge pull request #337 from google/broken-links</title>
<updated>2022-01-19T05:11:01+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2022-01-19T05:11:01+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=fac30865c04de8f4698776e94dd86c7a88fd5da2'/>
<id>fac30865c04de8f4698776e94dd86c7a88fd5da2</id>
<content type='text'>
filesystem: store mountpoint in link files as a fallback</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
filesystem: store mountpoint in link files as a fallback</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>cmd/fscrypt: don't load protector in remove-protector-from-policy</title>
<updated>2021-12-23T17:44:13+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2021-12-23T17:39:08+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=6ebd5a54eae2dfb16b66da649e75848fe6030b7f'/>
<id>6ebd5a54eae2dfb16b66da649e75848fe6030b7f</id>
<content type='text'>
Make remove-protector-from-policy work even if the protector cannot be
loaded (for example, due to having been deleted already).

Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/258
Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/272
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Make remove-protector-from-policy work even if the protector cannot be
loaded (for example, due to having been deleted already).

Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/258
Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/272
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>cli-tests: add helper functions to get protector descriptors</title>
<updated>2021-12-23T17:39:08+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2021-12-23T17:39:08+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=57be034ce4700fb07c10b771628c1c63d8483d09'/>
<id>57be034ce4700fb07c10b771628c1c63d8483d09</id>
<content type='text'>
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>filesystem: store mountpoint in link files as a fallback</title>
<updated>2021-12-23T04:46:16+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2021-12-23T04:46:16+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=5ae7da4ee6582099de5d1b14733f8d58f4dc2816'/>
<id>5ae7da4ee6582099de5d1b14733f8d58f4dc2816</id>
<content type='text'>
Currently, linked protectors use filesystem link files of the form
"UUID=&lt;uuid&gt;".  These links get broken if the filesystem's UUID changes,
e.g. due to the filesystem being re-created even if the ".fscrypt"
directory is backed up and restored.

To prevent links from being broken (in most cases), start storing the
mountpoint path in the link files too, in the form
"UUID=&lt;uuid&gt;\nPATH=&lt;path&gt;\n".  When following a link, try the UUID
first, and if it doesn't work try the PATH.  While it's possible that
the path changed too, for login protectors (the usual use case of linked
protectors) this won't be an issue as the path will always be "/".

An alternative solution would be to fall back to scanning all
filesystems for the needed protector descriptor.  I decided not to do
that, since relying on a global scan doesn't seem to be a good design.
It wouldn't scale to large numbers of filesystems, it could cross
security boundaries, and it would make it possible for adding a new
filesystem to break fscrypt on existing filesystems.  And if a global
scan was an acceptable way to find protectors during normal use, then
there would be no need for link files in the first place.

Note: this change is backwards compatible (i.e., fscrypt will continue
to recognize old link files) but not forwards-compatible (i.e., previous
versions of fscrypt won't recognize new link files).

Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/311
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Currently, linked protectors use filesystem link files of the form
"UUID=&lt;uuid&gt;".  These links get broken if the filesystem's UUID changes,
e.g. due to the filesystem being re-created even if the ".fscrypt"
directory is backed up and restored.

To prevent links from being broken (in most cases), start storing the
mountpoint path in the link files too, in the form
"UUID=&lt;uuid&gt;\nPATH=&lt;path&gt;\n".  When following a link, try the UUID
first, and if it doesn't work try the PATH.  While it's possible that
the path changed too, for login protectors (the usual use case of linked
protectors) this won't be an issue as the path will always be "/".

An alternative solution would be to fall back to scanning all
filesystems for the needed protector descriptor.  I decided not to do
that, since relying on a global scan doesn't seem to be a good design.
It wouldn't scale to large numbers of filesystems, it could cross
security boundaries, and it would make it possible for adding a new
filesystem to break fscrypt on existing filesystems.  And if a global
scan was an acceptable way to find protectors during normal use, then
there would be no need for link files in the first place.

Note: this change is backwards compatible (i.e., fscrypt will continue
to recognize old link files) but not forwards-compatible (i.e., previous
versions of fscrypt won't recognize new link files).

Fixes https://github.com/google/fscrypt/issues/311
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
<entry>
<title>filesystem: avoid accessing irrelevant filesystems</title>
<updated>2021-12-20T16:24:15+00:00</updated>
<author>
<name>Eric Biggers</name>
<email>ebiggers@google.com</email>
</author>
<published>2021-12-20T04:17:20+00:00</published>
<link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='https://git.hodgden.net/cgit.cgi/fscrypt.git/commit/?id=d0b9e2c995beb13c70a1549923df482ff773f09b'/>
<id>d0b9e2c995beb13c70a1549923df482ff773f09b</id>
<content type='text'>
Forbid 'fscrypt setup' on filesystems that aren't expected to support
encryption (other than the root filesystem), and skip looking for
fscrypt metadata directories on such filesystems.  This has two
benefits.  First, it avoids the printing of annoying warnings like:

	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt/policies: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt/protectors: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt/policies: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt/protectors: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt/policies: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt/protectors: permission denied

Second, it avoids long delays or side effects on some filesystems.

To do this, introduce an allowlist of filesystem types that fscrypt will
recognize.  I wanted to avoid doing this, since this list will need to
be updated in the future, but I don't see a better solution.
</content>
<content type='xhtml'>
<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'>
<pre>
Forbid 'fscrypt setup' on filesystems that aren't expected to support
encryption (other than the root filesystem), and skip looking for
fscrypt metadata directories on such filesystems.  This has two
benefits.  First, it avoids the printing of annoying warnings like:

	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt/policies: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /run/user/0/.fscrypt/protectors: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt/policies: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/.fscrypt/protectors: invalid argument
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt/policies: permission denied
	pam_fscrypt[75038]: stat /sys/fs/pstore/.fscrypt/protectors: permission denied

Second, it avoids long delays or side effects on some filesystems.

To do this, introduce an allowlist of filesystem types that fscrypt will
recognize.  I wanted to avoid doing this, since this list will need to
be updated in the future, but I don't see a better solution.
</pre>
</div>
</content>
</entry>
</feed>
