summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/Documentation/netlabel
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-27 10:05:51 +0000
commit5d1646d90e1f2cceb9f0828f4b28318cd0ec7744 (patch)
treea94efe259b9009378be6d90eb30d2b019d95c194 /Documentation/netlabel
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadlinux-430c2fc249ea5c0536abd21c23382884005c9093.tar.xz
linux-430c2fc249ea5c0536abd21c23382884005c9093.zip
Adding upstream version 5.10.209.upstream/5.10.209upstream
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/netlabel')
-rw-r--r--Documentation/netlabel/cipso_ipv4.rst56
-rw-r--r--Documentation/netlabel/draft_ietf.rst5
-rw-r--r--Documentation/netlabel/index.rst21
-rw-r--r--Documentation/netlabel/introduction.rst52
-rw-r--r--Documentation/netlabel/lsm_interface.rst53
5 files changed, 187 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/netlabel/cipso_ipv4.rst b/Documentation/netlabel/cipso_ipv4.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cbd3f3231
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/netlabel/cipso_ipv4.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,56 @@
+===================================
+NetLabel CIPSO/IPv4 Protocol Engine
+===================================
+
+Paul Moore, paul.moore@hp.com
+
+May 17, 2006
+
+Overview
+========
+
+The NetLabel CIPSO/IPv4 protocol engine is based on the IETF Commercial
+IP Security Option (CIPSO) draft from July 16, 1992. A copy of this
+draft can be found in this directory
+(draft-ietf-cipso-ipsecurity-01.txt). While the IETF draft never made
+it to an RFC standard it has become a de-facto standard for labeled
+networking and is used in many trusted operating systems.
+
+Outbound Packet Processing
+==========================
+
+The CIPSO/IPv4 protocol engine applies the CIPSO IP option to packets by
+adding the CIPSO label to the socket. This causes all packets leaving the
+system through the socket to have the CIPSO IP option applied. The socket's
+CIPSO label can be changed at any point in time, however, it is recommended
+that it is set upon the socket's creation. The LSM can set the socket's CIPSO
+label by using the NetLabel security module API; if the NetLabel "domain" is
+configured to use CIPSO for packet labeling then a CIPSO IP option will be
+generated and attached to the socket.
+
+Inbound Packet Processing
+=========================
+
+The CIPSO/IPv4 protocol engine validates every CIPSO IP option it finds at the
+IP layer without any special handling required by the LSM. However, in order
+to decode and translate the CIPSO label on the packet the LSM must use the
+NetLabel security module API to extract the security attributes of the packet.
+This is typically done at the socket layer using the 'socket_sock_rcv_skb()'
+LSM hook.
+
+Label Translation
+=================
+
+The CIPSO/IPv4 protocol engine contains a mechanism to translate CIPSO security
+attributes such as sensitivity level and category to values which are
+appropriate for the host. These mappings are defined as part of a CIPSO
+Domain Of Interpretation (DOI) definition and are configured through the
+NetLabel user space communication layer. Each DOI definition can have a
+different security attribute mapping table.
+
+Label Translation Cache
+=======================
+
+The NetLabel system provides a framework for caching security attribute
+mappings from the network labels to the corresponding LSM identifiers. The
+CIPSO/IPv4 protocol engine supports this caching mechanism.
diff --git a/Documentation/netlabel/draft_ietf.rst b/Documentation/netlabel/draft_ietf.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5ed39ab82
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/netlabel/draft_ietf.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+Draft IETF CIPSO IP Security
+----------------------------
+
+ .. include:: draft-ietf-cipso-ipsecurity-01.txt
+ :literal:
diff --git a/Documentation/netlabel/index.rst b/Documentation/netlabel/index.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..984e1b191
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/netlabel/index.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
+
+========
+NetLabel
+========
+
+.. toctree::
+ :maxdepth: 1
+
+ introduction
+ cipso_ipv4
+ lsm_interface
+
+ draft_ietf
+
+.. only:: subproject and html
+
+ Indices
+ =======
+
+ * :ref:`genindex`
diff --git a/Documentation/netlabel/introduction.rst b/Documentation/netlabel/introduction.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9333bbb0a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/netlabel/introduction.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+=====================
+NetLabel Introduction
+=====================
+
+Paul Moore, paul.moore@hp.com
+
+August 2, 2006
+
+Overview
+========
+
+NetLabel is a mechanism which can be used by kernel security modules to attach
+security attributes to outgoing network packets generated from user space
+applications and read security attributes from incoming network packets. It
+is composed of three main components, the protocol engines, the communication
+layer, and the kernel security module API.
+
+Protocol Engines
+================
+
+The protocol engines are responsible for both applying and retrieving the
+network packet's security attributes. If any translation between the network
+security attributes and those on the host are required then the protocol
+engine will handle those tasks as well. Other kernel subsystems should
+refrain from calling the protocol engines directly, instead they should use
+the NetLabel kernel security module API described below.
+
+Detailed information about each NetLabel protocol engine can be found in this
+directory.
+
+Communication Layer
+===================
+
+The communication layer exists to allow NetLabel configuration and monitoring
+from user space. The NetLabel communication layer uses a message based
+protocol built on top of the Generic NETLINK transport mechanism. The exact
+formatting of these NetLabel messages as well as the Generic NETLINK family
+names can be found in the 'net/netlabel/' directory as comments in the
+header files as well as in 'include/net/netlabel.h'.
+
+Security Module API
+===================
+
+The purpose of the NetLabel security module API is to provide a protocol
+independent interface to the underlying NetLabel protocol engines. In addition
+to protocol independence, the security module API is designed to be completely
+LSM independent which should allow multiple LSMs to leverage the same code
+base.
+
+Detailed information about the NetLabel security module API can be found in the
+'include/net/netlabel.h' header file as well as the 'lsm_interface.txt' file
+found in this directory.
diff --git a/Documentation/netlabel/lsm_interface.rst b/Documentation/netlabel/lsm_interface.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..026fc267f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/netlabel/lsm_interface.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+========================================
+NetLabel Linux Security Module Interface
+========================================
+
+Paul Moore, paul.moore@hp.com
+
+May 17, 2006
+
+Overview
+========
+
+NetLabel is a mechanism which can set and retrieve security attributes from
+network packets. It is intended to be used by LSM developers who want to make
+use of a common code base for several different packet labeling protocols.
+The NetLabel security module API is defined in 'include/net/netlabel.h' but a
+brief overview is given below.
+
+NetLabel Security Attributes
+============================
+
+Since NetLabel supports multiple different packet labeling protocols and LSMs
+it uses the concept of security attributes to refer to the packet's security
+labels. The NetLabel security attributes are defined by the
+'netlbl_lsm_secattr' structure in the NetLabel header file. Internally the
+NetLabel subsystem converts the security attributes to and from the correct
+low-level packet label depending on the NetLabel build time and run time
+configuration. It is up to the LSM developer to translate the NetLabel
+security attributes into whatever security identifiers are in use for their
+particular LSM.
+
+NetLabel LSM Protocol Operations
+================================
+
+These are the functions which allow the LSM developer to manipulate the labels
+on outgoing packets as well as read the labels on incoming packets. Functions
+exist to operate both on sockets as well as the sk_buffs directly. These high
+level functions are translated into low level protocol operations based on how
+the administrator has configured the NetLabel subsystem.
+
+NetLabel Label Mapping Cache Operations
+=======================================
+
+Depending on the exact configuration, translation between the network packet
+label and the internal LSM security identifier can be time consuming. The
+NetLabel label mapping cache is a caching mechanism which can be used to
+sidestep much of this overhead once a mapping has been established. Once the
+LSM has received a packet, used NetLabel to decode its security attributes,
+and translated the security attributes into a LSM internal identifier the LSM
+can use the NetLabel caching functions to associate the LSM internal
+identifier with the network packet's label. This means that in the future
+when a incoming packet matches a cached value not only are the internal
+NetLabel translation mechanisms bypassed but the LSM translation mechanisms are
+bypassed as well which should result in a significant reduction in overhead.