Linux Kernel Security (it is necessary).

Linux Kernel Security (it is necessary).

 

Linux kernel is the central component of Linux operating systems. It is responsible for managing the system's resources, the communication between hardware and software and security. Kernel play a critical role in supporting security at higher levels. Unfortunately, stock kernel is not secured out of box. There are some important Linux kernel patches to secure your box. They differ significantly in how they are administered and how they integrate into the system. They also allow for easy control of access between processes and objects, processes and other processes, and objects and other objects. The following pros and cons list is based upon my personal experience.

 There are three kinds of flavors in securing your Linux kernel:

1)      SE Linux

2)      AppArmor

3)      Grsecurity

 

SELinux

 

Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a Linux feature that provides a variety of security policies for Linux kernel. It is included with CentOS / RHEL / Fedora Linux, Debian / Ubuntu, Suse, Slackware and many other distributions.

 

A video introduction to SELinux for mere mortals:

 

While Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is an incredibly powerful tool for securing Linux servers, it has a reputation for being difficult to configure. As a result, many system administrators would simply turn it off. Fortunately, the incredible amount of work completed by the SELinux community in recent years has made SELinux much more system administrator-friendly.

In this session, Thomas Cameron explains the basics of SELinux, which include configuring, analyzing, and correcting SELinux errors, as well as writing basic policies to enable non-SELinux-aware applications to work on SELinux-protected systems. Real-world examples will be used to better demonstrate how to use SELinux.

 

  

SELinux features

1. Clean separation of policy from enforcement

2. Well-defined policy interfaces

3. Support for applications querying the policy and enforcing access control

4. Independent of specific policies and policy languages

5. Independent of specific security label formats and contents

6. Individual labels and controls for kernel objects and services

7. Caching of access decisions for efficiency

8. Support for policy changes

9. Separate measures for protecting system integrity (domain-type) and data confidentiality (multilevel security)

10. Very flexible policy

11. Controls over process initialization and inheritance and program execution

12. Controls over file systems, directories, files, and open file descriptors

13. Controls over sockets, messages, and network interfaces

14. Controls over use of "capabilities"

 

Pros and Cons

• Admin skill set (learning curve) - High

• Complex and powerful access control mechanism - Yes

• Detailed configuration required - Yes

• GUI tools to write / modify rules set - Yes

• CLI tools to write / modify rules set - Yes

• Ease of use - No (often described as horrible to use)

• Binary package - Available for most Linux distributions

• System performance impact: None

• Security Framework: Mandatory access controls using Flask

• Auditing and logging supported - Yes

• Typical user base - Enterprise users

• Documentation - Well documented

AppArmor

 

AppArmor (Application Armor) is another security software for Linux which maintained and released by Novell under GPL. AppArmor was created as an alternative to SELinux. AppArmor works with file paths. According to official Novell FAQ:

 AppArmor is the most effective and easy-to-use Linux application security system available on the market today. AppArmor is a security framework that proactively protects the operating system and applications from external or internal threats, even zero-day attacks, by enforcing good program behavior and preventing even unknown software flaws from being exploited. AppArmor security profiles completely define what system resources individual programs can access, and with what privileges. A number of default policies are included with AppArmor, and using a combination of advanced static analysis and learning-based tools, AppArmor policies for even very complex applications can be deployed successfully in a matter of hours.

AppArmor is default in OpenSUSE and Suse Enterprise Linux. It was first successfully packaged for Ubuntu Linux.

 AppArmor Overview:

 

Apparmor overview from albertspijkers

 Video Novell SUSE Linux and AppArmor - Speaker: Crispin Cowan Director of Software Engineering, SUSE/Novell

The core of the security problem is that most software contains latent bugs, and many of these bug can be exploited by attackers to cause the software to do something undesirable to the victim's computer. To block this threat, one can either use only perfect software (of which there is a shortage :) or use a security system to control what software may and may not do. The problem is that such systems are historically very difficult to use.

AppArmor is an application security system that directly attacks the ease of use problem, making it possible for widespread adoption by developers, system administrators, and users. AppArmor provides for security profiles (policies) that specify the the files that a given program may read, write, and execute, and provides tools to quickly and automatically generate these profiles.

This presentation will briefly introduce the AppArmor system, and then spend much of the time showing how to best use AppArmor to confine applications and protect systems. AppArmor is pure GPL software, and is available for SUSE, Slackware, Ubuntu, Gentoo, and Red Hat Linux.

Securing Linux with AppArmor:

Dc 15-cowan from albertspijkers

 Novell SUSE Linux and AppArmor (video could do with better focus):

 Features

1. Full integration.

2. Easy deployment.

3. AppArmor includes a full suite of console and YaST-based tools to help you develop, deploy and maintain application security policies.

4. Protects the operating system, custom and third-party applications from both external and internal threats by enforcing appropriate application behavior.

5. Reporting and alerting. Built-in features allow you to schedule detailed event reports and configure alerts based on user-defined events.

6. Sub-process confinement. AppArmor allows you to define security policies for individual Perl and PHP scripts for tighter Web-server security.

Pros and Cons

 • Admin skill set (learning curve) - Medium

• Complex and powerful access control mechanism - Yes.

• Detailed configuration required - Yes.

• GUI tools to write / modify rules set - Yes (yast2 and wizards).

• CLI tools to write / modify rules set - Yes.

• Ease of use - Yes (often described as less complex and easier for the average user to learn than SELinux).

• Binary package - Available for Ubuntu / Suse / Opensuse and distros.

• System performance impact - None.

• Security Framework - Mandatory access controls.

• Auditing and logging supported - Yes.

• Typical user base - Enterprise users.

• Documentation - Documented (mostly available from Opensuse and Suse enterprise Linux).

 

Grsecurity

 

Grsecurity is a set of patches for the Linux kernel with an emphasis on enhancing security. It utilizes a multilayered detection, prevention, and containment model. It is licensed under the GPL.

 

Video on Gentoo Grsecurity Published on Oct 25, 2012

The talk gives an overview on how Open Source Security works, and how Gentoo in particular handles vulnerabilities. You will get to know the tools that are available to ensure your packages are safe and an outline on other efforts made within Gentoo to enhance the safety and security of your system.

 

 

Features

1. An intelligent and robust Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system that can generate least privilege policies for your entire system with no configuration

2. Change root (chroot) hardening

3. /tmp race prevention

4. Extensive auditing

5. Prevention of arbitrary code execution, regardless of the technique used (stack smashing, heap corruption, etc)

6. Prevention of arbitrary code execution in the kernel

7. Randomization of the stack, library, and heap bases

8. Kernel stack base randomization

9. Protection against exploitable null-pointer dereference bugs in the kernel

10. Reduction of the risk of sensitive information being leaked by arbitrary-read kernel bugs

11. A restriction that allows a user to only view his/her processes

12. Security alerts and audits that contain the IP address of the person causing the alert

 

Pros and Cons

 • Admin skill set (learning curve) - Low.

• Complex and powerful access control mechanism - No (it is simpler to administer than other two implementations. Also, policies are simpler to create, since there are no roles or complicated domain/file transitions).

• Detailed configuration required - No (works in learning mode).

• GUI tools to write / modify rules set - No.

• CLI tools to write / modify rules set - Yes (gradm tool).

• Ease of use - Yes.

• Binary package - Available for Ubuntu / RHEL / CentOS / Debian distros.

• System performance impact - None.

• Security Framework - Mandatory access controls (precisely, it is a RBAC implementation) using access control lists.

• Auditing and logging supported - Yes.

• Typical user base - Webserver and hosting companies.

• Documentation - unfortunately, is not well documented.

Conclusion:

All three offers very good protection and one can select them based upon the following simple criteria:

 

• New user / ease of use : Grsecurity

• Easy to understand policy and tools : AppArmor

• Most powerful access control mechanism : SELinux

 

 For more information please contact me at:

Drs. Albert Spijkers
DBA Consulting
web:            http://www.dbaconsulting.nl
blog:            DBA Consulting blog
profile:         DBA Consulting profile
Facebook :   DBA Consulting on Facebook