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Drop capabilities if not running ip exec vrf with libcap

RFC PATCH In review Luca Boccassi 3 participants 7 messages Mar 27, 2018

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RFC PATCH 1/1 Drop capabilities if not running ip exec vrf with libcap

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

---

I'd like to be able to run ip vrf exec as a normal user, does this approach sound sensible? Any concerns? Are there any other alternatives? It would be up to each user/admin/whatever to make sure the program is built with libcap and to add the capabilities manually, so nothing will be there by default.

 configure         | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 ip/ip.c           | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 man/man8/ip-vrf.8 |  8 ++++++++
 3 files changed, 59 insertions(+)
configure +17 -0
index f7c2d7a7..5ef5cd4c 100755
@@ -336,6 +336,20 @@ EOF
     rm -f $TMPDIR/strtest.c $TMPDIR/strtest
 }
 
+check_cap()
+{
+	if ${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --exists
+	then
+		echo "HAVE_CAP:=y" >>$CONFIG
+		echo "yes"
+
+		echo 'CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBCAP' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --cflags` >>$CONFIG
+		echo 'LDLIBS +=' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --libs` >> $CONFIG
+	else
+		echo "no"
+	fi
+}
+
 quiet_config()
 {
 	cat <<EOF
@@ -410,6 +424,9 @@ check_berkeley_db
 echo -n "need for strlcpy: "
 check_strlcpy
 
+echo -n "libcap support: "
+check_cap
+
 echo >> $CONFIG
 echo "%.o: %.c" >> $CONFIG
 echo '	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<' >> $CONFIG
ip/ip.c +34 -0
index e0cd96cb..49739571 100644
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+#include <sys/capability.h>
+#endif
 
 #include "SNAPSHOT.h"
 #include "utils.h"
@@ -68,6 +72,24 @@ static int do_help(int argc, char **argv)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void drop_cap(void)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+	/* don't harmstring root/sudo */
+	if (getuid() != 0 && geteuid() != 0) {
+		cap_t capabilities;
+		capabilities = cap_get_proc();
+		if (!capabilities)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_clear(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_set_proc(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		cap_free(capabilities);
+	}
+#endif
+}
+
 static const struct cmd {
 	const char *cmd;
 	int (*func)(int argc, char **argv);
@@ -174,6 +196,18 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char *batch_file = NULL;
 	int color = 0;
 
+	/* to run vrf exec without root, capabilities might be set, drop them
+	 * if not needed as the first thing.
+	 * execv will drop them for the child command.
+	 * vrf exec requires:
+	 * - cap_dac_override to create the cgroup subdir in /sys
+	 * - cap_sys_admin to load the BPF program
+	 * - cap_net_admin to set the socket into the cgroup
+	 */
+	if (argc < 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "vrf") != 0 ||
+			strcmp(argv[2], "exec") != 0)
+		drop_cap();
+
 	basename = strrchr(argv[0], '/');
 	if (basename == NULL)
 		basename = argv[0];
man/man8/ip-vrf.8 +8 -0
index 18789339..1a42cebe 100644
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ a VRF other than the default VRF (main table). A command can be run against
 the default VRF by passing the "default" as the VRF name. This is useful if
 the current shell is associated with another VRF (e.g, Management VRF).
 
+This command requires the system to be booted with cgroup v2 (e.g. with systemd,
+add systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 to the kernel command line).
+
+This command also requires to be ran as root or with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN,
+CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE capabilities. If built with libcap and if
+capabilities are added to the ip binary program via setcap, the program will
+drop them as the first thing when invoked, unless the command is vrf exec.
+
 .TP
 .B ip vrf identify [PID] - Report VRF association for process
 .sp
Signature · 1 line
2.14.2
#1 lore raw
Quoted 8 lines · Luca Boccassi

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

Quoted 8 lines

---

I'd like to be able to run ip vrf exec as a normal user, does this approach sound sensible? Any concerns? Are there any other alternatives? It would be up to each user/admin/whatever to make sure the program is built with libcap and to add the capabilities manually, so nothing will be there by default.

This is very similar to a change I recently made for our distribution. I created a separate 'runvrf' command so as to not contaminate 'ip' (the runvrf command has the limitation it can not configure the VRF cgroup so that needs to be done before runvrf).

Quoted 67 lines
 configure         | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 ip/ip.c           | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 man/man8/ip-vrf.8 |  8 ++++++++
 3 files changed, 59 insertions(+)
configure +17 -0
index f7c2d7a7..5ef5cd4c 100755
@@ -336,6 +336,20 @@ EOF
     rm -f $TMPDIR/strtest.c $TMPDIR/strtest
 }
 
+check_cap()
+{
+	if ${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --exists
+	then
+		echo "HAVE_CAP:=y" >>$CONFIG
+		echo "yes"
+
+		echo 'CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBCAP' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --cflags` >>$CONFIG
+		echo 'LDLIBS +=' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --libs` >> $CONFIG
+	else
+		echo "no"
+	fi
+}
+
 quiet_config()
 {
 	cat <<EOF
@@ -410,6 +424,9 @@ check_berkeley_db
 echo -n "need for strlcpy: "
 check_strlcpy
 
+echo -n "libcap support: "
+check_cap
+
 echo >> $CONFIG
 echo "%.o: %.c" >> $CONFIG
 echo '	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<' >> $CONFIG
ip/ip.c +11 -0
index e0cd96cb..49739571 100644
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
 #include <netinet/in.h>
 #include <string.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+#include <sys/capability.h>
+#endif
 
 #include "SNAPSHOT.h"
 #include "utils.h"
@@ -68,6 +72,24 @@ static int do_help(int argc, char **argv)
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static void drop_cap(void)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+	/* don't harmstring root/sudo */
+	if (getuid() != 0 && geteuid() != 0) {
+		cap_t capabilities;
+		capabilities = cap_get_proc();

ip/ip.c static int do_help(int argc, char **argv) · line 91

Quoted 10 lines
ip/ip.c +10 -0
+		if (!capabilities)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_clear(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_set_proc(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		cap_free(capabilities);
+	}
+#endif
+}

You don't need the capabilities after the cgroup has been changed, so you can add a call to drop_cap at the end of vrf_switch.

Quoted 43 lines
ip/ip.c +13 -0
+
 static const struct cmd {
 	const char *cmd;
 	int (*func)(int argc, char **argv);
@@ -174,6 +196,18 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char *batch_file = NULL;
 	int color = 0;
 
+	/* to run vrf exec without root, capabilities might be set, drop them
+	 * if not needed as the first thing.
+	 * execv will drop them for the child command.
+	 * vrf exec requires:
+	 * - cap_dac_override to create the cgroup subdir in /sys
+	 * - cap_sys_admin to load the BPF program
+	 * - cap_net_admin to set the socket into the cgroup
+	 */
+	if (argc < 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "vrf") != 0 ||
+			strcmp(argv[2], "exec") != 0)
+		drop_cap();
+
 	basename = strrchr(argv[0], '/');
 	if (basename == NULL)
 		basename = argv[0];
man/man8/ip-vrf.8 +8 -0
index 18789339..1a42cebe 100644
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ a VRF other than the default VRF (main table). A command can be run against
 the default VRF by passing the "default" as the VRF name. This is useful if
 the current shell is associated with another VRF (e.g, Management VRF).
 
+This command requires the system to be booted with cgroup v2 (e.g. with systemd,
+add systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 to the kernel command line).
+
+This command also requires to be ran as root or with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN,
+CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE capabilities. If built with libcap and if
+capabilities are added to the ip binary program via setcap, the program will
+drop them as the first thing when invoked, unless the command is vrf exec.
+
 .TP
 .B ip vrf identify [PID] - Report VRF association for process
 .sp
#2 lore raw
Quoted 22 lines · David Ahern
Quoted 12 lines · Luca Boccassi

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like
ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

---

Quoted 8 lines

I'd like to be able to run ip vrf exec as a normal user, does this approach
sound sensible? Any concerns? Are there any other alternatives? It would be up to each user/admin/whatever to make sure the program is
built with libcap and to add the capabilities manually, so nothing will be
there by default.

Quoted 7 lines

This is very similar to a change I recently made for our distribution. I
created a separate 'runvrf' command so as to not contaminate 'ip' (the
runvrf command has the limitation it can not configure the VRF cgroup so
that needs to be done before runvrf).

Great, thanks for the feedback!

Quoted 75 lines
Quoted 75 lines

 configure         | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 ip/ip.c           | 34 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ man/man8/ip-vrf.8 |  8 ++++++++

 3 files changed, 59 insertions(+)
configure +0 -0
index f7c2d7a7..5ef5cd4c 100755
@@ -336,6 +336,20 @@ EOF

     rm -f $TMPDIR/strtest.c $TMPDIR/strtest
 }

configure +8 -0
+check_cap()
+{
+	if ${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --exists
+	then
+		echo "HAVE_CAP:=y" >>$CONFIG
+		echo "yes"
+
+		echo 'CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBCAP' `${PKG_CONFIG}

libcap --cflags` >>$CONFIG

configure +1 -0
+		echo 'LDLIBS +=' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --libs` >>

$CONFIG

configure +5 -0
+	else
+		echo "no"
+	fi
+}
+

 quiet_config()
 {
  cat <<EOF

configure +0 -0
@@ -410,6 +424,9 @@ check_berkeley_db

 echo -n "need for strlcpy: "
 check_strlcpy

configure +3 -0
+echo -n "libcap support: "
+check_cap
+

 echo >> $CONFIG
 echo "%.o: %.c" >> $CONFIG
 echo ' $(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -c -o $@
$<' >> $CONFIG

ip/ip.c +4 -0
index e0cd96cb..49739571 100644
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@
  #include <netinet/in.h>
  #include <string.h>
  #include <errno.h>
+#include <sys/types.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+#include <sys/capability.h>
+#endif


 #include "SNAPSHOT.h"
 #include "utils.h"

ip/ip.c +0 -0
@@ -68,6 +72,24 @@ static int do_help(int argc, char **argv)
  	return 0;
  }

ip/ip.c +12 -0
+static void drop_cap(void)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+	/* don't harmstring root/sudo */
+	if (getuid() != 0 && geteuid() != 0) {
+		cap_t capabilities;
+		capabilities = cap_get_proc();
+		if (!capabilities)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_clear(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_set_proc(capabilities) != 0)
Quoted 8 lines

ip/ip.c static int do_help(int argc, char **argv) · line 91

Quoted 5 lines
ip/ip.c +5 -0
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		cap_free(capabilities);
+	}
+#endif
+}

You don't need the capabilities after the cgroup has been changed, so you can add a call to drop_cap at the end of vrf_switch.

Ok, if Stephen finds the approach correct I'll send a v1 with that change (it shouldn't be strictly necessary as execvp which is ran just after vrf_switch drops caps, but it won't hurt either).

Signature · 2 lines
Kind regards,
Luca Boccassi
#3 lore raw
In reply to Luca Boccassi
Quoted 9 lines · On Tue, 27 Mar 2018 17:24:19 +0100 Luca Boccassi <[email protected]> wrote:

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

Gets a little messy, but don't have a better answer. When a command like iproute gets involved in security policy things I become concerned that it may have unexpected consequences.

#4 lore raw
Quoted 12 lines · Stephen Hemminger
Quoted 9 lines · On Tue, 27 Mar 2018 17:24:19 +0100 Luca Boccassi <[email protected]> wrote:

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like
ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

Quoted 5 lines
Quoted 1 line

Gets a little messy, but don't have a better answer. When a command like iproute gets involved in security policy things I become concerned that it may have unexpected consequences.

Yeah I understand. It requires an explicit action by the sysadmin, to give you plausible deniability :-)

I've seen changes to let BPF permissions be managed via an LSM (I think SELinux support is already merged in 4.15), so perhaps one day we'll be able to do the whole shebang (subdir in /sys + load bpf + manipulate cgroup) in a more fine-grained way, but for now I think this will do.

I'll send v1 shortly with the change asked by David.

Signature · 2 lines
Kind regards,
Luca Boccassi
#5 lore raw

PATCH 1/1 Drop capabilities if not running ip exec vrf with libcap

In reply to Luca Boccassi

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

---

Changes since RFC: moved drop_cap to lib/util.c to call it from ipvrf.c after vrf_switch, which is the function that requires the additional permissions, has finished.

 configure         | 17 +++++++++++++++++
 include/utils.h   |  2 ++
 ip/ip.c           | 12 ++++++++++++
 ip/ipvrf.c        |  2 ++
 lib/utils.c       | 21 +++++++++++++++++++++
 man/man8/ip-vrf.8 |  8 ++++++++
 6 files changed, 62 insertions(+)
configure +17 -0
index f7c2d7a7..5ef5cd4c 100755
@@ -336,6 +336,20 @@ EOF
     rm -f $TMPDIR/strtest.c $TMPDIR/strtest
 }
 
+check_cap()
+{
+	if ${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --exists
+	then
+		echo "HAVE_CAP:=y" >>$CONFIG
+		echo "yes"
+
+		echo 'CFLAGS += -DHAVE_LIBCAP' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --cflags` >>$CONFIG
+		echo 'LDLIBS +=' `${PKG_CONFIG} libcap --libs` >> $CONFIG
+	else
+		echo "no"
+	fi
+}
+
 quiet_config()
 {
 	cat <<EOF
@@ -410,6 +424,9 @@ check_berkeley_db
 echo -n "need for strlcpy: "
 check_strlcpy
 
+echo -n "libcap support: "
+check_cap
+
 echo >> $CONFIG
 echo "%.o: %.c" >> $CONFIG
 echo '	$(QUIET_CC)$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(EXTRA_CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<' >> $CONFIG
include/utils.h +2 -0
index 0394268e..e7bffe8a 100644
@@ -299,4 +299,6 @@ size_t strlcpy(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);
 size_t strlcat(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size);
 #endif
 
+void drop_cap(void);
+
 #endif /* __UTILS_H__ */
ip/ip.c +12 -0
index e0cd96cb..e716fed8 100644
@@ -174,6 +174,18 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char *batch_file = NULL;
 	int color = 0;
 
+	/* to run vrf exec without root, capabilities might be set, drop them
+	 * if not needed as the first thing.
+	 * execv will drop them for the child command.
+	 * vrf exec requires:
+	 * - cap_dac_override to create the cgroup subdir in /sys
+	 * - cap_sys_admin to load the BPF program
+	 * - cap_net_admin to set the socket into the cgroup
+	 */
+	if (argc < 3 || strcmp(argv[1], "vrf") != 0 ||
+			strcmp(argv[2], "exec") != 0)
+		drop_cap();
+
 	basename = strrchr(argv[0], '/');
 	if (basename == NULL)
 		basename = argv[0];
ip/ipvrf.c +2 -0
index f9277e1e..8a6b7f97 100644
@@ -436,6 +436,8 @@ out2:
 out:
 	free(mnt);
 
+	drop_cap();
+
 	return rc;
 }
 
lib/utils.c +21 -0
index eba4fa74..d20cc594 100644
@@ -30,6 +30,9 @@
 #include <time.h>
 #include <sys/time.h>
 #include <errno.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+#include <sys/capability.h>
+#endif
 
 #include "rt_names.h"
 #include "utils.h"
@@ -1482,3 +1485,21 @@ size_t strlcat(char *dst, const char *src, size_t size)
 	return dlen + strlcpy(dst + dlen, src, size - dlen);
 }
 #endif
+
+void drop_cap(void)
+{
+#ifdef HAVE_LIBCAP
+	/* don't harmstring root/sudo */
+	if (getuid() != 0 && geteuid() != 0) {
+		cap_t capabilities;
+		capabilities = cap_get_proc();
+		if (!capabilities)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_clear(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		if (cap_set_proc(capabilities) != 0)
+			exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
+		cap_free(capabilities);
+	}
+#endif
+}
man/man8/ip-vrf.8 +8 -0
index 18789339..1a42cebe 100644
@@ -63,6 +63,14 @@ a VRF other than the default VRF (main table). A command can be run against
 the default VRF by passing the "default" as the VRF name. This is useful if
 the current shell is associated with another VRF (e.g, Management VRF).
 
+This command requires the system to be booted with cgroup v2 (e.g. with systemd,
+add systemd.unified_cgroup_hierarchy=1 to the kernel command line).
+
+This command also requires to be ran as root or with the CAP_SYS_ADMIN,
+CAP_NET_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE capabilities. If built with libcap and if
+capabilities are added to the ip binary program via setcap, the program will
+drop them as the first thing when invoked, unless the command is vrf exec.
+
 .TP
 .B ip vrf identify [PID] - Report VRF association for process
 .sp
Signature · 1 line
2.14.2
#6 lore raw
Quoted 9 lines · On Tue, 27 Mar 2018 18:48:55 +0100 Luca Boccassi <[email protected]> wrote:

ip vrf exec requires root or CAP_NET_ADMIN, CAP_SYS_ADMIN and CAP_DAC_OVERRIDE. It is not possible to run unprivileged commands like ping as non-root or non-cap-enabled due to this requirement. To allow users and administrators to safely add the required capabilities to the binary, drop all capabilities on start if not invoked with "vrf exec".
Update the manpage with the requirements.

Applied