freebsd-dev/share/man/man4/mac_ddb.4
Mitchell Horne 287d467c5d mac: add new mac_ddb(4) policy
Generally, access to the kernel debugger is considered to be unsafe from
a security perspective since it presents an unrestricted interface to
inspect or modify the system state, including sensitive data such as
signing keys.

However, having some access to debugger functionality on production
systems may be useful in determining the cause of a panic or hang.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an optional policy which allows
limited use of ddb(4) while disabling the functionality which could
reveal system secrets.

This loadable MAC module allows for the use of some ddb(4) commands
while preventing the execution of others. The commands have been broadly
grouped into three categories:
 - Those which are 'safe' and will not emit sensitive data (e.g. trace).
   Generally, these commands are deterministic and don't accept
   arguments.
 - Those which are definitively unsafe (e.g. examine <addr>, search
   <addr> <value>)
 - Commands which may be safe to execute depending on the arguments
   provided (e.g. show thread <addr>).

Safe commands have been flagged as such with the DB_CMD_MEMSAFE flag.

Commands requiring extra validation can provide a function to do so.
For example, 'show thread <addr>' can be used as long as addr can be
checked against the system's list of process structures.

The policy also prevents debugger backends other than ddb(4) from
executing, for example gdb(4).

Reviewed by:	markj, pauamma_gundo.com (manpages)
Sponsored by:	Juniper Networks, Inc.
Sponsored by:	Klara, Inc.
Differential Revision:	https://reviews.freebsd.org/D35371
2022-07-18 22:06:15 +00:00

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.\" Copyright (c) 2022 Klara Systems
.\"
.\" This software was developed by Mitchell Horne <mhorne@FreeBSD.org>
.\" under sponsorship from Juniper Networks and Klara Systems.
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.Dd June 29, 2022
.Dt MAC_DDB 4
.Os
.Sh NAME
.Nm mac_ddb
.Nd "Restricted kernel debugger interface policy"
.Sh SYNOPSIS
To compile the ddb policy
into your kernel, place the following lines in your kernel
configuration file:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Cd "options MAC"
.Cd "options MAC_DDB"
.Ed
.Pp
Alternately, to load the ddb module at boot time, place the following line
in your kernel configuration file:
.Bd -ragged -offset indent
.Cd "options MAC"
.Ed
.Pp
and in
.Xr loader.conf 5 :
.Bd -literal -offset indent
mac_ddb_load="YES"
.Ed
.Sh DESCRIPTION
The
.Nm
policy module implements a MAC policy which restricts the set of commands that
can be used at the
.Xr ddb 4
command prompt.
The subset of permitted commands is limited to those which do not read or write
to arbitrary memory locations.
This is done to deter the possible extraction of system secrets while still
allowing enough debugger functionality to diagnose a kernel panic.
For example, the
.Ic trace
or
.Ic show registers
commands are allowed by this policy, but
.Ic show Cm buffer Ar addr
is not.
.Pp
All debugger commands that are declared with the
.Va DB_CMD_MEMSAFE
flag are allowed by
.Nm .
The policy provides validation functions to conditionally allow some additional
commands, based on the user provided arguments.
.Pp
When loaded, the
.Nm
policy also ensures that only the
.Xr ddb 4
debugger backend may be executed;
.Xr gdb 4
may not.
.Ss Label Format
No labels are defined for
.Nm .
.Sh SEE ALSO
.Xr ddb 4 ,
.Xr mac 4 ,
.Xr mac_biba 4 ,
.Xr mac_bsdextended 4 ,
.Xr mac_ifoff 4 ,
.Xr mac_lomac 4 ,
.Xr mac_mls 4 ,
.Xr mac_none 4 ,
.Xr mac_partition 4 ,
.Xr mac_portacl 4 ,
.Xr mac_seeotheruids 4 ,
.Xr mac_test 4 ,
.Xr mac 9
.Sh BUGS
While the MAC Framework design is intended to support the containment of
the root user, not all attack channels are currently protected by entry
point checks.
As such, MAC Framework policies should not be relied on, in isolation,
to protect against a malicious privileged user.