Add explanations why we don't isolate root from user in VMs and in Dom0
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| user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL | user ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL | ||||||
|  | 
 | ||||||
|  | # WTF?! Have you lost your mind?! | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # In Qubes VMs there is no point in isolating the root account from | ||||||
|  | # the user account. This is because all the user data are already | ||||||
|  | # accessible from the user account, so there is no direct benefit for | ||||||
|  | # the attacker if she could escalate to root (there is even no benefit | ||||||
|  | # in trying to install some persistent rootkits, as the VM's root | ||||||
|  | # filesystem modifications are lost upon each start of a VM). | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # One might argue that some hypothetical attacks against the | ||||||
|  | # hypervisor or the few daemons/backends in Dom0 (so VM escape | ||||||
|  | # attacks) most likely would require root access in the VM to trigger | ||||||
|  | # the attack. | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # That's true, but mere existence of such a bug in the hypervisor or | ||||||
|  | # Dom0 that could be exploited by a malicious VM, no matter whether | ||||||
|  | # requiring user, root, or even kernel access in the VM, would be | ||||||
|  | # FATAL. In such situation (if there was such a bug in Xen) there | ||||||
|  | # really is no comforting that: "oh, but the mitigating factor was | ||||||
|  | # that the attacker needed root in VM!" We're not M$, and we're not | ||||||
|  | # gonna BS our users that there are mitigating factors in that case, | ||||||
|  | # and for sure, root/user isolation is not a mitigating factor. | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # Because, really, if somebody could find and exploit a bug in the Xen | ||||||
|  | # hypervisor -- so far there have been only one (!) publicly disclosed | ||||||
|  | # exploitable bug in the Xen hypervisor from a VM, found in 2008, | ||||||
|  | # incidentally by one of the Qubes developers (RW) -- then it would be | ||||||
|  | # highly unlikely if that person couldn't also found a user-to-root | ||||||
|  | # escalation in VM (which as we know from history of UNIX/Linux | ||||||
|  | # happens all the time). | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # At the same time allowing for easy user-to-root escalation in a VM | ||||||
|  | # is simply convenient for users, especially for update installation. | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # Currently this still doesn't work as expected, because some idotic | ||||||
|  | # piece of software called PolKit uses own set of policies. We're | ||||||
|  | # planning to address this in Beta 2. (Why PolKit is an idiocy? Do a | ||||||
|  | # simple experiment: start 'xinput test' in one xterm, running as | ||||||
|  | # user, then open some app that uses PolKit and asks for root | ||||||
|  | # password, e.g.  gpk-update-viewer -- observe how all the keystrokes | ||||||
|  | # with root password you enter into the "secure" PolKit dialog box can | ||||||
|  | # be seen by the xinput program...) | ||||||
|  | # | ||||||
|  | # joanna. | ||||||
|  | |||||||
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