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Diffstat (limited to 'Documentation/security/LSM.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/security/LSM.txt | 34 |
1 files changed, 34 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/security/LSM.txt b/Documentation/security/LSM.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c335a763a2ed --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/security/LSM.txt @@ -0,0 +1,34 @@ +Linux Security Module framework +------------------------------- + +The Linux Security Module (LSM) framework provides a mechanism for +various security checks to be hooked by new kernel extensions. The name +"module" is a bit of a misnomer since these extensions are not actually +loadable kernel modules. Instead, they are selectable at build-time via +CONFIG_DEFAULT_SECURITY and can be overridden at boot-time via the +"security=..." kernel command line argument, in the case where multiple +LSMs were built into a given kernel. + +The primary users of the LSM interface are Mandatory Access Control +(MAC) extensions which provide a comprehensive security policy. Examples +include SELinux, Smack, Tomoyo, and AppArmor. In addition to the larger +MAC extensions, other extensions can be built using the LSM to provide +specific changes to system operation when these tweaks are not available +in the core functionality of Linux itself. + +Without a specific LSM built into the kernel, the default LSM will be the +Linux capabilities system. Most LSMs choose to extend the capabilities +system, building their checks on top of the defined capability hooks. +For more details on capabilities, see capabilities(7) in the Linux +man-pages project. + +Based on http://kerneltrap.org/Linux/Documenting_Security_Module_Intent, +a new LSM is accepted into the kernel when its intent (a description of +what it tries to protect against and in what cases one would expect to +use it) has been appropriately documented in Documentation/security/. +This allows an LSM's code to be easily compared to its goals, and so +that end users and distros can make a more informed decision about which +LSMs suit their requirements. + +For extensive documentation on the available LSM hook interfaces, please +see include/linux/security.h. |