Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         T. Haynes
Request for Comments: 7204                                        NetApp
Category: Informational                                       April 2014
ISSN: 2070-1721


                     Requirements for Labeled NFS

Abstract

  This memo outlines high-level requirements for the integration of
  flexible Mandatory Access Control (MAC) functionality into the
  Network File System (NFS) version 4.2 (NFSv4.2).  It describes the
  level of protections that should be provided over protocol components
  and the basic structure of the proposed system.  The intent here is
  not to present the protocol changes but to describe the environment
  in which they reside.

Status of This Memo

  This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
  published for informational purposes.

  This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
  (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
  received public review and has been approved for publication by the
  Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
  approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
  Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

  Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
  and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
  http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7204.

Copyright Notice

  Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
  document authors.  All rights reserved.

  This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
  Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
  (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
  publication of this document.  Please review these documents
  carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
  to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
  include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
  the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
  described in the Simplified BSD License.



Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 1]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


Table of Contents

  1. Introduction ....................................................3
  2. Definitions .....................................................3
     2.1. Requirements Language ......................................4
  3. Requirements ....................................................4
     3.1. General ....................................................4
     3.2. Security Services ..........................................5
     3.3. Label Encoding, Label Format Specifiers, and Label
          Checking Authorities .......................................5
     3.4. Labeling ...................................................6
          3.4.1. Client Labeling .....................................6
          3.4.2. Server Labeling .....................................7
     3.5. Policy Enforcement .........................................7
          3.5.1. Client Enforcement ..................................7
          3.5.2. Server Enforcement ..................................8
     3.6. Namespace Access ...........................................8
     3.7. Upgrading Existing Server ..................................9
  4. Modes of Operation ..............................................9
     4.1. Full Mode ..................................................9
     4.2. Limited Server Mode .......................................10
     4.3. Guest Mode ................................................10
  5. Use Cases ......................................................11
     5.1. Full MAC Labeling Support for Remotely Mounted
          File Systems ..............................................11
     5.2. MAC Labeling of Virtual Machine Images Stored on
          the Network ...............................................11
     5.3. Simple Security Label Storage .............................12
     5.4. Diskless Linux ............................................12
     5.5. Multi-Level Security ......................................13
          5.5.1. Full Mode - MAC-Functional Client and Server .......13
          5.5.2. MAC-Functional Client ..............................14
          5.5.3. MAC-Functional Server ..............................15
  6. Security Considerations ........................................15
     6.1. Trust Needed for a Community ..............................15
     6.2. Guest Mode ................................................15
     6.3. MAC-Functional Client Configuration .......................16
  7. References .....................................................16
     7.1. Normative References ......................................16
     7.2. Informative References ....................................16
  Appendix A. Acknowledgments .......................................18










Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 2]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


1.  Introduction

  Mandatory Access Control (MAC) systems (as defined in [RFC4949]) have
  been mainstreamed in modern operating systems such as Linux, FreeBSD,
  and Solaris.  MAC systems bind security attributes to subjects
  (processes) and objects within a system.  These attributes are used
  with other information in the system to make access control
  decisions.

  Access control models such as Unix permissions or Access Control
  Lists (ACLs) are commonly referred to as Discretionary Access Control
  (DAC) models.  These systems base their access decisions on user
  identity and resource ownership.  In contrast, MAC models base their
  access control decisions on the label on the subject (usually a
  process) and the object it wishes to access.  These labels may
  contain user identity information but usually contain additional
  information.  In DAC systems, users are free to specify the access
  rules for resources that they own.  MAC models base their security
  decisions on a system-wide policy established by an administrator or
  organization that the users do not have the ability to override.  DAC
  systems offer some protection against unauthorized users running
  malicious software.  However, even an authorized user can execute
  malicious or flawed software with those programs running with the
  full permissions of the user executing it.  Inversely, MAC models can
  confine malicious or flawed software and usually act at a finer
  granularity than their DAC counterparts.

  Besides describing the requirements, this document records the
  functional requirements for the client imposed by the preexisting
  security models on the client.  This document may help those outside
  the NFS community understand those issues.

2.  Definitions

  Foreign Label:  a label in a format other than the format that a MAC
     implementation uses for encoding.

  Label Format Specifier (LFS):  an identifier used by the client to
     establish the syntactic format of the security label and the
     semantic meaning of its components.

  MAC-Aware:  a server that can transmit and store object labels.

  MAC-Functional:  a client or server that is Labeled NFS enabled.
     Such a system can interpret labels and apply policies based on the
     security system.





Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 3]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  Multi-Level Security (MLS):  a traditional model where objects are
     given a sensitivity level (Unclassified, Secret, Top Secret, etc.)
     and a category set [RH_MLS].

  Object:  a passive resource within the system that we wish to
     protect.  Objects can be entities such as files, directories,
     pipes, sockets, and many other system resources relevant to the
     protection of the system state.

  Policy Identifier (PI):  an optional part of the definition of a
     Label Format Specifier.  The PI allows clients and servers to
     identify specific security policies.

  Subject:  an active entity, usually a process, that is requesting
     access to an object.

2.1.  Requirements Language

  The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
  "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
  document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

3.  Requirements

  The following initial requirements have been gathered from users and
  developers, and from previous development efforts in this area such
  as the Distributed Trusted Operating System [DTOS] and the NSA's
  experimental NFSv3 enhancements [SENFSv3].

3.1.  General

  A mechanism is required to provide security attribute information to
  NFSv4 clients and servers.  This mechanism has the following
  requirements:

  (1)  Clients MUST be able to convey to the server the client's
       privileges, i.e., the subject, for making the access request.
       The server may provide a mechanism to enforce MAC policy based
       on the requesting client's privileges.

  (2)  Servers MUST be able to store and retrieve the security
       attribute of exported files as requested by the client.

  (3)  Servers MUST provide a mechanism for notifying clients of
       attribute changes of files on the server.

  (4)  Clients and Servers MUST be able to negotiate Label Formats and
       provide a mechanism to translate between them as needed.



Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 4]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


3.2.  Security Services

  Labeled NFS or the underlying system on which the Labeled NFS
  operates MUST provide the following security services for all NFSv4.2
  messaging:

  o  Authentication

  o  Integrity

  o  Privacy

  Mechanisms and algorithms used in the provision of security services
  MUST be configurable so that appropriate levels of protection may be
  flexibly specified per mandatory security policy.

  Strong mutual authentication is required between the server and the
  client for Full Mode operation (Section 4.1).

  MAC security labels and any related security state MUST always be
  protected by these security services when transferred over the
  network, as MUST the binding of labels and state to associated
  objects and subjects.

  Labeled NFS SHOULD support authentication on a context granularity so
  that different contexts running on a client can use different
  cryptographic keys and facilities.

3.3.  Label Encoding, Label Format Specifiers, and Label Checking
     Authorities

  Encoding of MAC labels and attributes passed over the network MUST be
  specified in a complete and unambiguous manner while maintaining the
  flexibility of MAC implementations.  To accomplish this, the labels
  MUST consist of a format-specific component bound with a Label Format
  Specifier (LFS).  The LFS component provides a mechanism for
  identifying the structure and semantics of the opaque component.
  Meanwhile, the opaque component is the security label that will be
  interpreted by the MAC models.

  MAC models base access decisions on security attribute privileges
  bound to subjects and objects, respectively.  With a given MAC model,
  all systems have semantically coherent labeling -- a security label
  MUST always mean exactly the same thing on every system.  While this
  may not be necessary for simple MAC models, it is recommended that
  most Label Formats assigned an LFS incorporate semantically coherent
  labeling into their Label Format.




Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 5]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  Labeled NFS SHOULD define an initial negotiation scheme with the
  primary aims of simplicity and completeness.  This is to facilitate
  practical deployment of systems without being weighed down by complex
  and overgeneralized global schemes.  Future extensibility SHOULD also
  be taken into consideration.

  Labeled NFS MUST provide a means for servers and clients to identify
  their LFSs for the purposes of authorization, security service
  selection, and security label interpretation.

  Labeled NFS MUST provide a means for servers and clients to identify
  their mode of operation (see Section 4).

  A negotiation scheme SHOULD be provided, allowing systems from
  different Label Formats to agree on how they will interpret or
  translate each other's foreign labels.  Multiple concurrent
  agreements may be current between a server and a client.

  All security labels and related security state transferred across the
  network MUST be tagged with a valid LFS.

  If the LFS supported on a system changes, the system SHOULD
  renegotiate agreements to reflect these changes.

  If a system receives any security label or security state tagged with
  an LFS it does not recognize or cannot interpret, it MUST reject that
  label or state.

  NFSv4.2 includes features that may cause a client to cross an LFS
  boundary when accessing what appears to be a single file system.  If
  LFS negotiation is supported by the client and the server, the server
  SHOULD negotiate a new, concurrent agreement with the client, acting
  on behalf of the externally located source of the files.

3.4.  Labeling

  Implementations MUST validate security labels supplied over the
  network to ensure that they are within a set of labels permitted from
  a specific peer and, if not, reject them.  Note that a system may
  permit a different set of labels to be accepted from each peer.

3.4.1.  Client Labeling

  At the client, labeling semantics for NFS mounted file systems MUST
  remain consistent with those for locally mounted file systems.  In
  particular, user-level labeling operations local to the client MUST
  be enacted locally via existing APIs, to ensure compatibility and
  consistency for applications and libraries.



Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 6]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  Note that this does not imply any specific mechanism for conveying
  labels over the network.

  When an object is newly created by the client, it will calculate the
  label for the object based on its policy.  Once that is done, it will
  send the request to the server, which has the ability to deny the
  creation of the object with that label based on the server's policy.
  In creating the file, the server MUST ensure that the label is bound
  to the object before the object becomes visible to the rest of the
  system.  This ensures that any access control or further labeling
  decisions are correct for the object.

3.4.2.  Server Labeling

  The server MUST provide the capability for clients to retrieve
  security labels on all exported file system objects where possible.
  This includes cases where only in-core and/or read-only security
  labels are available at the server for any of its exported file
  systems.

  The server MUST honor the ability for a client to specify the label
  of an object on creation.  If the server is MAC enabled, it may
  choose to reject the label specified by the client, due to
  restrictions in the server policy.  The server SHOULD NOT attempt to
  find a suitable label for an object in the event of different
  labeling rules on its end.  The server is allowed to translate the
  label but MUST NOT change the semantic meaning of the label.

3.5.  Policy Enforcement

  The MAC-Functional client determines if a process request is sent to
  the remote server.  Upon a successful response from the server, it
  must use its own policies on the object's security labels to
  determine if the process can be given access.  The client SHOULD NOT
  need to be cognizant of whether the server is a Limited Server or is
  fully MAC-Functional.

3.5.1.  Client Enforcement

  The client MUST apply its own policy to remotely located objects,
  using security labels for the objects obtained from the server.  It
  MUST be possible to configure the maximum length of time a client may
  cache state regarding remote labels before revalidating that state
  with the server.







Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 7]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  If the server's policy changes, the client MUST flush all object
  state back to the server.  The server MUST ensure that any flushed
  state received is consistent with current policy before committing it
  to stable storage.

  Any local security state associated with cached or delegated objects
  MUST also be flushed back to the server when any other state of the
  objects is required to be flushed back.

  The implication here is that if the client holds a delegation on an
  object, then it enforces policy to local changes based on the object
  label it got from the server.  When it tries to commit those changes
  to the server, it SHOULD be prepared for the server to reject those
  changes based on the policies of the server.

3.5.2.  Server Enforcement

  A MAC-Functional server MUST enforce its security policy over all
  exported objects, for operations that originate both locally and
  remotely.

  Requests from authenticated clients MUST be processed using security
  labels and credentials supplied by the client as if they originated
  locally.

  As with labeling, the system MUST also take into account any other
  volatile client security state, such as a change in process security
  context via dynamic transition.  Access decisions SHOULD also be made
  based upon the current client security label accessing the object,
  rather than the security label that opened it, if different.

  The server SHOULD recall delegation of an object if the object's
  security label changes.

3.6.  Namespace Access

  The server SHOULD provide a means to authorize selective access to
  the exported file system namespace based upon client credentials and
  according to security policy.

  This is a common requirement of MLS-enabled systems, which often need
  to present selective views of namespaces based upon the clearances of
  the subjects.








Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 8]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


3.7.  Upgrading Existing Server

  Note that under the MAC model, all objects MUST have labels.
  Therefore, if an existing server is upgraded to include Labeled NFS
  support, then it is the responsibility of the security system to
  define the behavior for existing objects.

4.  Modes of Operation

  In a Labeled NFS client and server interaction, we can describe three
  modes of operation:

  1.  Full

  2.  Limited Server

  3.  Guest

  These modes arise from the level of MAC functionality in the clients
  and servers.  The clients can be non-MAC-Functional and
  MAC-Functional.  The servers can be non-MAC-Functional, MAC-Aware,
  and MAC-Functional.

  A MAC-Functional client MUST be able to determine the level of MAC
  functionality in the server.  Likewise, a MAC-Functional server MUST
  be able to determine whether or not a client is MAC-Functional.  As
  discussed in Section 3.3, the protocol MUST provide for the client
  and server to make those determinations.

4.1.  Full Mode

  The server and the client have mutually recognized MAC functionality
  enabled, and full Labeled NFS functionality is extended over the
  network between both client and server.

  An example of an operation in Full Mode is as follows.  On the
  initial lookup, the client requests access to an object on the
  server.  It sends its process security context over to the server.
  The server checks all relevant policies to determine if that process
  context from that client is allowed to access the resource.  Once
  this has succeeded, the object, with its associated security
  information, is released to the client.  Once the client receives the
  object, it determines if its policies allow the process running on
  the client access to the object.







Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 9]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  On subsequent operations where the client already has a handle for
  the file, the order of enforcement is reversed.  Since the client
  already has the security context, it may make an access decision
  against its policy first.  This enables the client to avoid sending
  requests to the server that it knows will fail, regardless of the
  server's policy.  If the client passes its policy checks, then it
  sends the request to the server, where the client's process context
  is used to determine if the server will release that resource to the
  client.  If both checks pass, the client is given the resource and
  everything succeeds.

  In the event that the client does not trust the server, it may opt to
  use an alternate labeling mechanism, regardless of the server's
  ability to return security information.

4.2.  Limited Server Mode

  The server is MAC-Aware, and the clients are MAC-Functional.  The
  server can store and transmit labels.  It cannot enforce labels.  The
  server MUST inform clients when an object label changes for a file
  the client has open.

  In this mode, the server may not be aware of the format of any of its
  object labels.  Indeed, it may service several different security
  models at the same time.  A client MUST process foreign labels as
  discussed in Section 3.3.  As with the Guest Mode, this mode's level
  of trust can be degraded if non-MAC-Functional clients have access to
  the server.

4.3.  Guest Mode

  Only one of the server or client is MAC-Functional enabled.

  In the case of the server only being MAC-Functional, the server
  enforces its policy and may selectively provide standard NFS services
  to clients based on their authentication credentials and/or
  associated network attributes (e.g., IP address, network interface)
  according to security policy.  The level of trust and access extended
  to a client in this mode is configuration-specific.

  In the case of the client only being MAC-Functional, the client MUST
  operate as a standard NFSv4.2 (see [NFSv4_2]) client and SHOULD
  selectively provide processes access to servers based upon the
  security attributes of the local process, and network attributes of
  the server, according to policy.  The client may also override
  default labeling of the remote file system based upon these security
  attributes or other labeling methods such as mount point labeling.




Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 10]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  In other words, the Guest Mode is standard NFSv4.2 over the wire,
  with the MAC-Functional system mapping the non-MAC-Functional
  system's processes or objects to security labels based on other
  characteristics in order to preserve its MAC guarantees.

5.  Use Cases

  MAC labeling is meant to allow NFSv4.2 to be deployed in site-
  configurable security schemes.  The LFS and opaque data scheme allows
  for flexibility to meet these different implementations.  In this
  section, we provide some examples of how NFSv4.2 could be deployed to
  meet existing needs.  This is not an exhaustive listing.

5.1.  Full MAC Labeling Support for Remotely Mounted File Systems

  In this case, we assume a local networked environment where the
  servers and clients are under common administrative control.  All
  systems in this network have the same MAC implementation and
  semantically identical MAC security labels for objects (i.e., labels
  mean the same thing on different systems, even if the policies on
  each system may differ to some extent).  Clients will be able to
  apply fine-grained MAC policy to objects accessed via NFS mounts and
  thus improve the overall consistency of MAC policy application within
  this environment.

  An example of this case would be where user home directories are
  remotely mounted, and fine-grained MAC policy is implemented to
  protect, for example, private user data from being read by malicious
  web scripts running in the user's browser.  With Labeled NFS, fine-
  grained MAC labeling of the user's files will allow the MAC policy to
  be implemented and provide the desired protection.

5.2.  MAC Labeling of Virtual Machine Images Stored on the Network

  Virtualization is now a commonly implemented feature of modern
  operating systems, and there is a need to ensure that MAC security
  policy is able to protect virtualized resources.  A common
  implementation scheme involves storing virtualized guest file systems
  on a networked server; these file systems are then mounted remotely
  by guests upon instantiation.  In this case, there is a need to
  ensure that the local guest kernel is able to access fine-grained MAC
  labels on the remotely mounted file system so that its MAC security
  policy can be applied.








Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 11]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


5.3.  Simple Security Label Storage

  In this case, a mixed and loosely administered network is assumed,
  where nodes may be running a variety of operating systems with
  different security mechanisms and security policies.  It is desired
  that network file servers be simply capable of storing and retrieving
  MAC security labels for clients that use such labels.  The Labeled
  NFS protocol would be implemented here solely to enable transport of
  MAC security labels across the network.  It should be noted that in
  such an environment, overall security cannot be as strongly enforced
  as when the server is also enforcing and that this scheme is aimed at
  allowing MAC-capable clients to function with its MAC security policy
  enabled rather than perhaps disabling it entirely.

5.4.  Diskless Linux

  A number of popular operating system distributions depend on a
  Mandatory Access Control (MAC) model to implement a kernel-enforced
  security policy.  Typically, such models assign particular roles to
  individual processes, which limit or permit performing certain
  operations on a set of files, directories, sockets, or other objects.
  While the enforcing of the policy is typically a matter for the
  diskless NFS client itself, the file system objects in such models
  will typically carry MAC labels that are used to define policy on
  access.  These policies may, for instance, describe privilege
  transitions that cannot be replicated using standard NFS ACL-based
  models.

  For instance, on a SYSV-compatible system (see [SYSV]), if the 'init'
  process spawns a process that attempts to start the 'NetworkManager'
  executable, there may be a policy that sets up a role transition if
  the 'init' process and 'NetworkManager' file labels match a
  particular rule.  Without this role transition, the process may find
  itself having insufficient privileges to perform its primary job of
  configuring network interfaces.

  In setups of this type, a lot of the policy targets (such as sockets
  or privileged system calls) are entirely local to the client.  The
  use of RPCSEC_GSSv3 ([RPC_SEC]) for enforcing compliance at the
  server level is therefore of limited value.  The ability to
  permanently label files and have those labels read back by the client
  is, however, crucial to the ability to enforce that policy.









Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 12]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


5.5.  Multi-Level Security

  In an MLS system, objects are generally assigned a sensitivity level
  and a set of compartments.  The sensitivity levels within the system
  are given an order ranging from lowest to highest classification
  level.  Read access to an object is allowed when the sensitivity
  level of the subject "dominates" the object it wants to access.  This
  means that the sensitivity level of the subject is higher than that
  of the object it wishes to access and that its set of compartments is
  a superset of the compartments on the object.

  The rest of this section will just use sensitivity levels.  In
  general, the example is a client that wishes to list the contents of
  a directory.  The system defines the sensitivity levels as
  Unclassified (U), Secret (S), and Top Secret (TS).  The directory to
  be searched is labeled Top Secret, which means access to read the
  directory will only be granted if the subject making the request is
  also labeled Top Secret.

5.5.1.  Full Mode - MAC-Functional Client and Server

  In the first part of this example, a process on the client is running
  at the Secret level.  The process issues a readdir() system call,
  which enters the kernel.  Before translating the readdir() system
  call into a request to the NFSv4.2 server, the host operating system
  will consult the MAC module to see if the operation is allowed.
  Since the process is operating at Secret and the directory to be
  accessed is labeled Top Secret, the MAC module will deny the request
  and an error code is returned to user space.

  Consider a second case where instead of running at Secret the process
  is running at Top Secret.  In this case, the sensitivity of the
  process is equal to or greater than that of the directory, so the MAC
  module will allow the request.  Now the readdir() is translated into
  the necessary NFSv4.2 call to the server.  For the remote procedure
  call (RPC) request, the client is using the proper credential to
  assert to the server that the process is running at Top Secret.

  When the server receives the request, it extracts the security label
  from the RPC session and retrieves the label on the directory.  The
  server then checks with its MAC module to see if a Top Secret process
  is allowed to read the contents of the Top Secret directory.  Since
  this is allowed by the policy, then the server will return the
  appropriate information back to the client.







Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 13]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  In this example, the policy on both the client and server is the
  same.  In the event that they were running different policies, a
  translation of the labels might be needed.  In this case, it could be
  possible for a check to pass on the client and fail on the server.
  The server may consider additional information when making its policy
  decisions.  For example, the server could determine that a certain
  subnet is only cleared for data up to Secret classification.  If that
  constraint was in place for the example above, the client would still
  succeed, but the server would fail, since the client is asserting a
  label that it is not able to use (Top Secret on a Secret network).

5.5.2.  MAC-Functional Client

  In these scenarios, the server is either non-MAC-Aware or MAC-Aware.
  The actions of the client will depend on whether it is configured to
  treat the MAC-Aware server in the same manner as the non-MAC-Aware
  one.  That is, does it utilize the approach presented in Section 4.3,
  or does it allow the MAC-Aware server to return labels?

  With a client that is MAC-Functional and using the example in the
  previous section, the result should be the same.  The one difference
  is that all decisions are made on the client.

5.5.2.1.  MAC-Aware Server

  A process on the client labeled Secret wishes to access a directory
  labeled Top Secret on the server.  This is denied, since Secret does
  not dominate Top Secret.  Note that there will be NFSv4.2 operations
  issued that return an object label for the client to process.

  Note that in this scenario, all of the clients must be
  MAC-Functional.  A single client that does not do its access control
  checks would violate the model.

5.5.2.2.  Non-MAC-Aware Server

  A process on the client labeled Secret wishes to access a directory
  that the client's policies label as Top Secret on the server.  This
  is denied, since Secret does not dominate Top Secret.  Note that
  there will not be NFSv4.2 operations issued.  If the process had a
  Top Secret process label instead of Secret, the client would issue
  NFSv4.2 operations to access the directory on the server.









Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 14]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


5.5.3.  MAC-Functional Server

  With a MAC-Functional server and a client that is not, the client
  behaves as if it were in a normal NFSv4.2 environment.  Since the
  process on the client does not provide a security attribute, the
  server must define a mechanism for labeling all requests from a
  client.  Assume that the server is using the same criteria used in
  the first example.  The server sees the request as coming from a
  subnet that is a Secret network.  The server determines that all
  clients on that subnet will have their requests labeled with Secret.
  Since the directory on the server is labeled Top Secret and Secret
  does not dominate Top Secret, the server would fail the request with
  NFS4ERR_ACCESS.

6.  Security Considerations

6.1.  Trust Needed for a Community

  Labeled NFS is a transport mechanism for labels, a storage
  requirement for labels, and a definition of how to interpret labels.
  It defines the responsibilities of the client and the server in the
  various permutations of being MAC-Functional.  It does not, however,
  dictate in any manner whether assumptions can be made about other
  entities in the relationship.  For example, it does not define
  whether a MAC-Functional client can demand that a MAC-Aware server
  only accept requests from other MAC-Functional clients.  That is a
  policy based on a MAC model, and this document does not impose
  policies on systems.

  As the requirement is a policy, it can be met with the use of a MAC
  model.  Let L be an LFS that implements the Limited Server mode,
  i.e., a MAC-Aware server connected to MAC-Functional clients.  Then
  a new LFS, L', can be created that has the additional policy that
  the MAC-Aware server MUST NOT accept any requests from a
  non-MAC-Functional client.

6.2.  Guest Mode

  When either the client or server is operating in Guest Mode, it is
  important to realize that one side is not enforcing MAC protections.
  Alternate methods are being used to handle the lack of MAC support,
  and care should be taken to identify and mitigate threats from
  possible tampering outside of these methods.








Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 15]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


6.3.  MAC-Functional Client Configuration

  We defined a MAC model as an access control decision made on a system
  in which normal users do not have the ability to override policies
  (see Section 1).  If the process labels are created solely on the
  client, then if a malicious user has sufficient access on that
  client, the Labeled NFS model is compromised.  Note that this is no
  different from:

  o  current implementations in which the server uses policies to
     effectively determine the object label for requests from the
     client, or

  o  local decisions made on the client by the MAC security system.

  Either the server must explicitly trust the client (as in [SENFSv3])
  or the MAC model should enforce that users cannot override policies,
  perhaps via an externally managed source.

  Once the labels leave the client, they can be protected by the
  transport mechanism as described in Section 3.2.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

  [RFC2119]  Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

7.2.  Informative References

  [DTOS]     Smalley, S., "The Distributed Trusted Operating System
             (DTOS) Home Page", December 2000, <http://www.cs.utah.edu/
             flux/fluke/html/dtos/HTML/dtos.html>.

  [NFSv4_2]  Haynes, T., "NFS Version 4 Minor Version 2", Work in
             Progress, February 2014.

  [RFC4949]  Shirey, R., "Internet Security Glossary, Version 2", RFC
             4949, August 2007.

  [RH_MLS]   "Multi-Level Security (MLS)", "Deployment, configuration
             and administration of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, Edition
             10", Section 49.6, 2014, <http://docs.redhat.com/docs/
             en-US/Red_Hat_Enterprise_Linux/5/html/Deployment_Guide/
             sec-mls-ov.html>.





Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 16]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


  [RPC_SEC]  Adamson, W. and N. Williams, "Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
             Security Version 3", Work in Progress, February 2014.

  [SENFSv3]  Carter, J., "Implementing SELinux Support for NFS",
             <http://www.nsa.gov/research/_files/selinux/papers/
             nfsv3.pdf>.

  [SYSV]     AT&T, "System V Interface Definition (SVID)", Third
             Edition, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1989.










































Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 17]

RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014


Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

  David Quigley was the early energy in motivating the entire Labeled
  NFS effort.

  James Morris, Jarrett Lu, and Stephen Smalley all were key
  contributors to both early versions of this document and to many
  conference calls.

  Kathleen Moriarty provided use cases for earlier versions of the
  document.

  Dan Walsh provided use cases for Secure Virtualization, Sandboxing,
  and NFS homedir labeling to handle process separation.

  Trond Myklebust provided use cases for secure diskless NFS clients.

  Both Nico Williams and Bryce Nordgren challenged assumptions during
  the review processes.

Author's Address

  Thomas Haynes
  NetApp
  495 East Java Dr.
  Sunnyvale, CA  94089
  USA

  Phone: +1 408 215 1519
  EMail: [email protected]





















Haynes                        Informational                    [Page 18]