 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2010) |
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 Tomoyo Linux 2.x Domain Policy Editor | |
| Original author(s) | NTT Data Corporation |
|---|---|
| Repository | |
| Operating system | Linux |
| Type | Mandatory access control |
| License | GPLv2 |
| Website | tomoyo |
Tomoyo Linux (stylised as TOMOYO Linux) is a Linux kernel security module which implements mandatory access control (MAC).
Tomoyo Linux is a MAC implementation for Linux that can be used to increase the security of a system, while also being useful purely as a systems analysis tool. It was launched in March 2003 and was sponsored by NTT Data Corporation until March 2012. [1]
Tomoyo Linux focuses on system behaviour. Tomoyo Linux allows each process to declare behaviours and resources needed to achieve their purpose. When protection is enabled, Tomoyo Linux restricts each process to the behaviours and resources allowed by the administrator.
The main features of Tomoyo Linux include:
Tomoyo was merged in Linux Kernel mainline version 2.6.30 (2009, June 10)/ [2] It is currently one of four standard Linux Security Modules (LSM), along with SELinux, AppArmor and SMACK.
The Tomoyo Linux project started as a patch for the Linux kernel to provide MAC. Porting Tomoyo Linux to the mainline Linux kernel required the introduction of hooks [3] into the LSM that had been designed and developed specifically to support SELinux and its label-based approach.
However, more hooks are needed to integrate the remaining MAC functionality of Tomoyo Linux. Consequently, the project is following two parallel development lines:
Tomoyo Linux 1.x, original version
Tomoyo Linux 2.x, mainline version
Akari (stylised as AKARI), Tomoyo 1.x fork
The name 'TOMOYO' is, officially speaking, a backronym for "Task Oriented Management Obviates Your Onus". According to one of the developers Tetsuo Handa, it's also a reference to the character Tomoyo Daidouji from Cardcaptor Sakura. [4]
Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a Linux kernel security module that provides a mechanism for supporting access control security policies, including mandatory access controls (MAC).
Ingo Molnár, employed by Red Hat as of May 2013, is a Hungarian Linux hacker. He is known for his contributions to the operating system in terms of security and performance.
This is a list of operating systems specifically focused on security. Operating systems for general-purpose usage may be secure without having a specific focus on security.
Rule-set-based access control (RSBAC) is an open source access control framework for current Linux kernels, which has been in stable production use since January 2000.
Exec Shield is a project started at Red Hat, Inc in late 2002 with the aim of reducing the risk of worm or other automated remote attacks on Linux systems. The first result of the project was a security patch for the Linux kernel that emulates an NX bit on x86 CPUs that lack a native NX implementation in hardware. While the Exec Shield project has had many other components, some people refer to this first patch as Exec Shield.
In computer security, mandatory access control (MAC) refers to a type of access control by which the operating system or database constrains the ability of a subject or initiator to access or generally perform some sort of operation on an object or target. In the case of operating systems, a subject is usually a process or thread; objects are constructs such as files, directories, TCP/UDP ports, shared memory segments, IO devices, etc. Subjects and objects each have a set of security attributes. Whenever a subject attempts to access an object, an authorization rule enforced by the operating system kernel examines these security attributes and decides whether the access can take place. Any operation by any subject on any object is tested against the set of authorization rules to determine if the operation is allowed. A database management system, in its access control mechanism, can also apply mandatory access control; in this case, the objects are tables, views, procedures, etc.
Netfilter is a framework provided by the Linux kernel that allows various networking-related operations to be implemented in the form of customized handlers. Netfilter offers various functions and operations for packet filtering, network address translation, and port translation, which provide the functionality required for directing packets through a network and prohibiting packets from reaching sensitive locations within a network.
The Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) is a subsystem of the Linux kernel responsible for interfacing with GPUs of modern video cards. DRM exposes an API that user-space programs can use to send commands and data to the GPU and perform operations such as configuring the mode setting of the display. DRM was first developed as the kernel-space component of the X Server Direct Rendering Infrastructure, but since then it has been used by other graphic stack alternatives such as Wayland and standalone applications and libraries such as SDL2 and Kodi.
seccomp is a computer security facility in the Linux kernel. seccomp allows a process to make a one-way transition into a "secure" state where it cannot make any system calls except exit , sigreturn , read and write to already-open file descriptors. Should it attempt any other system calls, the kernel will either just log the event or terminate the process with SIGKILL or SIGSYS. In this sense, it does not virtualize the system's resources but isolates the process from them entirely.
AppArmor is a Linux kernel security module that allows the system administrator to restrict programs' capabilities with per-program profiles. Profiles can allow capabilities like network access, raw socket access, and the permission to read, write, or execute files on matching paths. AppArmor supplements the traditional Unix discretionary access control (DAC) model by providing mandatory access control (MAC). It has been partially included in the mainline Linux kernel since version 2.6.36 and its development has been supported by Canonical since 2009.
Linux Security Modules (LSM) is a framework allowing the Linux kernel to support without bias a variety of computer security models. LSM is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License and is a standard part of the Linux kernel since Linux 2.6. AppArmor, SELinux, Smack, and TOMOYO Linux are the currently approved security modules in the official kernel.
The concept of type enforcement (TE), in the field of information technology, is an access control mechanism for regulating access in computer systems. Implementing TE gives priority to mandatory access control (MAC) over discretionary access control (DAC). Access clearance is first given to a subject accessing objects based on rules defined in an attached security context. A security context in a domain is defined by a domain security policy. In the Linux security module (LSM) in SELinux, the security context is an extended attribute. Type enforcement implementation is a prerequisite for MAC, and a first step before multilevel security (MLS) or its replacement multi categories security (MCS). It is a complement of role-based access control (RBAC).
Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) is a free and open-source virtualization module in the Linux kernel that allows the kernel to function as a hypervisor. It was merged into the mainline Linux kernel in version 2.6.20, which was released on February 5, 2007. KVM requires a processor with hardware virtualization extensions, such as Intel VT or AMD-V. KVM has also been ported to other operating systems such as FreeBSD and illumos in the form of loadable kernel modules.
kexec, abbreviated from kernel execute and analogous to the Unix/Linux kernel call exec, is a mechanism of the Linux kernel that allows booting of a new kernel from the currently running one. Essentially, kexec skips the bootloader stage and hardware initialization phase performed by the system firmware, and directly loads the new kernel into main memory and starts executing it immediately. This avoids the long times associated with a full reboot, and can help systems to meet high-availability requirements by minimizing downtime.
The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU operating system, which was written to be a free (libre) replacement for Unix.
perf is a performance analyzing tool in Linux, available from Linux kernel version 2.6.31 in 2009. Userspace controlling utility, named perf, is accessed from the command line and provides a number of subcommands; it is capable of statistical profiling of the entire system.
Smack is a Linux kernel security module that protects data and process interaction from malicious manipulation using a set of custom mandatory access control (MAC) rules, with simplicity as its main design goal. It has been officially merged since the Linux 2.6.25 release, it was the main access control mechanism for the MeeGo mobile Operating System. It is also used to sandbox HTML5 web applications in the Tizen architecture, in the commercial Wind River Linux solutions for embedded device development, in Philips Digital TV products., and in Intel's Ostro OS for IoT devices.
kGraft is a feature of the Linux kernel that implements live patching of a running kernel, which allows kernel patches to be applied while the kernel is still running. By avoiding the need for rebooting the system with a new kernel that contains the desired patches, kGraft aims to maximize the system uptime and availability. At the same time, kGraft allows kernel-related security updates to be applied without deferring them to scheduled downtimes. Internally, kGraft allows entire functions in a running kernel to be replaced with their patched versions, doing that safely by selectively using original versions of functions to ensure per-process consistency while the live patching is performed.
kpatch is a feature of the Linux kernel that implements live patching of a running kernel, which allows kernel patches to be applied while the kernel is still running. By avoiding the need for rebooting the system with a new kernel that contains the desired patches, kpatch aims to maximize the system uptime and availability. At the same time, kpatch allows kernel-related security updates to be applied without deferring them to scheduled downtimes. Internally, kpatch allows entire functions in a running kernel to be replaced with their patched versions, doing that safely by stopping all running processes while the live patching is performed.
ftrace is a tracing framework for the Linux kernel. Although its original name, Function Tracer, came from ftrace's ability to record information related to various function calls performed while the kernel is running, ftrace's tracing capabilities cover a much broader range of kernel's internal operations.
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