content: tweak and reword SELinux denials post [deploy]

Signed-off-by: Harsh Shandilya <me@msfjarvis.dev>
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Harsh Shandilya 2020-12-27 15:43:23 +05:30
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@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ tags = ["android", "selinux", "linux"]
title = "Understanding and resolving SELinux denials on Android"
+++
This blog post is mostly comprised of what used to be a [gist](https://gist.github.com) of mine. I decided it needs some additional reading on what exactly we're dealing with so a preface outlining what SELinux is and how to understand the rules we're writing has been added. The gist itself is from a time when I was far less knowledgeable and hence adjustments have been made accordingly, often with extra information.
This blog post is mostly comprised of what used to be a GitHub Gist. I decided it needs some additional reading on what exactly we're dealing with so a preface outlining what SELinux is and how to understand the rules we're writing has been added. The gist itself is from a time when I was far less knowledgeable and hence adjustments have been made accordingly, often with extra information.
### What is SELinux?
@ -16,13 +16,7 @@ SELinux is an acronym for **Security-enhanced Linux**. It is a security feature
Traditionally, access control on Linux has been done under the **Discretionary Access Control (DAC)** methodology. Under DAC, each process runs under a user and group. A process can access all files owned by it's user and/or group.
[nixCraft](https://cyberciti.biz) has an example centering around httpd to highlight the differences between DAC and MAC.
<center>![Compromised daemon under DAC](https://www.cyberciti.biz/media/new/faq/2012/11/linux-server-without-dac-0.png)</center>
**SELinux** is an implementation of a MAC security mechanism. MAC stands for **Mandatory Access Control**, a paradigm that allows restricting multiple aspects of a process like
**SELinux** is an implementation of a **MAC** security mechanism. MAC stands for **Mandatory Access Control**, a paradigm that allows restricting multiple aspects of a process, such as:
- Pipes
- Files
@ -31,11 +25,12 @@ Traditionally, access control on Linux has been done under the **Discretionary A
- Directories
- Other processes
SELinux builds upon DAC-based restrictions and adds additional layers of restrictions above UID and GID to ensure a compromised user can still be restricted from doing things it normally wouldn't need to do.
SELinux builds upon DAC-based restrictions to ensure a compromised user can still be prevented from doing potentially malicious things it normally wouldn't need to do.
### How to detect and resolve SELinux denials on Android
On Android, SELinux denials are written both into the kernel `dmesg` as well as the userspace `logcat` stream. Grab either, then filter for instances of `avc: denied`.
Here's a sample denial that we'll attempt to resolve.
```java
@ -43,29 +38,26 @@ avc: denied { read write } for pid=29059 comm="i.tetherservice" name="ipa" dev="
scontext=u:r:system_app:s0 tcontext=u:object_r:ipa_dev:s0 tclass=chr_file permissive=0
```
The policy rule to resolve it:
The policy rule to resolve it would look something like this:
```java
allow system_app ipa_dev:chr_file {read write};
```
How did I write it?
How did I construct the rule?
First, you need to identify the process/device which attempted the action which raised the denial.
The value in `scontext` is the offender. In our case, it is **system_app**.
The [Gentoo wiki](https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/SELinux/Tutorials/Where_to_find_SELinux_permission_denial_details) has an amazing entry on how to understand an individual denial entry in the log, which I strongly recommend reading. The rest of this section will assume that you have read this page, because you really should have, or at the very least the **Disecting the AVC denial** section.
<br />
Next, find the domains where access was attempted. This is found by taking the value of tcontext, splitting it on the **:** delimiter and taking index 2, or the second value from right. Club it with
the value of tclass and you get the domain, which is **ipa_dev:chr_file** in our example.
The source context is where this illegal access originated. In our case, it is **system_app**.
<br />
Finally, find the action being performed. This is fairly simple. If you see `avc: denied { read write }`, then **{read write}** is the action here.
The target context and target class combined tell us what resource did the source context try to access before it was blocked. In our example, that'll be `ipa_dev:chr_file`.
Finally, the permission that was requested. In this example it is a set: **{read write}**. In most cases it will be just one permission, like `read`/`exec`/`write`.
<br />
Put this all together and you get the final sepolicy rule.
### Labelling in SELinux
To define new types for adding sepolicy exclusions, we use labelling.
@ -74,29 +66,31 @@ For this example, let's assume we want to label the KCal sysfs nodes under the `
KCal sysfs nodes are inside the `/sys/devices/platform/kcal_ctrl.0/` directory. To put them all under a single label, we use a simple regex. The type name should be added to `file_contexts` in your device tree's sepolicy folder. If it doesn't exist, create it with the following contents (append if the file exists).
<br />
`/sys/devices/platform/kcal_ctrl.0(/.*)? u:object_r:sysfs_kcal:s0`
```
/sys/devices/platform/kcal_ctrl.0(/.*)? u:object_r:sysfs_kcal:s0
```
<br />
This line in `file_contexts` will label all files in the `/sys/devices/platform/kcal_ctrl.0/` directory as `sysfs_kcal`.
Next we open up the sepolicy file for the domain we want to grant access to the label. For this example, the domain is **system_app**, so we open **system_app.te**. As before, just create it if it doesn't exist.
`type sysfs_kcal, fs_type, sysfs_type;`
```
type sysfs_kcal, fs_type, sysfs_type;
```
There, we can now add exclusions for `sysfs_kcal` treating it as a sysfs node as well as a filesystem item, like a folder or a file.
To be able to read or write to the sysfs node, we need to be able to find it first.
Then we need to grant `system_app` the ability to read and write from and to it.
`allow system_app sysfs_kcal:dir search;`
`allow system_app sysfs_kcal:file rw_file_perms;`
```
allow system_app sysfs_kcal:dir search;
allow system_app sysfs_kcal:file rw_file_perms;
```
And that's it! Now all system apps can read from and write to all nodes in the `/sys/devices/platform/kcal_ctrl.0/`
directory.
### Additional reading
- [AOSP - Writing SELinux policy](https://source.android.com/security/selinux/device-policy)