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Date:      Sat, 8 Sep 2001 10:53:08 -0500
From:      D J Hawkey Jr <hawkeyd@visi.com>
To:        Alexander Langer <alex@big.endian.de>, deepak@ai.net, freebsd-security@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Kernel-loadable Root Kits
Message-ID:  <20010908105308.A78138@sheol.localdomain>
In-Reply-To: <20010908183728.D840@ringworld.oblivion.bg>; from roam@ringlet.net on Sat, Sep 08, 2001 at 06:37:28PM %2B0300
References:  <GPEOJKGHAMKFIOMAGMDIGEHGFHAA.deepak_ai.net@ns.sol.net> <200109081052.f88AqRG30016@sheol.localdomain> <20010908141700.A53738@fump.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de> <20010908072542.A57605@sheol.localdomain> <20010908143231.A53801@fump.kawo2.rwth-aachen.de> <20010908074445.A77252@sheol.localdomain> <20010908181537.A840@ringworld.oblivion.bg> <20010908102816.B77764@sheol.localdomain> <20010908183728.D840@ringworld.oblivion.bg>

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On Sep 08, at 06:37 PM, Peter Pentchev wrote:
> 
> > Q: Can the kernel be "forced" to load a module from within itself? That
> > is, does a cracker need to be in userland?
> 
> Yes, certainly; all kldload(8) does is invoke the kldload(2) syscall,
> nothing more, nothing userspace-magical.
> All a kernel routine needs to do is either invoke that syscall, or
> call the internal kernel functions that kldload(2) calls, like e.g.
> linker_find_file_by_name() and linker_load_file() in sys/kern/kern_linker.c

Ah. Well then, as I wrote to Kris, the kernel has to deny KLD loading
altogether, it should be a build-time option, and it should have nothing
to over-ride this.

Or am I still being too simplistic? I haven't been using KLD- or LKM-
aware systems very long (~one year), but so far I've had little use for
them (the modules). I get a box, I configure the kernel to it, and that's
that. If the box changes, I build a new kernel. At least for the servers
I've set up, this works fine. Now, a development or users' box, well...

> G'luck,
> Peter

You too,
Dave

-- 

Windows: "Where do you want to go today?"
Linux: "Where do you want to go tomorrow?"
FreeBSD: "Are you guys coming, or what?"


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