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Date:      Thu, 13 Jun 1996 12:34:18 -0500
From:      Alex Nash <alex@fa.tdktca.com>
To:        Gary Palmer <gpalmer@FreeBSD.org>
Cc:        Ollivier Robert <roberto@keltia.freenix.fr>, "FreeBSD Current Users' list" <freebsd-current@FreeBSD.org>
Subject:   Re: #include opt_ipfw.h problem for lkm 
Message-ID:  <31C0511A.279A7B71@fa.tdktca.com>
References:  <21410.834673943@palmer.demon.co.uk>

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Gary Palmer wrote:

> On this subject, does anyone object to my REMOVAL of the option to
> have IPFW as an LKM? Having it as an LKM is (IMHO) stupid ... all a
> person breaking in needs to do to throw security WIDE open is
> modunload the module, and then the machine will fall back to being a
> simple router. Not my idea of a secure option.
> 
> Will anyone seriously miss it if I remove the lkm?

I know at least one person who will...

The following exchange resulted from PR 1192:

   From: Garrett Wollman 
   To: nash@mcs.com
   Cc: FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org, phk@freebsd.org
   Subject: kern/1192: Kernel IPFW
   Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 16:23:32 -0400

    < said:
        
    >   Moved the majority of code out of the ipfw_load (module load)
    >   routine and instead issue a call to ipfw_init which does the same
    >   thing (sans the splnet() issued at the beginning of ipfw_load).
        
    Actually, I would very much like to get rid of the
    dynamically-loadable IPFW module entirely.  If you are running any
    sort of a reasonable router configuration (i.e., with multiple cards
    from the same vendor), you will have to reconfigure the kernel anyway,
    and I think there are probably good security reasons for wanting in
    that way.  (What if the LKM fails to load because you are out of disk
    space in /tmp?  Oops.)  Perhaps more significantly, it puts extra hair
    in the IP input and output paths that doesn't need to be there in the
    common case (workstation or non-firewalling router), so I'd like to
    see it removed.
        
    (And yes, I do remember that I'm the one who suggested making it into
    an LKM in the first place!)
        
    -GAWollman
        
    --
    Garrett A. Wollman   | Shashish is simple, it's discreet, it's brief. ... 
    wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | Shashish is the bonding of hearts in spite of distance.
    Opinions not those of| It is a bond more powerful than absence.  We like people
    MIT, LCS, ANA, or NSA| who like Shashish.  - Claude McKenzie + Florent Vollant


   From: Poul-Henning Kamp 
   To: Garrett Wollman 
   Cc: nash@mcs.com, FreeBSD-gnats-submit@freebsd.org
   Subject: Re: kern/1192: Kernel IPFW 
   Date: Sun, 12 May 1996 20:57:43 +0000

    > Actually, I would very much like to get rid of the
    > dynamically-loadable IPFW module entirely.
        
    I think that this makes sense from a security point of view, but
    people use it for a lot of things besides security.  The hooks
    are very general and can be used for a bunch of other things as
    well, so I think this is all in all, not a good idea.
        
    --
    Poul-Henning Kamp           | phk@FreeBSD.ORG       FreeBSD Core-team.
    http://www.freebsd.org/~phk | phk@login.dknet.dk    Private mailbox.
    whois: [PHK]                | phk@ref.tfs.com       TRW Financial Systems, Inc.
    Future will arrive by its own means, progress not so.

Alex



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