2 .\" Copyright (c) 2000 Robert N. M. Watson
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26 .\" $FreeBSD: src/lib/libposix1e/posix1e.3,v 1.3.2.6 2001/12/20 16:27:06 ru Exp $
33 .Nd introduction to the POSIX.1e security API
43 The IEEE POSIX.1e specification never left draft form, but the interfaces
44 it describes are now widely used despite inherent limitations. Currently,
45 only a few of the interfaces and features are implemented in
47 although efforts are underway to complete the integration at this time.
49 POSIX.1e describes five security extensions to the base POSIX.1 API:
50 Access Control Lists (ACLs), Auditing, Capabilities, Mandatory Access
51 Control, and Information Flow Labels. Of these, the ACL interfaces are
52 currently included with
54 Auditing, Capabilities, and Mandatory
55 Access Control are in the wings, and Information Flow Labels are not on
58 POSIX.1e defines both syntax and semantics for these features, but fairly
59 substantial changes are required to implement these features in the
60 operating system. As shipped,
62 permits file systems to export
63 Access Control Lists via the VFS, and provides a library for userland
64 access to and manipulation of these ACLs, but support for ACLs is not
65 provided by any file systems shipped in the base operating system.
66 Available API calls relating to ACLs are described in detail in
69 The patches supporting other POSIX.1e features are not available in the
70 base operating system at this time--however, more information on them
71 may be found on the FreeBSD POSIX.1e implementation web page:
73 http://www.watson.org/fbsd-hardening/posix1e/
74 .Sh IMPLEMENTATION NOTES
76 support for POSIX.1e interfaces and features is still under
77 development at this time.
79 POSIX.1e assigns security labels to all objects, extending the security
80 functionality described in POSIX.1. These additional labels provide
81 fine-grained discretionary access control, fine-grained capabilities,
82 and labels necessary for mandatory access control. POSIX.2c describes
83 a set of userland utilities for manipulating these labels. These userland
84 utilities are not bundled with
86 so as to discourage their
87 use in the short term.
94 POSIX.1e is described in IEEE POSIX.1e draft 17. Discussion
95 of the draft continues on the cross-platform POSIX.1e implementation
96 mailing list. To join this list, see the
98 POSIX.1e implementation
99 page for more information.
101 POSIX.1e support was introduced in
103 and development continues.
105 .An Robert N M Watson ,
106 .An Ilmar S Habibulin
108 These features are not yet fully implemented. In particular, the shipped
109 version of UFS/FFS does not support storage of additional security labels,
110 and so is unable to (easily) provide support for most of these features.