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Unified Diff: docs/linux_sandboxing.md

Issue 1309473002: WIP: Migrate Wiki content over to src/docs (Closed) Base URL: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git@master
Patch Set: Created 5 years, 4 months ago
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Index: docs/linux_sandboxing.md
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+Chromium uses a multiprocess model, which allows to give different privileges and restrictions to different parts of the browser. For instance, we want renderers to run with a limited set of privileges since they process untrusted input and are likely to be compromised. Renderers will use an IPC mechanism to request access to resource from a more privileged (browser process).
+You can find more about this general design [here](http://dev.chromium.org/developers/design-documents/sandbox).
+
+We use different sandboxing techniques on Linux and Chrome OS, in combination, to achieve a good level of sandboxing. You can see which sandboxes are currently engaged by looking at chrome://sandbox (renderer processes) and chrome://gpu (gpu process).
+
+We have a two layers approach:
+
+ * Layer-1 (also called the "semantics" layer) prevents access to most resources from a process where it's engaged. The setuid sandbox is used for this.
+ * Layer-2 (also called "attack surface reduction" layer) restricts access from a process to the attack surface of the kernel. Seccomp-BPF is used for this.
+
+You can disable all sandboxing (for testing) with --no-sandbox.
+
+## Layered approach
+
+One notable difficulty with seccomp-bpf is that filtering at the system call interface provides difficult to understand semantics. One crucial aspect is that if a process A runs under seccomp-bpf, we need to guarantee that it cannot affect the integrity of process B running under a different seccomp-bpf policy (which would be a sandbox escape). Besides the obvious system calls such as ptrace() or process\_vm\_writev(), there are multiple subtle issues, such as using open() on /proc entries.
+
+Our layer-1 guarantees the integrity of processes running under different seccomp-bpf policies. In addition, it allows restricting access to the network, something that is difficult to perform at the layer-2.
+
+## Sandbox types summary
+
+| **Name** | **Layer and process** | **Linux flavors where available** | **State** |
+|:---------|:----------------------|:----------------------------------|:----------|
+| [Setuid sandbox](#The_setuid_sandbox.md) | Layer-1 in Zygote processes (renderers, PPAPI, [NaCl](http://www.chromium.org/nativeclient), some utility processes) | Linux distributions and Chrome OS | Enabled by default (old kernels) and maintained |
+| [User namespaces sandbox](#User_namespaces_sandbox.md) | Modern alternative to the setuid sandbox. Layer-1 in Zygote processes (renderers, PPAPI, [NaCl](http://www.chromium.org/nativeclient), some utility processes) | Linux distributions and Chrome OS (kernel >= 3.8) | Enabled by default (modern kernels) and actively developed |
+| [Seccomp-BPF](#The_seccomp-bpf_sandbox.md) | Layer-2 in some Zygote processes (renderers, PPAPI, [NaCl](http://www.chromium.org/nativeclient)), Layer-1 + Layer-2 in GPU process | Linux kernel >= 3.5, Chrome OS and Ubuntu | Enabled by default and actively developed |
+| [Seccomp-legacy](#The_seccomp_sandbox.md) | Layer-2 in renderers | All | [Deprecated](https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?revision=197301&view=revision) |
+| [SELinux](#SELinux.md) | Layer-1 in Zygote processes (renderers, PPAPI) | SELinux distributions | [Deprecated](https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?revision=200838&view=revision) |
+| Apparmor | Outer layer-1 in Zygote processes (renderers, PPAPI) | Not used | Deprecated |
+
+## The setuid sandbox
+
+Also called SUID sandbox, our main layer-1 sandbox.
+
+A SUID binary that will create a new network and PID namespace, as well as chroot() the process to an empty directory on request.
+
+To disable it, use --disable-setuid-sandbox. (Do not remove the binary or unset CHROME\_DEVEL\_SANDBOX, it is not supported).
+
+_Main page: [LinuxSUIDSandbox](LinuxSUIDSandbox.md)_
+
+## User namespaces sandbox
+
+The namespace sandbox [aims to replace the setuid sandbox](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=312380). It has the advantage of not requiring a setuid binary. It's based on (unprivileged)
+[user namespaces](https://lwn.net/Articles/531114/) in the Linux kernel. It generally requires a kernel >= 3.10, although it may work with 3.8 if certain patches are backported.
+
+Starting with M-43, if the kernel supports it, unprivileged namespaces are used instead of the setuid sandbox. Starting with M-44, certain processes run [in their own PID namespace](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=460972), which isolates them better.
+
+## The <tt>seccomp-bpf</tt> sandbox
+
+Also called <tt>seccomp-filters</tt> sandbox.
+
+Our main layer-2 sandbox, designed to shelter the kernel from malicious code executing in userland.
+
+Also used as layer-1 in the GPU process. A [BPF](http://www.tcpdump.org/papers/bpf-usenix93.pdf) compiler will compile a process-specific program
+to filter system calls and send it to the kernel. The kernel will interpret this program for each system call and allow or disallow the call.
+
+To help with sandboxing of existing code, the kernel can also synchronously raise a SIGSYS signal. This allows user-land to perform actions such as "log and return errno", emulate the system call or broker-out the system call (perform a remote system call via IPC). Implementing this requires a low-level async-signal safe IPC facility.
+
+Seccomp-bpf is supported since Linux 3.5, but is also back-ported on Ubuntu 12.04 and is always available on Chrome OS. See [this page](http://outflux.net/teach-seccomp/) for more information.
+
+See [this blog post](http://blog.chromium.org/2012/11/a-safer-playground-for-your-linux-and.html) announcing Chrome support. Or [this one](http://blog.cr0.org/2012/09/introducing-chromes-next-generation.html) for a more technical overview.
+
+This sandbox can be disabled with --disable-seccomp-filter-sandbox.
+
+## The <tt>seccomp</tt> sandbox
+
+Also called <tt>seccomp-legacy</tt>. An obsolete layer-1 sandbox, then available as an optional layer-2 sandbox.
+
+Deprecated by seccomp-bpf and removed from the Chromium code base. It still exists as a separate project [here](https://code.google.com/p/seccompsandbox/).
+
+See:
+ * http://www.imperialviolet.org/2009/08/26/seccomp.html
+ * http://lwn.net/Articles/346902/
+ * https://code.google.com/p/seccompsandbox/
+
+## SELinux
+
+[Deprecated](https://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?revision=200838&view=revision). Was designed to be used instead of the SUID sandbox.
+
+Old information for archival purposes:
+
+One can build Chromium with <tt>selinux=1</tt> and the Zygote (which starts the renderers and PPAPI processes) will do a
+dynamic transition. audit2allow will quickly build a usable module.
+
+Available since [r26257](http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome?view=rev&revision=26257),
+more information in [this blog post](http://www.imperialviolet.org/2009/07/14/selinux.html) (grep for
+'dynamic' since dynamic transitions are a little obscure in SELinux)
+
+## Developing and debugging with sandboxing
+
+Sandboxing can make developing harder, see:
+ * [this page](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxSUIDSandboxDevelopment) for the setuid sandbox
+ * [this page](http://www.chromium.org/for-testers/bug-reporting-guidelines/hanging-tabs) for triggering crashes
+ * [this page for debugging tricks](https://code.google.com/p/chromium/wiki/LinuxDebugging#Getting_renderer_subprocesses_into_gdb)
+
+## See also
+ * [LinuxSandboxIPC](LinuxSandboxIPC.md)
+ * [How Chromium's Linux sandbox affects Native Client](https://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/wiki/LinuxOuterSandbox)

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