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Bug 1213408 - abrt: root should own problem report directories, switch back to /var/spool/abrt from /var/tmp/abrt
Summary: abrt: root should own problem report directories, switch back to /var/spool/a...
Keywords:
Status: CLOSED ERRATA
Alias: None
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
Classification: Red Hat
Component: abrt
Version: 7.1
Hardware: Unspecified
OS: Unspecified
unspecified
unspecified
Target Milestone: rc
: ---
Assignee: abrt
QA Contact: Martin Kyral
URL:
Whiteboard:
Depends On:
Blocks: 1211224 1213409 1214172
TreeView+ depends on / blocked
 
Reported: 2015-04-20 13:42 UTC by Florian Weimer
Modified: 2015-11-19 14:32 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

Fixed In Version: abrt-2.1.11-22.el7
Doc Type: Bug Fix
Doc Text:
Clone Of:
Environment:
Last Closed: 2015-11-19 14:32:29 UTC
Target Upstream Version:
Embargoed:

Attachments (Terms of Use)


Links
System ID Private Priority Status Summary Last Updated
Red Hat Product Errata RHBA-2015:2097 0 normal SHIPPED_LIVE abrt bug fix and enhancement update 2015-11-19 11:34:14 UTC

Description Florian Weimer 2015-04-20 13:42:48 UTC 
The choice of /var/tmp/abrt as the base directory for problem report directories makes it quite hard to write correct code to access problem directories because all access needs to obtain a stable reference to the problem directory (using openat) in a way that is race-free with an ownership check on /var/tmp/abrt (it must be owned by root:root).

It is much easier to switch back to /var/spool/abrt, where the directory can be packaged directly in the RPM with appropriate ownership.

/var/spool/abrt is also more or less required for proper path-based SELinux labeling, a subdirectory of a 1777 directory really isn't cut out for that.

In the past, it has been alleged that user-owned files under /var/spool are not FHS-compliant, but existing practice (such as mailboxes and crontabs) flatly contradicts that.  In any case, FHS compliance is not a sufficient justification to drive up code complexity and risk having a prolonged streak of security vulnerabilities.  But with the move towards problem directory ownership by root:abrt, this objection no longer applies anyway.
Comment 2 Florian Weimer 2015-04-22 08:51:14 UTC 
This bug should also capture the switch to root:abrt ownership of problem report directories, with permissions 0750.  This addresses both race conditions and information leaks.
Comment 3 R P Herrold 2015-04-23 20:59:46 UTC 
http://refspecs.linuxfoundation.org/FHS_2.3/fhs-2.3.html#VARSPOOLAPPLICATIONSPOOLDATA

/var/spool states:

/var/spool : Application spool data
Purpose

/var/spool contains data which is awaiting some kind of later processing. Data in /var/spool represents work to be done in the future (by a program, user, or administrator); often data is deleted after it has been processed. 

======

whoever is asserting user owned files done belong there has not read the spec
Comment 4 Mats Wichmann 2015-04-23 21:00:14 UTC 
Is there a pointer to the claims that user-owner files are not allowed here by FHS?  Could be worth disambiguating...
Comment 5 Florian Weimer 2015-04-27 13:49:11 UTC 
(In reply to Mats Wichmann from comment #4)
> Is there a pointer to the claims that user-owner files are not allowed here
> by FHS?  Could be worth disambiguating...

No, this was internal communication, and it's now difficult to trace back.  I think it was just an incorrect analysis of the overall situation (see comment 0).

R P Herrold, thanks for digging out this reference.

We tried a version with root:abrt ownership, 0770 permissions, and this does not address bug 1212861 completely: abrt can still escalate privileges to root.  We're now trying 0750 permissions, as requested in comment 2.
Comment 6 Jakub Filak 2015-07-09 10:34:21 UTC 
Fixed in distgit commit:

commit 5050e2a0eb82c167150af65e712a775bf9a1f447
Author: Jakub Filak <jfilak>
Date:   Tue May 5 15:42:37 2015 +0200

    Fix symlink, race-conditions and other security flaws
    
    Resolves: #1211969, #1212819, #1212863, #1212869
    Resolves: #1214453, #1214610, #1216973, #1218583
Comment 9 errata-xmlrpc 2015-11-19 14:32:29 UTC 
Since the problem described in this bug report should be
resolved in a recent advisory, it has been closed with a
resolution of ERRATA.

For information on the advisory, and where to find the updated
files, follow the link below.

If the solution does not work for you, open a new bug report.

https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2015-2097.html
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