openstack-manuals/doc/admin-guide-cloud/compute/section_compute-rootwrap.xml
Christian Berendt d99744c3df Unified the syntax of the XML root element (admin-guide-cloud)
The XML root element of Docbook XML files should match the following
format:

<ELEMENT xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
  xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
  xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
  version="5.0"
  xml:id="THE_XML_ID_OF_THE_ELEMENT">

Change-Id: I95a6f36d6887af952257a800e3359d53ac1f895a
2014-07-09 19:43:01 +02:00

117 lines
6.4 KiB
XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
version="5.0"
xml:id="root-wrap-reference">
<title>Secure with root wrappers</title>
<para>The root wrapper enables an unprivileged user to run a number of Compute actions as the
root user in the safest manner possible. Historically, Compute used a specific
<filename>sudoers</filename> file that listed every command that the Compute user was
allowed to run, and used <command>sudo</command> to run that command as
<literal>root</literal>. However this was difficult to maintain (the
<filename>sudoers</filename> file was in packaging), and did not enable complex
filtering of parameters (advanced filters). The rootwrap was designed to solve those
issues.</para>
<simplesect>
<title>How rootwrap works</title>
<para>Instead of calling <command>sudo make me a sandwich</command>, Compute services start
with a <command>nova-rootwrap</command> call; for example, <command>sudo nova-rootwrap
/etc/nova/rootwrap.conf make me a sandwich</command>. A generic sudoers entry lets
the Compute user run <command>nova-rootwrap</command> as root. The
<command>nova-rootwrap</command> code looks for filter definition directories in its
configuration file, and loads command filters from them. Then it checks if the command
requested by Compute matches one of those filters, in which case it executes the command
(as root). If no filter matches, it denies the request.</para>
<note><para>To use <command>nova-rootwrap</command>, you must be aware of the issues with using NFS and
root-owned files. The NFS share must be configured with the
<option>no_root_squash</option> option enabled.</para>
</note>
</simplesect>
<simplesect>
<title>Security model</title>
<para>The escalation path is fully controlled by the root user. A sudoers entry (owned by
root) allows Compute to run (as root) a specific rootwrap executable, and only with a
specific configuration file (which should be owned by root).
<command>nova-rootwrap</command> imports the Python modules it needs from a cleaned
(and system-default) <replaceable>PYTHONPATH</replaceable>. The configuration file (also
root-owned) points to root-owned filter definition directories, which contain root-owned
filters definition files. This chain ensures that the Compute user itself is not in
control of the configuration or modules used by the <command>nova-rootwrap</command>
executable.</para>
</simplesect>
<simplesect>
<title>Details of rootwrap.conf</title>
<para>You configure <command>nova-rootwrap</command> in the
<filename>rootwrap.conf</filename> file. Because it's in the trusted security path,
it must be owned and writable by only the root user. The file's location is specified
both in the sudoers entry and in the <filename>nova.conf</filename> configuration file
with the <code>rootwrap_config=entry</code>.</para>
<para>The <filename>rootwrap.conf</filename> file uses an INI file format with these
sections and parameters:</para>
<table rules="all" frame="border"
xml:id="rootwrap-conf-table-filter-path" width="100%">
<caption>rootwrap.conf configuration options</caption>
<col width="50%"/>
<col width="50%"/>
<thead>
<tr>
<td><para>Configuration option=Default
value</para></td>
<td><para>(Type) Description</para></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><para>[DEFAULT]</para>
<para>filters_path=/etc/nova/rootwrap.d,/usr/share/nova/rootwrap
</para></td>
<td><para>(ListOpt) Comma-separated list of
directories containing filter definition
files. Defines where filters for root wrap
are stored. Directories defined on this
line should all exist, be owned and
writable only by the root
user.</para></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</simplesect>
<simplesect>
<title>Details of .filters files</title>
<para>Filters definition files contain lists of filters that
<command>nova-rootwrap</command> will use to allow or deny a specific command. They
are generally suffixed by .filters. Since they are in the trusted security path, they
need to be owned and writable only by the root user. Their location is specified in the
<filename>rootwrap.conf</filename> file.</para>
<para>Filter definition files use an INI file format with a [Filters] section and several
lines, each with a unique parameter name (different for each filter that you
define):</para>
<table rules="all" frame="border"
xml:id="rootwrap-conf-table-filter-name" width="100%">
<caption>.filters configuration options</caption>
<col width="50%"/>
<col width="50%"/>
<thead>
<tr>
<td><para>Configuration option=Default
value</para></td>
<td><para>(Type) Description</para></td>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td><para>[Filters]</para>
<para>filter_name=kpartx: CommandFilter,
/sbin/kpartx, root</para></td>
<td><para>(ListOpt) Comma-separated list
containing first the Filter class to use,
followed by that Filter arguments (which
vary depending on the Filter class
selected).</para></td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</simplesect>
</section>