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In March 2001, the National Security Agency (NSA) gave a presentation about Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) at the 2.5 Linux Kernel Summit. SELinux is an implementation of flexible and fine-grained nondiscretionary access controls in the Linux kernel, originally implemented as its own particular kernel patch. Several other security projects (e.g. RSBAC, Medusa) have also developed flexible access control architectures for the Linux kernel, and various projects have developed particular access control models for Linux (e.g. LIDS, DTE, SubDomain). Each project has developed and maintained its own kernel patch to support its security needs.
In response to the NSA presentation, Linus Torvalds made a set of remarks that described a security framework he would be willing to consider for inclusion in the mainstream Linux kernel. He described a general framework that would provide a set of security hooks to control operations on kernel objects and a set of opaque security fields in kernel data structures for maintaining security attributes. This framework could then be used by loadable kernel modules to implement any desired model of security. Linus also suggested the possibility of migrating the Linux capabilities code into such a module.
The Linux Security Modules (LSM) project was started by WireX to develop such a framework. LSM is a joint development effort by several security projects, including Immunix, SELinux, SGI and Janus, and several individuals, including Greg Kroah-Hartman and James Morris, to develop a Linux kernel patch that implements this framework. The patch is currently tracking the 2.4 series and is targeted for integration into the 2.5 development series. This technical report provides an overview of the framework and the example capabilities security module provided by the LSM kernel patch.