Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: [RFC][PATCH 0/11] security: AppArmor - Overview | From | James Carter <> | Date | Tue, 25 Apr 2006 08:42:29 -0400 |
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On Tue, 2006-04-25 at 18:10 +1000, Neil Brown wrote: > I have a knife with which to eat my dinner, but the moment I move > it more than 10cm from my plate, a robotic hand reaches out and > immobilised my hand and hence the knife. Who is being protected? > > Not me I guess, because the sinful desire to kill has already taken > over my brain, though maybe I am being protected from life in prison > for murder. > > Not you because you could still come and jump onto my knife and impale > yourself, or someone could grab your arm and drag your wrist along the > blade spilling much of your blood. > > So maybe nobody is being protected. But somehow, fewer people die > when the robot arm is active. > > This is how AppArmor works. It doesn't try to guarantee that no file > will be corrupted or leak. It doesn't try to ensure that no bug can ever > be exploited. But it does try to minimise harm. And it succeeds. > > And remember, the robot didn't grab the knife. It grabbed my hand. > That is a bit like checking pathnames rather than inodes. It doesn't > provide a guarantee of "knife will not enter a body" just as AppArmor > doesn't guarantee that "file will not be changed". But is still tends > to produce the desired result.
I talk to one of the unconfined people at the table and ask them to rename the "knife" to "spoon". Now I am free to do what I wish.
You don't care about the name "knife", you care about the object it represents.
-- James Carter <jwcart2@epoch.ncsc.mil> National Security Agency
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