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    SubjectRe: Hardwired drivers are going away?
    At 01:07 21/01/02, Mr. James W. Laferriere wrote:
    >On Mon, 21 Jan 2002, Anton Altaparmakov wrote:
    > > At 23:20 20/01/02, Frank van de Pol wrote:
    > > >On Sat, Jan 19, 2002 at 10:22:43AM +1100, Keith Owens wrote:
    > > > > On Fri, 18 Jan 2002 17:20:02 -0500 (EST),
    > > > > "Mr. James W. Laferriere" <babydr@baby-dragons.com> wrote:
    > > > > > Linux doesn't have a method to load encrypted & signed modules at
    > > > > > this time .
    > > > > And never will. Who loads the module - root. Who maintains the list
    > > > > of signatures - root. Who controls the code that verifies the
    > > > > signature - root.
    > > > > Your task Jim, should you choose to accept it, is to make the kernel
    > > > > distinguish between a good use of root and a malicious use by some who
    > > > > has broken in and got root privileges. When you can do that, then we
    > > > > can add signed modules.
    > > >If you want to secure your box, why don't you simply put a lock on it and
    > > >throw away the key? Really, what might help the paranoid admins in
    > this case
    > > >is a setting in the kernel which basically disables the ability to load or
    > > >unload modules. Of course once set this setting can not been turned with
    > > >rebooting the box.
    >
    > > Er that sounds like just disabling modules in the kernel altogether (kernel
    > > compile option exists for this since the beginning of time)... I do that on
    > > all servers I control. Not only for security reasons but also because I
    > > suspect it produces smaller and probably faster kernels (I haven't tested
    > > this in any way, just a guess).
    > This is just what the Heads are trying to do away with . There
    > will only be module enabled kernels . JimL

    Ah! Serves me right for jumping into a thread without reading the previous
    posts... I better shut up as I have no idea why this is being done. From my
    unknowledgeable point of view it seems daft but there probably are good
    reasons... I suppose even non-modular kernels can be modified by the root
    user to be exploited, it's just a little bit harder...

    Best regards,

    Anton


    --
    "I've not lost my mind. It's backed up on tape somewhere." - Unknown
    --
    Anton Altaparmakov <aia21 at cam.ac.uk> (replace at with @)
    Linux NTFS Maintainer / WWW: http://linux-ntfs.sf.net/
    ICQ: 8561279 / WWW: http://www-stu.christs.cam.ac.uk/~aia21/

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