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diff --git a/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/index.rst b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/index.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..c980dfe9abf1 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/admin-guide/LSM/index.rst @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ +=========================== +Linux Security Module Usage +=========================== + +The Linux Security Module (LSM) framework provides a mechanism for +various security checks to be hooked by new kernel extensions. The name +"module" is a bit of a misnomer since these extensions are not actually +loadable kernel modules. Instead, they are selectable at build-time via +CONFIG_DEFAULT_SECURITY and can be overridden at boot-time via the +``"security=..."`` kernel command line argument, in the case where multiple +LSMs were built into a given kernel. + +The primary users of the LSM interface are Mandatory Access Control +(MAC) extensions which provide a comprehensive security policy. Examples +include SELinux, Smack, Tomoyo, and AppArmor. In addition to the larger +MAC extensions, other extensions can be built using the LSM to provide +specific changes to system operation when these tweaks are not available +in the core functionality of Linux itself. + +Without a specific LSM built into the kernel, the default LSM will be the +Linux capabilities system. Most LSMs choose to extend the capabilities +system, building their checks on top of the defined capability hooks. +For more details on capabilities, see ``capabilities(7)`` in the Linux +man-pages project. + +A list of the active security modules can be found by reading +``/sys/kernel/security/lsm``. This is a comma separated list, and +will always include the capability module. The list reflects the +order in which checks are made. The capability module will always +be first, followed by any "minor" modules (e.g. Yama) and then +the one "major" module (e.g. SELinux) if there is one configured. + +.. toctree:: + :maxdepth: 1 + + apparmor + LoadPin + SELinux + Smack + tomoyo + Yama |