CVE-2013-1956: Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls (CWE-264)
value: The create_user_ns function in kernel/user_namespace.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.6 does not check whether a chroot directory exists that differs from the namespace root directory, which allows local users to bypass intended filesystem restrictions via a crafted clone system call.
CWE description: Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of permissions, privileges, and other security features that are used to perform access control.
Published: 2013-04-24T19:55Z
Repository: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
Language: C
Files changed: fs/namespace.c, include/linux/fs_struct.h, kernel/user_namespace.c
Commit date: 2013-03-27 07:49:29 -0700
Commit message: userns:  Don't allow creation if the user is chrooted

Guarantee that the policy of which files may be access that is
established by setting the root directory will not be violated
by user namespaces by verifying that the root directory points
to the root of the mount namespace at the time of user namespace
creation.

Changing the root is a privileged operation, and as a matter of policy
it serves to limit unprivileged processes to files below the current
root directory.

For reasons of simplicity and comprehensibility the privilege to
change the root directory is gated solely on the CAP_SYS_CHROOT
capability in the user namespace.  Therefore when creating a user
namespace we must ensure that the policy of which files may be access
can not be violated by changing the root directory.

Anyone who runs a processes in a chroot and would like to use user
namespace can setup the same view of filesystems with a mount
namespace instead.  With this result that this is not a practical
limitation for using user namespaces.

Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Acked-by: Serge Hallyn <serge.hallyn@canonical.com>
Reported-by: Andy Lutomirski <luto@amacapital.net>
Signed-off-by: "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederm@xmission.com>

Diff: diff --git a/fs/namespace.c b/fs/namespace.c
index 50ca17d3cb4506..a3035223d4218c 100644
--- a/fs/namespace.c
+++ b/fs/namespace.c
@@ -2730,10 +2730,34 @@ EXPORT_SYMBOL(kern_unmount);
 bool our_mnt(struct vfsmount *mnt)
 {
 	return check_mnt(real_mount(mnt));
 }
 
+bool current_chrooted(void)
+{
+	/* Does the current process have a non-standard root */
+	struct path ns_root;
+	struct path fs_root;
+	bool chrooted;
+
+	/* Find the namespace root */
+	ns_root.mnt = &current->nsproxy->mnt_ns->root->mnt;
+	ns_root.dentry = ns_root.mnt->mnt_root;
+	path_get(&ns_root);
+	while (d_mountpoint(ns_root.dentry) && follow_down_one(&ns_root))
+		;
+
+	get_fs_root(current->fs, &fs_root);
+
+	chrooted = !path_equal(&fs_root, &ns_root);
+
+	path_put(&fs_root);
+	path_put(&ns_root);
+
+	return chrooted;
+}
+
 static void *mntns_get(struct task_struct *task)
 {
 	struct mnt_namespace *ns = NULL;
 	struct nsproxy *nsproxy;
 
diff --git a/include/linux/fs_struct.h b/include/linux/fs_struct.h
index 729eded4b24f09..2b93a9a5a1e6b8 100644
--- a/include/linux/fs_struct.h
+++ b/include/linux/fs_struct.h
@@ -48,6 +48,8 @@ static inline void get_fs_root_and_pwd(struct fs_struct *fs, struct path *root,
 	*pwd = fs->pwd;
 	path_get(pwd);
 	spin_unlock(&fs->lock);
 }
 
+extern bool current_chrooted(void);
+
 #endif /* _LINUX_FS_STRUCT_H */
diff --git a/kernel/user_namespace.c b/kernel/user_namespace.c
index b14f4d3420439c..0f1e42884577c9 100644
--- a/kernel/user_namespace.c
+++ b/kernel/user_namespace.c
@@ -59,10 +59,19 @@ int create_user_ns(struct cred *new)
 	struct user_namespace *ns, *parent_ns = new->user_ns;
 	kuid_t owner = new->euid;
 	kgid_t group = new->egid;
 	int ret;
 
+	/*
+	 * Verify that we can not violate the policy of which files
+	 * may be accessed that is specified by the root directory,
+	 * by verifing that the root directory is at the root of the
+	 * mount namespace which allows all files to be accessed.
+	 */
+	if (current_chrooted())
+		return -EPERM;
+
 	/* The creator needs a mapping in the parent user namespace
 	 * or else we won't be able to reasonably tell userspace who
 	 * created a user_namespace.
 	 */
 	if (!kuid_has_mapping(parent_ns, owner) ||

Fixed code: bool current_chrooted(void)
{
	/* Does the current process have a non-standard root */
	struct path ns_root;
	struct path fs_root;
	bool chrooted;

	/* Find the namespace root */
	ns_root.mnt = &current->nsproxy->mnt_ns->root->mnt;
	ns_root.dentry = ns_root.mnt->mnt_root;
	path_get(&ns_root);
	while (d_mountpoint(ns_root.dentry) && follow_down_one(&ns_root))
		;

	get_fs_root(current->fs, &fs_root);

	chrooted = !path_equal(&fs_root, &ns_root);

	path_put(&fs_root);
	path_put(&ns_root);

	return chrooted;
}

extern bool current_chrooted(void);

	/*
	 * Verify that we can not violate the policy of which files
	 * may be accessed that is specified by the root directory,
	 * by verifing that the root directory is at the root of the
	 * mount namespace which allows all files to be accessed.
	 */
	if (current_chrooted())
		return -EPERM;