Date: Thu, 5 Jun 2014 20:01:37 +0200
From: "Luis R. Rodriguez" <mcgrof@suse.com>
To: Lennart Poettering <mzxreary@0pointer.de>
Cc: Ian Campbell <Ian.Campbell@citrix.com>, luto@mit.edu,
        Keir Fraser <keir@xen.org>, Tim Deegan <tim@xen.org>,
        Ian Jackson <ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
        systemd-devel@lists.freedesktop.org,
        linux-security-module@vger.kernel.org, ebiederm@xmission.com,
        Jan Beulich <jbeulich@suse.com>, xen-devel@lists.xenproject.org,
        morgan@kernel.org
Subject: Re: [systemd-devel] [PATCH v5 12/14] autoconf: xen: enable
	explicit  preference option for xenstored preference
Message-ID: <20140605180137.GD22052@wotan.suse.de>
References: <1400589095-3872-13-git-send-email-mcgrof@do-not-panic.com> <1400687040.7272.28.camel@kazak.uk.xensource.com> <20140521230233.GA13289@wotan.suse.de> <1400753147.14637.10.camel@kazak.uk.xensource.com> <20140523232031.GA26450@wotan.suse.de> <1401269449.24800.7.camel@kazak.uk.xensource.com> <20140529232918.GG26450@wotan.suse.de> <20140601061547.GC16257@tango.0pointer.de> <20140605003103.GB22052@wotan.suse.de> <20140605112213.GA17673@tango.0pointer.de>
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On Thu, Jun 05, 2014 at 01:22:13PM +0200, Lennart Poettering wrote:
> On Thu, 05.06.14 02:31, Luis R. Rodriguez (mcgrof@suse.com) wrote:
> 
> > On Sun, Jun 01, 2014 at 08:15:47AM +0200, Lennart Poettering wrote:
> > > On Fri, 30.05.14 01:29, Luis R. Rodriguez (mcgrof@suse.com) wrote:
> > > 
> > > > I'm cc'ing a few security folks as I'd appreciate review on the ideas here,
> > > > in particular that of a launcher idea on system to replace alternatives on the
> > > > ExecStart= line of a systemd service unit file, alternative ideas are of
> > > > course welcomed. I'm also Cc'ing systemd-devel as this subject was reviewed
> > > > a little while ago with nothing concrete being recommended but instead a few
> > > > options being now archived as possibilities. I'm looking for a bit wider
> > > > review of the approaches and recomendations.
> > > > 
> > > > Some general background for non xen folks: old xen requires the launch of
> > > > a daemon which implements supports of the xenstore, which is the database
> > > > that xen uses for information about guests / dom0. There are two supported
> > > > daemons, xenstored (C version) and oxenstored (Ocaml version) but they do the
> > > > same thing. Right now old init lets you override which one you pick through
> > > > an environment variable on /etc/{sysconfig,default}/xencommons, the script
> > > > will use the appropriate on there. Systemd doesn't let you use variables on
> > > > the ExecStart line of a service unit file so alternatives are required.
> > > > 
> > > > The reason I'm being very careful here this could set a precedent and at
> > > > least for the launcher idea it'd require the usage of getenv() and execve(),
> > > > and secure alternatives for these (secure_getenv(), execve_nosecurity())
> > > > have either been merged or suggested before for Linux. The systemd discussion
> > > > is only specific to Linux but if we have a launcher we could consider it for
> > > > other supported OSes. All that said I'd like proper review of the security
> > > > implications of *all* strategies but obviously in particular the launcher
> > > > idea. I want to tread carefuly before setting precedents.
> > > 
> > > You can also just invoke a shell script from ExecStart=. I mean, we try
> > > to deemphesize them in the boot process, but there's nothing wrong with
> > > using shell, if you need to parse shell configuraiton fragments and just
> > > want to execute on ot another program...
> > 
> > I tried this and it didn't work given that systemd expects sd_notify()
> > to be called from the parent process, in this case the shell script.
> 
> Hmm? You should "exec" the real daemon binary at the end, not just fork
> it off. That wait the shell script process is replaced by the daemon
> binary, which is what you want.

I tried both just running it and also running exec foo; both presented
the same issue given that shell exec does not really execve.

  Luis
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