Untangling Security with SELinux
Security, Hardening, Compliance, and Policy: these are the four horsemen of the SysAdmin apocalypse. One of the big battles is maintaining the security of the systems. Besides the daily tasks, the security of the systems is part of the job, even those systems where the third-party provider asks us to deactivate the enhanced security. In most of these cases, an analysis is enough to find the right troubleshooting method or a workaround.
Security-Enhanced Linux (SELinux) is a code that runs in the user space, leveraging kernel code (Linux Security Modules) to provide mandatory access control (MAC) over system resources. The access to system objects and features takes place on a per-domain basis following the principle of least privilege.
In this chapter, we are going to learn how to take advantage of the benefits of SELinux to secure managed systems, covering the following main topics:
- Learning about mandatory access control
- Labeling...
