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MAC/do: Check executable path from the current jail's root
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Authored by olce on Sep 27 2025, 12:23 PM.
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Details

Summary

Contrary to my initial belief, vn_fullpath() does return a vnode's path
from the current chroot, and not from the global root (which would have
been a bug also, but without security consequences). This enables
a "confused deputy"-like scenario where a chroot(2) can change which
executable can be authorized by MAC/do, which is even more problematic
for unprivileged chroot(2).

This was found by re-examining the code following two close events:

  1. Shawn Webb sent a mail to freebsd-hackers@ on 08/05 saying that in HardenedBSD they had added a check on P2_NO_NEW_PRIVS (in mac_do_priv_grant()), which I responded to on 08/20 saying that P2_NO_NEW_PRIVS was not necessary for mac_do(4), with a correct reasoning but based on the wrong above-mentioned assumption about vn_fullpath().
  2. I reviewed some code by Kushagra Srivastava (GSoC 2025 student working on mac_do(4)/mdo(1)) adding the ability to specify which executables can spawn processes that mac_do(4) may decide to authorize (others are simply ignored), which currently is hardcoded to '/usr/bin/mdo'.

MFC after: 3 days
Event: EuroBSDCon 2025
Sponsored by: The FreeBSD Foundation

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