Full Disclosure mailing list archives
Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started
From: Nick FitzGerald <nick () virus-l demon co uk>
Date: Tue, 18 May 2004 23:01:31 +1200
Valdis.Kletnieks () vt edu to me:
Actually reading what C2 *required* is quite enlightening.
More "worrying" given that MS' focus on getting C2 certified was to be able to bid for the "more lucrative" DoD and related contracts that required C2-level systems (no matter how arbitrarily -- incredibly few of them were ever actually configured and run at C2).
Code identified as a 'Trusted Computing Base'. Identification of specific users.. discretionary access controls.. an audit trail.. object clearing before reuse.. Testing for *obvious* flaws.. Yep, that's about it. ...
"Guaranteed boot path" (can't recall the precise wording) -- something MS was already actively campaigning against with its "boot from network" requirement for the upcoming PC 95 or PC 97 hardware platform specs, and something that no "typical PC" could ever meet. The C2 cert for NT "fudged" this requirement by removing the floppy drive (and perhaps by testing on a machine whose BIOS did not yet support "boot from CD").
... Userid/password, some sort of user-settable file permissions, don't let the next user snarf blocks off the disk by allocating a big file, and keep an audit trail. *real* stringent. Even when NT came out, C2 wasn't considered much security at all... Most of this stuff was already well understood when Multics was done in the mid-60s. Security labels? MAC? Those are B1. "A team of individuals who thoroughly understand the specific implementation of the TCB shall subject its design documentation, source code, and object code to through analysis and testing". That's not a requirement till B1 either. (Yeah.. ponder THAT one - you don't have to do a thorough test to get C2 ;) "Trusted Path" for login? That's in B2, as is covert channel analysis. You get the idea... ;)
No -- I _know_ the idea. The point is that NT is usually sneered at by *nix bigots whose favourite OSes are _just as lame_ by those same miserable criteria. IIRC (and I really don't care as it really doesn't matter) but no "mainstream" *nix matched NT's C2 certification for a year or more when, IIRC, some Solaris variant was gonged C2 too. Anyway, the real point is that all the currently popular systems implement some form of _discretionary_ controls, which (by definition) have to actually be enabled before thay can be any use (regardless of how much or how little use they can be) and as most current "system admins" don't even have that concept in their computing world views, it's kinda academic to debate whether the OSes these "admins" run support DAC, MAC or whatever... -- Nick FitzGerald Computer Virus Consulting Ltd. Ph/FAX: +64 3 3529854 _______________________________________________ Full-Disclosure - We believe in it. Charter: http://lists.netsys.com/full-disclosure-charter.html
Current thread:
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started, (continued)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started scosol () scosol org (May 16)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Georgi Guninski (May 16)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started scosol () scosol org (May 17)
- RE: Support the Sasser-author fund started Bill Royds (May 16)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Shane C. Hage (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started James Riden (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Stormwalker (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Valdis . Kletnieks (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Nick FitzGerald (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Valdis . Kletnieks (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Nick FitzGerald (May 18)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Alexander Schreiber (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Nick FitzGerald (May 18)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Alexander Schreiber (May 18)
- RE: Support the Sasser-author fund started Bill Royds (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Ondrej Krajicek (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Valdis . Kletnieks (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Ondrej Krajicek (May 17)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Valdis . Kletnieks (May 17)
- Re[2]: Support the Sasser-author fund started npguy (May 16)
- Re: Support the Sasser-author fund started Exibar (May 14)