Defer to Kernel pattern

Description

The Defer to Kernel pattern lets you take advantage of permission control at the OS kernel level.

The purpose of this pattern is to utilize mechanisms available at the OS kernel level to clearly separate the functionality requiring elevated privileges from the functionality that does not require elevated privileges. By using kernel mechanisms, we do not have to implement new tools for arbitrating security decisions at the user level.

Alternate names

Policy Enforcement Point (PEP), Protected System, Enclave.

Context

The Defer to Kernel pattern is applicable if the system has the following characteristics:

• The system has processes that run without elevated privileges, including user processes.
• Some system functions require elevated privileges that must be verified before processes are granted access to data.
• You need to verify not only the privileges of the requesting process, but also the overall permissibility of the requested operation within the operational context of the entire system and its overall security.

Problem

When functionality is divided among various processes with different levels of privileges, these privileges must be verified when a request is made from one process to another. These verifications must be carried out and their resulting permissions must be granted by trusted code that has a minimal risk of being compromised. The trustworthiness of application code is almost always questionable due to its sheer volume and due to its primary orientation toward implementation of functional requirements.

Solution

Clearly separate privileged functionality and data from non-privileged functionality and data at the process level, and give the OS kernel control of interprocess communication (IPC), including verification of access rights when there is a request for functionality or data requiring elevated privileges, and verification of the overall state of the system and the states of individual processes at the time of the request.

Structure

Operation

• Functionality and management of data with various privileges are compartmentalized among processes.
• The OS kernel ensures isolation of processes.
• Process-1 wants to request privileged functionality or data from Process-2 using IPC.
• The kernel controls IPC and allows or denies communication based on security policies and based on the available information regarding the operational context and state of Process-1.

Implementation recommendations

To ensure that a specific implementation of a pattern operates securely and reliably, the following is required:

• Isolation

  Complete and guaranteed isolation of processes must be ensured.

• Inability to bypass the kernel

  Absolutely all IPC interactions must be controlled by the kernel.

• Kernel self-defense

  The trustworthiness of the kernel must be ensured through its own means of protection against compromise.

• Provability

  The kernel requires a certain level of guaranteed security and reliability.

• Capability for external computation of access permissions

  Access permissions must be computed at the OS level, and must not be implemented in application code.

  For this purpose, tools must be provided for describing access policies so that security policies are detached from the business logic.

Specialized implementation in KasperskyOS

The KasperskyOS kernel guarantees isolation of processes and serves as a Policy Enforcement Point (PEP).

Linked patterns

The Defer to Kernel pattern is a special case of the Distrustful Decomposition and Policy Decision Point patterns. The Policy Decision Point pattern defines the abstraction process that intercepts all requests to resources and verifies that they comply with the defined security policy. The distinctive feature of the Defer to Kernel pattern is that the verification process is performed by the OS kernel, which is a more reliable and portable solution that reduces the time spent on development and testing.

Impacts

By making the OS kernel responsible for applying the access policy, you separate the security policy from the business logic (which may be very complicated) and thereby simplify development and improve portability through the use of OS kernel functions.

This also makes it possible to prove the overall security of a solution by simply demonstrating that the kernel is operating correctly. The difficulty in proving correct execution of code grows nonlinearly as the size of the code increases. The Defer to Kernel pattern minimizes the amount of trusted code, provided that the OS kernel itself is not too large.

Implementation examples

Example of a Defer to Kernel pattern implementation: Defer to Kernel example.

Sources of information

The Defer to Kernel pattern is described in detail in the following resources:

• Chad Dougherty, Kirk Sayre, Robert C. Seacord, David Svoboda, Kazuya Togashi (JPCERT/CC), "Secure Design Patterns" (March-October 2009). Software Engineering Institute. https://resources.sei.cmu.edu/asset_files/TechnicalReport/2009_005_001_15110.pdf
• Dangler, Jeremiah Y., "Categorization of Security Design Patterns" (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1119. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1119
• Schumacher, Markus, Fernandez-Buglioni, Eduardo, Hybertson, Duane, Buschmann, Frank, and Sommerlad, Peter. "Security Patterns: Integrating Security and Systems Engineering" (2006).