50.3. Analyst Control of SELinux
This section describes some common tasks that a security analyst might need to perform on an SELinux system.
50.3.1. Enabling Kernel Auditing
As part of an SELinux analysis or troubleshooting exercise, you might choose to enable complete kernel-level auditing. This can be quite verbose, because it generates one or more additional audit messages for each AVC audit message. To enable this level of auditing, append the
audit=1 parameter to your kernel boot line, either in the /etc/grub.conf file or on the GRUB menu at boot time.
This is an example of a full audit log entry when
httpd is denied access to ~/public_html because the directory is not labeled as Web content. Notice that the time and serial number stamps in the audit(...) field are identical in each case. This makes it easier to track a specific event in the audit logs:
Jan 15 08:03:56 hostname kernel: audit(1105805036.075:2392892): \
avc: denied { getattr } for pid=2239 exe=/usr/sbin/httpd \
path=/home/auser/public_html dev=hdb2 ino=921135 \
scontext=user_u:system_r:httpd_t \
tcontext=system_u:object_r:user_home_t tclass=dir
The following audit message tells more about the source, including the kind of system call involved, showing that httpd tried to stat the directory:
Jan 15 08:03:56 hostname kernel: audit(1105805036.075:2392892): \ syscall=195 exit=4294967283 a0=9ef88e0 a1=bfecc0d4 a2=a97ff4 \ a3=bfecc0d4 items=1 pid=2239 loginuid=-1 uid=48 gid=48 euid=48 \ suid=48 fsuid=48 egid=48 sgid=48 fsgid=48
The following message provides more information about the target:
Jan 15 08:03:56 hostname kernel: audit(1105805036.075:2392892): \ item=0 name=/home/auser/public_html inode=921135 dev=00:00
The serial number stamp is always identical for a particular audited event. The time stamp may or may not be identical.
Note
If you are using an audit daemon for troubleshooting, the daemon may capture audit messages into a location other than
/var/log/messages, such as /var/log/audit/audit.log.
