KAUTH(9) NetBSD Kernel Developer's Manual KAUTH(9) NAME kauth -- kernel authorization framework SYNOPSIS #include <sys/kauth.h> DESCRIPTION kauth, or kernel authorization, is the subsystem managing all authoriza- tion requests inside the kernel. It manages user credentials and rights, and can be used to implement a system-wide security policy. It allows external modules to plug-in the authorization process. kauth introduces some new concepts, namely ``scopes'' and ``listeners'', which will be detailed together with other useful information for kernel developers in this document. Types Some kauth types include the following: kauth_cred_t Representing credentials that can be associated with an object. Includes user- and group-ids (real, effective, and save) as well as group membership information. kauth_scope_t Describes a scope. kauth_listener_t Describes a listener. Terminology kauth operates in various ``scopes'', each scope holding a group of ``listeners''. Each listener works as a callback for when an authorization request within the scope is made. When such a request is made, all listeners on the scope are passed common information such as the credentials of the request context, an identifier for the requested operation, and possibly other information as well. Every listener examines the passed information and returns its decision regarding the requested operation. It can either allow, deny, or defer the operation -- in which case, the decision is left to the other listen- ers. For an operation to be allowed, all listeners must not return any deny or defer decisions. Scopes manage listeners that operate in the same aspect of the system. Kernel Programming Interface kauth exports a KPI that allows developers both of NetBSD and third-party products to authorize requests, access and modify credentials, create and remove scopes and listeners, and perform other miscellaneous operations on credentials. Authorization Requests kauth provides a single authorization request routine, which all autho- rization requests go through. This routine dispatches the request to the listeners of the appropriate scope, together with four optional user-data variables, and returns the augmented result. It is declared as int kauth_authorize_action(kauth_scope_t scope, kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, void *arg0, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) An authorization request can return one of two possible values. Zero indicates success -- the operation is allowed; EPERM (see errno(2)) indi- cates failure -- the operation is denied. Each scope has its own authorization wrapper, to make it easy to call from various places by eliminating the need to specify the scope and/or cast values. The authorization wrappers are detailed in each scope's section. Generic Scope The generic scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.generic'', manages generic autho- rization requests in the kernel. The authorization wrapper for this scope is declared as int kauth_authorize_generic(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, void *arg0) The following operations are available for this scope: KAUTH_GENERIC_ISSUSER Checks whether the credentials belong to the super-user. Using this request is strongly discouraged and should only be done as a temporary place-holder, as it is breaking the separation between the interface for authorization requests from the back-end implementation. KAUTH_GENERIC_CANSEE Checks whether an object with one set of credentials can access information about another object, possibly with a different set of credentials. arg0 contains the credentials of the object looked at. This request should be issued only in cases where generic credentials check is required; otherwise it is recommended to use the object-specific routines. System Scope The system scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.system'', manages authorization requests affecting the entire system. The authorization wrapper for this scope is declared as int kauth_authorize_system(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, enum kauth_system_req req, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) The following requests are available for this scope: KAUTH_SYSTEM_ACCOUNTING Check if enabling/disabling accounting allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_CHROOT req can be any of the following: KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_CHROOT_CHROOT Check if calling chroot(2) is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_CHROOT_FCHROOT Check if calling fchroot(2) is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_DEBUG This request concentrates several debugging-related opera- tions. req can be any of the following: KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_DEBUG_IPKDB Check if using ipkdb(4) is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_FILEHANDLE Check if filehandle operations allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_LKM Check if an LKM request is allowed. arg1 is the command. KAUTH_SYSTEM_MKNOD Check if creating devices is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_MOUNT Check if mount-related operations are allowed. req can be any of the following: KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_MOUNT_GET Check if retrieving information about a mount is allowed. arg1 is a struct mount * with the mount structure in question, arg2 is a void * with file-system specific data, if any. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_MOUNT_NEW Check if mounting a new file-system is allowed. arg1 is the struct vnode * on which the file- system is to be mounted, arg2 is an int with the mount flags, and arg3 is a void * with file-system specific data, if any. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_MOUNT_UNMOUNT Checks if unmounting a file-system is allowed. arg1 is a struct mount * with the mount in question. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_MOUNT_UPDATE Checks if updating an existing mount is allowed. arg1 is the struct mount * of the existing mount, arg2 is an int with the new mount flags, and arg3 is a void * with file-system specific data, if any. KAUTH_SYSTEM_REBOOT Check if rebooting is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_SETIDCORE Check if changing coredump settings for set-id processes is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_SWAPCTL Check if privileged swapctl(2) requests are allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_SYSCTL This requests operations related to sysctl(9). req indi- cates the specific request and can be one of the following: KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_SYSCTL_ADD Check if adding a sysctl(9) node is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_SYSCTL_DELETE Check if deleting a sysctl(9) node is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_SYSCTL_DESC Check if adding description to a sysctl(9) node is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_SYSCTL_PRVT Check if accessing private sysctl(9) nodes is allowed. KAUTH_SYSTEM_TIME This request groups time-related operations. req can be any of the following: KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_TIME_ADJTIME Check if changing the time using adjtime(2) is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_TIME_BACKWARDS Check if setting the time backwards is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_TIME_NTPADJTIME Check if setting the time using ntp_adjtime(2) is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_TIME_SYSTEM Check if changing the time (usually via settimeofday(2)) is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_SYSTEM_TIME_RTCOFFSET Check if changing the RTC offset is allowed. Process Scope The process scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.process'', manages authorization requests related to processes in the system. The authorization wrapper for this scope is declared as int kauth_authorize_process(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, struct proc *p, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) The following operations are available for this scope: KAUTH_PROCESS_CANKTRACE Checks whether an object with one set of credentials can ktrace(1) another process p, possibly with a different set of credentials. KAUTH_PROCESS_CANPROCFS Checks whether object with passed credentials can use procfs to access process p. arg1 is the struct pfsnode * for the target element in the target process, and arg2 is the access type, which can be either KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_CANPROCFS_CTL, KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_CANPROCFS_READ, KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_CANPROCFS_RW, or KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_CANPROCFS_WRITE, indicating control, read, read-write, or write access respectively. KAUTH_PROCESS_CANPTRACE Checks whether object with passed credentials can use ptrace(2) to access process p. arg1 is the ptrace(2) command. KAUTH_PROCESS_CANSEE Checks whether an object with one set of credentials can access information about another process, possibly with a different set of credentials. KAUTH_PROCESS_CANSIGNAL Checks whether an object with one set of credentials can post signals to another process. p is the process the signal is being posted to, and arg1 is the signal number. KAUTH_PROCESS_CANSYSTRACE Checks whether object with passed credentials can use systrace(4) on process p. KAUTH_PROCESS_CORENAME Checks whether the coredump name for the process p can be changed. arg1 is the new corename. KAUTH_PROCESS_RESOURCE Groups authorization requests related to resource manage- ment. arg0 indicates the sub-action, and can be one of the following: KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_RESOURCE_NICE Checks whether the nice value of p can be changed to arg2. KAUTH_REQ_PROCESS_RESOURCE_RLIMIT Checks whether the rlimit value for arg3 in p can be set to arg2. KAUTH_PROCESS_SETID Check if changing the user- or group-ids, groups, or login- name for p is allowed. KAUTH_PROCESS_STOPFLAG Check if setting the stop flags for exec(3), exit(3), and fork(2) is allowed. arg1 indicates the flag, and can be either P_STOPEXEC, P_STOPEXIT, or P_STOPFORK respectively. Network Scope The network scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.network'', manages networking- related authorization requests in the kernel. The authorization wrapper for this scope is declared as int kauth_authorize_network(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, enum kauth_network_req req, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) The following operations are available for this scope: KAUTH_NETWORK_ALTQ Checks if an ALTQ operation is allowed. req indicates the ALTQ subsystem in question, and can be one of the following: KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_AFMAP KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_BLUE KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_CBQ KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_CDNR KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_CONF KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_FIFOQ KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_HFSC KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_JOBS KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_PRIQ KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_RED KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_RIO KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_ALTQ_WFQ KAUTH_NETWORK_BIND Checks if a bind(2) request is allowed. req allows to indicate the type of the request to structure listeners and callers easier. Supported request types: KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_BIND_PRIVPORT Checks if binding to a privileged/reserved port is allowed. KAUTH_NETWORK_FIREWALL Checks if firewall-related operations are allowed. req indicates the sub-action, and can be one of the follow- ing: KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_FIREWALL_FW Modification of packet filtering rules. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_FIREWALL_NAT Modification of NAT rules. KAUTH_NETWORK_INTERFACE Checks if network interface-related operations are allowed. arg1 is (optionally) the struct ifnet * associated with the interface. arg2 is (optionally) an int describing the interface-specific operation. arg3 is (optionally) a pointer to the interface-specific request structure. req indicates the sub-action, and can be one of the following: KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_INTERFACE_GET Check if retrieving information from the device is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_INTERFACE_GETPRIV Check if retrieving privileged information from the device is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_INTERFACE_SET Check if setting parameters on the device is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_INTERFACE_SETPRIV Check if setting privileged parameters on the device is allowed. Note that unless the struct ifnet * for the interface was passed in arg1, there's no way to tell what structure arg3 is. KAUTH_NETWORK_FORWSRCRT Checks whether status of forwarding of source-routed pack- ets can be modified or not. KAUTH_NETWORK_ROUTE Checks if a routing-related request is allowed. arg1 is the struct rt_msghdr * for the request. KAUTH_NETWORK_SOCKET Checks if a socket related operation is allowed. req allows to indicate the type of the request to structure listeners and callers easier. Supported request types: KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_SOCKET_RAWSOCK Checks if opening a raw socket is allowed. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_SOCKET_OPEN Checks if opening a socket is allowed. arg1, arg2, and arg3 are all int parameters describing the domain, socket type, and pro- tocol, respectively. KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_SOCKET_CANSEE Checks if looking at the socket passed is allowed. arg1 is a struct socket * describing the socket. Machine-dependent Scope The machine-dependent (machdep) scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.machdep'', man- ages machine-dependent authorization requests in the kernel. The authorization wrapper for this scope is declared as int kauth_authorize_machdep(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, void *arg0, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) The actions on this scope provide a set that may or may not affect all platforms. Below is a list of available actions, along with which plat- forms are affected by each. KAUTH_MACHDEP_IOPERM_GET Request to get the I/O permission level. Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_IOPERM_SET Request to set the I/O permission level. Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_IOPL Request to set the I/O privilege level. Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_LDT_GET Request to get the LDT (local descriptor table). Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_LDT_SET Request to set the LDT (local descriptor table). Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_MTRR_GET Request to get the MTRR (memory type range registers). Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_MTRR_SET Request to set the MTRR (memory type range registers). Affects amd64, i386, xen. KAUTH_MACHDEP_UNMANAGEDMEM Request to access unmanaged memory. Affects alpha, amd64, arm, i386, pc532, powerpc, sh3, sh5, vax, xen. Device Scope The device scope, ``org.netbsd.kauth.device'', manages authorization requests related to devices on the system. Devices can be, for example, terminals, tape drives, and any other hardware. Network devices specifi- cally are handled by the network scope. In addition to the standard authorization wrapper: int kauth_authorize_device(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, void *arg0, void *arg1, void *arg2, void *arg3) this scope provides authorization wrappers for various device types. int kauth_authorize_device_tty(kauth_cred_t cred, kauth_action_t op, struct tty *tty) Authorizes requests for terminal devices on the system. The third argu- ment, tty, is the terminal device in question. It is passed to the lis- tener as arg0. The second argument, op, is the action and can be one of the following: KAUTH_DEVICE_TTY_OPEN Open the terminal device pointed to by tty. KAUTH_DEVICE_TTY_PRIVSET Set privileged settings on the terminal device pointed to by tty. int kauth_authorize_device_spec(kauth_cred_t cred, enum kauth_device_req req, struct vnode *vp) Authorizes requests for special files, usually disk devices, but also direct memory access, on the system. It passes KAUTH_DEVICE_RAWIO_SPEC as the action to the listener, and accepts two arguments. req, passed to the listener as arg0, is access requested, and can be one of KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_SPEC_READ, KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_SPEC_WRITE, or KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_SPEC_RW, representing read, write, or both read/write access respectively. vp is the vnode of the special file in question, and is passed to the listener as arg1. Keep in mind that it is the responsibility of the security model devel- oper to check whether the underlying device is a disk or the system mem- ory, using iskmemdev(): if ((vp->v_type == VCHR) && iskmemdev(vp->v_un.vu_specinfo->si_rdev)) /* system memory access */ int kauth_authorize_device_passthru(kauth_cred_t cred, dev_t dev, u_long mode, void *data) Authorizes hardware passthru requests, or user commands passed directly to the hardware. These have the potential of resulting in direct disk and/or memory access. It passes KAUTH_DEVICE_RAWIO_PASSTHRU as the action to the listener, and accepts three arguments. dev, passed as arg1 to the listener, is the device for which the request is made. mode, passed as arg0 to the lis- tener, is a generic representation of the access mode requested. It can be one or more (binary-OR'd) of the following: KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_PASSTHRU_READ KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_PASSTHRU_READCONF KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_PASSTHRU_WRITE KAUTH_REQ_DEVICE_RAWIO_PASSTHRU_WRITECONF data, passed as arg2 to the listener, is device-specific data that may be associated with the request. Credentials Accessors and Mutators kauth has a variety of accessor and mutator routines to handle kauth_cred_t objects. The following routines can be used to access and modify the user- and group-ids in a kauth_cred_t: uid_t kauth_cred_getuid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the real user-id from cred. uid_t kauth_cred_geteuid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the effective user-id from cred. uid_t kauth_cred_getsvuid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the saved user-id from cred. void kauth_cred_setuid(kauth_cred_t cred, uid_t uid) Sets the real user-id in cred to uid. void kauth_cred_seteuid(kauth_cred_t cred, uid_t uid) Sets the effective user-id in cred to uid. void kauth_cred_setsvuid(kauth_cred_t cred, uid_t uid) Sets the saved user-id in cred to uid. gid_t kauth_cred_getgid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the real group-id from cred. gid_t kauth_cred_getegid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the effective group-id from cred. gid_t kauth_cred_getsvgid(kauth_cred_t cred) Returns the saved group-id from cred. void kauth_cred_setgid(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t gid) Sets the real group-id in cred to gid. void kauth_cred_setegid(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t gid) Sets the effective group-id in cred to gid. void kauth_cred_setsvgid(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t gid) Sets the saved group-id in cred to gid. u_int kauth_cred_getrefcnt(kauth_cred_t cred) Return the reference count for cred. The following routines can be used to access and modify the group list in a kauth_cred_t: int kauth_cred_ismember_gid(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t gid, int *resultp) Checks if the group-id gid is a member in the group list of cred. If it is, resultp will be set to one, otherwise, to zero. The return value is an error code, or zero for success. u_int kauth_cred_ngroups(kauth_cred_t cred) Return the number of groups in the group list of cred. int kauth_cred_group(kauth_cred_t cred, u_int idx) Return the group-id of the group at index idx in the group list of cred. int kauth_cred_setgroups(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t *groups, size_t ngroups, uid_t gmuid) Copy ngroups groups from array pointed to by groups to the group list in cred, adjusting the number of groups in cred appropriately. Any groups remaining will be set to an invalid value. gmuid is unused for now, and to maintain interface compatibil- ity with the Darwin KPI. int kauth_cred_getgroups(kauth_cred_t cred, gid_t *groups, size_t ngroups) Copy ngroups groups from the group list in cred to the buffer pointed to by groups. The number of groups in cred will be returned. Credentials Inheritance and Reference Counting kauth provides a KPI for handling a kauth_cred_t in shared credentials situations and credential inheritance. When a kauth_cred_t is first allocated, its reference count is set to 1. However, with time, its reference count can grow as more objects (pro- cesses, LWPs, files, etc.) reference it. One such case is during a fork(2) where the child process and its LWPs inherit the credentials of the parent. The following routines are available for managing credentials reference counting and inheritance: void kauth_cred_hold(kauth_cred_t cred) Increases reference count to cred by one. void kauth_cred_free(kauth_cred_t cred) Decreases the reference count to cred by one. If the reference count dropped to zero, the memory used by cred will be returned back to the memory pool. void kauth_proc_fork(struct proc *parent, struct proc *child) Called during a fork(2) to perform credential inheritance. Credentials Memory Management Data-structures for credentials, listeners, and scopes are allocated from memory pools managed by the pool(9) subsystem. The kauth_cred_t objects have their own memory management routines: kauth_cred_t kauth_cred_alloc(void) Allocates a new kauth_cred_t, initializes its lock, and sets its reference count to one. Conversion Routines Sometimes it might be necessary to convert a kauth_cred_t to userland's view of credentials, a struct uucred, or vice versa. The following routines are available for these cases: void kauth_uucred_to_cred(kauth_cred_t cred, const struct uucred *uucred) Convert userland's view of credentials to a kauth_cred_t. This includes effective user- and group-ids, a number of groups, and a group list. The reference count is set to one. Note that kauth will try to copy as many groups as can be held inside a kauth_cred_t. void kauth_cred_to_uucred(struct uucred *uucred, const kauth_cred_t cred) Convert kauth_cred_t to userland's view of credentials. This includes effective user- and group-ids, a number of groups, and a group list. Note that kauth will try to copy as many groups as can be held inside a struct uucred. int kauth_cred_uucmp(kauth_cred_t cred, struct uucred *uucred) Compares cred with the userland credentials in uucred. Common values that will be compared are effective user- and group-ids, and the group list. Miscellaneous Routines Other routines provided by kauth are: void kauth_cred_clone(kauth_cred_t cred1, kauth_cred_t cred2) Clone credentials from cred1 to cred2, except for the lock and reference count. kauth_cred_t kauth_cred_dup(kauth_cred_t cred) Duplicate cred. What this routine does is call kauth_cred_alloc() followed by a call to kauth_cred_clone(). kauth_cred_t kauth_cred_copy(kauth_cred_t cred) Works like kauth_cred_dup(), except for a few differences. If cred already has a reference count of one, it will be returned. Otherwise, a new kauth_cred_t will be allocated and the credentials from cred will be cloned to it. Last, a call to kauth_cred_free() for cred will be done. kauth_cred_t kauth_cred_get(void) Return the credentials associated with the current LWP. Scope Management kauth provides routines to manage the creation and deletion of scopes on the system. Note that the built-in scopes, the ``generic'' scope and the ``process'' scope, can't be deleted. kauth_scope_t kauth_register_scope(const char *id, kauth_scope_callback_t cb, void *cookie) Register a new scope on the system. id is the name of the scope, usually in reverse DNS-like notation. For example, ``org.netbsd.kauth.myscope''. cb is the default listener, to which authorization requests for this scope will be dispatched to. cookie is optional user-data that will be passed to all listeners during authorization on the scope. void kauth_deregister_scope(kauth_scope_t scope) Deregister scope from the scopes available on the system, and free the kauth_scope_t object scope. Listener Management Listeners in kauth are authorization callbacks that are called during an authorization request in the scope which they belong to. When an authorization request is made, all listeners associated with a scope are called to allow, deny, or defer the request. It is enough for one listener to deny the request in order for the request to be denied; but all listeners are called during an authoriza- tion process none-the-less. All listeners are required to allow the request for it to be granted, and in a case where all listeners defer the request -- leaving the decision for other listeners -- the request is denied. The following KPI is provided for the management of listeners: kauth_listener_t kauth_listen_scope(const char *id, kauth_scope_callback_t cb, void *cookie) Create a new listener on the scope with the id id, setting the default listener to cb. cookie is optional user-data that will be passed to the listener when called during an authorization request. void kauth_unlisten_scope(kauth_listener_t listener) Removes listener from the scope which it belongs to, ensuring it won't be called again, and frees the kauth_listener_t object listener. kauth provides no means for synchronization within listeners. It is the the programmer's responsibility to make sure data used by the listener is properly locked during its use, as it can be accessed simultaneously from the same listener called multiple times. It is also the programmer's responsibility to do garbage collection after the listener, possibly freeing any allocated data it used. The common method to do the above is by having a reference count to each listener. On entry to the listener, this reference count should be raised, and on exit -- lowered. During the removal of a listener, first kauth_scope_unlisten() should be called to make sure the listener code will not be entered in the future. Then, the code should wait (possibly sleeping) until the reference count drops to zero. When that happens, it is safe to do the final cleanup. Listeners might sleep, so no locks can be held when calling an authoriza- tion wrapper. EXAMPLES Older code had no abstraction of the security model, so most privilege checks looked like this: if (suser(cred, &acflag) == 0) /* allow privileged operation */ Using the new interface, you must ask for a specific privilege explic- itly. For example, checking whether it is possible to open a socket would look something like this: if (kauth_authorize_network(cred, KAUTH_NETWORK_SOCKET, KAUTH_REQ_NETWORK_SOCKET_OPEN, PF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, IPPROTO_TCP) == 0) /* allow opening the socket */ Note that the securelevel implications were also integrated into the kauth framework so you don't have to note anything special in the call to the authorization wrapper, but rather just have to make sure the security model handles the request as you expect it to. To do that you can just grep(1) in the relevant security model directory and have a look at the code. EXTENDING KAUTH Although kauth provides a large set of both detailed and more or less generic requests, it might be needed eventually to introduce more scopes, actions, or requests. Adding a new scope should happen only when an entire subsystem is intro- duced and it is assumed other parts of the kernel may want to interfere with its inner-workings. When a subsystem that has the potential of impacting the security if the system is introduced, existing security modules must be updated to also handle actions on the newly added scope. New actions should be added when sets of operations not covered at all belong in an already existing scope. Requests (or sub-actions) can be added as subsets of existing actions when an operation that belongs in an already covered area is introduced. Note that all additions should include updates to this manual, the secu- rity models shipped with NetBSD, and the example skeleton security model. SEE ALSO secmodel(9) HISTORY The kernel authorization framework first appeared in Mac OS X 10.4. The kernel authorization framework in NetBSD first appeared in NetBSD 4.0, and is a clean-room implementation based on Apple TN2127, available at http://developer.apple.com/technotes/tn2005/tn2127.html AUTHORS Elad Efrat <elad@NetBSD.org> implemented the kernel authorization frame- work in NetBSD. Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@NetBSD.org> provided guidance and answered ques- tions about the Darwin implementation. ONE MORE THING The kauth framework is dedicated to Brian Mitchell, one of the most tal- ented people I know. Thanks for everything. NetBSD 4.0 January 15, 2007 NetBSD 4.0