[RFC PATCH ghak10 v4 0/2] audit: Log modifying adjtimex(2) calls

[Thomas Gleixner]

On Mon, 20 Aug 2018, Ondrej Mosnacek wrote:

+ Miroslav Lichvar

> Hi,
> 
> this patchset implements more detailed auditing of the adjtimex(2)
> syscall in order to make it possible to:
>   a) distinguish modifying vs. read-only calls in the audit log
>   b) reconstruct from the audit log what changes were made and how they
>      have influenced the system clock
> 
> The main motivation is to be able to detect an adversary that tries to
> confuse the audit timestamps by changing system time via adjtimex(2),
> but at the same time avoid flooding the audit log with records of benign
> read-only adjtimex(2) calls.
> 
> @John or other timekeeping/NTP folks: We had a discussion on the audit
> ML on which of the internal timekeeping/NTP variables we should actually
> log changes for. We are only interested in variables that can (directly
> or indirectly) cause noticeable changes to the system clock, but since we
> have only limited understanding of the NTP code, we would like to ask
> you for advice on which variables are security relevant.
> 
> Right now, the patchset is conservative and logs all changes that can be
> done via adjtimex(2):
>   - direct injection of timekeeping offset (obviously relevant)
>   - adjustment of timekeeping's TAI offset
>   - NTP value adjustments:
>     - time_offset (probably important)
>     - time_freq (maybe not important?)
>     - time_status (likely important, can cause leap second injection)
>     - time_maxerror (maybe not important?)
>     - time_esterror (maybe not important?)
>     - time_constant (???)
>     - time_adjust (sounds important)
>     - tick_usec (???)
> 
> Could you please give us some hints on the effect of changing these
> variables and whether you think that it is important to log their
> changes?
> 
> Thanks a lot!
> 
> 
> GitHub issue: https://github.com/linux-audit/audit-kernel/issues/10
> 
> Changes in v4:
>   - Squashed first two patches into one
>   - Rename ADJNTPVAL's "type" field to "op" to align with audit record
>     conventions
>   - Minor commit message editing
>   - Cc timekeeping/NTP people for feedback
> 
> v3: https://www.redhat.com/archives/linux-audit/2018-July/msg00001.html
> Changes in v3:
>   - Switched to separate records for each variable
>   - Both old and new value is now reported for each change
>   - Injecting offset is reported via a separate record (since this
>     offset consists of two values and is added directly to the clock,
>     i.e. it doesn't make sense to log old and new value)
>   - Added example records produced by chronyd -q (see the commit message
>     of the last patch)
> 
> v2: https://www.redhat.com/archives/linux-audit/2018-June/msg00114.html
> Changes in v2:
>   - The audit_adjtime() function has been modified to only log those
>     fields that contain values that are actually used, resulting in more
>     compact records.
>   - The audit_adjtime() call has been moved to do_adjtimex() in
>     timekeeping.c
>   - Added an additional patch (for review) that simplifies the detection
>     if the syscall is read-only.
> 
> v1: https://www.redhat.com/archives/linux-audit/2018-June/msg00095.html
> 
> Ondrej Mosnacek (2):
>   audit: Add functions to log time adjustments
>   timekeeping/ntp: Audit clock/NTP params adjustments
> 
>  include/linux/audit.h      | 21 ++++++++++++++++
>  include/uapi/linux/audit.h |  2 ++
>  kernel/auditsc.c           | 15 ++++++++++++
>  kernel/time/ntp.c          | 50 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--------
>  kernel/time/timekeeping.c  |  3 +++
>  5 files changed, 81 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
> 
> -- 
> 2.17.1
> 
>