labels(5) Standards, Environments, and Macros labels(5)NAMElabels - Solaris Trusted Extensions label attributes
DESCRIPTION
Labels are attributes that are used in mandatory policy decisions.
Labels are associated, either explicitly or implicitly, with all sub‐
jects (generally processes) and objects (generally things with data
such as files) that are accessible to subjects. The default Trusted
Extensions mandatory policy labels are defined by a site's security
administrator in label_encodings(4).
Mandatory Policy
Various mandatory policies might be delivered in the lifetime of
Solaris Trusted Extensions.
The default mandatory policy of Trusted Extensions is a Mandatory
Access Control (MAC) policy that is equivalent to that of the Bell-
LaPadula Model of the Lattice, the Simple Security Property, and the
*-Property (Star Property), with restricted write up. The default
mandatory policy is also equivalent to the Goguen and Mesegeur model of
Non-Inteference.
For this MAC policy, two labels are always defined: admin_low and
admin_high. The site's security administrator defines all other labels
in label_encodings(4). admin_low is associated with all normal user
readable (viewable) Trusted Extensions objects. admin_high is associ‐
ated with all other Trusted Extensions objects. Only administrative
users have MAC read (view) access to admin_high objects and only admin‐
istrative users have MAC write (modify) access to admin_low objects or
admin_high objects.
Human Readable Labels
Users interact with labels as strings. Graphical user interfaces and
command line interfaces present the strings as defined in label_encod‐
ings(4). Human readable labels are classified at the label that they
represent. Thus the string for a label A is only readable (viewable,
translatable to or from human readable to opaque m_label_t) by a sub‐
ject whose label allows read (view) access to that label.
Internal Text Labels
In order to store labels in publicly accessible (admin_low) name ser‐
vice databases, an unclassified internal text form is used. This tex‐
tual form is not intended to be used in any interfaces other than those
that are provided with the Trusted Extensions software release that
created this textual form of the label.
Labels and Applications
Applications interact with labels as opaque (m_label_t) structures. The
semantics of these opaque structures are defined by a string to
m_label_t translation. This translation is defined in label_encod‐
ings(4). Various Application Programming Interfaces (API) translate
between strings and m_label_t structures. Various APIs test access of
subject-related labels to object-related labels.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for description of the following attributes:
┌─────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┐
│ ATTRIBUTE TYPE │ ATTRIBUTE VALUE │
├─────────────────────────────┼─────────────────────────────┤
│Interface Stability │See below. │
└─────────────────────────────┴─────────────────────────────┘
The labels implementation is Committed for systems that implement the
Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) MAC policy of label_encodings(4).
Other policies might exist in a future release of Trusted Extensions
that might make obsolete or supplement label_encodings.
Internal text labels are Not-an-Interface and might change with any
release of Trusted Extensions. They are intended only for input and
generation on the same release of Trusted Extensions software.
As a potential porting aid for Trusted Solaris 8 applications, the
opaque structure names bslabel_t, blevel_t, and bclear_t are defined to
be equivalent to m_label_t. Like m_label_t, these types must be ported
as opaque pointers. The same must be done with the various Trusted
Solaris 8 label interfaces. These Trusted Solaris 8 structures and
interfaces are Obsolete and might be removed from a future release of
Trusted Extensions.
SEE ALSOchk_encodings(1M), blcompare(3TSOL), label_to_str(3TSOL),
m_label_alloc(3TSOL), m_label_dup(3TSOL), m_label_free(3TSOL),
str_to_label(3TSOL), label_encodings(4), attributes(5)
Bell, D. E., and LaPadula, L. J. Secure Computer Systems: Unified Expo‐
sition and Multics Interpretation, MTR-2997 Rev. 2, MITRE Corp., Bed‐
ford Mass., March 1976. NTIS AD-A023 588/7.
Goguen, J. A., and Mesegeur, J.: Security Policies and Security Models,
Proceedings 1982 Symposium on Security and Privacy, IEEE Computer Soci‐
ety Press, 1982, p 11-20.
Goguen, J. A., and Mesegeur, J.: Unwinding and Interference Control,
Proceedings 1984 Symposium on Security and Privacy, IEEE Computer Soci‐
ety Press, 1984, p 75-86.
Compartmented Mode Workstation Labeling: Encodings Format
NOTES
The functionality described on this manual page is available only if
the system is configured with Trusted Extensions.
SunOS 5.10 20 Jul 2007 labels(5)