Requirements for Labeled NFS
RFC 7204

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         T. Haynes
Request for Comments: 7204                                        NetApp
Category: Informational                                       April 2014
ISSN: 2070-1721

                      Requirements for Labeled NFS

Abstract

   This memo outlines high-level requirements for the integration of
   flexible Mandatory Access Control (MAC) functionality into the
   Network File System (NFS) version 4.2 (NFSv4.2).  It describes the
   level of protections that should be provided over protocol components
   and the basic structure of the proposed system.  The intent here is
   not to present the protocol changes but to describe the environment
   in which they reside.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7204.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Haynes                        Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 7204                      ReqLabeledNFS                   April 2014

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. Definitions .....................................................3
      2.1. Requirements Language ......................................4
   3. Requirements ....................................................4
      3.1. General ....................................................4
      3.2. Security Services ..........................................5
      3.3. Label Encoding, Label Format Specifiers, and Label
           Checking Authorities .......................................5
      3.4. Labeling ...................................................6
           3.4.1. Client Labeling .....................................6
           3.4.2. Server Labeling .....................................7
      3.5. Policy Enforcement .........................................7
           3.5.1. Client Enforcement ..................................7
           3.5.2. Server Enforcement ..................................8
      3.6. Namespace Access ...........................................8
      3.7. Upgrading Existing Server ..................................9
   4. Modes of Operation ..............................................9
      4.1. Full Mode ..................................................9
      4.2. Limited Server Mode .......................................10
      4.3. Guest Mode ................................................10
   5. Use Cases ......................................................11
      5.1. Full MAC Labeling Support for Remotely Mounted
           File Systems ..............................................11
      5.2. MAC Labeling of Virtual Machine Images Stored on
           the Network ...............................................11
      5.3. Simple Security Label Storage .............................12
      5.4. Diskless Linux ............................................12
      5.5. Multi-Level Security ......................................13
           5.5.1. Full Mode - MAC-Functional Client and Server .......13
           5.5.2. MAC-Functional Client ..............................14
           5.5.3. MAC-Functional Server ..............................15
   6. Security Considerations ........................................15
      6.1. Trust Needed for a Community ..............................15
      6.2. Guest Mode ................................................15
      6.3. MAC-Functional Client Configuration .......................16
   7. References .....................................................16