[Bug 15875] New: Add options to disable POSIX acl for ext2/ext3/ext4 file systems

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https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15875

           Summary: Add options to disable POSIX acl for ext2/ext3/ext4
                    file systems
           Product: File System
           Version: 2.5
          Platform: All
        OS/Version: Linux
              Tree: Mainline
            Status: NEW
          Severity: enhancement
          Priority: P1
         Component: ext2
        AssignedTo: fs_ext2@kernel-bugs.osdl.org
        ReportedBy: t.artem@mailcity.com
        Regression: No


VFAT becomes less of an option for many hardware producers and many of them
will be glad to embrace ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystems but they have an inherent
problem, they enforce POSIX ACLs.

So, imagine a situation when Peter who has UID=63555 (he's in a corporate
network and that's his real UID according to LDAP) formats his flash drive
using ext2/ext3/ext4 filesystem, then uses sudo to recursively chown the whole
filesystem for his own possession.

Now, Peter comes to a less savvy Alice who wasn't given root permissions on her
PC and she tries to open Peter's flash stick. Oops, Alice cannot open or read
any file on it. I can come up with ten other different scenarios when ACLs are
superfluous.

Taking this situation into consideration it becomes clear that ACL's for
removable storage is more a hassle than a security feature.

So, I strongly suggest implementing a flag which tells the kernel to disregard
all file/directory permissions on the aforementioned FS's.

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