Re: [PATCH 0/6] MODSIGN: Kernel module signing

Andrew Morton
2007-02-15T03:41:31Z

On Wed, 14 Feb 2007 19:09:38 +0000 David Howells <dhowells@redhat.com> wrote:

> These patches provide a GPG-based kernel module signing facility. Their use is
> not fully automated within the confines of the kernel build process because it
> needs provision of keys from outside of the kernel before the kernel can be
> compiled.
>
> The patches are:
>
> (1) A cut-down MPI library derived from GPG with error handling added.
>
> (2) Permit hash algorithms to hash kernel data defined by a virtual address
> and a length rather than trying to use scattergather lists (which require
> struct page pointers to be determined).
>
> (3) Add extra information to the per-arch ELF headers to more fully describe
> the format of the ELF metadata.
>
> (4) Add module verification capabilities, including ELF metadata verification.
>
> (5) Add a generic DSA signature checker. Given a SHA1 hash of the data to be
> verified and a binary blob holding a GPG signature stream, this verifies
> the signature using a built-in ring of public keys.
>
> (6) Add a module signature checker that applies signature checking to modules
> on module load, checking the signature against the ring of public keys
> compiled into the kernel.

Grand total:

77 files changed, 9681 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

just to be able to sign modules.

Normally I'd collapse writhing in laughter, but..

> These patches have been in use by RHEL and Fedora kernels for years, and so
> have been thoroughly tested.

so I guess there's an argument for merging them so we can send them back to
you guys. But there's also an argument to declare all this gunk a
vendor-only thing. How much pain would that cause?