From: "Daniel P. Berrangé" <berrange@redhat.com>
To: qemu-devel@nongnu.org
Cc: "Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>,
"Paolo Bonzini" <pbonzini@redhat.com>,
"Peter Maydell" <peter.maydell@linaro.org>,
"Stefan Hajnoczi" <stefanha@redhat.com>,
"Markus Armbruster" <armbru@redhat.com>,
"Thomas Huth" <thuth@redhat.com>,
"Daniel P. Berrangé" <berrange@redhat.com>
Subject: [PATCH 15/15] docs: expand security docs with info about secure/insecure markers
Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2025 17:57:26 +0100 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20250909165726.3814465-16-berrange@redhat.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20250909165726.3814465-1-berrange@redhat.com>
The explicit 'secure' or 'insecure' markers will take priority over
the general "virtualization" vs "non-virtualization" use case
classfication.
Signed-off-by: Daniel P. Berrangé <berrange@redhat.com>
---
docs/system/security.rst | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 41 insertions(+)
diff --git a/docs/system/security.rst b/docs/system/security.rst
index f2092c8768..15cffc2685 100644
--- a/docs/system/security.rst
+++ b/docs/system/security.rst
@@ -49,6 +49,47 @@ Bugs affecting the non-virtualization use case are not considered security
bugs at this time. Users with non-virtualization use cases must not rely on
QEMU to provide guest isolation or any security guarantees.
+Security status reporting
+'''''''''''''''''''''''''
+
+QEMU is progressively working to annotate object types to explicitly state
+whether they are considered to provide a security boundary or not.
+
+When the `require-secure=yes` parameter is given to the `-machine` argument
+attempts to use any type which is not explicitly considered secure will
+result in an error.
+
+When the `prohibit-insecure=yes` parameter is given to the `-machine` argument
+attempts to use any type which is explicitly considered insecure will result
+in an error.
+
+This gives three effective levels of control over the security
+
+ * default: any type can be used
+ * `prohibit-insecure=yes`: only exclude explicitly insecure types, allow
+ those which have no security statement, or which are explicitly secure
+ * `require-secure=yes`: only allow explicitly secure types, exclude those
+ which have no security statement, or which are explicitly insecure
+
+Violations of the requested policy will result in QEMU preventing the launch
+of the VM, or preventing hot-add of the device in the monitor.
+
+When considering whether to treat a flaw as a security issue, the following
+criteria will be used
+
+ * Type marked 'secure': eligible for security process with embargo where
+ applicable
+ * Type marked 'insecure': ineligible for security process, will be triaged
+ on the public mailing list / bug trackers
+ * Type with no security statement: "Virtualization" vs "Non-Virtualization"
+ use case will be used as a guide to decide on handling process, evaluated
+ upon bug report
+
+Machine type security status can be queried using '-machine help' or the
+QMP 'query-machines' command.
+
+Device type security status can be queried using '-device help'.
+
Architecture
------------
--
2.50.1
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-09-09 16:59 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 23+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-09-09 16:57 [PATCH <RFC> 00/15] Encode object type security status in code Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 01/15] qom: replace 'abstract' with 'flags' Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 02/15] qom: add tracking of security state of object types Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-22 21:33 ` Eric Blake
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 03/15] machine: add 'require-secure' and 'prohibit-insecure' properties Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 04/15] machine: check security for machine and accelerator types Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 05/15] system: report machine security status in help output Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 06/15] system: check security of device types Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 07/15] system: report device security status in help output Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 08/15] hw/core: report secure/insecure status in query-machines Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 09/15] accel: mark 'kvm' as secure and 'tcg' as insecure Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 10/15] hw/virtio: mark all virtio PCI devices as secure Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 11/15] hw: mark x86, s390, ppc, arm versioned machine types " Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 12/15] hw: declare Xen & microvm machines as secure, isapc as insecure Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 13/15] hw/core: declare 'none' machine to be insecure Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` [PATCH 14/15] hw/net: mark all NICs as insecure except e1000, e1000e & xen Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-09 16:57 ` Daniel P. Berrangé [this message]
2025-09-16 16:43 ` [PATCH <RFC> 00/15] Encode object type security status in code Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-16 16:51 ` Peter Maydell
2025-09-18 11:35 ` Markus Armbruster
2025-09-18 12:29 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
2025-09-18 14:44 ` Markus Armbruster
2025-09-18 14:51 ` Daniel P. Berrangé
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