alex-willmer-cloudabi-capability-based-security-on-linuxunix.json

{
  "copyright_text": "Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)",
  "description": "Alex Willmer - CloudABI: Capability based security on Linux/Unix\n[EuroPython 2016]\n[19 July 2016]\n[Bilbao, Euskadi, Spain]\n(https://ep2016.europython.eu//conference/talks/capability-based-security-on-unix-with-cloudabi)\n\nTake POSIX, add capability-based security, then remove anything that\nconflicts. The result is CloudABI, available for BSD, Linux, OSX et\nal.\n\nA CloudABI process is incapable of any action that has a global impact\nIt can only affect the file descriptors you provide. As a result even\nunknown binaries can safely be executed - without the need for\ncontainers, virtual machines, or other sandboxes.\n\nThis talk will introduce CloudABI, how to use it with Python, the\nbenefits, and the trade-offs.\n\n-----\n\nCloudABI_ is a new POSIX based computing environment that brings `capability-based security`_ to BSD, Linux, OSX et al.\n\nUnlike traditional Unix, if a CloudABI process goes rogue it _cannot_\nexecute random binaries, or read arbitrary files. This is achieved by\nremoving `open()` & any other API able to acquire global resources.\nInstead a CloudABI process must be granted _capabilities_ to specific\nresources (e.g. directories, files, sockets) in the form of file\ndescriptors. If a process only has a descriptor for `/var/www` then\nit's _incapable_ of affecting any file or folder outside that\ndirectory.\n\nThis talk will\n\n- Review the security & reusability problems of Linux & Unix processes\n- Introduce capability-based security\n- Summarize the design of CloudABI - its benefits & trade-offs\n- Demonstrate how to write Python software for CloudABI & run it\n- Point out the pitfalls & gotchas to be aware of\n- Discuss the current & future status of CloudABI\n\nCloudABI began life on FreeBSD. It also runs DragonFly BSD, NetBSD,\nPC-BSD, Arch Linux, Debian, Ubuntu, & OS X. The API & ABI are kernel\nagnostic - a CloudABI binary can run on any supported kernel. The\ndesign is evolved from\nCapsicum_, a library that allows processes to drop access to undesired syscalls at\nruntime. CloudABI applies this at build time to make testing & lock-\ndown easier.\n\n.. _CloudABI: https://nuxi.nl/\n.. _`capability-based security`: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security\n.. _Capsicum: https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/capsicum/\n",
  "duration": 2164,
  "language": "eng",
  "recorded": "2016-07-31",
  "related_urls": [
    "https://ep2016.europython.eu//conference/talks/capability-based-security-on-unix-with-cloudabi",
    "https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/research/security/capsicum/",
    "https://nuxi.nl/",
    "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capability-based_security"
  ],
  "speakers": [
    "Alex Willmer"
  ],
  "tags": [],
  "thumbnail_url": "https://i.ytimg.com/vi/EssolXRfAWo/maxresdefault.jpg",
  "title": "CloudABI: Capability based security on Linux/Unix",
  "videos": [
    {
      "type": "youtube",
      "url": "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EssolXRfAWo"
    }
  ]
}