TOMOYO Linux

TOMOYO Linux
Original author(s) NTT Data Corporation
Operating system Linux
Type Mandatory access control
License GPL v2
Website tomoyo.osdn.jp

TOMOYO Linux is a Linux kernel security module which implements mandatory access control (MAC).

Overview

TOMOYO Linux is a MAC implementation for Linux that can be used to increase the security of a system, while also being useful purely as a systems analysis tool. It was launched in March 2003 and was sponsored by NTT Data Corporation until March 2012.[1]

TOMOYO Linux focuses on system behavior. TOMOYO Linux allows each process to declare behaviours and resources needed to achieve their purpose. When protection is enabled, TOMOYO Linux acts restricts each process to the behaviors and resources allowed by the administrator.

Features

The main features of TOMOYO Linux include:

History and versions

TOMOYO was merged in Linux Kernel mainline version 2.6.30 (2009, June 10)/[2] It is currently one of four standard Linux Security Modules (LSM), along with SELinux, AppArmor and SMACK.

The TOMOYO Linux project started as a patch for the Linux kernel to provide MAC. Porting TOMOYO Linux to the mainline Linux kernel required the introduction of hooks[3] into the LSM that had been designed and developed specifically to support SELinux and its label-based approach.

However, more hooks are needed to integrate the remaining MAC functionality of TOMOYO Linux. Consequently, the project is following two parallel development lines:

  • TOMOYO Linux 1.x, original version
    • uses purposely created non-standard hooks
    • fully featured MAC
    • released as a patch for Linux kernel – Since this version 1.x does not depend on LSM, it can be used with Linux kernel 2.6 (starting from version 2.6.11) as well as 2.4.
    • latest version: 1.7.1
  • TOMOYO Linux 2.x, mainline version
    • uses standard LSM hooks
    • fewer features
    • integral part of Linux kernel version 2.6.30
    • latest version: 2.5.0 included in Linux kernel 3.2

References

  1. ↑ "TOMOYO Linux Home Page". Tomoyo.osdn.jp. Retrieved 2013-05-23.
  2. ↑ "TOMOYO Linux, an alternative Mandatory Access Control". Linux 2 6 30. Linux Kernel Newbies.
  3. ↑ "TOMOYO #14 patch submission to LKML". LWN.net.
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