[OpenAFS] (webserver security) AFS and Apache Virtual Directory

Jeffrey Altman jaltman@secure-endpoints.com
Thu, 24 Nov 2005 12:08:53 -0500


This is a cryptographically signed message in MIME format.

--------------ms050703010206020904030205
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Russ Allbery wrote:

>> Also, does this incur performance problems?
> 
> It's certainly slower, and it means that you can't use mod_perl, mod_php,
> etc. and have to run an external interpretor.  That's definitely not
> ideal, and it would be nice to have a better solution to that.  But
> maintaining a separate token for a particular Apache thread is very hard.
> 
> People doing things that require higher performance have to convince us
> that they know what they're doing and won't cause security vulnerabilities
> and can be trusted with the more general server credentials.  (Which are
> still not particularly strong, to mention.)

You really can't keep a separate per-thread token with AFS unless you
are willing to use a user-mode cache manager linked to Apache.  If you
do, you can access AFS as the user for web operations but anything
external such as CGI/PHP, Tomcat, or ColdFusion still loses.

With Apache 2.0/2.1, it is possible to construct an implementation
using the pre-fork model that allows you to associated a single token
with each request that will also be used for CGI/PHP but not for Tomcat
or ColdFusion.  In this model, you can set per-directory rules that
indicate whether the external application should run with a web-server
token, the user token, or no token at all and manipulate the contents
of a per-process PAG.

I am working with a member of the Apache development team to develop
an Apache 2.0/2.1 module which will provide such functionality.

Jeffrey Altman


--------------ms050703010206020904030205
Content-Type: application/x-pkcs7-signature; name="smime.p7s"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="smime.p7s"
Content-Description: S/MIME Cryptographic Signature
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--------------ms050703010206020904030205--