10.10.3.8. Allowing Access: audit2allow

⁠10.10.3.8. Allowing Access: audit2allow

Warning

Do not use the example in this section in production. It is used only to demonstrate the use of the audit2allow utility.

The audit2allow utility gathers information from logs of denied operations and then generates SELinux policy allow rules. ⁠^[29] After analyzing denial messages as per Section 10.10.3.7, “sealert Messages”, and if no label changes or Booleans allowed access, use audit2allow to create a local policy module. When access is denied by SELinux, running audit2allow generates Type Enforcement rules that allow the previously denied access.

The following example demonstrates using audit2allow to create a policy module:

A denial message and the associated system call are logged to the /var/log/audit/audit.log file:

type=AVC msg=audit(1226270358.848:238): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=13349 comm="certwatch" name="cache" dev=dm-0 ino=218171 scontext=system_u:system_r:certwatch_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:var_t:s0 tclass=dir

type=SYSCALL msg=audit(1226270358.848:238): arch=40000003 syscall=39 success=no exit=-13 a0=39a2bf a1=3ff a2=3a0354 a3=94703c8 items=0 ppid=13344 pid=13349 auid=4294967295 uid=0 gid=0 euid=0 suid=0 fsuid=0 egid=0 sgid=0 fsgid=0 tty=(none) ses=4294967295 comm="certwatch" exe="/usr/bin/certwatch" subj=system_u:system_r:certwatch_t:s0 key=(null)

In this example, certwatch was denied the write access to a directory labeled with the var_t type. Analyze the denial message as per Section 10.10.3.7, “sealert Messages”. If no label changes or Booleans allowed access, use audit2allow to create a local policy module.

Run the following command to produce a human-readable description of why the access was denied. The audit2allow utility reads /var/log/audit/audit.log, and as such, must be run as the root user:

~]# audit2allow -w -a
type=AVC msg=audit(1226270358.848:238): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=13349 comm="certwatch" name="cache" dev=dm-0 ino=218171 scontext=system_u:system_r:certwatch_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:object_r:var_t:s0 tclass=dir
	Was caused by:
		Missing type enforcement (TE) allow rule.

	You can use audit2allow to generate a loadable module to allow this access.

The -a command-line option causes all audit logs to be read. The -w option produces the human-readable description. As shown, access was denied due to a missing Type Enforcement rule.

Run the following command to view the Type Enforcement rule that allows the denied access:
```
~]# audit2allow -a


#============= certwatch_t ==============
allow certwatch_t var_t:dir write;
```
Important
Missing Type Enforcement rules are usually caused by bugs in the SELinux policy, and should be reported in Red Hat Bugzilla. For Fedora, create bugs against the Fedora product, and select the selinux-policy component. Include the output of the audit2allow -w -a and audit2allow -a commands in such bug reports.
To use the rule displayed by audit2allow -a, run the following command as root to create a custom module. The -M option creates a Type Enforcement file (.te) with the name specified with -M, in your current working directory:
```
~]# audit2allow -a -M mycertwatch
******************** IMPORTANT ***********************
To make this policy package active, execute:

semodule -i mycertwatch.pp
```
Also, audit2allow compiles the Type Enforcement rule into a policy package (.pp):
```
~]# ls
mycertwatch.pp  mycertwatch.te
```
To install the module, run the following command as the root:
```
~]# semodule -i mycertwatch.pp
```
Important
Modules created with audit2allow may allow more access than required. It is recommended that policy created with audit2allow be posted to the upstream SELinux list for review. If you believe there is a bug in the policy, please create a bug in Red Hat Bugzilla.

If you have multiple denial messages from multiple processes, but only want to create a custom policy for a single process, use the grep utility to narrow down the input for audit2allow. The following example demonstrates using grep to only send denial messages related to certwatch through audit2allow:

~]# grep certwatch /var/log/audit/audit.log | audit2allow -R -M mycertwatch2
******************** IMPORTANT ***********************
To make this policy package active, execute:

semodule -i mycertwatch2.pp

^[29] Refer to the audit2allow(1) manual page for more information about audit2allow.