vmware_host_selinux - Man Page

Security-Enhanced Linux secures the vmware_host processes via flexible mandatory access control.

The vmware_host processes execute with the vmware_host_t SELinux type. You can check if you have these processes running by executing the ps command with the -Z qualifier.

For example:

ps -eZ | grep vmware_host_t

The vmware_host_t SELinux type can be entered via the vmware_host_exec_t file type.

The default entrypoint paths for the vmware_host_t domain are the following:

/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-natd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-dhcpd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-nmbd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-bridge, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-netifup, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-sniffer, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin, /usr/bin/vmware-guest.*, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin32/vmware.*, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin64/vmware.*, /usr/bin/vmnet-natd, /usr/bin/vmware-vmx, /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd, /usr/bin/vmware-nmbd, /usr/bin/vmware-smbd, /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge, /usr/bin/vmnet-netifup, /usr/bin/vmnet-sniffer, /usr/bin/vmware-network, /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd, /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin, /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx

SELinux defines process types (domains) for each process running on the system

You can see the context of a process using the -Z option to psbP

Policy governs the access confined processes have to files. SELinux vmware_host policy is very flexible allowing users to setup their vmware_host processes in as secure a method as possible.

The following process types are defined for vmware_host:

vmware_host_t

Note: semanage permissive -a vmware_host_t can be used to make the process type vmware_host_t permissive. SELinux does not deny access to permissive process types, but the AVC (SELinux denials) messages are still generated.

SELinux policy is customizable based on least access required.  vmware_host policy is extremely flexible and has several booleans that allow you to manipulate the policy and run vmware_host with the tightest access possible.

If you want to dontaudit all daemons scheduling requests (setsched, sys_nice), you must turn on the daemons_dontaudit_scheduling boolean. Enabled by default.

setsebool -P daemons_dontaudit_scheduling 1

If you want to control the ability to mmap a low area of the address space, as configured by /proc/sys/vm/mmap_min_addr, you must turn on the mmap_low_allowed boolean. Disabled by default.

setsebool -P mmap_low_allowed 1

If you want to allow unconfined executables to make their heap memory executable.  Doing this is a really bad idea. Probably indicates a badly coded executable, but could indicate an attack. This executable should be reported in bugzilla, you must turn on the selinuxuser_execheap boolean. Disabled by default.

setsebool -P selinuxuser_execheap 1

The SELinux process type vmware_host_t can manage files labeled with the following file types.  The paths listed are the default paths for these file types.  Note the processes UID still need to have DAC permissions.

file_type

all files on the system

SELinux requires files to have an extended attribute to define the file type.

You can see the context of a file using the -Z option to lsbP

Policy governs the access confined processes have to these files. SELinux vmware_host policy is very flexible allowing users to setup their vmware_host processes in as secure a method as possible.

STANDARD FILE CONTEXT

SELinux defines the file context types for the vmware_host, if you wanted to store files with these types in a different paths, you need to execute the semanage command to specify alternate labeling and then use restorecon to put the labels on disk.

semanage fcontext -a -t vmware_host_exec_t '/srv/vmware_host/content(/.*)?'
restorecon -R -v /srv/myvmware_host_content

Note: SELinux often uses regular expressions to specify labels that match multiple files.

The following file types are defined for vmware_host:

vmware_host_exec_t

- Set files with the vmware_host_exec_t type, if you want to transition an executable to the vmware_host_t domain.

Paths:

/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-natd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-dhcpd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-nmbd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-bridge, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-netifup, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-sniffer, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd, /opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin, /usr/bin/vmware-guest.*, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin32/vmware.*, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin64/vmware.*, /usr/bin/vmnet-natd, /usr/bin/vmware-vmx, /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd, /usr/bin/vmware-nmbd, /usr/bin/vmware-smbd, /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge, /usr/bin/vmnet-netifup, /usr/bin/vmnet-sniffer, /usr/bin/vmware-network, /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd, /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin, /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx

vmware_host_pid_t

- Set files with the vmware_host_pid_t type, if you want to store the vmware host files under the /run directory.

Paths:

/run/vmnet.*, /run/vmnat.*, /run/vmware.*

vmware_host_tmp_t

- Set files with the vmware_host_tmp_t type, if you want to store vmware host temporary files in the /tmp directories.

Note: File context can be temporarily modified with the chcon command.  If you want to permanently change the file context you need to use the semanage fcontext command.  This will modify the SELinux labeling database.  You will need to use restorecon to apply the labels.

semanage fcontext can also be used to manipulate default file context mappings.

semanage permissive can also be used to manipulate whether or not a process type is permissive.

semanage module can also be used to enable/disable/install/remove policy modules.

semanage boolean can also be used to manipulate the booleans

system-config-selinux is a GUI tool available to customize SELinux policy settings.

This manual page was auto-generated using sepolicy manpage .

selinux(8), vmware_host(8), semanage(8), restorecon(8), chcon(1), sepolicy(8), setsebool(8)

vmware_selinux(8).