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diff --git a/website/blog/2020-04-02-networking-security.md b/website/blog/2020-04-02-networking-security.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000..f3ce02d11 --- /dev/null +++ b/website/blog/2020-04-02-networking-security.md @@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ +# gVisor Networking Security + +In our +[first blog post](https://gvisor.dev/blog/2019/11/18/gvisor-security-basics-part-1/), +we covered some secure design principles and how they guided the architecture of +gVisor as a whole. In this post, we will cover how these principles guided the +networking architecture of gVisor, and the tradeoffs involved. In particular, we +will cover how these principles culminated in two networking modes, how they +work, and the properties of each. + +## gVisor's security architecture in the context of networking + +Linux networking is complicated. The TCP protocol is over 40 years old, and has +been repeatedly extended over the years to keep up with the rapid pace of +network infrastructure improvements, all while maintaining compatibility. On top +of that, Linux networking has a fairly large API surface. Linux supports +[over 150 options](https://github.com/google/gvisor/blob/960f6a975b7e44c0efe8fd38c66b02017c4fe137/pkg/sentry/strace/socket.go#L476-L644) +for the most common socket types alone. In fact, the net subsystem is one of the +largest and fastest growing in Linux at approximately 1.1 million lines of code. +For comparison, that is several times the size of the entire gVisor codebase. + +At the same time, networking is increasingly important. The cloud era is +arguably about making everything a network service, and in order to make that +work, the interconnect performance is critical. Adding networking support to +gVisor was difficult, not just due to the inherent complexity, but also because +it has the potential to significantly weaken gVisor's security model. + +As outlined in the previous blog post, gVisor's +[secure design principles](https://gvisor.dev/blog/2019/11/18/gvisor-security-basics-part-1/#design-principles) +are: + +1. Defense in Depth: each component of the software stack trusts each other + component as little as possible. +1. Least Privilege: each software component has only the permissions it needs + to function, and no more. +1. Attack Surface Reduction: limit the surface area of the host exposed to the + sandbox. +1. Secure by Default: the default choice for a user should be safe. + +gVisor manifests these principles as a multi-layered system. An application +running in the sandbox interacts with the Sentry, a userspace kernel, which +mediates all interactions with the Host OS and beyond. The Sentry is written in +pure Go with minimal unsafe code, making it less vulnerable to buffer overflows +and related memory bugs that can lead to a variety of compromises including code +injection. It emulates Linux using only a minimal and audited set of Host OS +syscalls that limit the Host OS's attack surface exposed to the Sentry itself. +The syscall restrictions are enforced by running the Sentry with seccomp +filters, which enforce that the Sentry can only use the expected set of +syscalls. The Sentry runs as an unprivileged user and in namespaces, which, +along with the seccomp filters, ensure that the Sentry is run with the Least +Privilege required. + +gVisor's multi-layered design provides Defense in Depth. The Sentry, which does +not trust the application because it may attack the Sentry and try to bypass it, +is the first layer. The sandbox that the Sentry runs in is the second layer. If +the Sentry were compromised, the attacker would still be in a highly restrictive +sandbox which they must also break out of in order to compromise the Host OS. + +To enable networking functionality while preserving gVisor's security +properties, we implemented a +[userspace network stack](https://github.com/google/gvisor/tree/master/pkg/tcpip) +in the Sentry, which we creatively named Netstack. Netstack is also written in +Go, not only to avoid unsafe code in the network stack itself, but also to avoid +a complicated and unsafe Foreign Function Interface. Having its own integrated +network stack allows the Sentry to implement networking operations using up to +three Host OS syscalls to read and write packets. These syscalls allow a very +minimal set of operations which are already allowed (either through the same or +a similar syscall). Moreover, because packets typically come from off-host (e.g. +the internet), the Host OS's packet processing code has received a lot of +scrutiny, hopefully resulting in a high degree of hardening. + + + +## Writing a network stack + +Netstack was written from scratch specifically for gVisor. Because Netstack was +designed and implemented to be modular, flexible and self-contained, there are +now several more projects using Netstack in creative and exciting ways. As we +discussed, a custom network stack has enabled a variety of security-related +goals which would not have been possible any other way. This came at a cost +though. Network stacks are complex and writing a new one comes with many +challenges, mostly related to application compatibility and performance. + +Compatibility issues typically come in two forms: missing features, and features +with behavior that differs from Linux (usually due to bugs). Both of these are +inevitable in an implementation of a complex system spanning many quickly +evolving and ambiguous standards. However, we have invested heavily in this +area, and the vast majority of applications have no issues using Netstack. For +example, +[we now support setting 34 different socket options](https://github.com/google/gvisor/blob/815df2959a76e4a19f5882e40402b9bbca9e70be/pkg/sentry/socket/netstack/netstack.go#L830-L1764) +versus +[only 7 in our initial git commit](https://github.com/google/gvisor/blob/d02b74a5dcfed4bfc8f2f8e545bca4d2afabb296/pkg/sentry/socket/epsocket/epsocket.go#L445-L702). +We are continuing to make good progress in this area. + +Performance issues typically come from TCP behavior and packet processing speed. +To improve our TCP behavior, we are working on implementing the full set of TCP +RFCs. There are many RFCs which are significant to performance (e.g. +[RACK](https://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-ietf-tcpm-rack-03.html) and +[BBR](https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-cardwell-iccrg-bbr-congestion-control-00)) +that we have yet to implement. This mostly affects TCP performance with +non-ideal network conditions (e.g. cross continent connections). Faster packet +processing mostly improves TCP performance when network conditions are very good +(e.g. within a datacenter). Our primary strategy here is to reduce interactions +with the Go runtime, specifically the garbage collector (GC) and scheduler. We +are currently optimizing buffer management to reduce the amount of garbage, +which will lower the GC cost. To reduce scheduler interactions, we are +re-architecting the TCP implementation to use fewer goroutines. Performance +today is good enough for most applications and we are making steady +improvements. For example, since May of 2019, we have improved the Netstack +runsc +[iperf3 download benchmark](https://github.com/google/gvisor/tree/master/test/benchmarks/network) +score by roughly 15% and upload score by around 10,000X. Current numbers are +about 17 Gbps download and about 8 Gbps upload versus about 42 Gbps and 43 Gbps +for native (Linux) respectively. + +## An alternative + +We also offer an alternative network mode: passthrough. This name can be +misleading as syscalls are never passed through from the app to the Host OS. +Instead, the passthrough mode implements networking in gVisor using the Host +OS's network stack. (This mode is called +[hostinet](https://github.com/google/gvisor/tree/master/pkg/sentry/socket/hostinet) +in the codebase.) Passthrough mode can improve performance for some use cases as +the Host OS's network stack has had an enormous number of person-years poured +into making it highly performant. However, there is a rather large downside to +using passthrough mode: it weakens gVisor's security model by increasing the +Host OS's Attack Surface. This is because using the Host OS's network stack +requires the Sentry to use the Host OS's +[Berkeley socket interface](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_sockets). The +Berkeley socket interface is a much larger API surface than the packet interface +that our network stack uses. When passthrough mode is in use, the Sentry is +allowed to use +[15 additional syscalls](https://github.com/google/gvisor/blob/b1576e533223e98ebe4bd1b82b04e3dcda8c4bf1/runsc/boot/filter/config.go#L312-L517). +Further, this set of syscalls includes some that allow the Sentry to create file +descriptors, something that +[we don't normally allow](https://gvisor.dev/blog/2019/11/18/gvisor-security-basics-part-1/#sentry-host-os-interface) +as it opens up classes of file-based attacks. + +There are some networking features that we can't implement on top of syscalls +that we feel are safe (most notably those behind +[ioctl](http://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man2/ioctl.2.html)) and therefore are +not supported. Because of this, we actually support fewer networking features in +passthrough mode than we do in Netstack, reducing application compatibility. +That's right: using our networking stack provides better overall application +compatibility than using our passthrough mode. + +That said, gVisor with passthrough networking still provides a high level of +isolation. Applications cannot specify host syscall arguments directly, and the +sentry's seccomp policy restricts its syscall use significantly more than a +general purpose seccomp policy. + +## Secure by Default + +The goal of the Secure by Default principle is to make it easy to securely +sandbox containers. Of course, disabling network access entirely is the most +secure option, but that is not practical for most applications. To make gVisor +Secure by Default, we have made Netstack the default networking mode in gVisor +as we believe that it provides significantly better isolation. For this reason +we strongly caution users from changing the default unless Netstack flat out +won't work for them. The passthrough mode option is still provided, but we want +users to make an informed decision when selecting it. + +Another way in which gVisor makes it easy to securely sandbox containers is by +allowing applications to run unmodified, with no special configuration needed. +In order to do this, gVisor needs to support all of the features and syscalls +that applications use. Neither seccomp nor gVisor's passthrough mode can do this +as applications commonly use syscalls which are too dangerous to be included in +a secure policy. Even if this dream isn't fully realized today, gVisor's +architecture with Netstack makes this possible. + +## Give Netstack a Try + +If you haven't already, try running a workload in gVisor with Netstack. You can +find instructions on how to get started in our +[Quick Start](/docs/user_guide/quick_start/docker/). We want to hear about both +your successes and any issues you encounter. We welcome your contributions, +whether that be verbal feedback or code contributions, via our +[Gitter channel](https://gitter.im/gvisor/community), +[email list](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/gvisor-users), +[issue tracker](https://gvisor.dev/issue/new), and +[Github repository](https://github.com/google/gvisor). Feel free to express +interest in an [open issue](https://gvisor.dev/issue/), or reach out if you +aren't sure where to start. |