On Sun, 15 Mar 2015 13:19:13 -0700 Sam Siegel <[email protected]> wrote:

:>Look at the SYNC(X) macro.  It provides a way to invoke a program in a
:>non-authorized fashion when running authorized.

Does nothing in an APF environment as the exit can issue MODESET - used as an
exit from an SVC.

:>On Sun, Mar 15, 2015 at 12:58 PM, Charles Mills <[email protected]> wrote:
:>
:>> Agree with Gil's last comment 100%. Or give me an option: program Y does
:>> not need authorization any more than it would if called natively. Why can't
:>> I have the option to LINK to it APF=NO?
:>>
:>> FWIW, 'Y' will be hard-coded, and the user does not pass addresses, only
:>> character strings, which I pass unmodified to Y.
:>>
:>> But I have no way of knowing "how safe" Y really is. Frankly, I suspect
:>> based on my historical knowledge that it was one of IBM's more hasty
:>> efforts. I will certainly LINK to it user key and problem state, so it is
:>> unlikely it will cause problems by accident. I suppose it is fairly safe to
:>> assume a lack of malice on the part of IBM's programmers, and therefore to
:>> assume they do not do a TESTAUTH and if authorized do a MODESET KEY=ZERO,
:>> ...
:>>
:>> It's in an APF library, so it is the customer's responsibility to keep
:>> someone from patching Y maliciously. If Bobby Badguy has write access to an
:>> APF library, all bets are off anyway.
:>>
:>> Charles
:>>
:>> -----Original Message-----
:>> From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [mailto:[email protected]] On
:>> Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin
:>> Sent: Sunday, March 15, 2015 12:27 PM
:>> To: [email protected]
:>> Subject: Re: APF-authorized calling non-authorized
:>>
:>> On Sun, 15 Mar 2015 13:40:54 -0400, Shmuel Metz (Seymour J.) wrote:
:>>
:>> > on 03/15/2015 at 06:43 PM, Binyamin Dissen said:
:>> >
:>> >>Since it is placed in an APF library, the installation (or IBM) has
:>> >>declared that it will not create an exposure.
:>> >
:>> >Not even close. All that IBM has declared is that none of the AC(1)
:>> >routines will call anything that cannot safely run authorized. An
:>> >AC(0) routine in an authorized library that is never called from an
:>> >AC(1) routine does not create a security exposure. IB< has declared
:>> >that if you write an AC(1) routine it is your responsibility to only
:>> >call things that you know are safe.
:>> >
:>> More precisely, I believe that it is the responsibility of an AC(1)
:>> routine to call an AC(0) routine only in a fashion known to be safe.  For
:>> example, if the caller passes the address of a reply buffer, that buffer
:>> must not overlay storage in a way that threatens integrity.  It is the
:>> responsibility of an AC(0) routine residing in an authorized library, then,
:>> to perform only documented actions, lest no side effect threatens system
:>> integrity.
:>>
:>> It is widely suspected that this requirement is the basis for the
:>> five-year old rule that a high level of RACF authorization is needed to use
:>> SMP/E: SMP/E, AC(1) in an authorized library, invokes many utilities (in
:>> fact selectable by the programmer)  marked AC(0).  It's unrealistic to
:>> expect SMP/E to ensure the integrity of everything it calls, so the
:>> responsibility (or at least any blame) is shifted to the programmer using
:>> SMP/E.
:>>
:>> Is the name of subroutine "Y" hardcoded in Charles's "X", or is the end
:>> user of "X" allowed to select "Y" as a parameter?
:>>
:>> Naive design of z/OS -- it would be better if such utilities could be
:>> invoked in a fenced environment, such as a separate address space, so they
:>> could do no harm.
:>>
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:>>
:>
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--
Binyamin Dissen <[email protected]>
http://www.dissensoftware.com

Director, Dissen Software, Bar & Grill - Israel


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