Client access control
Libvirt's client access control framework allows administrators to setup fine grained permission rules across client users, managed objects and API operations. This allows client connections to be locked down to a minimal set of privileges.
Access control introduction ¶
In a default configuration, the libvirtd daemon has three levels of access control. All connections start off in an unauthenticated state, where the only API operations allowed are those required to complete authentication. After successful authentication, a connection either has full, unrestricted access to all libvirt API calls, or is locked down to only "read only" operations, according to what socket a client connection originated on.
The access control framework allows authenticated connections to
have fine grained permission rules to be defined by the administrator.
Every API call in libvirt has a set of permissions that will
be validated against the object being used. For example, the
virDomainSetSchedulerParametersFlags method will
check whether the client user has the write
permission on the domain object instance passed
in as a parameter. Further permissions will also be checked
if certain flags are set in the API call. In addition to
checks on the object passed in to an API call, some methods
will filter their results. For example the virConnectListAllDomains
method will check the search_domains on the connect
object, but will also filter the returned domain
objects to only those on which the client user has the
getattr permission.
Access control drivers ¶
The access control framework is designed as a pluggable
system to enable future integration with arbitrary access
control technologies. By default, the none
driver is used, which does no access control checks at
all. At this time, libvirt ships with support for using
polkit as a real access
control driver. To learn how to use the polkit access
driver consult the configuration
docs.
The access driver is configured in the libvirtd.conf
configuration file, using the access_drivers
parameter. This parameter accepts an array of access control
driver names. If more than one access driver is requested,
then all must succeed in order for access to be granted.
To enable 'polkit' as the driver:
# augtool -s set '/files/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf/access_drivers[1]' polkit
And to reset back to the default (no-op) driver
# augtool -s rm /files/etc/libvirt/libvirtd.conf/access_drivers
Note: changes to libvirtd.conf require that the libvirtd daemon be restarted.
Objects and permissions ¶
Libvirt applies access control to all the main object types in its API. Each object type, in turn, has a set of permissions defined. To determine what permissions are checked for specific API call, consult the API reference manual documentation for the API in question.
virConnectPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| detect-storage-pools | Detect storage pools |
| getattr | Access connection |
| interface-transaction | Interface transactions |
| pm-control | Use host power management |
| read | Read host |
| search-domains | List domains |
| search-interfaces | List interfaces |
| search-networks | List networks |
| search-node-devices | List node devices |
| search-nwfilters | List network filters |
| search-secrets | List secrets |
| search-storage-pools | List storage pools |
| write | Write host |
virDomainPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| block-read | Read domain block |
| block-write | Write domain block |
| core-dump | Dump domain |
| delete | Delete domain |
| fs-freeze | Freeze and thaw domain filesystems |
| fs-trim | Trim domain filesystems |
| getattr | Access domain |
| hibernate | Hibernate domain |
| init-control | Domain init control |
| inject-nmi | Inject domain NMI |
| mem-read | Read domain memory |
| migrate | Migrate domain |
| open-device | Open domain device |
| open-graphics | Open domain graphics |
| open-namespace | Open domain namespace |
| pm-control | Use domain power management |
| read | Read domain |
| read-secure | Read secure domain |
| reset | Reset domain |
| save | Save domain |
| screenshot | Take domain screenshot |
| send-input | Send domain input |
| send-signal | Send domain signal |
| set-time | Write domain time |
| snapshot | Snapshot domain |
| start | Start domain |
| stop | Stop domain |
| suspend | Suspend domain |
| write | Write domain |
virInterfacePtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| delete | Delete interface |
| getattr | Access interface |
| read | Read interface |
| save | Save interface |
| start | Start interface |
| stop | Stop interface |
| write | Write interface |
virNetworkPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| delete | Delete network |
| getattr | Access network |
| read | Read network |
| save | Save network |
| start | Start network |
| stop | Stop network |
| write | Write network |
virNodeDevicePtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| detach | Detach node device |
| getattr | Access node device |
| read | Read node device |
| start | Start node device |
| stop | Stop node device |
| write | Write node device |
virNWFilterPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| delete | Delete network filter |
| getattr | Access network filter |
| read | Read network filter |
| save | Save network filter |
| write | Write network filter |
virSecretPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| delete | Delete secret |
| getattr | Access secret |
| read | Read secret |
| read-secure | Read secure secret |
| save | Save secret |
| write | Write secret |
virStoragePoolPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| delete | Delete storage pool |
| format | Format storage pool |
| getattr | Access storage pool |
| read | Read storage pool |
| refresh | Refresh storage pool |
| save | Save storage pool |
| search-storage-vols | List storage pool volumes |
| start | Start storage pool |
| stop | Stop storage pool |
| write | Write storage pool |
virStorageVolPtr ¶
| Permission | Description |
|---|---|
| create | Create storage volume |
| data-read | Read storage volume data |
| data-write | Write storage volume data |
| delete | Delete storage volume |
| format | Format storage volume |
| getattr | Access storage volume |
| read | Read storage volume |
| resize | Resize storage volume |
