Shutting out intruders with AppArmor
PROTECTIVE ARMOR
When an attacker succeeds in infecting a victim’s system, the attacker inherits the victim’s privileges. App Armor beats the attack by reducing the potential victim’s privileges to a minimum.
Novell views AppArmor [1] as an easily configurable but effective protection system for Linux. According to the vendor, AppArmor competes with SE Linux, which has been part of the Suse distribution for quite a while now, although lacking the policies needed to run it. Whereas SE Linux is comparatively difficult to configure, but implements comprehensive MACs (Mandatory Access Control), AppArmor focuses on restricting the scope of individual applications. The Task It is an unfortunate fact that many programs suffer from bugs, and web applications are particularly badly hit. Most software is not coded by security specialists, though it may be publicly accessible via the web, and this makes it an easy target for attackers. If an attacker finds a programming error in an application, they can typically exploit the error, thus gaining access to the target system.
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
-
ONLYOFFICE v9 Embraces AI
Like nearly all office suites on the market (except LibreOffice), ONLYOFFICE has decided to go the AI route.
-
Two Local Privilege Escalation Flaws Discovered in Linux
Qualys researchers have discovered two local privilege escalation vulnerabilities that allow hackers to gain root privileges on major Linux distributions.
-
New TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro Powered by AMD Ryzen AI 300
The TUXEDO InfinityBook Pro 14 Gen10 offers serious power that is ready for your business, development, or entertainment needs.
-
LibreOffice Tested as Possible Office 365 Alternative
Another major organization has decided to test the possibility of migrating from Microsoft's Office 365 to LibreOffice.
-
Linux Mint 20 Reaches EOL
With Linux Mint 20 at its end of life, the time has arrived to upgrade to Linux Mint 22.
-
TuxCare Announces Support for AlmaLinux 9.2
Thanks to TuxCare, AlmaLinux 9.2 (and soon version 9.6) now enjoys years of ongoing patching and compliance.