fix(install): drop the iptables wildcard, and pin each grant properly

Review follow-up. Two findings, both right, and the first is a hole I opened
myself.

`NOPASSWD: iptables *` is a root shell for the web user by another name.
`iptables --modprobe=/path/to/anything` runs that path as root, so a wildcard
grant on iptables escalates rather than restricts. I added that rule while
fixing a permissions gap, which is a worse outcome than the gap. It is gone,
and a test now fails on any trailing-wildcard grant to a tool that can execute
another program -- iptables, nft, tcpdump, find, awk, sed, perl, python, env.

The other finding: checking only the binary made the coverage test far weaker
than it looked. With `sysctl` present anywhere in the allow-list, deleting the
`net.ipv4.ip_forward=0` grant still passed -- and the portal would then be
unable to restore forwarding on teardown. Each required command is now matched
in full, and each is mutation-checked individually, including that exact
single-line case.

Scope pulled in deliberately. The first version of this test tried to assert
that *every* sudo call in the codebase is granted. Run honestly, it showed the
portal also runs iptables, nft, `ip addr`, `ip link` and `cp` with arguments
built at runtime -- an interface name, a port. Those cannot be granted safely
in a sudoers file: the rule needs a trailing wildcard, and that is the
escalation above. Closing that half needs a privileged helper that builds the
rules itself and takes only an interface and a port, granted the way
safe_plugin_rm.sh already is. That is a design decision, not a one-line grant,
so the test now pins the four commands this change actually grants and the
docstring says plainly what it does not cover.

Better a narrow test that is true than a broad one that is not.
This commit is contained in:
ChuckBuilds
2026-08-20 01:54:35 -04:00
parent a372b43cd1
commit 500cfbc9f4
2 changed files with 97 additions and 104 deletions
+12 -5
View File
@@ -40,7 +40,6 @@ SUDOERS_FILE="/etc/sudoers.d/ledmatrix_wifi"
SYSCTL_PATH=$(command -v sysctl || echo /usr/sbin/sysctl)
NFT_PATH=$(command -v nft || echo /usr/sbin/nft)
RFKILL_PATH=$(command -v rfkill || echo /usr/sbin/rfkill)
IPTABLES_PATH=$(command -v iptables || echo /usr/sbin/iptables)
MKDIR_PATH=$(command -v mkdir || echo /usr/bin/mkdir)
# Create a temporary sudoers file using mktemp (handles permissions better)
@@ -84,11 +83,19 @@ $WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $SYSCTL_PATH -w net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $NFT_PATH add table ip ledmatrix
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $NFT_PATH delete table ip ledmatrix
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $RFKILL_PATH unblock wifi
# The portal also inserts and removes its own iptables rules and creates
# NetworkManager's dnsmasq drop-in directory. Wildcards rather than exact
# argument lists: those rules are built from the live interface name and port.
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $IPTABLES_PATH *
# NetworkManager's dnsmasq drop-in directory, exact path.
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: $MKDIR_PATH -p /etc/NetworkManager/dnsmasq-shared.d
#
# iptables is deliberately NOT granted here. Its rules are built from the live
# interface name and port, so a rule covering them needs a trailing wildcard --
# and `iptables --modprobe=/path/to/anything` runs that path as root, so
# `NOPASSWD: iptables *` is a root shell for the web user by another name. That
# is a worse outcome than the gap it would close, which today is masked anyway
# by the blanket NOPASSWD rule on stock Pi images.
#
# Closing it safely means a wrapper script that builds the rules itself and
# takes only an interface and a port, granted the way safe_plugin_rm.sh already
# is. That belongs in its own change rather than being smuggled into this one.
# Allow copying hostapd and dnsmasq config files into place
$WEB_USER ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/cp /tmp/hostapd.conf /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf