Skip to content

Commit

Permalink
feat: AppArmor confinement for codejail-service
Browse files Browse the repository at this point in the history
Allow codejail-service to actually run code (and run it securely) by
giving it the needed confinement. Previously it would run but refuse to
execute code since it would detect the insecure environment; now, the
startup safety checks pass and the code-exec endpoint works as expected.

- Add an AppArmor profile with fairly strict rules. It needs to be
  thoroughly vetted and to have exceptions added before it can be used in
  production, but it's be fine for devstack. Some parts are based on the
  existing edxapp apparmor config without careful review.
- Apply the profile to the codejail service in docker-compose.
- Add Django configs for codejail service.
- Add documentation for installing the profile so that it is available for
  use on the dev's machine.

Also:

- Add configuration and documentation for edxapp to actually call the
  codejail service, disabled by default. (Will later want to make this
  default to true, once the service is working properly.)
- Update image name in docker-compose to follow rename in
  edx/public-dockerfiles#102

Currently edxapp gets an error back from codejail-service, and then isn't
able to read that error; separate work in the app repo will be needed to
fix those. (The first issue relates to python_path, and the other to not
returning globals_dict when there's an emsg.) But the integration is
working otherwise.
  • Loading branch information
timmc-edx committed Feb 13, 2025
1 parent 523ec82 commit f395882
Show file tree
Hide file tree
Showing 7 changed files with 160 additions and 1 deletion.
75 changes: 75 additions & 0 deletions codejail.profile
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
# AppArmor profile for running codejail-service in devstack.
#
# #=========#
# # WARNING #
# #=========#
#
# This is not a complete and secure apparmor profile! Do not use this
# in any deployed environment (even a staging environment) without
# careful inspection and modification to fit your needs.
#
# Failure to apply a secure apparmor profile *will* likely result in a
# compromise of your environment by an attacker.
#
# We may at some point make this file good enough for confinement in
# production, but for now it is only intended to be used in devstack.


#include <tunables/global>

# Declare ABI version explicitly to ensure that confinement is
# actually applied appropriately on newer Ubuntu.
abi <abi/3.0>,

# This outer profile applies to the entire container, and isn't as
# important. If the sandbox profile doesn't work, it's not likely that
# the outer one is going to help. But there may be some small value in
# defense-in-depth, as it's possible that a bug in the child (sandbox)
# profile isn't present in the outer one.
profile codejail_service flags=(attach_disconnected,mediate_deleted) {
#include <abstractions/base>

# Filesystem access -- self-explanatory
file,

# `network` is required for sudo
# TODO: Restrict this so that general network access is not permitted
network,

# Various capabilities required for sudoing to sandbox (setuid,
# setgid, audit_write) and for sending a kill signal (kill).
capability setuid setgid audit_write kill,

# Allow sending a kill signal to the sandbox when the execution
# runs beyond time limits.
signal (send) set=(kill) peer=codejail_service//child,

# Allow executing this binary, but force a transition to the specified
# profile (and scrub the environment).
/sandbox/venv/bin/python Cx -> child,

# This is the important apparmor profile -- the one that actually
# constrains the sandbox Python process.
profile child flags=(attach_disconnected,mediate_deleted) {
#include <abstractions/base>

# Read and run binaries and libraries in the virtualenv. This
# includes the sandbox's copy of Python as well as any
# dependencies that have been installed for inclusion in
# sandboxes.
/sandbox/venv/** rm,

# Codejail has a hardcoded reference to this file path, although the
# use of /tmp specifically may be controllable with environment variables:
# https://github.com/openedx/codejail/blob/0165d9ca351/codejail/util.py#L15
/tmp/codejail-*/ r,
/tmp/codejail-*/** rw,

# Allow interactive terminal during development
/dev/pts/* rw,

# Allow receiving a kill signal from the webapp when the execution
# runs beyond time limits.
signal (receive) set=(kill) peer=codejail_service,
}
}
4 changes: 3 additions & 1 deletion docker-compose.yml
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -726,11 +726,13 @@ services:
hostname: codejail.devstack.edx
stdin_open: true
tty: true
image: edxops/codejail-dev:latest
image: edxops/codejail-service-dev:latest
environment:
DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE: codejail_service.settings.devstack
ports:
- "18030:8080"
security_opt:
- apparmor=codejail_service

xqueue:
container_name: "edx.${COMPOSE_PROJECT_NAME:-devstack}.xqueue"
Expand Down
43 changes: 43 additions & 0 deletions docs/codejail.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
Codejail service
################

The ``codejail`` devstack component (codejail-service) requires some additional configuration before it can be enabled. This page describes how to set it up and debug it.

Background
**********

Both LMS and CMS can run Python code submitted by instructors and learners in order to implement custom Python-graded problems. By default this involves running the code on the same host as edxapp itself. Ordinarily this would be quite dangerous, but we use a sandboxing library called `codejail <https://github.com/openedx/codejail>`__ in order to confine the code execution in terms of disk and network access as well as memory, CPU, and other resource limits. Part of these restrictions are implemented via AppArmor, a utility available in some Linux distributions (including Debian and Ubuntu).

While AppArmor provides good protection, a sandbox escape could still be possible due to misconfiguration or bugs in AppArmor. For defense in depth, we're setting up a dedicated `codejail service <https://github.com/openedx/codejail-service>`__ that will perform code execution for edxapp and which will allow further isolation.

The default edxapp codejail defaults to unsafe, direct execution of Python code, and this remains true in devstack. We don't even have a way to run on-host codejail securely in devstack. In constrast, the codejail service refuses to run if codejail has not been configured properly, and we've included a way to run it in devstack.

Configuration
*************

In order to run the codejail devstack component:

1. Install AppArmor: ``sudo apt install apparmor``
2. Add the codejail AppArmor profile to your OS, or update it: ``sudo apparmor_parser --replace -W codejail.profile``
3. Configure LMS and CMS to use the codejail-service by changing ``ENABLE_CODEJAIL_REST_SERVICE`` to ``True`` in ``py_configuration_files/{lms,cms}.py``
4. Run ``make codejail-up``

The service does not need any provisioning, and does not have dependencies.

Development
***********

Changes to the AppArmor profile must be coordinated with changes to the Dockerfile, as they need to agree on filesystem paths.

Any time you update the profile, you'll need to re-run the command to apply the profile.

The profile file contains the directive ``profile codejail_service``. That defines the name of the profile when it is installed into the kernel. In order to change that name, you must first remove the profile **under the old name**, then install a new profile under the new name. To remove a profile, use the ``--remove`` action instead of the ``-replace`` action: : ``sudo apparmor_parser --remove -W codejail.profile``

The profile name must also agree with the relevant ``security_opt`` line in devstack's ``docker-compose.yml``.

Debugging
*********

To check whether the profile has been applied, run ``sudo aa-status | grep codejail``. This won't tell you if the profile is out of date, but it will tell you if you have *some* version of it installed.

If you need to debug the confinement, either because it is restricting too much or too little, a good strategy is to run ``tail -F /var/log/kern.log | grep codejail`` and watch for ``DENIED`` lines. You should expect to see several appear during service startup, as the service is designed to probe the confinement as part of its initial healthcheck.
1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs/index.rst
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -27,3 +27,4 @@ Contents
troubleshoot_general_tips
manual_upgrades
advanced_configuration
codejail
7 changes: 7 additions & 0 deletions py_configuration_files/cms.py
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -312,6 +312,13 @@ def should_show_debug_toolbar(request): # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=missing
xblock_duplicated_event_setting = EVENT_BUS_PRODUCER_CONFIG['org.openedx.content_authoring.xblock.duplicated.v1']
xblock_duplicated_event_setting['course-authoring-xblock-lifecycle']['enabled'] = True

############################ Codejail ############################

# Disabled by default since codejail service needs to be configured
# and started separately. See docs/codejail.rst for details.
ENABLE_CODEJAIL_REST_SERVICE = False
CODE_JAIL_REST_SERVICE_HOST = "http://edx.devstack.codejail:8080"


################# New settings must go ABOVE this line #################
########################################################################
Expand Down
25 changes: 25 additions & 0 deletions py_configuration_files/codejail.py
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,3 +1,28 @@
"""Settings for devstack use."""

from codejail_service.settings.local import * # pylint: disable=wildcard-import

ALLOWED_HOSTS = [
# When called from outside of docker's network (dev's terminal)
'localhost',
# When called from another container (lms, cms)
'edx.devstack.codejail',
]

CODEJAIL_ENABLED = True

CODE_JAIL = {
# These values are coordinated with the Dockerfile and AppArmor profile
'python_bin': '/sandbox/venv/bin/python',
'user': 'sandbox',

# Configurable limits.
'limits': {
# CPU-seconds
'CPU': 3,
# 100 MiB memory
'VMEM': 100 * 1024 * 1024,
# Clock seconds
'REALTIME': 3,
},
}
6 changes: 6 additions & 0 deletions py_configuration_files/lms.py
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -554,6 +554,12 @@ def should_show_debug_toolbar(request): # lint-amnesty, pylint: disable=missing
'http://localhost:1996', # frontend-app-learner-dashboard
]

############################ Codejail ############################

# Disabled by default since codejail service needs to be configured
# and started separately. See docs/codejail.rst for details.
ENABLE_CODEJAIL_REST_SERVICE = False
CODE_JAIL_REST_SERVICE_HOST = "http://edx.devstack.codejail:8080"

################# New settings must go ABOVE this line #################
########################################################################
Expand Down

0 comments on commit f395882

Please sign in to comment.