Linux Configure rssh Chroot Jail To Lock Users To Their Home Directories Only

rssh support chrooting option. If you want to chroot users, use chrootpath option. It is used to set the directory where the root of the chroot jail will be located. This is a security feature.

A chroot on Linux or Unix OS is an operation that changes the root directory. It affects only the current process and its children. If your default home directory is /home/vivek normal user can access files in /etc, /sbin or /bin directory. This allows an attacker to install programs / backdoor via your web server in /tmp. chroot allows to restrict file system access and locks down user to their own directory.

Configuring rssh chroot

=> Chroot directory: /users.
Tip: If possible mount /users filesystem with the noexec/nosuid option to improve security.

=> Required directories in jail:

• /users/dev – Device file
• /users/etc – Configuration file such as passwd
• /users/lib – Shared libs
• /users/usr – rssh and other binaries
• /users/bin – Copy default shell such as /bin/csh or /bin/bash

=> Required files in jail at /users directory (default for RHEL / CentOS / Debian Linux):

• /etc/ld.so.cache
• /etc/ld.so.cache.d/*
• /etc/ld.so.conf
• /etc/nsswitch.conf
• /etc/passwd
• /etc/group
• /etc/hosts
• /etc/resolv.conf
• /usr/bin/scp
• /usr/bin/rssh
• /usr/bin/sftp
• /usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server OR /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server
• /usr/libexec/rssh_chroot_helper OR /usr/lib/rssh/rssh_chroot_helper (suid must be set on this binary)
• /bin/sh or /bin/bash (default shell)

Tip: Limit the binaries which live in the jail to the absolute minimum required to improve security. Usually /bin/bash and /bin/sh is not required but some system may give out error.

A note about jail file system

Note: The files need to be placed in the jail directory (such as /users) in directories that mimic their placement in the root (/) file system. So you need to copy all required files. For example, /usr/bin/rssh is located on / file system. If your jail is located at /users, then copy /usr/bin/rssh to /users/usr/bin/rssh. Following instuctions are tested on:

• FreeBSD
• Solaris UNIX
• RHEL / Redhat / Fedora / CentOS Linux
• Debian Linux

Building the Chrooted Jail

Create all required directories:
# mkdir -p /users/{dev,etc,lib,usr,bin}
# mkdir -p /users/usr/bin
# mkdir -p /users/libexec/openssh

Create /users/dev/null:
# mknod -m 666 /users/dev/null c 1 3
Copy required /etc/ configuration files, as described above to your jail directory /users/etc:
# cd /users/etc
# cp /etc/ld.so.cache .
# cp -avr /etc/ld.so.cache.d/ .
# cp /etc/ld.so.conf .
# cp /etc/nsswitch.conf .
# cp /etc/passwd .
# cp /etc/group .
# cp /etc/hosts .
# cp /etc/resolv.conf .
Open /usres/group and /users/passwd file and remove root and all other accounts.

Copy required binary files, as described above to your jail directory /users/bin and other locations:
# cd /users/usr/bin
# cp /usr/bin/scp .
# cp /usr/bin/rssh .
# cp /usr/bin/sftp .
# cd /users/usr/libexec/openssh/
# cp /usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server .
OR
# cp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server .
# cd /users/usr/libexec/
# cp /usr/libexec/rssh_chroot_helper
OR
# cp /usr/lib/rssh/rssh_chroot_helper
# cd /users/bin/
# cp /bin/sh .
OR
# cp /bin/bash .

Copy all shared library files

The library files that any of these binary files need can be found by using the ldd / strace command. For example, running ldd against /usr/bin/sftp provides the following output:
ldd /usr/bin/sftp
Output:

     linux-gate.so.1 =>  (0x00456000)
        libresolv.so.2 => /lib/libresolv.so.2 (0x0050e000)
        libcrypto.so.6 => /lib/libcrypto.so.6 (0x0013e000)
        libutil.so.1 => /lib/libutil.so.1 (0x008ba000)
        libz.so.1 => /usr/lib/libz.so.1 (0x00110000)
        libnsl.so.1 => /lib/libnsl.so.1 (0x0080e000)
        libcrypt.so.1 => /lib/libcrypt.so.1 (0x00a8c000)
        libgssapi_krb5.so.2 => /usr/lib/libgssapi_krb5.so.2 (0x00656000)
        libkrb5.so.3 => /usr/lib/libkrb5.so.3 (0x00271000)
        libk5crypto.so.3 => /usr/lib/libk5crypto.so.3 (0x00304000)
        libcom_err.so.2 => /lib/libcom_err.so.2 (0x00777000)
        libdl.so.2 => /lib/libdl.so.2 (0x00123000)
        libnss3.so => /usr/lib/libnss3.so (0x00569000)
        libc.so.6 => /lib/libc.so.6 (0x00b6c000)
        libkrb5support.so.0 => /usr/lib/libkrb5support.so.0 (0x00127000)
        libkeyutils.so.1 => /lib/libkeyutils.so.1 (0x00130000)
        /lib/ld-linux.so.2 (0x00525000)
        libplc4.so => /usr/lib/libplc4.so (0x008c9000)
        libplds4.so => /usr/lib/libplds4.so (0x00133000)
        libnspr4.so => /usr/lib/libnspr4.so (0x00d04000)
        libpthread.so.0 => /lib/libpthread.so.0 (0x0032a000)
        libselinux.so.1 => /lib/libselinux.so.1 (0x00341000)
        libsepol.so.1 => /lib/libsepol.so.1 (0x00964000)

You need to copy all those libraries to /lib and other appropriate location. However, I recommend using my automated script called l2chroot:
# cd /sbin
# wget -O l2chroot http://www.cyberciti.biz/files/lighttpd/l2chroot.txt
# chmod +x l2chroot
Open l2chroot and set BASE variable to point to chroot directory (jail) location:
BASE="/users"
Now copy all shared library files
# l2chroot /usr/bin/scp
# l2chroot /usr/bin/rssh
# l2chroot /usr/bin/sftp
# l2chroot /usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server
OR
# l2chroot /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server
# l2chroot /usr/libexec/rssh_chroot_helper
OR
# l2chroot /usr/lib/rssh/rssh_chroot_helper
# l2chroot /bin/sh
OR
# l2chroot /bin/bash

Modify syslogd configuration

The syslog library function works by writing messages into a FIFO file such as /dev/log. You need to pass -a /path/to/chroot/dev/log option. Using this argument you can specify additional sockets from that syslogd has to listen to. This is needed if you’re going to let some daemon run within a chroot() environment. You can use up to 19 additional sockets. If your environment needs even more, you have to increase the symbol MAXFUNIX within the syslogd.c source file. Open /etc/sysconfig/syslog file:
# vi /etc/sysconfig/syslog
Find line that read as follows:
SYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-m 0"
Append -a /users/dev/log
SYSLOGD_OPTIONS="-m 0 -a /users/dev/log"
Save and close the file. Restart syslog:
# /etc/init.d/syslog restart
If you are using Debian / Ubuntu Linux apply changes to /etc/default/syslogd file.

Set chroot path

Open configuration file /etc/rssh.conf:
# vi /etc/rssh.conf
Set chrootpath to /users
chrootpath=/users
Save and close the file. If sshd is not running start it:
# /etc/init.d/sshd start

Add user to jail

As explained eariler, configure rssh user account. For example, add user vivek in chrooted jail with the following command:
# useradd -m -d /users/vivek -s /usr/bin/rssh vivek
# passwd vivek
Now vivek can login using sftp or copy files using scp:

sftp vivek@my-server.com
vivek@my-server.com's password:
sftp> ls
sftp> pwd
Remote working directory: /vivek
sftp> cd /tmp
Couldn't canonicalise: No such file or directory

User vivek is allowed to login to server to trasfer files, but not allowed to browse entier file system.