-= Introduction =
+schsh
+=====
+
+Introduction
+------------
This is schsh, a schroot-based shell.
+
The purpose is simple: I want to provide users with scp, sftp and rsync access
to my server, such that they can only operate in a certain subdirectory.
-There are plenty of solutions out there, and all have one drawback in common:
+There are plenty of solutions for this problem out there, and all have one
+drawback in common:
You need to manually set up a bunch of chroots, and copy the files needed for
scp, sftp and rsync into them.
+
I didn't like that, so here is my alternative solution: Use schroot for the
chroots. This gets OpenSSH out of the loop when it comes to chroots, instead
the relevant users get a special shell (schsh, the schroot shell). That shell
essentially calls schroot and runs the desired command inside the chroot. It
also provides some very basic command restriction (so that you can allow scp,
-sftp and rsync and nothing else), but for a more sophisticated command
-filtering you can nest this with something like rush[0].
+sftp and rsync and nothing else).
+
Unfortunately, this still needs a (s)chroot to be set up for each user, but at
least no files have to be copied: Instead, schroot is configured to bind-mount
-/bin, /lib, /usr/bin and /usr/lib into the user-chroot. Hence no files are
+the relevant system folders into the user-chroot. Hence no files are
duplicated, and system updates to the relevant tools are applied inside the
-chroots automatically.
+chroots automatically. For additional hardening, these bind-mounts are
+configured to be read-only and no-setuid, while the only user-writeable folder
+is no-exec.
-[0] http://www.gnu.org.ua/software/rush/
+Setup
+-----
-= Setup =
+Before you start, make sure you have the dependencies installed:
+schsh needs [Python 3][0] (I tested it with version 3.2) and [schroot][1]
+(version 1.6 or newer).
-Dependencies:
-schsh needs Python 2 (I tested it with version 2.7) and schroot.
+Installation is simple: Just run ```make install```. That will copy some files
+to ```/usr/local/bin```, and some configuration to ```/etc/schroot/```.
+Before you create any users, make sure the directory ```/var/lib/schsh``` and a
+group called ```schsh``` exist.
-Installation is simple: Just run "make install". That will copy two files
-to /usr/local/bin, and some configuration to /etc/schroot/.
-Before you create any users, make sure the directory /var/lib/schsh and a
-group called "schsh" exist.
+You should also set up SSH to disallow port forwarding for users controlled by
+schsh. See ```sshd_config``` in this folder for an appropriate snippet of
+OpenSSH configuration.
Before you can set up schsh for a user, you need to create it first:
-$ adduser sandboxed --disabled-password
+
+ adduser sandboxed --disabled-password
Any existing user can be "sandboxed" by running
-$ /usr/local/bin/makeschsh sandboxed
+
+ makeschsh sandboxed
+
This does the following:
-* Change the user's shell to /usr/local/bin/schsh
-* Create a chroot base in /var/lib/schsh/sandboxed with some empty subfolders
- as well as /etc/passwd and /etc/group containing only root, this user and
- the "schsh" group
-* Add the user to the "schsh" group
+
+* Change the user's shell to ```/usr/local/bin/schsh```
+* Create a chroot base in ```/var/lib/schsh/sandboxed``` with some empty
+ subfolders as well as ```/etc/passwd``` and ```/etc/group``` containing
+ only root, this user and the ```schsh``` group
+* Add the user to the ```schsh``` group
* Add a schroot called schsh-sandboxed for the given folder, and an fstab file
- in /etc/schroot/schsh used by this schroot
+ in ```/etc/schroot/schsh``` used by this schroot
+
+Now if the user logs in via SSH, ```/usr/local/bin/schsh``` will be executed,
+and it will lock the user into the schroot ```schsh-sandboxed```. It will
+only see some system folders and a folder called ```/data``` mapped to
+```/home/sandboxed/data```. If you want to give the user access to more folders,
+or another folder, simply edit ```/etc/schroot/schsh/sandboxed.fstab```.
+The only part of schsh writing any files is ```makeschsh```, so you can change
+the users' schroot configurations at your will.
-Now if the user logs in via SSH, /usr/local/bin/schsh will be executed, and
-it will lock the user into the schroot schsh-sandboxed. It will only see
-/bin, /lib, /usr/bin and /usr/lib and a folder called /data mapped to
-/home/sandboxed/data. If you want to give the user access to more folders,
-or another folder, simply edit /etc/schroot/schsh/sandboxed.fstab.
+[0]: http://www.python.org
+[1]: http://packages.qa.debian.org/s/schroot.html
-= Configuration =
+Configuration
+-------------
There is not much to configure at the moment. However, there are some
-global variables at the top of both Python scripts to change the base
-paths, and to tell which commands are allowed.
+global variables at the top of both ```schsh``` and ```makeschsh``` to
+change the base paths, and to tell which commands are allowed.