RE: [Xen-users] Xen Security

["Jonathan Tripathy" <jonnyt@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

All I'm doing, is asking on the mailing list about the security aspects of Xen. I am aware that bugs will always exsist, however I need to make sure that Xen isn't in a "broken" state regarding Domain isolation. Sounds to me as if it's pretty secure :)

---

From: chris [mailto:tknchris@xxxxxxxxx]
Sent: Fri 16/07/2010 14:35
To: Jonathan Tripathy
Cc: Vern Burke; Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Xen Security

All technical aspects aside, if something is that sensitive, common
sense should kick in and tell you its not a good idea. The mere fact
that someone is coming to the list shows they already have doubts. I
don't think any answer from the list will give them the warm fuzzy
feeling that they are looking for. Also, when it comes to your clients
are you really going to be telling your clients that the xen mailing
list told you so? :)

I think the technical aspects such as vulnerabilities or bugs
shouldn't even be a factor here, those will always be possible.

On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 9:32 AM, Jonathan Tripathy <jonnyt@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> As of now, is 3.4.3 free of known exploits? I understand what you are saying
> about 3.0.3 and 3.2.x as they have a couple of bad exploits...
>
> Cheers
> ________________________________
> From: Vern Burke [mailto:vburke@xxxxxxxx]
> Sent: Fri 16/07/2010 14:15
> To: Jonathan Tripathy
> Cc: Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Xen Security
>
> I'd keep it up to snuff, yes. I myself test ran each XCP release
> candidate and the upgraded to the final 0.5.0 release within 24 hours of
> each becoming available.
>
> I really shudder to see people recommending running old 3.0.3 and 3.2.x
> releases because that's what happens to get thrown in with the
> particular Linux distribution. I think it's bad news.
>
> Vern Burke
>
> SwiftWater Telecom
> http://www.swiftwatertel.com
> Xen Cloud Control System
> http://www.xencloudcontrol.com
>
> On 7/16/2010 7:59 AM, Jonathan Tripathy wrote:
>> Thanks Vern,
>> I can indeed keep my VMs up to date, however the customers will be in
>> charge of their VMs so I can't upgrade theirs, however I think this is a
>> moot point as they will have root access anyway.
>> I should probably upgrade my Xen 3.4.2 to 3.4.3 then?
>> Thanks
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *From:* Vern Burke [mailto:vburke@xxxxxxxx]
>> *Sent:* Fri 16/07/2010 12:25
>> *To:* Jonathan Tripathy; xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx;
>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> *Subject:* Re: [Xen-users] Xen Security
>>
>> I did NOT say that. Like much of the current discussion about cloud
>> security, it comes down to degree of likely. You are FAR more likely to
>> have a VM hacked directly as the result of lousy system admin practices
>> than you are some remote theoretical possibility of someone breaching
>> the hypervisor.
>>
>> In my opinion, unless you're storing nuclear launch codes, keep the
>> cloud/hypervisor up to date, keep the guest OS up to date, and follow
>> system admin best practices and the chances of being hacked are
>> vanishingly small.
>>
>> Vern
>>
>> Vern Burke, SwiftWater Telecom, http://www.swiftwatertel.com
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Jonathan Tripathy <jonnyt@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Sender: xen-users-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:05:43
>> To: Vern Burke<vburke@xxxxxxxx>; <Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>> Subject: Re: [Xen-users] Xen Security
>>
>> Hi Vern,
>>
>> So you think I should just set up my networking properly and forget
>> about the rest? Do you feel it ok to share the same Xen host with
>> internal VMs with public VMs?
>>
>> Thanks
>>
>>
>> On 16/07/10 02:10, Vern Burke wrote:
>>  > I have no idea how you could actually PROVE that there's no possible
>>  > way someone could break out of a dom U into the dom 0. As I've written
>>  > before, since Xen is out and about in such a large way (being the
>>  > underpinning of Amazon EC2) that if there was a major risk of this,
>>  > we'd have seen it happen already.
>>  >
>>  > Vern Burke
>>  >
>>  > SwiftWater Telecom
>>  > http://www.swiftwatertel.com
>>  > ISP/CLEC Engineering Services
>>  > Data Center Services
>>  > Remote Backup Services
>>  >
>>  > On 7/15/2010 7:07 PM, Jonathan Tripathy wrote:
>>  >>
>>  >> On 15/07/10 23:49, Jonathan Tripathy wrote:
>>  >>> Hi Everyone,
>>  >>>
>>  >>> My Xen host currently run DomUs which contain some very sensitive
>>  >>> information, used by our company. I wish to use the same server to
>>  >>> host some VMs for some customers. If we assume that networking is set
>>  >>> up securely, are there any other risks that I should worry about?
>>  >>>
>>  >>> Is Xen secure regarding "breaking out" of the VM?
>>  >>>
>>  >>> Thanks
>>  >>>
>>  >>> _______________________________________________
>>  >>> Xen-users mailing list
>>  >>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>  >>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>  >>
>>  >> I'm running Xen 3.4.2 on CentOS 5.5 Dom0 by the way.
>>  >>
>>  >> _______________________________________________
>>  >> Xen-users mailing list
>>  >> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>  >> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>  >>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-users mailing list
>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Xen-users mailing list
>> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-users mailing list
> Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
>

_______________________________________________
Xen-users mailing list
Xen-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users