vmware_selinux(8)

📦
version 20250627+git412.dbf877ab7 · 7 versions
, in opensuse-leap 16.0

💖 vmware_selinux(8) — the SELinux glow-up for vmware 💖

okay so bestie, this is the manual page for vmware_selinux in section 8, and it's literally all about keeping your vmware processes safe and slaying with mandatory access control. no cap, it's giving security but make it cute 🎀

🌸 NAME 🌸

vmware_selinux — Security Enhanced Linux Policy for the vmware processes. periodt. 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

this page is your bestie for understanding how SELinux polices the vmware vibes on your system. iykyk 🦋

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

Security-Enhanced Linux secures the vmware processes via flexible mandatory access control. like, it's literally out here protecting your setup with main character energy. 👑

The vmware processes execute with the vmware_t SELinux type. You can check if you have these processes running by executing the ps command with the -Z qualifier.

For example:

ps -eZ | grep vmware_t

see? easy. go check your vibes, bestie. 🌈

🚪 ENTRYPOINTS 🚪

The vmware_t SELinux type can be entered via the vmware_exec_t file type. it's giving "this is the doorway to the vibe" 🚪✨

The default entrypoint paths for the vmware_t domain are the following:

/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-ping,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-wizard, /usr/bin/vmware,
/usr/bin/vmware-ping, /usr/bin/vmware-wizard, /usr/bin/vmware-serverd,
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer, /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-ui,
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-mks

she's got options, and honestly? obsessed. 💖

🎭 PROCESS TYPES 🎭

SELinux defines process types (domains) for each process running on the system. yes, every process gets its own little domain, it's giving assigned seating at a wedding. 💒

You can see the context of a process using the -Z option to ps.

Policy governs the access confined processes have to files. SELinux vmware policy is very flexible allowing users to setup their vmware processes in as secure a method as possible. like she's flexible AND secure? the range. 😭🫶

The following process types are defined for vmware:

vmware_t, vmware_host_t

Note: semanage permissive -a vmware_t can be used to make the process type vmware_t permissive. SELinux does not deny access to permissive process types, but the AVC (SELinux denials) messages are still generated. so like, she won't block you but she WILL be taking notes. 💀📝

🎚️ BOOLEANS 🎚️

SELinux policy is customizable based on least access required. vmware policy is extremely flexible and has several booleans that allow you to manipulate the policy and run vmware with the tightest access possible. it's giving "customize your own adventure" 🌟

If you want to allow all domains to execute in fips_mode, you must turn on the fips_mode boolean. Enabled by default.

setsebool -P fips_mode 1

If you want to allow confined applications to use nscd shared memory, you must turn on the nscd_use_shm boolean. Enabled by default.

setsebool -P nscd_use_shm 1

If you want to allow regular users direct dri device access, you must turn on the selinuxuser_direct_dri_enabled boolean. Disabled by default.

setsebool -P selinuxuser_direct_dri_enabled 1

If you want to support NFS home directories, you must turn on the use_nfs_home_dirs boolean. Enabled by default.

setsebool -P use_nfs_home_dirs 1

If you want to support SAMBA home directories, you must turn on the use_samba_home_dirs boolean. Disabled by default.

setsebool -P use_samba_home_dirs 1

If you want to allows clients to write to the X server shared memory segments, you must turn on the xserver_clients_write_xshm boolean. Disabled by default.

setsebool -P xserver_clients_write_xshm 1

flip those booleans like you flip your hair, bestie. 💁‍♀️✨

📁 MANAGED FILES 📁

The SELinux process type vmware_t can manage files labeled with the following file types. The paths listed are the default paths for these file types. Note: the processes UID still need to have DAC permissions. so like, SELinux can't do everything, DAC is still in the group chat. 🫶

cifs_t

(no default paths listed, she's mysterious like that) 🙈

usbfs_t

(again, no paths. keep it moving bestie) 🦋

user_fonts_cache_t

/root/.fontconfig(/.*)?
/root/.fonts/auto(/.*)?
/root/.fonts.cache-.*
/root/.cache/fontconfig(/.*)?
/home/[^/]+/.fontconfig(/.*)?
/home/[^/]+/.fonts/auto(/.*)?
/home/[^/]+/.fonts.cache-.*
/home/[^/]+/.cache/fontconfig(/.*)?

fonts are a whole vibe, ok? 🎀

vmware_conf_t

/home/[^/]+/.vmware[^/]*/.*.cfg

vmware_file_t

/home/[^/]+/vmware(/.*)?
/home/[^/]+/.vmware(/.*)?

vmware_pid_t

(no paths, she's keeping it lowkey) ⭐

vmware_tmp_t

(no paths listed, but temporarily adorable) 🌸

vmware_tmpfs_t

(no paths, but tmpfs energy fr fr) 🌈

🏷️ FILE CONTEXTS 🏷️

SELinux requires files to have an extended attribute to define the file type. it's literally the file's personality tag, ok? 💅

You can see the context of a file using the -Z option to ls.

Policy governs the access confined processes have to these files. SELinux vmware policy is very flexible allowing users to setup their vmware processes in as secure a method as possible. she stays flexible and secure, iconic. 👑

🌟 STANDARD FILE CONTEXT 🌟

SELinux defines the file context types for the vmware, if you wanted to store files with these types in a different paths, you need to execute the semanage command to specify alternate labeling and then use restorecon to put the labels on disk.

semanage fcontext -a -t vmware_exec_t '/srv/vmware/content(/.*)?'
restorecon -R -v /srv/myvmware_content
Note: SELinux often uses regular expressions to specify labels that match multiple files. regex is her love language. 😻

The following file types are defined for vmware:

vmware_conf_t

  • Set files with the vmware_conf_t type, if you want to treat the files as vmware configuration data, usually stored under the /etc directory.

vmware_exec_t

  • Set files with the vmware_exec_t type, if you want to transition an executable to the vmware_t domain.

Paths:

/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-ping,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-wizard,
/usr/bin/vmware, /usr/bin/vmware-ping, /usr/bin/vmware-wizard,
/usr/bin/vmware-serverd, /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmplayer,
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-ui, /usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-mks

vmware_file_t

  • Set files with the vmware_file_t type, if you want to treat the files as vmware content.

Paths:

/home/[^/]+/vmware(/.*)?, /home/[^/]+/.vmware(/.*)?

vmware_host_exec_t

  • Set files with the vmware_host_exec_t type, if you want to transition an executable to the vmware_host_t domain.

Paths:

/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-natd,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-dhcpd,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-nmbd,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbd,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-bridge,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-netifup,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmnet-sniffer,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd,
/opt/vmware/(workstation|player)/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin,
/usr/bin/vmware-guest.*, /usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin32/vmware.*,
/usr/lib/vmware-tools/sbin64/vmware.*, /usr/bin/vmnet-natd,
/usr/bin/vmware-vmx, /usr/bin/vmnet-dhcpd, /usr/bin/vmware-nmbd,
/usr/bin/vmware-smbd, /usr/bin/vmnet-bridge, /usr/bin/vmnet-
netifup, /usr/bin/vmnet-sniffer, /usr/bin/vmware-network,
/usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd, /usr/bin/vmware-smbpasswd.bin,
/usr/lib/vmware/bin/vmware-vmx

vmware_host_pid_t

  • Set files with the vmware_host_pid_t type, if you want to store the vmware host files under the /run directory.

Paths:

/run/vmnet.*, /run/vmnat.*, /run/vmware.*

vmware_host_tmp_t

  • Set files with the vmware_host_tmp_t type, if you want to store vmware host temporary files in the /tmp directories.

vmware_log_t

  • Set files with the vmware_log_t type, if you want to treat the data as vmware log data, usually stored under the /var/log directory.

Paths:

/var/log/vmware.*, /var/log/vnetlib.*

vmware_pid_t

  • Set files with the vmware_pid_t type, if you want to store the vmware files under the /run directory.

vmware_sys_conf_t

  • Set files with the vmware_sys_conf_t type, if you want to treat the files as vmware sys configuration data, usually stored under the /etc directory.

Paths:

/etc/vmware.*(/.*)?, /usr/lib/vmware/config

vmware_tmp_t

  • Set files with the vmware_tmp_t type, if you want to store vmware temporary files in the /tmp directories.

vmware_tmpfs_t

  • Set files with the vmware_tmpfs_t type, if you want to store vmware files on a tmpfs file system.
Note: File context can be temporarily modified with the chcon command. If you want to permanently change the file context you need to use the semanage fcontext command. This will modify the SELinux labeling database. You will need to use restorecon to apply the labels. so like, chcon is a quick lil touch-up, but semanage fcontext + restorecon is the permanent glow-up. 💖✨

🛠️ COMMANDS 🛠️

semanage fcontext can also be used to manipulate default file context mappings.

semanage permissive can also be used to manipulate whether or not a process type is permissive.

semanage module can also be used to enable/disable/install/remove policy modules.

semanage boolean can also be used to manipulate the booleans

system-config-selinux is a GUI tool available to customize SELinux policy settings. it's giving clicky-clicky but make it secure. 🖱️💅

👑 AUTHOR 👑

This manual page was auto-generated using sepolicy manpage. she was born from a script, and honestly? that's her origin story. 🤖💖

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

selinux(8), vmware(8), semanage(8), restorecon(8), chcon(1), sepolicy(8), setsebool(8), vmware_host_selinux(8), vmware_host_selinux(8)

(yes, vmware_host_selinux(8) is listed twice. she said "and i'll say it again" 😭🫶)

💌 a lil sign-off 💌

this page came from the vmware source, dated 26-10-06, and it's the vmware_selinux(8) manual. slay safe out there, bestie. the SELinux policy has your back, and so do i. 🌈💖✨ periodt.

📦 where this page comes from