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When I run audit2why to see why there is a failure when trying to upload files via SCP to folder /foo/bar on a remote server which results in access denied to folder /foo/bar, I get the following text:

 

Was caused by:
                Unknown - would be allowed by active policy
                Possible mismatch between this policy and the one 
under which the audit message was generated.

                Possible mismatch between current in-memory 
boolean settings vs. permanent ones.

 

I know that this is definitely being caused by SELinux as when I run the command:

setenforce 0

I can upload the files via SCP to /foo/bar. Also of note, if I SSH in and cd to folder /foo/bar with SELinux enabled I can create a file in this folder.

 

How would I debug to see what is causing the exact issue within SELinux?

EDIT

Here is the output of ls -lZ of /foo/bar

drwxrwx--T. root foo-users user_u:object_r:default_t:s0     bar

and the output of an AVC denial from audit2allow

type=AVC msg=audit(1519304988.434:6984): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=26506 comm="scp" name="event-20180203.log.gz" dev="dm-4" ino=7260 scontext=user_u:user_r:user_t:s0 tcontext=user_u:object_r:default_t:s0 tclass=file
    Was caused by:
        Unknown - would be allowed by active policy
        Possible mismatch between this policy and the one under which the audit message was generated.
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5
  • 1
    This is most probably caused by incompatible label on destination directory. May you post the denial AVC ( sudo grep denied /var/log/audit/audit.log ) or the result of audit2allow result ? – tonioc Feb 22 '18 at 17:04
  • due to the nature of the work, I can not post a word for word one, but I can post a full line with names changed if that would work? @tonioc – jgr208 Feb 22 '18 at 17:14
  • The important bits in the log are the security contexts for files/process. The file context for /foo/bar would also be useful. – sebasth Feb 22 '18 at 17:19
  • @tonioc added the output from an AVC denial – jgr208 Feb 22 '18 at 17:53
  • @sebasth added the context for the /foo/bar folder gotten from ls -lZ – jgr208 Feb 22 '18 at 17:53
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what AVC says:

$ echo "type=AVC msg=audit(1519304988.434:6984): avc:  denied  { write } for  pid=26506 comm="scp" name="event-20180203.log.gz" dev="dm-4" ino=7260 scontext=user_u:user_r:user_t:s0 tcontext=user_u:object_r:default_t:s0 tclass=file" |audit2allow     
#============= user_t ==============
#!!!! WARNING: 'default_t' is a base type.
allow user_t default_t:file write;

==> A process running in user_t SElinux context type is trying to write to a directory having default_t type.

Alternatives to fix this are either:

  • relabel destination directory to permit user_t writing to it:

    $ sesearch -s user_t --allow |grep " file.*write"

    will show allowed target context for file write operation. For example, foo/bar might be relabelled to ssh_home_t which is in permitted list:

    $ sudo chcon -R -t ssh_home_t /foo/bar

  • or if you can, change the destination directory to a permitted one.

  • or create a new rule using audit2allow to bypass the control, but this opens permissions, breaking the SELinux aim, so should be the last choice. 'see http://selinuxproject.org/page/Audit2allowRecipe )

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Unknown - would be allowed by active policy
Possible mismatch between this policy and the one 
under which the audit message was generated.

I got the same message after having applied a corrective policy. All the previous audited avc could not be explained since the new policy would have permit them.
Check if newer events still occurs.

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