46.2. Building a Local Policy Module

The following section uses an actual example to demonstrate building a local policy module to address an issue with the current policy. This issue involves the ypbind init script, which executes the setsebool command, which in turn tries to use the terminal. This is generating the following denial:

type=AVC msg=audit(1164222416.269:22): avc:  denied  { use } for  pid=1940 comm="setsebool" name="0" dev=devpts ino=2 \
	scontext=system_u:system_r:semanage_t:s0 tcontext=system_u:system_r:init_t:s0 tclass=fd

Even though everything still works correctly (that is, it is not preventing any applications form running as intended), it does interrupt the normal work flow of the user. Creating a local policy module addresses this issue.

46.2.1. Using audit2allow to Build a Local Policy Module

The audit2allow utility now has the ability to build policy modules. Use the following command to build a policy module based on specific contents of the audit.log file:

ausearch -m AVC --comm setsebool | audit2allow -M mysemanage

The audit2allow utility has built a type enforcement file (mysemanage.te). It then executed the checkmodule command to compile a module file (mysemanage.mod). Lastly, it uses the semodule_package command to create a policy package (mysemanage.pp). The semodule_package command combines different policy files (usually just the module and potentially a file context file) into a policy package.