1Safe Tcl(n)                  Tcl Built-In Commands                 Safe Tcl(n)
2
3
4
5______________________________________________________________________________
6

NAME

8       safe - Creating and manipulating safe interpreters
9

SYNOPSIS

11       ::safe::interpCreate ?slave? ?options...?
12
13       ::safe::interpInit slave ?options...?
14
15       ::safe::interpConfigure slave ?options...?
16
17       ::safe::interpDelete slave
18
19       ::safe::interpAddToAccessPath slave directory
20
21       ::safe::interpFindInAccessPath slave directory
22
23       ::safe::setLogCmd ?cmd arg...?
24
25   OPTIONS
26       ?-accessPath pathList?  ?-statics boolean? ?-noStatics?  ?-nested bool‐
27       ean? ?-nestedLoadOk?  ?-deleteHook script?
28______________________________________________________________________________
29

DESCRIPTION

31       Safe Tcl is a mechanism for executing untrusted Tcl scripts safely  and
32       for  providing mediated access by such scripts to potentially dangerous
33       functionality.
34
35       Safe Tcl ensures that untrusted Tcl scripts  cannot  harm  the  hosting
36       application.   It prevents integrity and privacy attacks. Untrusted Tcl
37       scripts are prevented from corrupting the state of the hosting applica‐
38       tion  or computer. Untrusted scripts are also prevented from disclosing
39       information stored on the hosting computer or in the  hosting  applica‐
40       tion to any party.
41
42       Safe  Tcl allows a master interpreter to create safe, restricted inter‐
43       preters that contain a set of predefined aliases for the source,  load,
44       file,  encoding, and exit commands and are able to use the auto-loading
45       and package mechanisms.
46
47       No knowledge of the file system structure is leaked to the safe  inter‐
48       preter,  because  it  has  access only to a virtualized path containing
49       tokens. When the safe interpreter requests to source a  file,  it  uses
50       the  token  in the virtual path as part of the file name to source; the
51       master interpreter transparently  translates  the  token  into  a  real
52       directory  name  and  executes the requested operation (see the section
53       SECURITY below for details).   Different  levels  of  security  can  be
54       selected by using the optional flags of the commands described below.
55
56       All  commands  provided in the master interpreter by Safe Tcl reside in
57       the safe namespace.
58

COMMANDS

60       The following commands are provided in the master interpreter:
61
62       ::safe::interpCreate ?slave? ?options...?
63              Creates a safe interpreter, installs the  aliases  described  in
64              the section ALIASES and initializes the auto-loading and package
65              mechanism as specified by the supplied options.  See the OPTIONS
66              section  below  for a description of the optional arguments.  If
67              the slave  argument  is  omitted,  a  name  will  be  generated.
68              ::safe::interpCreate always returns the interpreter name.
69
70       ::safe::interpInit slave ?options...?
71              This  command is similar to interpCreate except it that does not
72              create the safe interpreter. slave must  have  been  created  by
73              some other means, like interp create -safe.
74
75       ::safe::interpConfigure slave ?options...?
76              If  no  options  are given, returns the settings for all options
77              for the named safe interpreter as a list of  options  and  their
78              current  values for that slave.  If a single additional argument
79              is provided, it will return a list of 2 elements name and  value
80              where name is the full name of that option and value the current
81              value for that option and the slave.  If  more  than  two  addi‐
82              tional  arguments  are  provided,  it  will reconfigure the safe
83              interpreter and change each and only the provided options.   See
84              the  section  on OPTIONS below for options description.  Example
85              of use:
86
87                     # Create new interp with the same configuration as "$i0":
88                     set i1 [safe::interpCreate {*}[safe::interpConfigure $i0]]
89
90                     # Get the current deleteHook
91                     set dh [safe::interpConfigure $i0  -del]
92
93                     # Change (only) the statics loading ok attribute of an
94                     # interp and its deleteHook (leaving the rest unchanged):
95                     safe::interpConfigure $i0  -delete {foo bar} -statics 0
96
97       ::safe::interpDelete slave
98              Deletes the safe interpreter and  cleans  up  the  corresponding
99              master  interpreter data structures.  If a deleteHook script was
100              specified for this interpreter it is evaluated before the inter‐
101              preter  is deleted, with the name of the interpreter as an addi‐
102              tional argument.
103
104       ::safe::interpFindInAccessPath slave directory
105              This command finds and returns the token for the real  directory
106              directory in the safe interpreter's current virtual access path.
107              It generates an error if the directory is not found.  Example of
108              use:
109
110                     $slave eval [list set tk_library \
111                           [::safe::interpFindInAccessPath $name $tk_library]]
112
113       ::safe::interpAddToAccessPath slave directory
114              This  command  adds directory to the virtual path maintained for
115              the safe interpreter in the master, and returns the  token  that
116              can be used in the safe interpreter to obtain access to files in
117              that directory.  If the directory  is  already  in  the  virtual
118              path,  it only returns the token without adding the directory to
119              the virtual path again.  Example of use:
120
121                     $slave eval [list set tk_library \
122                           [::safe::interpAddToAccessPath $name $tk_library]]
123
124       ::safe::setLogCmd ?cmd arg...?
125              This command installs a script that will be called  when  inter‐
126              esting  life  cycle  events  occur for a safe interpreter.  When
127              called with no arguments, it  returns  the  currently  installed
128              script.   When  called  with  one argument, an empty string, the
129              currently installed script is removed and logging is turned off.
130              The  script  will  be  invoked  with  one additional argument, a
131              string describing the event of interest.  The main purpose is to
132              help  in  debugging  safe interpreters.  Using this facility you
133              can get complete error messages while the safe interpreter  gets
134              only  generic  error messages.  This prevents a safe interpreter
135              from seeing messages about failures and other events that  might
136              contain sensitive information such as real directory names.
137
138              Example of use:
139
140                     ::safe::setLogCmd puts stderr
141
142              Below  is  the output of a sample session in which a safe inter‐
143              preter attempted to source a  file  not  found  in  its  virtual
144              access  path.   Note  that the safe interpreter only received an
145              error message saying that the file was not found:
146
147                     NOTICE for slave interp10 : Created
148                     NOTICE for slave interp10 : Setting accessPath=(/foo/bar) staticsok=1 nestedok=0 deletehook=()
149                     NOTICE for slave interp10 : auto_path in interp10 has been set to {$p(:0:)}
150                     ERROR for slave interp10 : /foo/bar/init.tcl: no such file or directory
151
152   OPTIONS
153       The   following   options   are   common    to    ::safe::interpCreate,
154       ::safe::interpInit,  and  ::safe::interpConfigure.  Any option name can
155       be abbreviated to its minimal non-ambiguous name.  Option names are not
156       case sensitive.
157
158       -accessPath directoryList
159              This  option  sets  the  list of directories from which the safe
160              interpreter can source and load files.  If this  option  is  not
161              specified,  or if it is given as the empty list, the safe inter‐
162              preter will use the same directories as  its  master  for  auto-
163              loading.   See  the section SECURITY below for more detail about
164              virtual paths, tokens and access control.
165
166       -statics boolean
167              This option specifies if the safe interpreter will be allowed to
168              load  statically linked packages (like load {} Tk).  The default
169              value is true : safe interpreters are allowed to load statically
170              linked packages.
171
172       -noStatics
173              This  option  is  a  convenience shortcut for -statics false and
174              thus specifies that the safe interpreter will not be allowed  to
175              load statically linked packages.
176
177       -nested boolean
178              This option specifies if the safe interpreter will be allowed to
179              load packages into its own sub-interpreters.  The default  value
180              is  false  :  safe interpreters are not allowed to load packages
181              into their own sub-interpreters.
182
183       -nestedLoadOk
184              This option is a convenience shortcut for -nested true and  thus
185              specifies  the safe interpreter will be allowed to load packages
186              into its own sub-interpreters.
187
188       -deleteHook script
189              When this option is given a non-empty script, it will be  evalu‐
190              ated  in  the master with the name of the safe interpreter as an
191              additional argument  just  before  actually  deleting  the  safe
192              interpreter.   Giving  an  empty  value  removes  any  currently
193              installed deletion hook script for that safe  interpreter.   The
194              default value ({}) is not to have any deletion call back.
195

ALIASES

197       The following aliases are provided in a safe interpreter:
198
199       source fileName
200              The  requested file, a Tcl source file, is sourced into the safe
201              interpreter if it is found.  The source alias  can  only  source
202              files  from  directories in the virtual path for the safe inter‐
203              preter. The source alias requires the safe  interpreter  to  use
204              one  of the token names in its virtual path to denote the direc‐
205              tory in which the file to be sourced can be found.  See the sec‐
206              tion  on  SECURITY  for more discussion of restrictions on valid
207              filenames.
208
209       load fileName
210              The requested file, a shared object file, is dynamically  loaded
211              into  the  safe  interpreter  if it is found.  The filename must
212              contain a token name mentioned in the virtual path for the  safe
213              interpreter  for it to be found successfully.  Additionally, the
214              shared object file must contain a safe entry point; see the man‐
215              ual page for the load command for more details.
216
217       file ?subCmd args...?
218              The  file  alias provides access to a safe subset of the subcom‐
219              mands of the file command; it allows only dirname, join,  exten‐
220              sion,  root,  tail,  pathname  and  split  subcommands. For more
221              details on what these subcommands do see the manual page for the
222              file command.
223
224       encoding ?subCmd args...?
225              The  encoding alias provides access to a safe subset of the sub‐
226              commands of the encoding command;  it disallows setting  of  the
227              system encoding, but allows all other subcommands including sys‐
228              tem to check the current encoding.
229
230       exit   The calling  interpreter  is  deleted  and  its  computation  is
231              stopped, but the Tcl process in which this interpreter exists is
232              not terminated.
233

SECURITY

235       Safe Tcl does not attempt to completely prevent annoyance and denial of
236       service  attacks. These forms of attack prevent the application or user
237       from temporarily using the computer to perform useful work, for example
238       by  consuming  all  available  CPU  time  or  all available screen real
239       estate.  These attacks, while aggravating, are deemed to be  of  lesser
240       importance  in general than integrity and privacy attacks that Safe Tcl
241       is to prevent.
242
243       The commands available in a safe interpreter, in addition to  the  safe
244       set  as defined in interp manual page, are mediated aliases for source,
245       load, exit, and safe subsets of file and encoding. The safe interpreter
246       can also auto-load code and it can request that packages be loaded.
247
248       Because some of these commands access the local file system, there is a
249       potential for information leakage about its  directory  structure.   To
250       prevent  this,  commands  that  take  file names as arguments in a safe
251       interpreter use tokens instead of  the  real  directory  names.   These
252       tokens  are  translated  to the real directory name while a request to,
253       e.g., source a file is mediated by the master interpreter.   This  vir‐
254       tual  path system is maintained in the master interpreter for each safe
255       interpreter  created  by   ::safe::interpCreate   or   initialized   by
256       ::safe::interpInit  and  the  path  maps  tokens accessible in the safe
257       interpreter into real path names on the local file system thus prevent‐
258       ing safe interpreters from gaining knowledge about the structure of the
259       file system of the host on which the  interpreter  is  executing.   The
260       only  valid  file  names arguments for the source and load aliases pro‐
261       vided to the slave are path in the form of [file join  token  filename]
262       (i.e.  when  using the native file path formats: token/filename on Unix
263       and token\filename on Windows), where token is representing one of  the
264       directories  of  the  accessPath  list and filename is one file in that
265       directory (no sub directories access are allowed).
266
267       When a token is used in a safe interpreter in a request  to  source  or
268       load  a  file,  the token is checked and translated to a real path name
269       and the file to be sourced or loaded is located  on  the  file  system.
270       The  safe  interpreter  never  gains  knowledge of the actual path name
271       under which the file is stored on the file system.
272
273       To further prevent potential information leakage from  sensitive  files
274       that  are accidentally included in the set of files that can be sourced
275       by a safe interpreter, the source alias restricts access to files meet‐
276       ing  the  following constraints: the file name must fourteen characters
277       or shorter, must not contain more than one dot (“.”), must end up  with
278       the extension (“.tcl”) or be called (“tclIndex”.)
279
280       Each  element  of the initial access path list will be assigned a token
281       that will be set in the slave auto_path and the first element  of  that
282       list will be set as the tcl_library for that slave.
283
284       If  the  access  path  argument  is not given or is the empty list, the
285       default behavior is to let the slave access the same  packages  as  the
286       master  has  access to (Or to be more precise: only packages written in
287       Tcl (which by definition cannot be dangerous as they run in  the  slave
288       interpreter)  and  C extensions that provides a _SafeInit entry point).
289       For that purpose, the master's auto_path will be used to construct  the
290       slave  access path.  In order that the slave successfully loads the Tcl
291       library files (which includes the auto-loading  mechanism  itself)  the
292       tcl_library  will be added or moved to the first position if necessary,
293       in the slave access path, so the slave tcl_library will be the same  as
294       the  master's  (its  real  path  will  still  be invisible to the slave
295       though).  In order that auto-loading works the same for the  slave  and
296       the  master in this by default case, the first-level sub directories of
297       each directory in the master auto_path  will  also  be  added  (if  not
298       already  included)  to the slave access path.  You can always specify a
299       more restrictive path for which sub directories will never be  searched
300       by  explicitly specifying your directory list with the -accessPath flag
301       instead of relying on this default mechanism.
302
303       When the accessPath is changed after the first creation or  initializa‐
304       tion  (i.e. through interpConfigure -accessPath list), an auto_reset is
305       automatically evaluated in the  safe  interpreter  to  synchronize  its
306       auto_index with the new token list.
307

SEE ALSO

309       interp(n), library(n), load(n), package(n), source(n), unknown(n)
310

KEYWORDS

312       alias,  auto-loading,  auto_mkindex,  load,  master  interpreter,  safe
313       interpreter, slave interpreter, source
314
315
316
317Tcl                                   8.0                          Safe Tcl(n)
Impressum