NFSSEC(5)NFSSEC(5)NAMEnfssec - overview of NFS security modes
DESCRIPTION
The mount_nfs(1M) and share_nfs(1M) commands each provide a way to
specify the security mode to be used on an NFS file system through the
sec=mode option. mode can be sys, dh, krb5, krb5i, krb5p, or none.
These security modes can also be added to the automount maps. Note that
mount_nfs(1M) and automount(1M) do not support sec=none at this time.
mount_nfs(1M) allows you to specify a single security mode;
share_nfs(1M) allows you to specify multiple modes (or none). With mul‐
tiple modes, an NFS client can choose any of the modes in the list.
The sec=mode option on the share_nfs(1M) command line establishes the
security mode of NFS servers. If the NFS connection uses the NFS Ver‐
sion 3 protocol, the NFS clients must query the server for the appro‐
priate mode to use. If the NFS connection uses the NFS Version 2 proto‐
col, then the NFS client uses the default security mode, which is cur‐
rently sys. NFS clients may force the use of a specific security mode
by specifying the sec=mode option on the command line. However, if the
file system on the server is not shared with that security mode, the
client may be denied access.
If the NFS client wants to authenticate the NFS server using a particu‐
lar (stronger) security mode, the client wants to specify the security
mode to be used, even if the connection uses the NFS Version 3 proto‐
col. This guarantees that an attacker masquerading as the server does
not compromise the client.
The NFS security modes are described below. Of these, the krb5, krb5i,
krb5p modes use the Kerberos V5 protocol for authenticating and pro‐
tecting the shared filesystems. Before these can be used, the system
must be configured to be part of a Kerberos realm. See kerberos(5).
sys
Use AUTH_SYS authentication. The user's UNIX user-id and
group-ids are passed in the clear on the network, unauthenti‐
cated by the NFS server. This is the simplest security method
and requires no additional administration. It is the default
used by Solaris NFS Version 2 clients and Solaris NFS servers.
dh
Use a Diffie-Hellman public key system (AUTH_DES, which is
referred to as AUTH_DH in the forthcoming Internet RFC).
krb5
Use Kerberos V5 protocol to authenticate users before granting
access to the shared filesystem.
krb5i
Use Kerberos V5 authentication with integrity checking (check‐
sums) to verify that the data has not been tampered with.
krb5p
User Kerberos V5 authentication, integrity checksums, and pri‐
vacy protection (encryption) on the shared filesystem. This
provides the most secure filesystem sharing, as all traffic is
encrypted. It should be noted that performance might suffer on
some systems when using krb5p, depending on the computational
intensity of the encryption algorithm and the amount of data
being transferred.
none
Use null authentication (AUTH_NONE). NFS clients using
AUTH_NONE have no identity and are mapped to the anonymous
user nobody by NFS servers. A client using a security mode
other than the one with which a Solaris NFS server shares the
file system has its security mode mapped to AUTH_NONE. In this
case, if the file system is shared with sec=none, users from
the client are mapped to the anonymous user. The NFS security
mode none is supported by share_nfs(1M), but not by
mount_nfs(1M) or automount(1M).
FILES
/etc/nfssec.conf
NFS security service configuration file
SEE ALSOautomount(1M), kclient(1M), mount_nfs(1M), share_nfs(1M),
rpc_clnt_auth(3NSL), secure_rpc(3NSL), nfssec.conf(4), attributes(5),
kerberos(5)NOTES
/etc/nfssec.conf lists the NFS security services. Do not edit this
file. It is not intended to be user-configurable. See kclient(1M).
Mar 16, 2009 NFSSEC(5)